Judsonia weekly advance., 1922-01-12

Of defective distribution of farAm prod nets. Should 1t not occur to Ans that we have a common interest with the farmer In his attempts to attainAa de- gree or efficiency in distribution cpE responding to his efficiency in prAduc. ton! Do not the recent fluctuatko kons In the May wheat option, apparenAay unrelated to normal intersection oA supply and demand, offer a timely proo1 of the need of some such stabilf izing agency as the grain growers have( in contemplation?
 It Is contended that. If their pro. posed organizations be perfected and operated. the farmers will have in their hands an instrument that will be capable of dangerous abuse. We are told that 1t will be possible to pervert It to arbitrary and oppressive price, fixing from it's legitimate use of order ing and stabllizing the flow of farm products to the market, to the mutual benefit of producer and consumer. I have no apprehens'ons on this point.
 In the first place, loose organiza- ton, such as any union of farmeys must be at best, cannot be so arbis trarily and promptly controlled as a great corporation. The one Is lum- bering democracy and the other an agile autocracy. In the second place. with all possible power of org snization. the farmers cannot succeed to any great l, extent. or for any considerable length 1 of time, In fixing prices. The great law of supply and demand works In various and surprising ways, to the undoing of the best laid plans that attempt to foil It. In the third place, their power will avail the farmers nothing if 1t be abused. In our time and country power is of value to its possessor only so long as 1t Is not abused It is fair to say that have seen no signs In responsible quarters of a disposition to dictate prices. There seems, on the contrary. to be a commonly beneficial purpose to realize a stability that will givo an orderly and abundant flow of farm products to the consumer and ensure reasonable and dependable returns to the pro- j ducer.a
 In view of the supreme importance to the national well-being of pros porous and contented agricultural pop ulation, we should be prepared to go long way In assisting the farmers to get an equitable share of the wealth they produce, through the inaugura- ton of reforms that will procure a l continuous and increasing stream of farm products. They are far from get ting a fair share now Considering his capital and the long hours of labor put in by the average farmer and his family. he is remunerated less than any other occupational class, with the possible exception of teachers, reli- gious and lay. Though we know that the present general distress of the farmers Is exceptional and Is linked with the inevitable economic readiust- ment following the war, 1t must he remembered that. although represent ing one-third of the industrial product and half the total population of the nation, the rural comm lnities ordi- nariy enjoy but a fifth to a quarter of the net annual national gain Notwith- standing the taste of prosperity that the farmers had during the war; there Is today lower standard of living among the cotton farmers of the South than In any other pursuit in the country.
 In conclusion, 1t seems to me that the farmers are chiefly striving for a gen. erally beneficial htegration of their business of the same kind and charac- ter that other business enjoys. If 1t should be found on examination that the attainment of this end requires methods different from those which other activities have followed for the same purpose should we not sympa- thetically consider the plea for the right to cooperate, if only from our own enlightened self interest. In ob- taining an abundant and steady flow of farm products7
 In examining the agricultural situa. tion with view to its improvement, we shall he most helpful if We main- tain detached and judicial viewpoint, remembering that existing wrongs may be chiefly an accident of unsymmetrl- cal economic growth instead of crea- tion of malevolent design and conspira- cy. We Americans are prone, as Pro- lessor David Friday we'll says in his admirable book, Profits, Wages and Prices,'' to seek a criminal intent be- hind every difficult and undesirable eco- homie situation" I can positively as- sert from my contact with men of large affairs, including bankers, that, as whole. they are endeavoring to fulfill as they see them the obligations that go with their power, Preoccupied with the grave problems and heavy tasks of their own immediate affairs. they have not turned their thoughtful personal attention or their construc- tive abilities to the deficiencies of agri- cultural business organization. Agri- culture, 1t may be said. suffers from their preoccupation and neglect rather than from any purposeful exploitation by them. They ought now to begin to rosnond to the farmers, difficr,tio.