The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-04-27

know himself that he has been doing
business under the protection Of a
manufacturers blOc--a bloc which has
kept a restrictive tariff on imports,
morphined the Truth-in- Fabric bill
and foStered a sentimentality owe our
infant industries, ever since those
good old days when the ~storekeeper's
grandfather traded 5 cent red calico
to the trappers for $50 furs.
Speaking of manufacturers VS.. farm
ers, the December record Of whole
sale prices, as made public on Jan. 10
by the United States bureau of labor
statistics shows that in comparison
to the farmers II per cent advance
ment since 1913 cloth and clothing is
still IS per cent above normal. Build
household furnishings are still touring
the zenith at lis per CEN above pre-
war prices. Fuel and lighting cost 81
per cent more and chemicals and
drugs are 81 per cent above. The
farmers, who are soberly getting to-
gether to see what can be done about
it, are at the bottom of the list with
Is per cent.
Agriculture has been against the
sales taxa tax which would hit
hardest the consuming middle classes.
me regulation Of the packers and the
grain exchanges merely takes away
unfair privileges Of two other classes.
The entire public benefits by this
leveling of power. The farm loan
fund is no gift. 1t is a loan which
requires interest and credit. The farm
er's peculiar business situation of
long time %turnovers is accommodated
duce with once-a-year sales.
While legislation and transportation
are subjects in which the farmers are
vitality interested, the real reason for
organization, and the one in which the
farm bureau is most active, is the adj
justment of the farmers marketing
system-one end Of his business that
he has neglected, 10 these many years!
The farm bureau is a voluntary CO.
operative association having for it's OBJ
ject the well-being Of agriculture eco
nomically, educationally and socially.
It's purpose is to assist in making the
farm business more profitable, the
farm home more comfortable and at
tractive, and the community a better
place in which to live. 1t seeks to
( perform, in an organized way, certain
essential activities which cannot be
accomplished through individual eff
fort.
The county farm bureau is an or
ganization Of farmers and their fam
lilies cooperating with the state and
federal government in all Of their eX-
tension activities in agriculture and
home economics.
1t brings to the federal department
of agriculture and the agricultural
college the farmers viewpoint, and
likewise erves as an agency through
which the services Of these great
public institutions can be made readily
available to the people. 1t serves to
develop and pOpularize the best known
practices in agriculture and home eco
Monies. The farm bureau is a non
! partisan, ~non-secret, organization, rep
~resenting the whole farm population.
The county farm bureau, the state
farm bureau and the American farm
bureau federation are striving to cut
out waste in marketing by co-opera-
ton. They are trying to bring about
grain marketing through the u. S.
Grain Growers, Inc, by signing up
five year contracts for all their grain.
They are promoting cooperative live
stock marketing through the National
Livestock Producers association re-
Gently established and cotton market
ing through the American Cotton
Growers exchange. A farmers Ma
tional Dairy Marketing committee Of
eleven is working out a plan for CO.
operative dairy marketing. The vege-
table growers fruit growers, and wool
growers are organizing for efficient
selling, for self-protection, for the bet
terment of civilization.