The Mena weekly star., 1920-12-23
With Big Crops
Farmers Bankrupt

Good crops and good times, poor
crops and poor, or hard times have
always been synonymous terms in the
minds of most people And now Il
is hard to adjust the mind to good
crops and hard times, and that is
what the American farmer faces to-
day. We have on the farms the BAN
ner corn crop Of all years, warehouses
are filed to OVERLOOKING with wool
still belonging to farmers, and for
which they for months past have been
/ unable to get bid Hidehouses filled
with 4 to cent hides, and today a
circular comes to our desk advising
| farmers to salt and keep the hides as
( there is no market
Wheat was as low sale at S1.35 to
Isl AZ at some points in the grain belt
week ago Corn, if you could find a
1 buyer, at 80 cents per bushek Far
mers selling cattle and other stock
at prices comparable to the early
nineties. in an effort to meet their Oh.
/ legations at the banks, $4,000 head be-
/ ing marketed recently in one day at
enc market. So to so per acre cash, or
3-5 was the usual rent paid. Seed
was at the high price when planted,
threshing 10 cents, corn husking now
about cents, Smelling to Z cents.
Those who are financially able TO hold
their stock ever should make good for
another year as this great sacrifice Of
stock will make a shortage Of meat
animals
The cotton farmer Is equally hard
| hit, perhaps worse in some sections.
especially If he raised nothing but
cotton However, the cotton farmer
sees a CLEAN of sunshine in the price
of wheat coming down, and the wheat
farmer sees a CLEAN Of sunshine in the
1 price of cheaper cotton, but, il is
! gloomy sunshine With our crop re-
/ porting service the the Department Of
| Agriculture, with our experts in the
bureau Of market, with our farm
demonstrators and federal farm ex-
perts, did any of these ever warn the
farmer of reproduction? Or did
they tell him to produce more? Was
he told generally that India had an
enormous wheat crop? Likewise Aus
tralia, Argentina, just little less than
the United States Canada now pour
ing is millions Of bushels into this
country, while our farmers by the
thousand with their usual business
sagacity are organizing to hold their
wheat for So. This in view Of the
fact that there is practically all Of
this years crop, much Of last years, a
large acreage now growing with condi-
ton 100 per cent. India, Egypt and
lseveral other countries are now ship
lping more and more cotton into Eu-
lrope which will undoubtedly hurt
lprices in the future We were told TO
Iproduce more to bring the h. c. /
down. Well, we did our part with
some of the following results as
found by the writer: 1t now takes
bushels Of wheat TO buy as pound
sack Of -four. II takes, il you are
lucky, or COW hides to buy a pair
Of shoes. 1t takes 5 pounds OF live
hog to get l pound Of pork chops. A
bale Of cotton buys suit Of clothes
1t takes-but why go on. II seems
levery stone we threw at the profiteer
rebounded and hit us.
Polk county farmers. as usual, are
Just little better off than most in our
adjoining states. Our fuel in plenty
at cost Of gathering, our meat at least
cost, being most made on the mast
our gardens and Gamers have pro
vided for our tables, short mild win
ters for stock. Next month we pillow
and read our seed catalogues. Don'i
weaken, hang onto what you have
fight Il another round, you will wealth
er the storm. Remember smooth sail
ing never made a skilfull mariner.
James A. Slote.
Hatfield. Ark. Dec. s. 1920.