Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1921-03-02
WHAT is WRONG WITH
THE COUNTRY NOW

At the Get-Together Marketing Conference
which has just been held in Madison Mr. E.
State Union, American Society Of Equity. ans
wered the above questions by going back TO the
records and receiving the economic foundz-
ton upon which the Society rests.
Among many other things Mr., Pommeren-
ing gxs Ssid !. -. -. .u..u,...-. -.
depends on the weIi-being Of the agricultural
class Simply that that class Is the largest in
the community, that all others depend it.
that our farm produce Is our greatest nation
ton here Is national calamity. Prices are
largely regulated by the ability of the farm
try are based on the farm-it is the foundation
on which the whole structure rests.
The farming class IS the greatest consunn-
ing class IN the country. When It, through
economy. sales fall of. stocks accumulate in
factory and store. prices decline. collections
are bad. there is less available capital 70 loan.
money gets tight just when it Is most needed.
and we all feel the pinch. Luxuries are dis
pensed with. There are fewer pianos and or
gars in the houses of the farmers. fewer pic
lures the wall, fewer books and newspapers
bought. The farmer and his family make the
clothes do for another year instead of buying
new ones. Farms are allowed to run down.
improvements are not made; less machines are
bought, and fewer hands employed, and final
ly the gains of former years wiped out.
Then comes the mortgage. and the whole pro-
with again. 1t is all the result of diminish
ed consumption the part of the farmers,
brc.Ight about by the low prices. With the
farmer out of the market, or in it only TO a
limited extent the market is bound to suffer.
and all industries win be harmed"
There you have the situation today in a very
few words. Within the last few months the
prices of farm products have been pounded
down to the extent of about nine billions of
dollars. The farmers purchasing power has
been reduced by more than that amount as
rpU q
cess of actual conditions Mills and factories
have been compelled to shut down. Railroads
are moving little freight. Labor is out of
employment Secretary Wilson Of the United
States Department of Labor places the num-
Der of working men now idle at more than
four billion, five hundred thousand. No one
is buying, neither farmers or laborers that is,
they not buying beyond actual necessities
and even these are cut to the minimum. Those
who working are buying sparingly, anti
eipatlng that the prices have not as yet struck
rock bottom. The result is, the value of mer-
chandise is depreciating the shelves and
farm prices are still tumbling, while interest
charges on commercial loans driving BUSH
ness men and farmers into bankruptcy or
back to the mortgage
Can you doubt that Improbable prices for
farm products now, IS largely responsible for
our present upheaval? Can you imagine what
the immediate effect would be on industry gem
orally if the farmers had would receive
their nine billion dollars that has been taken
from them through declining prices on last
years crops?
There are some farmers, possibly not more
than two or three million, who have not yet
felt able TO buy an automobile tractor and
every one of them would buy the other
or BOTH if they had the money. Now they
will not buy. That IS why auto have
shut down their factories.
This has thrown at least a million men out
or employment. These men. thousands of them
had planned TO build a home this summer if
all went we'll They will not undertake to
build now. And this will rob something like
another million laborers-carpenters, brick
layers, plasterers, masons. painters and de-
corators, ETC.. who had a right to expect a
continuation of prosperous times and many
of whom also expected to buy or build homes
this season. And so the various circle of dis
appointment and retrenchment grows
Nine billion dollars saved No one can es-
innate how many billions will be lost, used up
and sacrificed because of the slump caused by
its saving, which in effect is the same as
though stolen from the farmers. They had
worked and earned it. 1t was in their pos
session."