Pueblo chieftain., 1921-02-14
Whats the use, anyhow ?"

Whats the use, anyhow"
This Is ono of tho most deadly
phrases the English language can pro-
duce. 1t is wicked. to speak those
words; worse than swearing. Repres-
ents hopeless state of mind, the
lowest depth of pessimism. Before
asking What's the use?" we should
buy storage tickets to Austria or
China, and go on onc-seventh rations
n few weeks till our ribs stick out
and cut holes in our vest lining. This
Is the last country in the world in
which anyone should express that
umorous. traitorous. unmanly thought
on tho farm IL Is more out of place
than here in town. To the merchant
or tho manufacturer the outlook for
the year ahead is even more of n
gamble than is agriculture: he takes
more risky chances and has less op-
portunity of hedging. Indeed, there
IS no other tradcsman who has such
broad a field for hedging as tho farm
er. He can vary his lines of produc-
ton among a hundred good articles.
and thus strike some kind OF
market OF course. the vicissitudcs of
the past season make n powerful ar
out here in the west things have for
years been tending that way.
Suppose the great war had been go
ing On All this time. We would not
be taking up a collection for the nom
combatant peoples of Europe. because
they would already have starved to
death by millions. The fighting
forces. IL any were left. would require
food enough to draw off much of our
surplus production. and perhaps our
wheat and salt pork and canned beef
might be salablc. tho even this is not
certain. Anyhow 1t is n hard hearted
wretch who would have inclined to-
ward continued warfare to keep up
tho quotations.
It can not be denied that tho
shadow of "Whats-the-use" slightly
clouds n large section of the farm. but
1t spurs all the inhabitants to harder
thinking. and 1t must also be admitted
that thinking is hard work-harder
than milking at a. IN. or doing
chores at S p. m. This is n fault of tho
State Free Employment agency. We
can telephone in for n man to pull
corn or curry the cows but what we
need worse is a capable man to do the
thinking for the outfit and let us go
along in peaceful routine. AS to the
women. they can have their thinking
done by the lady demonstration agent.
All these rattlebrain remarks do
not get us anywhere; we've got to got
back to first base and face the aues-
ton mark in that rough and angular
word Production. Snail We go ahead
and produce, with all this stuff lying
around, stacked up at anti-war prices
and not selling worth n cent? Alfalfa
for instance. reported to be offered as
low as $3.50 in the stack and 1t cost
SO to put It there. But in this case
we do not need TO ask a question or
stir a hand; the 1920 crop is already
pccping up in few sunny corners and
Will soon do the rest"
This feeling of hesitation on pro-
duction may cause a momentary hitch
here on the producing table of the
Farm Page. but out in tho country 1t
does not last five minutes. See the
reports of crowds OF people that at
tended tho Monte Vista stock show.
which like the ono in Denver exceed
ed all past records Of success. Sec
tho customers already coming in at
the seed stores and implement houses.
The pioneers of half century ago faced
hardships with pluck. and now their
descendants are already showing signs
OF being chips off the old blocks.
There will be some fearful winds by
tho time we crown the Queen of the
May Therefore when we clean out
the ditch tho Russian thistlcs muat be
burned or piled on the south bank, or
they will soon be back in the ditch.
Sure enough. ls we predicted last
week, the Arkansas valley farmers
took prompt note OF that freight re-
duCtiOn on hay granted to San Luis
valley n few dnys ago, and now the
alfalfa men OF Bent and prowcrs arc
making a loud howl They rro u1t
going to let Almosa hay pun thru Las
Animas on u basis Of sl2, hauled Sow