Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-07
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE FARMER DEFENDED
he Editor of the Tele1rdph

To the Editor of the Telegraph:
In the agitation to reduce the high
cost of living, certain factors have
! been overlooked. Abnormal condi-
tions have boosted the price of shoes,
wearing apparel, groceries, and in
brief, every necessity and luxury of
| life. The end is not yet. Announce
ment is again made that footwear
and clothing are due for another
increase. Shoes that were formerly
50 have doubled and sometimes
tripled in price; mems suits which
were once in the SIS class are now
$25 and $40. The same proportion
obtains in higher priced goods of
that variety and also with respect
to groceries. 1t matters not what
one desires to purchase, a proper
tional increase of twice or thrice the
! pre-war cost must be paid.
| These conditions have aroused
protest. The business of a sane
and properly directed protest is not
! the issue of the present article. My
| purpose is to show that in their ef-
forts to obtain what may be deemed
a more equitable adjustment of
prices, certain we'll meaning but
mistaken people are inflicting
serious injustice upon the hardest
worked and least appreciated work
]
attacks on the farmer. One would
infer from the so-called arguments
! of those who criticise the soil ttllers
| that the farmers are responsible for
all the ills that have, followed in
/ the wake of the kaiser'S attempt to
bestride the world like Colossus.
The criticism is unfair because it
does not take into consideration the
economic conditions under which the
/ o., 81 L. q ola Of
! workers has been hit harder than
another by the high cost of living
that class is the agriculturist. Here
! is q brief resume of some of the
things with which he must contend
Farmers work from daylight to
dark. The whole family must turn
to the toll. When many others have
ended the days work, and are en-
| joying themselves at the movies or
are automobile riding, the farmer,
with his wife and children, are still
at their labors. The farmer must
invest in new implements. The price
of a plow few years ago was IS to
! $12. Now the price is SIS to $40.
! Harrows which formerly cost $40
now cost $50. The farmer must pay
$3.50 for a horse which he could
formerly buy for 500. He must pay
! 500 to $3.50 for cows which for
merly cost $25 to $50. Mill feed,
which formerly cost $12 to SIS a
ton, now costs the farmer $50 to
$40 a ton. When the farmer goes
| to the mill to buy he must pay what
ever the miller asks. When he goes
to the mill to sell, the miller again
fixes the price and the farmer must
| take whatever he offers. The soil
must be treated or crops Will not
grow. Fertilizer formerly cost SIG
to $40 per ton; now it costs $40 to
/ $50 per ton. Seeds have run the
scale. For instance, spinach seed
has raised from zoe per pound to
81 per pound. But the price of
! spinach at the market has only
Increased from 10c a half peck to
| 2Oc. In other words, the farmer
must pay ten times as much for his
seed, but the price he gets for the
product is only twice as much as
| formerly. Beans, which were for
merly $4 bushel, are now SIS.
Other seeds are in proportion. These
instances are only few in COM
parison with the total number of
increases.
After all the work of preparing
the ground. after all the investment
in fertilizer, seels, labor implements,
along come unfavorable weather
conditions, and the farmer finds
that at the end of the year he has
little or nothing for his time and
investment A comparison of
figures will show that for the time,
labor, skill and money invested, the
farmer receives a poor return. When
farmers go to the clothing, shoe,
and grocery stores, they must pay
the high prices. They must pay
more for every single item than CEN
ters into farming. How, then, can
they be expected to sell their goods
at the same price as they did before
the abnormal conditions sent the
cost of goods up in every other line
What the farmer asks for is fair
deal. d. NADER.
| ONE COIIVrTON