Omaha daily bee., 1921-01-05
7 Farm Bodies
Open Sessions at
State Capital
Nebraska Horticultural Soci-
ETY. Only Branch to Report
/ Profit-Production and
Marketing. Discussed.

tC0ntinutd From Page Oneo
the gentleman from Hitchcock coun-
ty was ruled out of order. Z
Future Outlook Dark.
The future outlook for the farm
. er, especially the young farmer. is
dark, according to L. r. Snipes,
county agent Of Weeping Water.
He presented figures showing that
! any young man with $4,000 capital
would do better to remain in the
city and put his money out at in
terest than to invest it in any farm
at 500 an acre. , 4
Sam Harris of Stella took someA
what opposite view in discussing the
renters point of view. He made the
point that no man of small capital
could live as we'll in the city as in
the country. Nearly half of the
6,5OO,O00 farmers of this country are
tenants and these tenants are as a
rule producing more than farmers
On their own land.
Bankers Encourage Organization.
Bankers are encouraging the farm
ers to organize to cut the expense
OF marketing, Mr.. Harris declared,
aud men in business must show
tFey perform benefit, or go. Bank
crs have also realized that it costs
less to finance the farmer than the
speculator and credit methods are
being altered, he said.
D.~t +, T,,,fNr of <ko
tural college was followed by Leon
ard Heron, editor OF The Nebraska
Union Farmer of Omaha. Pros
pcrity has driven more farmers from
the land than adversely, he declared,
and no exodus from the soil need be
anticipated at the present time. Farm
prosperity inevitably causes land
speculation, which drives out the
real farmers and supplants them
with tenants, according to this view.
He said that land prices probably
would not 60 down, but that deal
ings in land would be slower in the
next few years.
Farmers Should "Sit Tight"
Mr.. Heron said that the prices OF
farm products had been pushed low
er than they should be because
through monopoly control~the prices
of other products had been MAIN
tanned at excessive levels. He does
not expect normal business condi-
lions until the prices of all products,
whether of the farm or of TIE factor
les. get on the same level.
II suggest that the farmers sit
tight and buy as little as possible.
TO wear their old clothes longer and
to keep on using old machinery" he
said. He thought that this would
prove the most effective way OF
bringing the trusts to time.
He declared that the Inonopolies
must cut prices before the country
can expect to get down to normal
basis. Rather than make a cut
factories have let out large numbers
Of employees rather than sell their
goods at figures that would be on
I parity, with agricultural products.
. Favors Smashing Monopolies.
; He wondered if the farmers should
/. organize a monopoly to fight other
nonopolies or whether they should
exert their great power of numbers
| to smash monopolics. Personally,
| he favored the latter course: He
/. looked with much favor on the CO.
operative producing societies OF the
I Pacific coast and commended their
scheme of action.
!. He held, however, tina. farmers car
never become monopoiists because
every farm product has substitute
II. for instance, wheat went up too
high, people would quit eating wheat
rbread and they would seek some
. cheaper substitute. Therefore, he
thought it better for the farmers to
break monopolies instead of becom-
4 ing monopolistic themselves.
He strongly advocated the exten--
sion Of the cooperative program
among agriculturists. He wanted to
? see many cooperative banks in Ne
braska. The banks as at present
organized, he pointed out, are
: formed for the service to other busi-
ness interests than farming.
Prices Still Up.
: Mr.. Heron believed that if the
cost of the war had been paid by
direct taxation, in other words if
: the nation had paid its bills as it
went along financial conditions
would not now be so distressing.
He had noticed, and he supposed
that others living in the city had
! sobserved, that wheat is much lower
than during the war, yet the price of
bread has not dropped. Oats have
I gone down in the crash of prices ami
yet oatmeal products have not
dropped. There is no sale for wool
and it has struck bottom, but cloth
ing and shoes are still high.
Horticulturists Hopeful.
A more hopeful spirit was shown
at the meeting of the rohticulturists,
where J. F. Shubert of Shubert sent
a paper describing the profits in ap-
pie growing in eastern Nebraska as
scommonly around $100 an acre. This
figure was considered low by several
OF the members of the society, who
cited instances in which $500 an acre
had been made and set profits for
careful fruit growers at IS per cent.
Professor Filley and Professor
Howard Of the Agricultural college
were requested to prepare blank
! forms on which orchardists can COM
pute their production costs. Thorne
Brown of the Nebraska Railway
commission spoke. on the subject of
-"Freight Rates and Transportation"
Figures supplied by him indicate
that each family in America averages
$l75 year for freight bills. He
stated that not until the cost Of
: operations is lowered can rates be
!. expected to go down.
Better Foul Laws.