The Washington herald., 1920-03-17
Farmers Say They Don'tGet
Square Deal in. Marketing
Products of Their Lands


cheaper Milk is certain to &c
higher. and Mr.. Ford's artificial
milk will not fill the bill. II lack.
something. that vitalizing part that
natural milk has. and until that
Is discovered there will not be q
real substitute.
Suggests 2O-Cents-a-QuartM Milk.
The trouble about the whole sit =
uation is that the farmer is not ac-
corded justice. He is producing for
fourteen hours a day. Whenever any
comparison is made his fourteen
hours is weighed against the S-hour
day OF city labor and he pays ac-
lcordipgly. while the consumer Is
benefited by the 14-hour day. Then
In producing G. fo6dsthffs the time of
the farmer and his family is fire.
quently not taken into consideration.
Were this the case the consumer
would pay a great deal more than
he is doing now.
When everything is equalized the
prices will go up ;to,,a reasonable
level. Twenty cents quart for
milk? Why DOT? This will be the
put on the same wage basis as is a
hod carrier II he Is lucky the
farmer will get 80 cents an hour
and the hod carrier 81. Tack on the
differences to the farmers wage and
what would that mean in cost of
products"
1t was claimed the government is
helping everybody else except the
farmer. Along this line, Mr.. Taylor
and Mr.. Drown deprecated the fact
the government is holding back a
lot of auto trucks, not offering them
for sale for fear of demoralizing the
market. There are not enough
tr acks to go around but thousands
are falling TO pieces for lack of use,
it is charged.
Hit ut SIS shoes, SIS shirts.
Luxurious habits of the city
dwellers were blamed by these
country gentlemen for the high cost
of many commodities. Shoes at SlS
and silk shirts at SIS, costly furs
and automobiles over s2,000-all
these things figured. Grain leather
shoes, hickory shirts, sheepskin
coats and fiivvers are the panacea
for the high cost of living. 1t was
further brought out that the trac-
tor has not and would not solve the
problems of the farm. Animal
power was. still a big factor and
this has been proved at the Pur-
due University experimental farm,
where II has been found that horse
power (actuaD has been cheaper
than other motive power.
During the discussion il was
brought out that the American
farmer will not so on a strike even
III his hired man does. He will re-
main on the farm. raise what he
can, but feed himself first. The Sc
riousness of the situation as affect
ing foodstuffs was not minimized
by the officers of the federation.
however.
Under the supervision of the agri-
cultural departments of the univer-
stiles in Indiana five acres is set
aside by each farmer. II he raises
100 or more bushels to the acre he
gets gold medal: II less a silver
medal Last year thes Purdue Uni
versity distributed twenty-four gold
medals and any farmer will tell you
100 bushels an acre is some" crop.
VIII Take Care Of Machinery.
During recent experiments II was
also brought out that the cost per
bushel was much less where the
yield was 100 bushels than where it
was from 40 to 50, and this despite
the Intensive cultivation. fertilizer
and care INVOLVED In the bumper
crop. Thus, the farmer learns it is
cheaper to raise as'1itnit" crop than
a mediocre one; even the outlay at
the start Is large, All of this. of
course. tends TO Increase production,
and the lone farmer of the future
Is likely to raise, as much by him.
self as he did when q. hired man
worked alongside Of him.
In discussing 2 economies and
waste. 1t was discovered, after IN
vestigation on and off the farm.
that the farmer has at last found
out that 1t pays to look after. ma
chinery in the off season. The uni
versity ,statisticians have shown the
farmer. that he only gets four years
out of the average piece of machin-
cry and he only uses II on an aver
age of twelve to sixteen days in the
year. just because, he leaves il
where he happens to be at the end
Of a particular season. In the fu-
ture he is going to get enough out
ofSthe extra wear to Keep him In
gasoline, a.. well as pay. for many
comforts he had never dreamed OF
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