The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1920-03-04
FARM PROBLEM MUST BE
SOLVED, WOOD DECLARES

Leonard Wood, product Of the small
town and the agricultural districts of
New Hampshire and Massachusetts,
and always q st&unch believer in the
basic principle that the farmer and
his product form the backbone Of any
nation, has declared in no uncertain
terms his views on what the nation
must do for the farmer.
For many years Wood has per
ceived that the food and farm and
farm population problem in this
country must inevitably become a
grave one, and quietly, as in his eff
forts TO get the country prepared to
protect its territory and citizenry he
has planned preparedness program
for the farmer.
Only Wealth Producers
"The farmers today are the only
producers of original wealth." he de-
clared. But they are being reduced
in numbers quite rapidly in proper
farms are falling into the hands Of
tenant farmers, and great masses of
large land owners. think We want
we cease to be a self sustaining ma
tiou, ouI "uote ioiSiSH poiiSs must
change
I'VE are producers now Of food in
quantities sufficient for ourselves and
for considerable export, but suppos-
ing our agriculture declines and we
become dependent on outside coun-
tries for food and supplies. what does
that mean? 1t means at once an
enormous navy, it means stronger
military establishment, it means the
control of lines of supply beyond per
adventure, just a during this war
Germany expected to best England
by cutting off her food supply. Eng
land, however, realized that danger
and has always had navy equal
to any other two navies.
Must Help Farmer
$50 to avoid these dangers we must
make the life of the farm attractive.
We must give the farmer, for in
stance, good roads, good lines of COM
munication. We must extend the
governmental advice and aid system
as rapidly as possible. The farmer
is hard working chap, he doesn't
strike, he stays on the job He is the
steadying point about which unstable
masses move. He is landowner.
consequently conservative man and
he believes in the government.
'We want to see that the schools in
the farming districts are just as good
as in the cities. They are not now.
We want to see that these schools
place more stress upon the training
for life, upon the farm and upon ag-
ricultural pursuits.
Closer Contact Needed
I'VE must establish closer contact
between the farmer and the consumer.
We must not have the farmer deliver
ing his milk for six cents quart
and drinking it in restaurant few
hours later at Is cents quart.
81 The farming element has got to
be looked after more than it ever has
been before, and if / am chosen as
president. | will make that one of the
biggest pieces of work in my program.
lust as | did rcconstructing Cuba and
the Philippines.
"In Cuba, more than twenty years
age, found the plantations out of
proiuction and so we suspended all
taxation on the states which were not
in production. We reduced the duty
on agricultural implements and on
mill and railroad machinery to about
one-tenth the former duty, and we
staked, as we say in the West, every
man we could get back onto the farm,
with provisions and implements.
We Won't Forget
We imported cattle and stock and
sold them to the people for nominal
sum, taking their land as security,
and when left that island / advised
the government to cancel all those
mortgages on stock. We did every.
thing possible to put agriculture on
its feet and as a result l may tell you
that in three years time we jumped
the sugar crop from 100000 tons t.
100000 tons.
"We in America must remembe,
that somehow or other, the farmer
although labor was short. in the alb
sence of his own boys and hired help,
got busy and turned out very much
larger supplies than ever before.
''1n other words the American
farmer played the game. He did not
try to hold up the public by striking
and showing up the price of food, but
he fed not only our country, but also
our allies in very large part. He
played the game, he is patriot,