Great Falls tribune., 1922-02-17
HELPING THE FARMER.

HELPING THE FARMER.
\ BOUT every conference which
has met to consider ways and
means of helping the farmer
through the medium Of better
prices. runs up against the high
cost Of railroad freight rates as
one factor In the low price he real
ICES for his product. There is
agreement that lower freight rates
would help farm prices. But It is
also fact beyond dispute, that the
private owners Of the railroads are
getting a very inadequate interest
on the capital they have invested.
Some are getting nothing at all.
The revenues Of the roads are all
absorbed by interest, taxes, and
operating expenses, leaving moth
ing for dividends to the owners who
furnished the capital, and there
you are. The railroad like the
farmer, is getting less than the cost
Of production for his goods, or If
not 50 bad as that, he is getting
less than a fair wage for his eapi-
tai invested. Generally speaking.
the farmer is of the opinion that
the railroads should reduce the
cost Of operation on the railroads
and put the saving into lower
freight charges. There are two
ways Of reducing the cost Of rail-
road operation. One is reducing
the amount and quality Of the serv-
ice rendered, and railroad patrons
don't want that. The other IL re-
ducing the wages paid by railroads
and the employees don't want that.
It is true, that there is third way
open, and that is a railroad sub
sidy taken from the pockets OF the
public, and the public don't want
that. So every path toward lower
freight rates seems blocked for the
time at least. The Wall Street
Journal which is generally in favor
of reducing wages and putting the
burden Of readjustment on the wage
earning class, is advising farmers
to raise hogs. The farmer as
rule does not look with favor on
the Wall Street Journal as reli-
able adviser, or one having his In
terests at heart, and he has prob
ably good cause for this conviction.
Yet. there are some grains Of sense
in what it has to say In the follow
ing article::
Corn is still problem with the
farmers of the west. The surplus
is large and exchange value for
other commodities small. With
reason, therefore, farmers are con-
sidering a reduction In acreage.
But a better plan would be to make
market through the meat hog.
The gross return from corn in the
state of Nebraska last season aver
aged $7.56 an acre. Out Of this the
farmer has to pay rent, interest,
labor and other costs Of production.
Meanwhile, the miners, whose coal
he cannot afford to buy, are asking
for more pay in order to increase
the price Of fuel. Naturally the
farmer will not want to market
another crop in that way. He has
been fattening the wrong hog.
Cash corn at Chicago is now
worth about So cents bushel, and
hogs above SO per hundred pounds.
Approximately II bushels of corn
are necessary to make 100 pounds
of pork. So a bushel of corn con-
centrated in pork is worth 50 per
cent more than the raw material.
Doubtless the official figures
next week will show less hogs on
farms than a year ago. There can
be no question Of shortage OF
cattle, which will begin to show
itself next summer. A cattle sup
ply cannot be built up in less than
three years; therefore more pork
must be provided. An Improvement
in employment also means an in
crease in meat consumption. The
farmers can get partial relief from
a bad situation in marketing their
corn by way of the hog.
"It is true that the farmers
problem will be to get the hog to
market, just as it is today with
the corn. Here is condition call
mig loudly for remedy-the problem
of shipping products and getting
anything back. A speaker at the
agricultural conference said that
he wanted to buy five carloads OF
h,y in Michigan, but the freight