New Ulm review., 1922-09-06

individual is and has been thinking
this proposition thru to its logical
conclusion. Nothing can be gained
by shutting ones eyes to realities. It
is to ones best interests to look such .
vital matter squarely in the face, to
find the best solution for the problem
presented.
Now as tier of fact we are:
located in one of the finest farming
communities to. be found anywhere.
The lay of the country is good. We
do not have much waste land. The
quality of the soil il Of the best. We
have an adeuate amount Of rainfall,
and usually fine growing weather. AL
these things are in our favor. They
are assets of inestimable value.
And yet those stubborn, disagree
able facts above mentioned stand be-
fore us as an ogre menacing our success
and our happiness. Why have. we
failed to make that progress to which
the naturally favorable conditions of
the country entitle us? Where does
the difficulty lay?"
So far, we have quoted The Redwood
Gazette verbatim. Then comes the
remedy. And after reading the
splendidly truthful statement Of con-
ditions as quoted above, we admit dis
appointment in the proposed remedy.
The Gazette again proposes the old
time-worn remedy of intensive
farming instead of extensive" farm
ing. just another way Of saying
make two blades grow where one
grew before" It is the old, old story,
rehashed over and over again by the
bankers and farm bureau crowd, and
like the strip in the funny paper 1T
doesn't mean anything"
And the farmer has tried that. He
has made two blades grow where one
grew before, but when he came to sell
the two blades, he didn't get as much
as he should get for the one blade.
The only result is benefit to the
middlemen who buy the two blades for
less than the price of one and sell each
blade, in the form of the manufactured
article, for just as much or little more
than formerly. The farmer, who
strains his back to raise the two blades,
gets the increased mortgage, as the
Gaz !tte truly states.
!. There is need of new marketing
system whereby the farmer will get
decent pay for hi work. The remedy
is not in producing more food-stuffs fol
the gamblers Of the grain pits to play
with, but to drive the gamblers to the
ends of the earth and thereby narrow
the spread in prices between what the
farmer receives for his grain and what
the consumer has to pay for his .breae
and other food. There is enough fooc
produced in the world now to feed al
the people in it. There is such over
production at times that middlemer
have been known to let carloads O.
apples rot on the tracks and the1
dump them into the sea in order tt
keep up prices. Every little while
we read, in obscure dispatches hidde,
away in the corners of the big dailies
about food being allowed to spoil OF
purpose so that it be possible to keel
the price the city consumer has to pa,
on high level. The facts are mos
generally CLOSED over, but one can SCI
the truth in the news if one is a seeke
Of truth. A system of publicly ownet
terminal elevators would take care 0
the storage of grain and the mills coult
draw from these terminal elevators TO
-four making purposes all the yea
around, just like they do now, but with
out the fuctuation in price due t.
! the gambling on the exchanges. Th'
farmer could then be paid a mucl
; higher price for his grain and yet tn
. price Of -four would be lower thanit il
under our present system.
But what about the hundreds ant
thousands Of men who makea thei
living by gambling in food stuffs
: They have to live? Shall we deliber
ately take away their chance to make,
living?
Well, if they are a class Of people VIII
are entitled to living without work
why not pension them at so much !;
year for the rest Of their lives and Civ
them few decks of cards to anus
themselves with? Wouldn't we saw
millions of dollars year both to tn
farmers and the city consumers if W
gave the grain gamblers q yearly stip
and of say $1,000 each ijust exactl.
u 4 - L. 49, A.