Vernon Parish Democrat., 1922-02-02

The American farmer is q mOdern Of
the moderns In the use Of labor saving
machinery, and he has made vast
strides in recent years In scientific
tillage and efficient farm management,
but as a business in contact with other
businesses agriculture is tone horse
shay" In competition with high power
automobiles. The American farmer is
the greatest and most intraetable OF
indIyidualists. While Industrial pro-
duction and all phases Of the huge COM
mercial mechanism and its myriad ac-
cessories have articulated and co-ordi-
mated themselves all the way from nat
ural raw materials to retail sales, the
business of agriculture has gone on in
much the one man fashion Of the back
woods of the first part Of the nine
teenth century, when the farmer was
self sufficient and did not depend upon,
or care very much, what the great
world was doing The result Is that
the agricultural group is almost as
much at disadvantage in dealing with
other economic groups as the Jay farm
er Of the funny pages In the hands Of
| sleek urban confidence men, who sell
| him acreage in Central Park or the
Chicago city hall. The leaders Of the
| farmers thoroughly understand this,
and they are intelligently striving to
integrate their industry so that it will
be on an equal footing with other Dusi-
nesseS.
AS an example Of integration, take
| the steel industry, In which the model
is the United States Steel Corporation,
with its iron mines, its coal mines, its
lake and rail transportation, its ocean
vessels, Its by-product coke ovens, its
blast furnaces, its open hearth and
Bessemer furnaces, Its rolling mills, its
tube mills and other manufacturing
| processes that are carried to the high
est degree Of finished production com.
patible with the large trade. 1t has
built up. All this Is generally conced-
ed to be to the advantage of the con-
sumer. Nor does the steel corporation
inconsiderately dump its products on
the market On the contrary, 1t so
| acts that 1t Is frequently stabiliZing
| influence, as is often the case with 9th
er large organizations 1t is master Of
| its distribution as well as of its pro-
duction. If prices are not satisfactory
the products are held back or produc-
tion is reduced or suspended. 1t is not
compelled to send years work to the
| market at one time and take whatever
1t can get under such circumstances.
It has one selling policy and its own
export department. Neither are the
grades and qualities Of steel determin-
ed at the caprice of the buyer, nor does
the latter hold the scales. In this sin
gle integration of the steel corporation
is represented about 40 per cent of the
steel production of America The rest
Is mostly In the hands of few large
companies. In ordinary times the
steel corporation, by example, stabilizes
all steel prices. If this is permissible
lit Is even desirable, because stable
and fair prices are essential to solid
and continued prosperity why would
1t be wrong for the farmers to utilize
central agencies that would have SINH
lar effects on agricultural products
Something like that is what they are
aiming at
Some farmers favored by regional
compactness and contiguity, such as the
Observation-Disclosures Of California, al
ready have found a way legally to
merge and sell their products inte-
orally and in accordance with seasonal
and local demand, thus improving
their position and rendering the con.
sumer reliable service of ensured
quality, certain supply, and reasonable
and relatively steady prices. They
have not found it necessary to resort
to any special privilege, or to claim
any exemption under the antitrust
legislation Of the state or nation. With
out removing local control, they have
built up a very efficient marketing
! agency. The grain, cotton, and to
bacco farmers, and the producers o.
hides and wool, because of their mum
bers and the vastness of their regions
and for other reasons, have fount
integration a more difficult task
though there are now some thousands
Of farmers cooperative elevators
warehouses, creameries, and other en-
terprises Of one sort and another, will
a turnover of billion dollers a year
They are giving the farmers business
experience and training, and, so ia
as they go, they meet the need o
honest weighing and fair grading = sbu
they do not meet the requirements 0
nationally adjusted marketing in an,
large and fundamental way.
The next step, which will be a PAT
tern for other groups, is now beini
prepared by the grain-raisers through
: the establishment of sales media whicl
shall handle grain separately or co
lectively, as the Individual farmer ma
elect. It is this step-the plan Of tn
Committee of Seventeen-whieh ha
created SO much opposition and i
thought by some to be In conflict wit
the antitrust laws. Though there
now before congress a measure de
| sionnd fO clear nm doTiht on this D0in1