Evening star., 1920-06-27

The farmer of today is far from be-
ing the thick" or "rube" so often pre-
sented on the vaude-
The Farmer of vile stage. The farm
er of tomorrow will
be the man to be
reckoned with in foreign trade de-
velopment.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Ed
win T. Meredith, who has been with
and of the farmers all his life, re-
Gently called the attention of the
country at large to a new picture of
the modern farmer, saying:
HE must be a business man. know
ing how to buy and sell advan-
tageously; he must know something
about bookkeeping, he must have
scientific and technical knowledge
about soils, seeds, animals and ma
chinery, he must to an increasing de-
gree be informed ABOUT the important
movements Of the day"
Secretary Meredith now points out
that the farmer whom the urban i'm
agination visions as uneducated, un-
couth and of clumsy intellect, is in
reality thoroughly up-to date, and the
closest student of foreign trade be-
a very vital interest in the develop
ment of commerce with the nations
of the world. He believes that the ex-
tent to which this country rises to its
opportunity and destiny in foreign
trade will be in direct proportion as
the farmers and farm organizations
avail themselves of the best informa-
ton available on foreign marketing.
+*
A knowledge of the market is es-
sential, the Secretary explains, if the
farmer is to organize
Tho Fore;on and operate his busi-
ness to the best advan-
mdIAct. tage. Something like
one-fourth of all the farm produce
goes to foreign countries. Hence to
know his market conditions it is
essential for the farmer to know
considerable about the foreign as
well as the domestic market.
Study of foreign markets for farm
products will bring home to the agri-
cultural producer that If the foreign
outlet were blocked there would be
left in this country frequently a sur
plus that would exert disastrous
effect on prices to farmers.
The export business in agricultural
products is very large. In 1919 it con-
stituted practically SIS per cent or all
exports. Agricultural products export
ed were worth about $4,250, ,o0o,ooo'
while all other products exported were
worth only $500, 100000
The farmer ought to be and is IN
creasingly interested in knowing now
and why his prosperity depends, IN
large measure, upon foreign markets.
The farmer is in position to do more
toward promoting foreign trade than
may appear at first glance, Secretary
Meredith says.
X X
Practically every farm commodity
Is now represented by some large
organization, and
parr...r+od hy some of them are
keenly. Interested
Organizations. in export trade in
farm products. Yet the growers VINO
compose the organizations thus far
have given too little thought to what
a -oreign outlet means to them. The
cotton growers, about 60 per cent OF
whose product goes to foreign mar
kets, know a great deal about II. SO
do the growers Of some types of to-
bacco that go almost exclusively into
specific foreign markets. So do some
citrus fruit and apple growers. the
rank and file of farmers. however,
have given the matter practically no
thought, Secretary Meredith finds.
1t is highly desirable that the farm
ers and their organizations avail
themselves of all possible sources of
Information on foreign markets and
marketing, and the United States De-
partment of Agriculture is in posi-
tion to give them very valuable as