The log cabin Democrat., 1922-01-28
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Now, what Is the farmer asking? Without trying to catalogue the re- medial measures that have been sug- gested in his behalf, the principal pro posals that bear directly on the i'm provement of his distributing and mar keting relations may be summarized as follows :-
 First: storage warehouses for cot ton, wool and tobacco. and elevatoss for grain, of sufficient capacity to meet the maximum demand on them at the peak of the marketing period The farmer thinks that either private capi- tai must furnish these facilities. or the state must erect and own the eleva- tors and warehouses.
 Second: weighing and grading of agricultural products, and certiflcation thereof, to be done by impartial and dlsinterested public inspectors (this is already accomplished to some extent by the federal licensing of weighers and graders), to eliminate underpay- ing, overcharging, and unfair grading, and to facilitate the utilization of the stored products as the basis of credit.
 Third: certainty of credit sufficient to enable the marketing of products In an orderly manner.
 Fourth the Department of Agricul- ture should collect, tabulate, summa- rize, and regularly and frequently pub fish and distribute to the farmers, full information from all the markets of the world. so that they shall be as well Informed of their selling position as buyers now are of their buying posi- tiOn.
 Fifth: freedom to integrate the bust. ness of agriculture by means of con solidated selling agencies, co-ordlnat. ing and cooperating iB such way as to put the farmer on an equal footing with the large buyers of his products, and with commercial relations in other industries
 When business requires specialized talent, it has to buy it. So will the farmers and perhaps the best way for them to get it would be to utilize some of the present machinery of the larg- est established agencies dealing In farm products Of course If he wishes, the farmer may go further and engage in flour-milling and other manufactures of food products In my opinion however, he wHlld be wise to stop short of that. Public interest may be opposed to all great integrations; but, in justice. should they be forbidden to the farmer and permitted to others? The corporate form of association can not now be wholly adapted to his ob- jects and conditions. The looser CO., operative form seems more generally suitable. Therefore, he wishes to be free, If he finds 1t desirable and feas- ible, to resort to cooperation with hYs fellows and neighbors, without run ming afoul of the law. To urge that the farmers should have the same lib- erty to consolidate and coordinate their peculiar economic functions, which other industries In their fields enjoy, Is not, however, to concede that any business integration should have legislative sanction to exercise monop- olistic power The American people are as firmly opposed to industrial as to political autocracy, whether at- tempted by rural or by urban industry.
 For lack of united effort the farmers as whole are still marketing their crops by antiquated methods, or by no methods at all. but they are surrounded by business world that has been mOdernlZed to the last minute and Is tirelessly striving for efficiency. This efficiency Is due In large measure to big business. to united business, to in- tegrated business. Tine farmers now seek the benefits of such largeness, un- ion and integraun.
 The American farmer Is a modern of the moderns In the use of labor saving machinery, and he has made vast strides In recent years in scientific tilage and efficient farm management but as q business in contact with other businesses agriculture Is a "nne horse shay" In competition with high power automobiles. The American farmer iS the greatest and most intractable ol indlvidualists. While industrial pro duction and all phases of the huge com merciaI mechanism and its myriad ac cessories have articulated and co-ordi mated themselves all the way from nat
 ral raw materials to retail sales, the business of agriculture has gone on iI mucl the one man fashion of the back
 9S If the first part If the nine teenth century, when the farmer was