Norwich bulletin., 1921-01-07
FARMERS NOT ONLY IN Al HOLE, BUT AT BOTTOM
 OF IT -e~<-.@A..

a aoupd a year ago, though. in both
 cAses the pigs sTere fedhon S60-a-ton
 feed.
 I. hear reppa4s tE;At several large sheep
 and cattle: raisers are preparing to sell off their stock for anything ofensd4,sim-
 ply because they can't get enough for the products. of, their. herds .to-pay for the hay required to winter them. To say nothing of the time and labor in' volVed and fhea' risksy inevitable to all animal industry, which nspet be run.
 THelve years ago I vas offered $6.50 thousand for my standing timber, on the stump. Three months ago a neigh bor whose woods adjoin mine, and who |. had to sell to. get money to meet a ma-
 turing. obligation, oould9 osttafn bE s5 q | thousRnd. for his standing sinlpe pe7S.;At tas | time wn eh the $s:5g s.olfsf was made ssJhe, |: the kinnberfien were getting x1 E tirods- li and for feliing and trimming the logs. the sawyer was. getting s a thqusand for saving, the teamsters were getting g a 1thoaisand for hauling. Now the oltt CTS | get S4 a. thousands; sthe sawyer s8 a | thousand, and the tearnsters s6 thous- . and The lumber, which used to sell for l ah average of s22 a. thousand, nov fetch 1 es S60 and $70. But the farmer wilo has naid taxes for forty years on the land | where the timber grows. get $1.5Q. a 1 thousand LESS than the ruling rate a
 dozen years back! ,-x 2
 A practical working farmer Erftes, stO
 g daiIy paper in my nearest city,
 s"Never before has the American farm: CT been confronted with more, serious Fprobiems. Never before has. he paid
 sitch high prices for sfed, fertilizer and | fafm supplies. Meyer. before has he i paid such high wages far blowing. plant ing. cuttiyating. harvesting and prepar-
 ing for market all.-of his food products Never before have the railroads o+
 America demanded such heavy tol
 from the farmer for carrying, the de
 preciated products of his ,toii to the
 markets of the United States. Never
 before have the the country, tax collec
 tors and the state and federal govern
 ments demanded more of his sweat, stain | ed dollars" ;'
 When such things as these which
 l. have ,equmeratedv-and hundreds -af -pth CTS, equally eutrag geaus-are true 1t il r1iliness ineafhate to say that 's0Tfsthinl
 is wrong.
 l. "Wrong?" Something is rottsn! Print
 ably permissible language doesn't in
 c!ude the only terms fit to ctarncter1z
 he situation. Or to stigEnatiZe the scala | -1l
 And yet, we're all or practically all o } us more or less blameworthy. Few O
 our garments $Haye .escaped;. snirching We're. ali -tarred With the same stick
 Farmers, too2 Yes; farmers, too. Wheh
 a city salesman gave me the price of
 certain article was in sore. need od one day last fall. I bgurted out: sThat' scandalous it's .profteering !" He grin
 ned, superior. s'of course it r is,'tF h tiAl.. these days" .WheH- pGotayted to tn manager of a :ptlblicssexyice plant agains a third increase of ratess the other. day
 and bluntly exas'esands my. belief tha r there was profit eeriuga ,ingolYel,. z -hS | blandly answeyeG., % /. -44.. s+. 'Qh.. we'll, we're.eelF out for everytlrin .I we can get, of course" :. r When wool was selling for. sereat, cents a pound we farmers took it, tfroug. : it was never really worth that prio: When seed potatoes we're selling for ; buslel we took it, though they wer never really worth that price: Whe , dressed pork WAS selling for twenty -foti } cents 8 pound we took it, though it wa never really worth that pric6 We can 3 unfoilShingly assume any ''lloli er-thaI n thou" attitude: We excused ourselves t
 ourselves by. arguing that it was tn c market" and.t anyway, weld got to hay : twenty-four cents for pork. if. we 1nlr pay twenty-five cents for sugar; we'd g, r to have sixteen cents for 1Igfuttofl, S 0 long as we had -to pay SIS barrel 1t r flour, and 50 on. @ y We'll not enter on any discussion ( 0 that' phase, now r simply want to slis gest that we farmers are not an of |
 fiawlessdy perfect saints, nor self-sacr h ficihg servants of the public good. q b, y lieve in the greatest good to the grea y est number . said Aatenfis Ward, <, ', some other humorous philosopher AT F what is the greatest n1naber9" he WE ', asked. Number One," was his instal e reply. T4' -'e - s---,>.-e'. !.'.-= 0 It is still true that the honest pray.
 most of us< can make is that of tie put :. ,t1 -