The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1922-04-13

tutes a full third of our population
and good buying third, at that, whe
conditions are favorable.
sThe farmer must do all this b
cause his income is limited by wha
he can produce upon his land and wba
he can get for it in the open market
of the world.
cit now takes full acre of oats t
pay for one day s work of mechani
and even so he often refuses to worl
at all without a helper. The farme
must buy his land, fence it, drain il
pillow, sow, cultivate, reap, pay take
and run risk of season--all against tn
workman with bare hands, contribut
ing neither to capital, tools nor taxes
and, even so, pay him the full produce
of an acre of oats, fertility thrown III
for one day s work in building the
farmers houses, barns or machinery
1t requires a half acre of the best
American land when put to growing
either one of our two most expensive
lcrops-corn and wheat-crops that
cannot be raised for more than one
year out of three without expensive
fertilization, to pay for fewer hours
of actual service than the farmer has
bestowed upon the cultivation of the
land alone and after disregarding seed
implements, fertilizer, interest and
taxes. 81.
".The farmers troubles began sud
denly in May, 1920-almost two years
ago-when prices of farm products
dropped out of sight almost over night
and he lost in a twinkling more money
than it would take to pay the much
talked-of soldiers bonus He was sud
denly confronted with world condi-
tons following the Great War, with
no protection against low prices.
He was forced out of the retail mar
kets except for the barest necessities,
and the country called it buyers
strike. There was no general buyers
strike, for then, and even until now,
most of the people who have money
or can get it are buying everything
that is loose at both ends. -.
ono wonder the city thought that
all the world had gone on strike when
the farmers shook their heads and
stayed at home The little towns met
it directly and understood it, but the
larger cities a thousand miles away
have hardly yet begun to comprehend
that a stable corner stone has been
pulled out of the foundation of their
business, for the effect is spreading to
enterprise of every kind, even to that
farthest remote from actual farming.
cit did not seem to occur to most
people to connect the resultant prob
lem of unemployment with the gulf /
that had formed between the country
and the city; and yet how could we
expect to lose third of our best Gus
toners for manufactured goods with
but the results being felt not only in
reduced profits in business, but in I'M
employment as wells The stream of
goods quickly dams up when third of
the buyers stay at home, and the mani
lfacturers must shut down production
Or go bankrupt. /.
Back of every farmer, or beside
him, is laborer making tools, machin-
Try, clothing, building materials, fur
liture, automobiles and what not for
he farmer and his family As long as
he farmer can buy these things the
aborer will have a job, for the farm
II is a good buyer. But when price
evels become such that the farmer
quits buying, then that particular Ia
'orer is out of a job and he must .
ither go hungry or else compete with
Their laborers in making goods for
eople other than farmers, and there
y force others out of their jobs or
lse force that portion of the public
'hich is still in the markets to sup
ort two, men for one job.
And that is what has happened now.
-ence the large proportion of unem-
loyment and the still larger proper
on of overmanned industries that
ang upon the neck of struggling pros ,
Gritty like dead weights upon the feet
drowning men. And this condition
i'll continue until this gulf between
e country and the city is in some
ay closed up.
1t requires no argument to show
at an immediate object to be at
ined is to get the farmer back into
II markets, for neither the manufac-
rer, the tradesman nor the city la
'rer can afford to lose for any con- :
derable time this third of their pa
onage. s
Otherwise, the little that we do ac- I
'mplish is at the expense of fearful I
roads upon the capital of the coun. F
y. In the meantime the farmer Is n
fiven more and more out of the mar N
cts and more and more back upon his j
wn resources, tending to make Der. N
lament what ought to be merely a A
'mporary condition in the early stag II
: of reconstruction. E