The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-02-09
THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.


THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.
John II. Hagan, a dirt farmer" from
Deering, N. d., in addressing the Presi.
Washington, said that the present
system of distribution forms a long
chain between producer and con-
sumner; that of necessity must be
shortened and cheapened, and it seems
that the Federal government must, of
necessity, reach out its strong arm
of protection to ave the farmers, and
other business industries must either
extend credit so that farmers Cool
erative enterprises may extend near
to, if not to the consumer" Mr..
Hagan concluded a very Illuminating
address with the declaration: Il want
to voice the sentiment of the vast ma
jority of farmers in the northwest by
saying that any farmer who has red
blood in his veins, should now rise to
the dignity of the occasion and support
the greatest benefactor he has, and
that is the agricultural bloc in con-
gress."
Many of the delegates to the con-
ference assumed this same position
and at one time a session was held
by a part Of the delegation who fac
~titiously called themselves "the farm
bloc section of the conference" This
distinction may have been due to
sentiment among some of the dele
gates to the effect that even though
the bloc may be all right, that it is
hardly to be considered as "the great
est benefactor" of the day.
The farm conference was called at
the suggestion of the president for the
express purpose of framing a program
if possible, for legislation to aid the
farmers. One of the large trust COM
panies of New York has ISSUED a
statement attacking the farm bloc, and
il gives special attention TO the ap-
lointment IF a farmer on the Federal
Reserve board. ANY attempt IN con-
travention of economic laws, in this
case as regards money and credit in
relation to the agriculturists," reads
the statement, must inevitably arou~e
false hopes and delay necessary re-
adjustments in accordance with sound
economic principles" Were it not for
the fact that such suggestions as the
above are construed too generally as
the opposition of the financial inter
IaStC m tho pffOrtS of tho FL rppprc tn
look out for themselves in an emerg-
ency, no damage would be done. AS
a matter of fact the bulletin merely
proves to those who are carefully fol-
lowing current events, that the trust
company is several weeks behind on
the news and has busted into print
or a dead issue, inasmuch as the presi-
dent and the administration accepted
the farm bloc as a reality, and agreed
to the proposal for a farmer on the
Federal Reserve board long before the
typist performed his task for the trust
company. 1t is not often that you
catch the "big 'uns' mapping, but this
particular protest against the appoint
ment OF a farmer on the Reserve board
as "a grave menace sounds like
something out of an old joke book, in
view Of the insistent demands of copy
producing trust companies of this kind
to furnish formulas for running the
company.
A. Sykes, pres i Z, IF the corn Belt
Producers association, told the Agri-
cultural conference that there is "a
helpless condition among a large per-
centage of u farmers in the great
corn belt He says that the farmers
now have to pay 400 bushels of corn
for a wagon which they used to buy
for $50 bushels" He asks: why should
they pay $50 bushels of corn for a
gangplow which formerly cost 125
bushels? Or $50 bushels for a suit
OF clothes which formerly cost SO
bushels, or 33 bushels for shoes that
formerly most nine bushels.
E.. B. Cornwall, president of the
Vermont Farm Bureau association,
supplemented the above with similar
comparisons. He declared that high
transportation rates had made it i'm
possible to market the apple and DO
tato crops of Maine. Our section. as
a WHOLE he added, "is suffering from
the high cost of transportation"
James w. Morton, an executive of
the Georgia Farm Bureau Federation.
Informed the conference that there
must be cheaper freight rates or the
farmers products will rot upon the
farms" He cited an illustration in a
personal experience. Having bar
, gained for five cars of hay in Mjchi.
gan last spring, at $14 a ton f. O. b.. he
found that the freight rate to Georgia
was SIG a ton. Because the freight
rates were prohibitory he was unable
to make the purchase.
The farmers are not alone in tell
ing the story of the agriculture upset.
Charles H. Mcdowell, president of
the National Fertilizers association.