The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1919-08-13
{ HA NGE IN v HEAT
STANDARDS SOU HT
ON FARMERS BEHALF
SEN COMMITTEE ADOPTS
STATEMENT DECLARING GROW.
ERS ARE PENAl.lZED


changes be made in government whea
standards under the price guarantee act
so as not to penalize every grower oi
wheat" were made in n statement pre-
pared by Chairman Gronna and repre-
sentatlves of farm organizations anC
approved today by the senate agricultur,
committee.
| Chairman Gronna announced that q
! committee would be named to present
the demands of Julius IL. Barnes, presi
dent of the United states grain cor
poration, and representatives of the de
| partment of agriculture. in the hope OF
| having modified various government reg
ulations by which 1t was charged "th,
producers are defrauded and the con
sumers receive no benefits"
In the statement. designed to give
the farmers side of the high cost OF
living question, the senate committed
said it believed grave injustice was be
ing done the farmer and might con
tinue to accumulate and seriously in
jure not only agriculture but the entire
nation as we'll"
L While entirely sympathetic with the
rhardships which present prices cause the
people of the city" said the statement
farmers are no less concerned with
their own economic situation.
The powerful machinery of the gov
ernment is now being set in motion
to bring to justice those who are guilty.
But it must be remembered that this
drive is coming at a time when the
great staple products of the farm are
going to market, and in selling the
wheat crop. for instance, the farmer
is selling his entire seasons labor. This
is an experience with which the farmer
is very familiar. and he instinctively
connects it with the interests which in
the party have pyramided their profits
upon his production at the beginning of
the marketing season.
Julius II. Barnes of the United
States grain corporation openly states
his policy to resell wheat, curtail our
foreign shipments and use the resale OF
wheat to help control the domestic mar
ket price against further advance. The
result of such policy, together with the
manipulation of system of grades and
standards has been to reduce materially
the farmers income and to deny him ac.
cess to free market where he can Sc.
cure actual cost of production.
I'VE believe city I7opie should know
that the average annual labor income
of the farmer, including that of his
wife and children. as shown by the last
federal census, was only S31S22 They
should know that owing to manipulation
in l1lt itNfe nj b..
ards together with the damage done by
hot weather to the maturing crops the
winter wheat producers are receiving
as low as s1.l5 per bushel for their
wheat-not the $205 which Mr.. Barnes
gives as a theoretical average price. and
that this years crop may average not
over Sl.50 per bushel net.
I'm the production of wheat. as in
other crops, labor enters in the last
analysis as the chief item of cost, and
city people should realize that the ef.
fort that is being made by the authority
of the government to restrict or still
further reduce the price at the farm
must inevitably lead to denying the
farmer living wages
I'VE at this time shall insist on
not to penali2e every grower of wheat.
Hundreds of millions of bushels of wheat
have been shriveied by extreme heat
this season, which under the present
grading and discount rules NAV not
average the producer sl50 per bushel.
Authoritative Investigators have found
such wheat to be of the highest milling
value, and IT is unthinkable that farm.
ers should sustain loss of from so to
10 cents per bushel by reason of the
arbitrary standards that have been es
tabished. This wheat in large measure
Will go into the production of the best
patent flours and be sold to the con
suming public at prices based on No.
wheat. The producers are thereby de
frauded and the consumers receive no
benefit