Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-07-13
FOUR DOLLAR STEAK.

senator SaPPef, OF Kansas, recently mace q
speech on agricultural topics which is being widely
quoted. Mr.. Capper undertook to show that the
prices OF farm products had decreased materially
during the past year, a fact so generally known
that it needs little in the way of proof. But in or
der to make out a good case he used a number of
illustrations, some pertinent, others the reverse.
Among other things, he invites anyone who takes
dinner in Washington and pays at the rate of two
70 four dollars a pound for steak to reflect on the
sad lot of the farmer who bought cattle at a high
price, led them great quantities of provender, and
sold them at a loss.
It seems a pity that anyone thinks it necessary
g bolster up a perfectly good case with a nonsens-
ical argument The inevitable result is to cast dis
credit on his case.
If one should go into one Of the restaurants Of
which MIR. Capper speaks and order a light lunch
consisting Of a glass of water and a toothpick, what
would be a fair price for him to pay, in Mr.. Capper's
Judgment? Water is to be had for dipping It out
Of the river, or catching it as it falls, and hundreds
Dt thousands of toothpicks can be made from a cord
Of wood. It is possible that one might find in RUS
STA a monetary token whose present value would
about represent the first cost of the two items men
TONED. Certainly no American coin is small enough
for the purpose.
Butt Mr.. Capper knows, as everyone else knows,
that the hrst cost OF unprepared food is but one
stem, and often a very small item, in the actual cost
of serving a meal in an deliberately fitted up restau-
rant. The man who pays four dollars for a meal
N such a place is paying a small part of it for food.
= - AS pays ~ Tic preparation OF CAat 1000,
for the use of linen and silver and cut glass, for the
services OF walters, and cashiers, and bookkeepers,
and managers, for rent and light and heat, for music
and flowers, and for a lot of things impossible to
cnumerate.
Mr.. Capper knows that it costs twenty or thirty
million dollars to build a modern battleship. But
he can go into the open market and buy battleships
by the dozen at the price Of old iron. This is due
TO the fact that the monster has ceased to be Of
value as a battleship, and it will cost so much to fit
i for any other purpose that the stuff in it is merely
junk. That is simply a reversal Of the other pro-
cess
ss Every man in this country conducting an en-
hard proposition during the past year or two. Like
every other man, the farmer has seen the market
value Of his possessions shrink. In certain direc-
tions the farmer has suffered more from this process
than have most other people. Whoever can devise
q means to correct this-not to prevent the farmer
from feeling the effect Of the shrinkage, but to make
the shrinkage more uniform and equitable-will be
coinferring a benefit on the entire country. But the
solution Of the problem is not fastened or facilitated
bby the use of false and foolish arguments by public
men who are supposed to be statesmen, and who,
therefore, are supposed to be intellectually and NOR
ally above the use of such cheap and finlsy devices.