Evening times-Republican., 1920-10-09
farm Federation
ISSUES WARMING
THREATENING cURTAlLMENT
OF PRODUCTION If PRICES
GO LOWER.
FOOD SHORTAGE UNLESS
WHEAT AND CORN STAY UP
Farm sur'.l Federation Committee i.
Declares Asrieulturists Made No
Money as, 4 Glass During War
Period Despite inflated Prices Of
Grains and Live Stock.

Period Despite Inflated Prices Of
Grains and Live Stock.
=
Special to es-Republican
Des Moines. Oct. s.-The first re-
port Of the marketing committee Of
the American Farm Bureau Fedora
tion. Just issued. warns the public
that there Is liable to be q serious
decrease In food production on the
farms because Of losses sustained by
farmers on the falling market.
The report is received with much
interest here. whore the work Of the
farm bureaus. dealing a. the bureaus
do wi1h Iowa's biggest business. that
Of agriculture, Is always matter OF
interest.
The marketing committee Of sew
enteen. appointed by President ]. r.
Howard. Of the American Farm
Bureau Federation, on Sept. 10 in-
clpdes In its membership A. L.
Middleton. Of Eagle Grove, farmer
president Of the grain dealers asso-
Citations and Clifford Gregory. editor
Of Prairie Farmer, Q former Iowan.
Middleton Is credited with organic
Ing moro cooperative elevators in
Iowa than any other man. Clifford
Thorne, former state railroad com.
missioner. Is q member Of the COM
m}tte6 representing the National
Grain Dealers' Association.
The report declares that with ref
srencs to the recent smash lin the
grain market we desire to sound q
note OF profound warning lest In our
zeal to set back to normalsWe delib-
eratsly invite othsr ilS more serious
thanvthese from which We now suffer
FOR, to buy bread and meat 1t q
rather high price II better than not
70 be able to buy enough Of them at
any price.
Farmer Not War Prifitssr
sContraryt 70 the popular opinion
In tho cities farmers did not as q
class make money out OF the war
period. On the contrary, during q.
large portion OF that period they ac-i
tually lost money both In the pro-
duction OF grainsand Of live stock,
&. II anyone doubt this statement
let him consult the income tax re-
Turns Of the last several years.
Therefore the farmer was In no par
ticqlarly happy frame Of mind when
tho recent raids on the grain mark
ct began
It = estimated. IT, committee
points out, that r costs the a.rowers
{2.77 to produce : hnshsl Of wheat
tliis year. when this production cost
fs compared to the unfair price
which rnardpulators Of the grain
market have brought about during
recent days one can easily imagine
how tho farmer feels about it" says
the statement.
Elevators Hard HE.
'Furthermore," continues. the re-,
port, hundreds Of country elevators
are at this time filled with wheat
purchased on the high markets Of a
month or six weeks ago and because
Of the car shortage 1t was impossible
to get this wheat to market. It is no
exaggeration to say that II tho pre-
sent price, Of wheat is maintained the
working capital Of many Of these ele-
vators will be swept completely
away.
& yet despite these distressing con-
ditions an zx-president Of the Chica-
go board Of trade was Quoted by the
press some days ago as having
boasted that the various boards of
trade deserved great deal Of credit
for having brought down sthe high
cost Of living because they had
forced down the price Of grain. And
to all such gentlemen we desire
merely to say You may be able to so
manipulate against the wheat pro-
dncers OF the United States this year.
But IL the farmer is SO hard hit fl
nancially that next year and the year
thereafter he will be unable to keep
food production up to the nations
requirements. and II thereby the cost
of bread is forced much higher, the
consuming public will realize that it
traded of its birthright for q mess
OF pottage.'
The recent statement Of Herbert
Hoover showing that the farmer only
received cents for the loaf OF bread
which costs IL cents is recalled by
the committee, which further de-
clares. ''the public can draw its own
conclusion Is to whether or not the
wheat grower Is q profiteer." The re-
port also points out that there are
vacant feed lots all over the coun-
}try, showing that the farmer Is going
out Of the business Of. feeding cattle
and hogs. and declares that the
farmer IL tired Of producing cattle
and hogs at q loss.
4 IoNAN TRIES PoNZI SCHEME.
Raymond J. BIsehoff, Former Dav-