Norwich bulletin., 1919-04-25
CROOKED VIEWS OF SIMPLE PRoBlEMs

have remained in her memory another :outsanding iRsta3nce Of the. colossal greed of the farmer man.
 But what's the use of multiplying
 iHustrations of what we all. know? From the day when an English, 'poet4 wrote the rivalries of ''The Town i
 Mouse and the Country Mouse" there 1 has been a constant misunderstanding ! OF failure A6f understanding between the two sorts of people, those who live
 in cities and those who live on farms. -.. -Nsiih..i .aacty to the quarrel see,cs
 to eomDrehend or appreciate ytde diff cniffes sWhicf1~ make life a problem to
 the other. Moreover, with strange
 perversity, each party seeks to hold
 the other responsible for it's own in
 felicities You remember that Adam
 blamed the famous apple business on
 Eve. And Eve blamed it on the ser
 pent. And--rhe serpent blamed it. on
 Satan. And Satan, I have small doubt. if full records Were ayaila ble, } laroNfd 1be found to have blamef it on1
 somebody else. We none of us seem willing to accept due responsibility for our own nfseries, but are eager to lay them on the back of some. seapegoat. Having done which. we convict and condemn the poor critter and devote him tC the wilderness. l*3:slust at. present, it would appear. that |; we farmers are the scapegoats of res ideuts in the. big cities. All high prices are blamed on us. The dictionaries are
 ransacked to find terms of opprobrium fitting our shameless eXtortions. 1 v fohtfarfwisGy we far1n6rs are :. in- iclined to blame our troubles on the i absludly extravagant, wages paid by i city munitions plants, etc, which have rfa 1an itti4l < DOW: it is so scarce and so high i that we cant afford to raise even phnp pkins unless we can get double or
 triple price for themi ''
 i And so it goes. The pot is very con- tempeuous because the4kettle-is black.
 AS it was in the beginning, so it is i now. Only it seems to be getting worse, every day, instead of better That's
 What. makes the outlook gloomy. i.s- Avlfeas are We going to fetch up, if i the present antagonism continues to
 gnnW in bitterness and unreason2
 or argument or explanation is going to Don l. yeu wish you llnew?1 I do.
 i One thing, at least may be assumed. l That is that no amount of preaching reverse the tide. It is going to keep
 on flooding until it reaches the crest ! predestined for it. Whether it will i Swell to it's limit with no worse results 1 than a deal,of crashing on the shingle and of grunbling in the undertow: or whether it will culminate in some dis lastrous tidal wave. sweeping away in
 one cruel hour the dykes and seaWalls of the centuries building-7all this is
 Ga, the lap of the gods. We shall know M.flefl-we kliow and not before. s.
 That we're booked for tremendous ! iy radica! readjustnent of old usag es and customs seems more than prop
 able. Including, among other things,
 tas. relations between producers and
 consumers.
 "The old order changeth, yielding ! And God fulflls Himself in many
 ! ways,
 Lest one good custom should corrupt ! the. world .s.'. ~-. ....s li So it always has been.>~ So without doubt, it always will be. Let us hope mat the change may have in it noth-
 ting of >the ferocity which marked the 113 French Revolution. nor of the incred- ible l1sstiaEty which befouls the Rus-
 1 sian debaele. But there's@no use shut }ting our. eyes to the east whether we Hike the promise of the new day or not.
 ! Some readjustment of the relations Z! tetween rural food producers and ur- fban food consumers has simply got tC 2 be made. Things cannot go on as a ! tpseSent. .>--.s->
 f F.. # some way could only be devised !, by which the consumer could be put il :, the producers place, or vice versa, fol }, an educationally sufficient time, the 7 danger would eyaporate Ike stean I before a northwest wind. But ont = might as. well ask for. some scheme tc : make the Golden Rule the unirersa { law of life. N
 i In the meantime. the only thing fol 7 us farmers. apparently, is to sit tight keep the middle of the road. and dC I our duty, regardless of whether th' : doing it meets with approval from ou' $ critics or not 9 With q sigh for those who love us = And smile for those who hate; a And whatever sky's above us
 Il With & heart for any fate.''
 n .,. ... -..--.-. THE FARMER