The Mena weekly star., 1919-01-09
LOWERING OF PRICES CAN
NOT START AT TIE FARM
DR.. H. ]. Waters in The Weekly Kan
sas City Star.

SaS lily Otaf.
Everybody assumes that prices
viii come down, now the war is over,
and everybody is hoping that the re-
adjustment may be so gradual as to
avoid a panic. There is, however,
wide divergence Of opinion as to how
it is to be accomplished and who is to
take the first step. Tne laDoring man
says wages must not come down UNI
I'll the cost of living is reduced. The
manufacturer and merchant say their
goods cannot be sold cheaper until
labor is cheaper and the cost Of ma
terial is less. The farmer says he
cannot take less for his products un-
til wages are lowered and until he is
able to buy the things required in his
business at lower price.
A leading educator was quoted re-
Gently as saying that Eve cannot lead
the world industrially without cheap
food" If cheap food has to be got
ten by depriving the farmer of just
return on his capital and labor, or if
he is forced to wear cut his soil in
the process of getting it, we he'd bet
ter not attempt to dominate the world
industrially. This distinguished ed
ucator was thinking of the farmer, as
do most other people, as producer
Of food only. When we think of in
dustries we think Of iron mines, steel
mills, sawmills, cement factories and
railway shops, but the farmer pro-
duces from two-thirds to three
fourths of all the raw material which
enters into American manufactures,
and less than a fifth Of the material
comes from the mines and only about
a twentieth comes from the forest.
It is such material as live stock, milk,
wool. cotton, wheat, oats, barley, rye,
etc, which furnishes employment to a
great majority of the workmen in
American factories. It is a far safer
law to lay down that America cannot
succeed industrially without an
abundance of raw material out Of
which may be manufactured the pro-
duets which the world wants. The
easiest thing to sell is food to hun
CRY people So long as our indus
tries are based largely on the pro-
auction of food, they are safe.
A shortage Of this sort Of raw ma
terial would necessitate reorganiz-
alton of our industries and the lay
ing Of emphasis on those finished
products which are most difficult to
sell and in the manufacture Of which
competition from the cheap labor of
other countries is keenest.
An abundance Of raw food material
is easily assured. All that is neces-
sary is to pay the farmer price
which will encourage him to produce
to his limit. Everyone wants to see
cur factories run to the limit Of their
capacity. We ought to be just as
much interested in having our farms
produce to their full capacity.
After all, what the farmer gets for
the things he produces is only
fraction Of what the consumer pays
for what he eats and wears. Bakers
bread sells for nearly eleven cents
pound, and soda crackers retail at
twenty cents a pound. The farmer
gets less than four cents pound for
the flour from which the bread and
crackers are made The voile made
from a pound of cotton sells for from
$3.50 to IS. The cotton brought the
farmer less than thirty-five cents.
Cut the farmers prices in half and
we have made little impression on the
cost Of living, but we have virtually
put the farmer out of business. The
price Of farm products cannot come
down in advance Of the prices Of 9TH
er material and labor Either they
must all come down together or all
stay m together.