Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-11-18
The Real Remedy.
TROM Iowa, where a majority of the
= planters own automob lies and rural

HROM Iowa, where majority of the
y planters own automob lies and rural
prosperity runs exceptionally he1
comes the testimony Of a competent obSeryc
to this disquieting effect: CAS- long as III
farmers return upon his ability as mama
and the farm laborer's return upon his la
are FAR below the return of men who VIC
eight hours a day in Cities agricultural y
duction must decrease toward the hun
line"
Here we have problem which is of e\
kaener concern to the city dweller than to e.
man of the soil, problem of prime impo;
to the whole nation. All industry, all con:
merce, all prosperity depends at last upon ag-
rlcultural production. Thence come most
Of the basic commodities-gran, meat, hides.
cotton, wool; that is to say, food raiment aid
the materials upon which factories, with their
sWarms of employees, subsist. Let agricultu-
raj production lag behind the growth of popu-
lation, and inevitably we feel the effect as a
strain upon our earnings to keep up with the
mounting costs which come from diminished
supplies. And if this tendency continues I'M
checked, the strain at length will grow nsup-
portable.
One of the responsible factors undoubtedly
is the high level to which city wages ad-
vanced under war conditions. The lure of
more pay for less work drew to the centers
of population and industry thousands OF
hands that formerly contributed 20 the output
of food and kindred necessarfes and many of
them, unfortunately, were absorbed into pur-
suits which are non-productive, ii not In
deed parasitic To the individual whose pay
was thus doubled or trebled and whose hours
of labor were luXurOusly shortened, it seem
ed, perhaps, that an economic millennium was
about to dawn; (although, curiously enough,
the regime of more money for less work, ire
quently bred restlessnesS rather than con-
tent But where is the advantage in having
two dollars instead of one, if the larger sum
will not procure the necessaries which the
smaller could easily buy in less pretentious
days? What profits it a people to make
more money, if in doing so they lower the
production and raise the price of essentials to
such an extent that ends will not meet?
We cannot circumvent the natural law that
imitation at one point means depletion at an
other. A process of affairs which contracts
money values while it expands wages and
which thins the ranks of rural labor merely
to swell those of city c0nsumers, is bad for all
concerned-especialIy for those who have
been mised into thinking that more money is
in anywise as important as gods and services.
There must be halt in this process and a
positive reversal, if living conditions are to
grow easier and contented times return. It
is not simply question of the farmers being
able to raise and harvest his crops; it is a
question Of millions of Wage-earners, and of
people generally, being able to get along at
all. By availing himself of labor-saving
machinery, together with intensive methods
OF cultivation, the farmer can make a pass
ing shift. But what of those far removed
from sources of production, who depend
upon wage which, inflated though it u.s. will
not feed and clothe them if curtaiIed pro-
duction continues to put prices up?
We are grievously in need of ceasing to
think in terms of money and of ceasing to
act as though it were better to consume than
to produce. We are in need of getting down
to simplicities and essentials. We shall be
compelled to eventually, for artificial stand
ards cannot survive lifes searching gales
On this work-a-day planet high-fown theories
and ease-loving ambitions cannot take the
place of labor, howsoever fondlo some of us
may cherish that delusion. Not more money
but more work, more work in essential fields
and productive industries-this is the real
remedy for present economic ills
as this the place." she asked, as she wan
dered down on the barren sands, "where a
young lady-a beautiful young lady--fell into
the water last season and was rescued by a
gallant young man, whom she afterwafd mar
RED .
He looked at her carefuIv estimated her
at torty-Seven with false teeth, and said:
Yes, ma'am; but | don't know how to swim"
"My dear, l hope yo won't be angry. The
boys presented me with loving cup"
"Um"
cor course, we filled it few times"
Il can realize that. What you brought home
was tomato can"