Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1921-06-11
Editors Letter Box
Continued from Page 81


ing.
The occasion for the existence of
the Sweet Corn Growers Association,
organized in 1919, need not be repeat
ed. It's members have believed that
the advance in price of one cent
pound for sweet corn the last two
years was due to the efforts OF the
Association. Mr.. Baxter denies this,
and credits the advance to the agents
of the Federal Government. We have
heard from the Association and from
Mr.. Baxter. We have not heard from
the Government.
Last spring, in conversation with
Philip r. Park, at the head OF the
Park & Pollard Co., and one of the
largest farmers in this section of the
State, planting in the vicinity of thir-
ty acres of sweet corn for our fac
tory, he stated that the farmers could
not afford to plant for less than five
cents per pound. Mr.. Parks repu-
tation as an honorable and farseeing
business man is well known.
| In April, as president of our local
association, | called a meeting for
! discussion of the price to be expected
! for our sweet corn. 1t was the unan-
| imouS opinion of our farmers that
they could not plant for less than the
| last two years. AS it happened We
did not then know the sentiment of
the farmers of the State, but this
conclusion being reached by the ma
/ jority. who are standing firm by their
! first decision, it may be believed that
! there is just ground for such demand.
Some of the reasons urged by our
| farmers were these:
| The price of labor, while somewhat
| less, was not so greatly reduced, nor
! was SO much help in sight, as to
! change the conditions from the last
two years. The price of fertilizer,
both commercial and stable. was
| about the same, and the latter was
lessened in quantity owing to the fact
| that there being no market demand
! the amount of stock wintered was
very much less than usual. Although
| prices of almost everything we buy
/ have been reduced in city markets
! about twenty per cent, one thing to
! be considered. not understood out
/ side, is the fact that the lowering of
| city prices does not in many in
| stances affect the farmers, who are
I compelled by circumstances to buy
! of their local dealers. These dealers
/ having purchased much of their stock
| during the high prices are not now
| able to sell at mark down figures to
| any great extent without themselves
| suffering severe financial loss, which
| they are not we'll able to withstand.
| Concerning Mr.. Bakers statement
| that there is absolutely no other
| crop that the Maine farmers can
raise with greater prospect of finan-
| cial return than sweet corn at the
packers price" l should like to ask if
Mr.. Baxter knows that land suitably
| prepared for corn raising will also
! grow grain of various kinds, with no
| further expense of cultivation. And
! does he know the probable yield and
| prices of other crops which are mar
| ketable? Can he foretell the weather
| conditions which will insure a yield
of those crops as well as that of the
corn crop? From present indications,
/ the farmer is not sorry that he is not
depending on his factory corn.
Mr.. Baxter need not worry about
| the inability of the farmer to utilize
! his land, his teams, his tractors, his
| stable dressing and his labor" Most
| farmers know what to do with all
those things. even if not devoted to
corn planting.
| Mr.. Baxter refers to Mr.. Crawford
and the farmers whom he is leading
INTO unfamiliar paths" He evidently
has in mind Farmer Corntossel, with
hayseed in his hair, the joke of the
newspapers for many years back.
Mr.. Baxter is behind the times He
needs to be informed that all the
Maine farmers are not halter broken.
| and that, aside from the kid-gloved
variety, in the business for the fun
of it, and who could not shear a sheen
or lead a calf to water, there are
farmers with some brain of their own
that they are able to use without
dictation.
The truth is that the farmer of the
past has not appreciated himself, his
labor nor the place he was filing in
the feeding of the world. While at the
mercy of the drought, the flood. the
bugs and the frost, he has also been
at the mercy of the purchasers. who
have fixed his prices. with the result
! that little has been left when all had
| extracted their commission. He has
| meekly endured this, knowing no
other way, but hts meekness is evi-
IDENTIFY not of the sort that inherits
the earth. At any rate, there seems
no immediate prospect of his coming
into his inheritance.
In the frenzied days of war. when
famine stared the world in the face
the farmer was eulogized as the life
saver. and he was urged to show his
patriotism to the last limit, to feed
not only his own country but the
starving countries beyond the sea.
He needed the call, and though per
/ haps not buying as heavily of Liberty
Bonds as those financiers to whom
| in the past he had turned over the
results of his hard labor, he did his
utmost. Now shall he be expected to
forget the pretty things said about
| him, to be sat upon by the daylight
MASTERS, and continue to pay tribute
to those who still expect to buy his
harvest at their own price? Hardly
The farmer has faced all sorts of
trusts. powerless to rebel. Now in
self protection, forced to organize for
himself, protests fill the air. The
farmer asks only fair return for
his labor, return he could COM