Norwich bulletin., 1921-04-22


 xrewtng have formed an organization I called The Farmers Grain Marketing f Cefraittee. The simple purpose of this ! oHganizafien is to devise methods of sell | ingi grain whereby the farmers who pro- | duee it shall be enabled to secure decent | returns for themselves Our new secre- tafy ef agriculture made his first public address: before this organization at Chi cago April S. I have just been able to obtain a complete report of that address anf have read it with much interest. Isfeel- sure other farmers will find 1t wefth while to get a glimpse at what is in;4ths secretary's mind. At the same time some who are non-farmefs ought to Be interested in what this official head of athe country's rural production says about the producers present condition. .seerctary Wallace evidently agrees with sorae of us less widely known farm efss that publicly is really about the most useful weapon there is for fighting er- rers and abuses. He laid much stress in; his talk to the grain-growers- on what his department was trying to do along this line, especially in regard to market ing costs Perhaps tho '~''"'o may be l,iinina rized in this quotation:
 ,'"Suchs inquiry as tho department may make into this matter of marketing costs should be with the sole purpose of get. ting at 3and making known the facts in order that improvements may be made and .. costs lessened." This service he sAid, ssthe department is glad to render to organizations of farmers, cooperative er otherwise" And he went on: Let nietndake it equally clear that the same sort of. service will be rendered with tke same good will to everyone who has l1ything= to do with marketing our .sops and who is striving to improve his marketing methods
 ,,eIts Is the purpose of the department 10 do everything it can to improve our narketin( system, to the end that both ofoducer and consumer may receive bet ter service at less cost. and it's services are available to everyone who is inter estsd in this matter"
 Those last eight words cover a wide ynread They include, or ought to include every man and woman in the country EEo either produces or consumes. And that means all of us.
 z. :fAs te the need for improvement the . seerNtary did not mince words" He said: At this particular time prices of prac- ticalIy all farm products are not only far below the actual cost of production but are. relatively far below the prices of other. basic commodities. Prices of many l, of the. larger farm crops are well below the pre-war normal, while almost none of. them are above 1t. At the same time tie basic commodities which enter into practically everything which farmers buy afe;tfrom 50 to 100 per. cent, or more, above pre-war normals."
 He did not wonder that farmers should be. seeing red, nor that thousands of them should feel ready to adopt any i9e&sutes,- however drastic, which gave hSpefo of correcting a condition "so gross ly ,tinjust" and causing such widespread . iAsdsh.pg and suffering" ss 4-3SYIe concluded his address by hitting straight out from his shoulder at what he pazsnlye considers the most notable failure among farmers themselves. al "fhis nation cannot hope te maintain it's aKficulture on a sound economic basis nnless our farmers give attention to the busfness end of farming. -l, tgAA <7large producers they have been the.sbest in the world.
 '%As statesmen they have been very TerX poor. E. %.""When prices have been good they have been happy and have taken little thought of the morrow. When price; hhve been unreasona bly low they have cSnplained bitterly and struck out blind. ly,E:. vainiy seeking relief in ways that were utterly hopeless. Constructive ac tion in large way has been entirely laeking.'' ,Ysu and probably have ho exagger Ated' idea of so-called business" Oul chfef, experiences with 1t have been thos, ofsgettihg stung by 1t whenever we go Ike flies into the spiders web At tn, gAnneTffme, In this world of various i'm peftections, among which Truman na tire5- is probably, the most pitifuliy de formed and distorted and wopperjawed 0 aliS we must know, If we have any req son. that the only way to attain practica ends is by: adopting practical means Poets may dream of ideals and martyr may yield up their lives in devotion. t them. But those who would like in Rom must do as the Romans do We are no moving in terrestrial paradise anon inpeccabie saints of both sexes, but fl avery ,serdid world made up of, mostly yefy. selfish people.
 If agriculture Is . business and Is t be made business success, it mus AEopt,. at, least till it can reform then the methods of other businesses. In tha the" secretary is -indubitably right.
 But oh, the difference between writin or talking glibly about it and actual doing iti. =.
 Geversl times h this esaumn VI hav cfatted over the almost encyclopedI knowledge. and the almost superhunAa versatility which are required in the ma . Gho would be successful modern fai rner..' He must know as much about soi ksSa soil-expeft he must know as niuc about animals as biologist; he nf1. know as much about insect pests as a sntcmologist; he must. know as muc akout blights as nicroscopist he ,rar,, know3 as much about weather as a m seefplogist he must know as much abo, mSiness as a machinist; and he must l hrStfciass, bang A No. One labor,
 T4lisA at the wages of the latter unless I happeps to have bad luck. in which cal hssHotseno wages at all but pays for u prfvilegel
 ' And ,nSw. the secretary says, and co, litiene, SeeA to confirm him therein, c, erys farmer mast also be a capable ar winning salesman. QM3ks a Aaa-sizeA job, that of yonr feney hAyseed, is 1t not? Hardly one !, De taraed over to ''the fool of the far nys Is it? Ner one meriting the snee eueAdsxH7 Nor the envy of subu
 ts lawn tenders who nightly benos
 that they can't get 'aws
 SHNae city and Tive happily ever a eeDDGA" like the hero and heroine $ t1sat ss1al.' en little farm with d lit
 A and little hencocp forever fill, VA Gk1A chickens immune to rznAs a, ,nHsAtsA by rats7
 HW 1h0 thing is going to he ar~ practically. own up to complete igno lRzee. For Illustration: We are inform enkaAtkor4ty that there are now in sto age a6e0t 4,0Oo' more carloads of c c1tsas thaA. usual at this tirneN of ye. A4nD, that the new southern onion ere kEaned 6y exceptionally warm weatht tseaeeut three weeks ahead of time, al