The Cook County news-herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Cook County, Minn.) 1909-current, 1920-10-20
sRc|ares Definite National Auri-
cultural Policy Is Vital to
Country's Welfare.
WOULD PUT END TO PRICE
FIXING OF FARM PRODUCTS
In Address Before Minnesota Stat,
Fair Republican Nominee Shows
Profound Understanding Of
Farming and Its Problems.

E1all undertake to make Of the United
States a self-sustaining nation-which
means that we shall grow within our
own boundaries all Of the staple food
products needed to maintain the high.
est type Of civiliza tion-or whether
we shall continue to exploit our agri
cultural resources for the benefit of
our industrial and commercial life, and
to leave to posterity the task of finding
food enough, by strong-arm methods,
If necessary, to support the coming
hundreds Of Millions
81 believe in the seIf-susta lining, in.
dependent, seIf-reiant nation, agricu.
turalIy, industraIIy and politically.
We are then the guarantors Of our own
security and are equal to the task"
SO declared Senator Harding in a
mastery address before the Minnesota
State Fair here, in which he revealed
most profound understanding of
agriculture, it's problems and it's rela
tiG1 to the farmer and the consumer in
the cities. This speech has been de-
scribed as the greatest speech on agri
culture which has ever been made by
q Presidential candidate.
Among other things he said:
"A good many years ago a Chinese
philosopher uttered a profound truth
when he said: The well-being of a
people Is like tree; agriculture is it's
root, manufacture and commerce are
its branches and. it's life; If the root
Is injured the leaves fall, the branches
~<'eak and the tree dies
Cause for Concern.
- may seem strange to many good
people that at this particular time any
one should quote this saying of a wise
old Chinese. Never in all our history
have prices Of farm products ruled
so high, measured in dollars, as during
the past four years. Farm land in the
great surplus producing states has ad.
vanced to unheard CT prices, with
every indication that, but for the tight
money conditions, it would go still
higher. Apparently the farmers of the
land are enjoying unprecedented pros
perity. Why then, even by implica.
ton, suggest that something may be
wrong with our agriculture, and that
the trouble may be communicated to
our manufactures and commerce? Peo-
e In the cities are disposed to think
at If there is anything wrong it is
the cities where food is selling at
IN high prices, and not in the coun-
where the food is produced But
Tarm and city students of national
<blems see in the present agricul-
situation certain conditions
CHI give cause for real concern to
~ lover Of his country"
e then referred in a most interest
way to the development Of the
It central west and sketched briefly
settlement Of the great central val
as follows:
Through the homestead law the
eminent gave farm of the richest
| in the world to every man who
ted one. Railroads were built, the
tries were plowed up, and almost
.rnight the agricultural production
the United States increased by
per cent. Grains were produced
sold at the bare cost Of utilizing
soil, and the farmers Of the older
ties to the east were smothered by
y, food Of cheap grain. The only
& that could be done with this
Arabundance of food was to build
IS out Of it. And great cities we
build, not only in the United
ties, but across the SEAS"
lie spoke Of the hard conditions
CHI came upon the farmers Of the
trail west as a result of their over
1uction, and then Of the gradual
rovement which began about 1905,
m the increased population in the
IS began to catch up with farm pro-
ton, and how this increased de-
a. I'd for food was accelerated by the
~.at World War.
<eaking of the part played by the
mer during the war, he said:
Splendid Part Of Farmers.
THE splendid part played by the
Tmers Of the nation during the war
obably never will be understood or
lily appreciated by our people, More
an rs per cent of all our fighting
zen came from the farms, and after
ending their sons to the camps, the
fathers and mothers, with the help of
1.-THE younger children, turned to and
! produced more food than was ever be-
fore produced in the history of the
world in the same time and from the
same area Of land. Their working
days were measured not by the clock,
They took to themselves the respon~
S1DlllIV Oh IeeulllS LOU Ollly our OWL
people, but also our allies across the
sea. In more ways than one, our farm
ers made the war their war, and count
ed no sacrifice too great to help fight it
through to successful finish. The
IS sy of wha sIthey did, written by
one who understands it, will
: furnish one Of the most glorious chap
tiers in American history. One thing
may say-in every American con-
fiict, from the revolution for independ-
ence to the world war for maintained
rights, the farmer has been 100 per
cent American and ready for every
''f He then pointed out some Of the ua.