Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-05-27

"One OF the nrSL tRlngS we ShOulC
do for our farmer is to see that ne is
!, supplied with the world information he
needs for planning his work. At pres
ent he gets none, which condition is
made worse by the fact that those who
5 buy his products do get 1t in very large
part There is one distributing con-
Germ in the United States that gets
world data on grain crops and on
meats, and you may be sure it doesn't
, share the information with others. 1t
has every advantage in buying from
the farmer, who must plant and har-
vest and sell altogether In the dark as
to the forces that shape the prices of
his products.
What the farmer must be enabled to
get is not high prices in the strict
sense. bur the prices that are due him.
He should have the benefits as we'll as
bear the penalties going with the law
of supply and demand, which is not the
case at present when he has to bear
more than his share Of the penalties
and. is not allowed full measure Of
benefits. -
How Conditions Have Changed.
"This state of affairs is due, as,
said. to our national view of farming.
After the Civil War the country turn
ed very wisely to developing what we
know as the country's industries, min
ing, manufacturing transportation. At
and prior to that time we were a ma
ton Of farmers. We had an endless
amount of cheap land because there
were immense areasA%of free land.
Farming was simplesprocess and life
in the farming districts was equally
simple. Local equations in great meas
ure controlled. We assumed, if we
thought Of it at all, that farming con-
ditions would always be as they were
and we put all Of our national thought
upon the development Of other phases
of the national life.
Meantime, farming conditions
changed. The free lands were taken
up and settled and the old areas be-
came so populated that the farmer
could not, as had been the case before.
get at small price new and virgin soil
whenever that he had been tilling was
exhausted.
"The means Of distribution also be-
came much more complex. Instead OF
local market the farmer had to deal
with a national and even an interna-
tional market: And ali -tftSshadto- come
about not with the view Of helping the
farmer-as l said he didn't seem to
need hep-but for aiding in the growth
of other parts of the national makeup,
like the cities which did seem to need
help.
1T was assumed that the farmers
end would take care Of itself. Hence
on the road from farmer to consumer
there grew up vast mechanism in
shaping which the farmer had nothing
to do and over which he had no con-
troll. This mechanism in time came to
exist largely for its own sake rather
than as an instrument for either pro-
|ducer or consumer And it has reach
ed the point where it. devours fear
fully large part of production. Its toll
isn't limited to the support of the ter
ribly large number of persons needed
in manning the mechanism Of distri-
button, but in great part is a tariff
taken by speculation. That tariff is
comparable to the eXtortion exacted
by the robber barons Of old, because
for the tax on speculation on produc-
ton no service whatever Is rendered,
not even the protection which the rob-
Der barons gave their victims.
"I know Of many farmers who, dur
ing the last year, have sent products
into the markets and instead of getting
money return, no matter how small,
have received bills for sums, covering
the excess cost Of distribution over the
price allowed for the article.
THE wheat farmers of the country
received for the wheat exported in 1920
about S2l0,000,000 less than they sol
for wheat exported in 1919, the volume
being about the same for each year.
Yet those who consumed the wheat en-
ported last year paid about $9O,OOo,-
600 more for il than for what we sold
Them in 1919. A toll Of about S240,-
600, ,O00-I allow for increased railroad
rates-was taken on the road from
producer to consumer above what was
taken the year before.
THAT the American farmer can sur
yiye a system Of distribution which
permits of what had said, is an i'm
possibility. But it alone isn't the
farmers chief handicap in the race of
life. Without the toll of speculation,
distribution costs more than producers
can bear even when consumer shares
in the form Of high prices FOR food
sturs, a due proportion of the burden,
During the past winter, Danish
dairymen laid down butter in New
York at prices below the cost of pro-
duction, with that OF distribution
uddnd IN the American dairynon. And