Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1922-06-09

YeYt they are all cock-sure that they
know more about the game than the
men who make the cards.
If wanted to know what was the
trouble with farming, and what Is need
ed to restore agriculture to its proper
standing among our national industries,
1 shouldn't go to any convention or
commission or congress of speech-mak-
ing pap-seekers. should go with my
fiivver or my old horse and buggy across
two or three counties, stopping wherever
1 saw a real farmer really at work, and
seeking his viewpoint-if he was willing
to give the plow-team a hve-minute rest
and talk to me over the fence.
The result Of such an inquiry would
unquestionably be the development of a
good many crude theories and the pro-
duction of a good many one-sided state
ments. But they would all have come
out Of the honest and permanent dirt of
the farm-not from the shifting caverns
of a delusive fog-bank waiting for the
rising sun to abolish it.
So far as my conversations with real
farmers have enlightened me, 1 should
say that very few of them understand
and practically none of them care rap
for the schemes which are devised or
advocated by agricultural congresses"
called by politicians and composed Of
politicians, mainly. Nor are they inter
ested in the operations of any "agricul-
tural blocs." They may not be able to
tell a hawk from a hand-saw, even when
the wind is northerly, but they do know
the difference between spoonful of pap
and a baked potato, or between a hill
of corn and stalk Of pig-weed
There is no doubt that great many
ming for office or secretly laundering af-
| ter office would like to have the voting
| farmers regard them as devoted friends
and champions. But they insult the in
te1ligence of even the dumbest-headed
| farmer in two states when they under
| take to enlist his support for any set
of cranky innovations, conceived in ut
| ter ignorance of the real facts and mas
querading in imitation garments.
There are others who hold the same
| feeling as l do about this matter. The
number is growing, think. Even the
editors of big city papers occasionally
strike twelve" as the saying is, in dis
cussing it. Here, for example, is an ex-
tract from a recent editorial in the To-
ledo, o., Blade:
From the plain statements of a far
mer-an everyday, dirt farmer-to US
we venture to say that what the average
farmer wants are lower freight rates, d
| fairer share in the prices paid for farm
products by consumers, a higher return
on investment and labor, a lower price
| for farm implements, relief from the
evils that make gamble of farming
| an income in proportion to the Service
rendered society.
THE man who tells the farmer that
| politics will bring these things is ped.
ding nostrum. Legislation can dc
| little. Tempestuous talk can do nothing
Relief for the farmer must be in the di-
rection Of better business and he is in
| fnitely more likely to obtain this relief
by his own power and that Of his non,
political organizations than through gen
| tlemen who put emery powder into the
works at Washington.
! Whatever it is the farmer wants, Il
will not be political horseplay which
gives it to him."
That seems to me to cover the ground
and express the plain truth about a.
well as you or I could do it.
| AS matter of fact, it isn't new leg
islation or more legislation which I!
needed to cure farm Ills It is a differ
ent spirit in dealing with them. And
that is something over which Legislation
/ is as powerless as it Is over the mora
law. 1t is simply impossible to max
men either virtuous or wise or just b!
act of congress-or even by constitu
tional amendment. When Humpty
j Dumpty has once tumbled off the wal
not all the kings horses nor all tn
kings men can set Humpty-Dumpty III
again. It's against the course Of ma
ture.
And the course of nature runs It's owl
way. utterly regardless OF human act
or edicts.
So far as knew him, the America
farmer doesn't want special privilege
nor special rights, nor special legisla
ton. He wants simply his full share o
that which he produces. He wants jus
an honest deal and fair show in tn
game.
He doesn't want Political Pap, but h
does want three square meals a day an,
what Mr.. Hohenzollern' once describe
as a place in the sun" He doesn't wan
charity, but he does want what h
earns.
If the rest Of the world is composed o
J foreseeing and really intelligent beings
} they will see that he gets this much
They will heartily support him in takin
| this much
THE FARMER.