Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-05-27
SCIENTIST IN THE SENATE.
Continued From Page One.)

Continued From Page One.)
produced the butter, is at the dock
|awaiting it. The tortuous route be-
tween producer and consumer, even
when separated by the seas, has, been
shortened and sirlplified for the Danish
farmer, with the result that he can
buy our feed and ship us butter very
often for less than our dairymcn can
get it to our consumers, ....s-.
- $3.50 Worth Of Wool in Suit.
"a sheep-grower friend Of mine re-
Gently while packing his marketless
crop Of wool into Il warehouse. noticed
a. tailor's sign across the street from
where he was working. He went over
and asked what a good suit of clothes
would cost him. He found that it was
all strong man could do to lug to
the tailor shop at two turns the amount
of virgin wool he would have to sell to
get money enough to buy one suit OF
clothes. And for the wool actually
used in the suit he would have re-
ceived less than $3.50. All the rest OF
the wool that he would have exchanged
for the suit Of clothes would have gone
to the vast number Of persons on the
road from farm to consumer, and only
a few small portions Of it to the work
ers in the factory and o'the tailor who
transformed il into clothing. There
were probably thousand miles and
scores of landings on even the road
from warehouses to the tailor shop
across the street
why should a steer or hog grown
in Minnesota or North Dakota have to
travel alive to Chicago and be shipped
back in parts to the vicinity of produc-
ton before it is available in Minnesota
or North Dakota for food? why
should q pound or two of cotton pass
through dozens Of hands on the way
from Oklahoma to Maine and then
back again. before the farmer who pro-
duced it can get it back in the form OF
q palm beach suit? And why should
nothing to the growing Of the cotton,
the making OF the cloth or the manu-
facture Of the suit, who never see or
touch either Of thcm-take tolls from
cotton. cloth and suit. and often in the
form Of speculative profits only?
Tho answers to ali these questions
and numerous others are hard, to find.
but they must be found if farming is
kept from falling into the hands only
of old men who are passing from the
stage and children who will flock TO
the cities as soon as they grow up In
fact, the most saddening aspect OF
many farming districts now is the
scarcity if not the entire absence OF
Young men, and women who already
have gone en- masse to the cities.
1.-THE problem is farming one in the
primary sense only. The matter OF
earnings is only incidental. The great
question is keeping people, and the
right sort OF people, ON the farms TO
produce the food the country's popu-
lation must have. You must remember
that no man is bound to the furm as
was once the case; theoretically. any
one there can leave as thousands and
thousands have done.
And they will continue to leave as
long as the best prizes of life lie out
side of farming. We are already on
the verge Of becoming importers in
stead of exporters Of foodstuffs: when
tif we should) we become dependent on
foreign countries for food, our coun-
try will be in a dangerous position. II
present tendencies continue that is
liable to happen within less than ten
years.
1T will be much easier TO meet and
solve the crisis before than after 1t
comes. This is the lesson OF other
countries and Of our own, in the last
year or two, with regard to railroads
and merchant shipping.
1.-THE farmer must be recognized
O business man and industriallst ana
given the protection and the help that
the country has given to other business
and industries He must have the
credit facilities that go with sound
business. He must be informed on ma
tional and international conditions
that will affect the demand and
the prices paid for his product, SO
that he may not produce surpluSes that
will he wasted for lack Of market, and
vet avoid deficiencies that may cause
thousands to go hungry. He must
have some say rs To when and now he
shall sell what he produces. just rs
other business men can hold or sell as
conditions warrant. The processes oil
distribution must be simplifled ana
chcapened, for the benefit Of consumers
as we'll as producers. Opportunities
for speculation must be reduced. lie