Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1922-01-25
Is FARMING ON THE ROCKS?

is FARMING ON THE ROCKS?
(The following article from the Ala
makee Journal, Iowa, has been handed
to publish. 1t paints the present de-
pressed conditions in agriculture in
rather too dark colors, perhaps, but
it can do no harm to take a survey
Of conditions as they exist and then
try to remedy them. One thing is GER
tain, the conditions of the farmer
must be improved if the nation is to
survive.) --i
During the long wilmer evenings the
: farmers all through the country are
sitting humbly by the fireside, discus
sing, pro and con, the future possibil-
tiles of farming, and giving an occa
tional Retrospective glance at the past
years accomplishments. They, or we,
rather are beginning to wonder where
farming is really at anyway, and well
we may, for from every viewpoint it
appears to have sunk from a highly
important industry a few years ago,
to the extreme depths Of uncertainty,
poverty and insignificance.
During the time of extreme agricul-
tural- requirements farming held g.
very prominent place as the worlds
most essential industry, but the very
moment that time Of great stress end
ed the farmers were forced to give up
their place of Importance in the world,
and hustle back to the extreme bottom
Of the list, as though it was a non
essential industry, until today the
~ NH F0 NNNS SeS I~.,
the weight Of financial obligations,
mostly due to the almost instant split
in the value Of his products, so early
in the season that we hadn't ghost
Of show to convert any of the fruits
Of our seasons hard labor into money,
and directly following year of the
highest cost Of production the Ameri~
can farmer ever knew and also due to
the vast unfair difference in the rate
of exchange between what the farmers
had to buy and what he had to sell.
Now farmers let's look things over
| carefully and see if we can find out
| where we really do stand. To begin
with the majority of us are wrapped
| and bound down with financial obi
cations of every descriptions, from ev-
cry angle, with suicides, bankruptcy
foreclosures and sheriff sales coming
| thick and fast, with much of our last
years produce still on hand, practi-
cally unsaleable at any price, with
| taxes mounting to the extreme limit Of
human endurance, with our only
chance of recovery based on one de-
ceitful little fond illusion of hope that
| away deep in the distant future, some
| how, sometime, things might improve:
Right to day there are farms in AL
lamakee county that are taxed for
more than they would rent for.
Farmer! Begin teaching your chill
| dren right now the great Importance
| of "being prepared to meet thy taxes -
| as we'll as being prepared to meet thy
God, because both are highly import
| ant, and one is as certain as the other
want to ask you taxpayers, every
one of you, if it is anything to become
amazed at that the financial conditions
throughout the country are what they
are today, with our National Govern
ment displaying the most wild, here
| tofore unheard of extravaganza, al
most beyond the depths % human i'm
agination, even boasting of expending
sums that stagger the world. With
| the state governments trying hard to
hold place of equal magnitude in
proportion and the little counties
| keeping apace as best they can.
And then occasionally you'll hear
the remark, accompanied by an ex-
pressionless look, that taxes are com
ing down. Who ever heard of taxes
coming down? Who, may ask, ever
heard of such thing as surplus funds
in a. public treasury? If there hap:
pens to- be. anything left at the end
Of the year it is much easier to ap.
point few new officers, or raise the
salaries Of some that apparently have
life jobs, just at the time when the
| salaries Of skilled labor throughout
the nation are on the downward trend
Shan it is to be annoyed with surplus
funds. f. DIV. ~ f.
This epidemic Of extravaganza seems
to be highly contagious, but the farm.
ers need not fear this epidemic They
have been so scientifically treated that
they have been rendered immune
against the most minute forn-of ex
! travagance. E,
There used to be some talk of farm
ers keeping books, but the farmer that
would keep books or records Of his
business transactions now would be 8
hero. He most. likely would lose his
mind when he undertook to balance
his books and farm also, perhaps.
1 Say! BY the way, what has become
I Of that back to the farm slogan that
was plastered all over the front pages
of the big dailies a couple Of years
ago? Gould it be possible that it has
1 been lost? Perhaps this letter will in
spire them to slap it on some more
also might add that the opportuni
ties Of getting back are much greater
/ now than they were then. They say
the world owes us a living, but I be