The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1920-10-21
BY Warren c. NOteMare


national in character-the present
high cost of living-the other, reform
of the tax laws. On both these prob
| lens nothing material has been ac-
complished because they are both still
| with us, as far from solution as
ever. The very vitals of our nation
| al life is affected by profiteering in
the necessities of life Property
rights are imperilled as never before
| and may be destroyed and business
strangled by oppressive taxation
which, when carried to it's limit, op-
| crates as a confiscation.
Left to itself, the whole business
will eventually blow up, for you can
not get more meat out of an egg
| than there is in it.
1t is inevitable that certain issues
will have to be fought out to a finish.
1t takes a lot of blasting and burrow-
ing to properly foundation a new
is not so many pennyweights of gold
or silver. The real standard is the
| unit of production. Farmers are de-
creasing their acres and stockmen
their herds, not as protest against
existing conditions but through pres
sure of these conditions. We are de-
pleting our agricultural and livestock
wealth by driving it into other lines
of industry, much of which is not
| productive of real wealth-essentials
More than forty per cent of our
| population live upon the farm. Nearly
one-half of the permanent annual
| Yealth of the nation Is the product of
| the farm and livestock. Only COM
| paratively small percentage of the
| banking power of the country is util-
| lied to promote the prosperity of the
| farmer and stockman, the majority
| going to trade, commerce, manufac-
ture and transportation; to business
men, speculators. corporations and
middle men who have acquired large
fortunes through the use of this
| credit.
| The farmer must organize and for
his own interest demand the oppor-
tunity, with his own organization, TO
confront the organizations and COM
bines which are opposed to him. He
| is getting less than thirty per cent
| of an advance over 1914 for what he
sells and is paying an average of 1856
per cent more for what he buys. The
value of his real estate is fixed and
determined by the value of his prod
ucts. He was told that food would
win the war and food did win the
war Responding to the cry for great
| er production, he drove the plow
deeper and further in the ground than
ever before in the history of the
country. Other laborers refused to
work more than eight hours a day.
The farmer worked eight hours in the
morning-eight hours in the after
noon and was assisted by his wife and
daughter, and is still on the job at
/ the same old hours. Now with our
foreign market cut off. prices have
declined until he is producing food
products at a loss.
1t is well known that the cost of
production of the wool clip for the
present season has been upon a cost
level so high as to show severe losses
to the wool growers. The same situa-
ton confronts the cattleman and the
| farmer, as in this state the value of
agricultural crops is fixed and de-
termined by the value of livestock.
This situation, serious as 1T is, is
made worse by policies of the federal
reserve banks, restriction of credits
and refusing to extend loans on
cattle paper" which have resulted in
the stockmen being compelled to bor-
row extensively from the local banks
and has forced thousands of sheep
and cattle on the market before fit,
resulting in a severe financial loss
and set back to the livestock indus
try, as well as severe loss of taxable
wealth.
There is no question but what agri-
culture and livestock are the basic in
dustries of this state, as well as of
the entire country. 1t is likewise
certain that every other industry
every other activity. is aligned
with these two industries.
If, instead of steps being taken to
insure greater production. steps
were taken to produce less. in order
to control production. it is obvious
that the farmer and stockman will see
that their only defense is in control
ling the price of their products.
If the present policy in demanding
shorter days, less work and more
pay continues, the people will expert
ence a food problem and range of
! cost level which no one can fully
comprehend. One hundred and ten
million people in this country wake
up every morning hungry, sixty per
cent of whom are consumers. The
farmer and the stockman. the food
producers, can have the strangle
hold. They should not be forced to
take it, but If lessened production is
to be the rule-why not the farmer?