Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1921-07-16
AGRICULTURAL ILLS
Joint Congressional Committee Will Soon
Undertake to Diagnose Agricultural
Ills of the Country

Ills of the Country
The Sioux City Journal says that a
joint congressional committee soon will
undertake to diagnose the agricultural
ills Of the country with a view to pre-.
scrbing such legislative medicine as
will be expected to effect a recovery.
Thus the farmer of America becomes a
| patient in need of attention, without
which, it may be observed, a contagion
Of economic sickness would spread
everywhere Helped 20 conyalesce the
farmer, naturally strong with cOnstitu
ton backed by the most acceptable of
all resources, the fertility Of the ground
and its possibilities for the production
of wealth, will come into his own and
bring with him prosperity for all related
elements. Too long already has the
farmer been allowed to languish in an
environment not suited to his yirile
temperament. The effect has been
ruinous, for it must be remembered that
the strongest are the hardest to van
quish, but it cannot be overlooked that
the sick man of America" is today the
| tilIer Of the soil
The ills themselves are many. One
of the most important has resulted from
deep injustice-a wide variance between
the prices of farmers products and goods
delivered to him from the factories. An
other, very closely related to the fore
going, is the difference in prices paid to
the farmers for their products and the
cost TO the consumer. The farmer
knows that from the time the goods
leave his farm until they reach the
home OF the consumer in the city Or
town they increase amazingly in value
Somebody, of course, is getting that in
crease, and is making the farmer ili 10
know that he who produced it is denied
any part Of the augmented value. CO
operative marketing plans are expected
to put an end to that undesirable condi
ton. Congress, however, must encour-
age that idea by giving the farmer a
clean bill Of health as regards the anti
trust laws Of the country.
The farmer also needs financial as
sistance. Credits are necessary for him
to operate on scale that means his
prosperity and the feeding of the mill
ions depending upon his efforts. 1t
takes money to pay field hands, to buy
farm implements and machinery, to
dnance marketing and transportation
The extension Of credit to the farmers
ought to be the simplest thing imagin
able for the financial interests. No.
where could they get better security or
encourage a bigger and better return for
money advanced. In fact the related
financial interests that contribute to the
extension of credit to the farmers are
merely guaranteeing their own susten-
ance and their supply of cotton, wool,
hides and other land products, without
which they would be helpless in the ex-
treme. No one can deny that he is not
absolutely dependent upon the men
who produce wealth from the land
Hence the far reaching importance of
the farmers case as careful consultation
would permit and the application of
remedies best calculated to have the
wholesome effect desired.
The farmer has been q splendid patti
ent. He has complained, but his COM
plants have not been so loud nor so
constant as those of some other pro-
ducers Of wealth who have found lean
times Refusing TO cut down acreage
because of decreased selling prices for
his products, he has gone ahead tomake
another crop That has been wholly
due to his unfailng optimism, result
of his close contact with the soil, which
has made man Of him 1t is hoped |
that in dignosing the farmers case, the |
consulting congressional physicians will |
be able to get at the real cause Of his |
ills and will have knowledge sufficient
to prescribe exactly what will effect a |
sure cure.