The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1920-02-05
The Farmer Cannot Do 1t Alone.

The statement Of Sherman J, Lowell,
master of the national grange Of the
Patrons OF Husbandry, given out on be-
half OF and in the name OF the nation
al grange, ought TO be conclusive as to
the illusion that a schedule of "A hours
a week can be successfully applied to
the agricultural industry. Mr.. Lowell
says that the 44-hour week will never
support the life of America, TO say
nothing OF feeding a hungry world.
Furthermore, according to Mr. Lowell,
the farmers OF the country will
submit to no such scheme. They will,
he thinks, refuse to slave through long
hours, seven days a week, to supply
food TO workers who enjoy ridiculously
short hours of labor and unlimited OPP
portunity for rest, pleasure and i'm
provement. On that point, the farmers
are quite ready TO strike--which means
that they will try for a while 70 see If
they cannot get along by producing
enough food for themselves and their
families only, letting the rest of the
world 60 hungry. All this is quite in
line with what the new secretary Of
agriculture, Edwin T. Meredith, said
the other day in entering upon his du'
ties-that all other forms of business
and production should be spceded up il
the farmer is going to be speeded up.
II Is impossible not to have consid-
cradle degree of sympathy with the
attitude OF the agricultural producer.
The farmer knows that he is the un-
derpinning of the whole economic strllc-
ture. Everything is built on him and
what he produces. Yet II Is true that
he must, II he is going to make both
ends meet on the farm, work from sun
to sun all the week, and II he knocks
off his field work on Sunday, he must
nevertheless do on that day great
many chores, feeding and caring for
his stock and his household, which
would amount TO good days work for
any 44-hour artisan or mechanic. He
knows, too, that the rest Of the world
could not get along without him and
his labor. He can hardly be blamed If
he takes n masterful attitude, and &C.
casionally tells his fellow countrymen
what he will and what he will not do.
But are we likely ever TO see such a
farmers strike as has lately been
threatenedf Well, the chances are alto
gether against that. In the first place,
very few farmers in this country
would be able TO feed their families off
their own farms. In New England, for
example. farmers do not raise wheat
for the family bread, and nowhere do
they spin and weave wool or cotton
for the family wear. Even their cattle
and horses, as a rule. are dependent on
foods that are bought. The farmer
buys his sugar, his tea and coffee, his
groceries in general, hiss clothes, his
boots, shoes and hats, the oil for his
lamps, and the machinery with which
his work is done; be has telephone TO
pay for, and often an electric lighting
system, and gasolene for his motors
and for the engine that drives his cream
separator or pumps his water. To buy
ali these things, he must sell some
thing. He is in a very different situa.
ton from the Russian peasant, and
very different from that OF his own an
ccstors, whose animals were always fed
from the products of the farm, and
whose wife and daughters spun and
wove the wool of his own sheep into
cloth for the family wear. The modern
American farmer is as much dependent
on others as others are on him.
The American farmer cannot strike
il he would. But he can undoubtedly