The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-01-19

ton. wool, and tobacco. and elevators
foT grain. % sufficient capacity TO meet
the maximum demand on them at the
peak Of the marketing period. The
farmer thinks that either private capl-
tai must furnish these facilities, or the
state must erect and own the eleya-
tors and warehouses.
Second: weighing and grading Of
agricultural products, and certifcatiOn
thereof, 70 be done by impartial and
dlsinterested public inspectors (this is
already accomplished to some extent
by the federal licensing Of welghers
and graders), to eliminate underpay-
ing, oyercharging, and unfair grading,
and to facilitate the utilization Of the
stored products as the basis Of credit
Third a certainty Of credit sufficient
to enable the marketing Of products
In an orderly manner.
Fourth: the Department Of Agricul-
ture should collect. tabulate, summa-
rize, and regularly and frequently pub
iish and distribute to the farmers. full
information from all the markets Of
the world, so that they shall be as well
Informed OF their selling position as
buyers now are Of their buying posi-
ton.
Fifth: freedom to integrate the busi-
ness Of agriculture by means Of con-
solidated selling agencies, co-ordinat-
ing and cooperating In such way as to
put the farmer on an equal footing
with the large buyers Of his products,
and with commercial relations In other
Industries.
When business requires specialized
talent, It has to buy it. So will the
farmers; and perhaps the best way for
them to get 1t would be to utilize some
of the present machinery Of the larg-
est established agencies dealing In
farm products. OF course, If he wishes,
the farmer may go further and engage
In fiour-milllng and other manufactures
Of food products. In my opinion,
however, he would be wise to stop
short Of that. Public interest may be
opposed TO all great integrations but,
In justice, should they be forbidden to
the farmer and permitted to others7
The corporate form of association can
not now be wholly adapted to his OBJ
jects and conditions. The looser CO
operative form seems more generally
suitable. Therefore. he wishes to be
free, II he finds 1t desirable and feas-
ible, to resort to cooperation with his
fellows and nelghbors, without run
ming afoul Of the law. To urge that
the farmers should have the same lib
erty to consolidate and coordinate
their peculiar economic functions,
which other industries In their fields
enjoy, is not, however, to concede that
any business integration should have
legislative sanction to exercise monop-
olistlc power. The American people
are as firmly opposed to Industrial as
to political autocracy, whether at
tempted by rural or by urban industry.
For lack Of united effort the farmers
as a whole are still marketing their
crops by antiquated methods, or by no
methods at all, but they are surrounded
by business world that has been
modernized to the last minute and is
tirelessly striving for efficiency. This
efficiency Is due in large measure to
big business, to united business, to In
tegrated business. The farmers now
seek the benefits of such largeness, un-
ion and integration.
The American farmer is a modern Of
the moderns in the use Of labor saving
machinery, and he has made vast
strides In recent years In scientific
tillage and efficient farm management,
but as a business In contact with other
businesses agriculture Is zone horse
shay In competition with high power
The American farmer Is
the greatest and most intractable Of
lndividualists. While Industrial pro-
duction and all phases of the huge COM
mercial mechanism and Its myriad ac-
cessorles have articulated and co-ordi.
mated themselves all the way from nat
ural raw materials to retail sales, the
business of agriculture has gone on In
much the one man fashion Of the back
woods Of the first part Of the nine
teenth century, when the farmer was
elf sufficient and did not depend upon,
n care very much, what the great
world was doing. The result is that
he agricultural group is almost as
much at a disadvantage in dealing with
'ther economic groups as the jay farm
,r Of the funny pages In the hands Of
leek urban confidence men, who sell
lin acreage In Central Park or the
'hicago city hall. The leaders Of the
armers thoroughly understand this,
md they are intelligently striving to
ntegrate their industry so that 1t will
,e on an equal footing with other busi-
lesSes.
As an example Of integratlon, take
he steel industry, in which the model |
s the United States Steel Corporation,
With Its iron mines. Its coal mines, its
AXE and rail transportation, Its ocean |
essels, its by-product coke ovens, its |
last furnaces. its open hearth and !
SesSemer furnaces, its rolling mills, its
ube mills and other manufacturing
that are carried to the high |
st degree OF finished production com
,atlhle with the large trade It has |
'uit up All this Is generally conced- |
d TO be to the advantage Of the con-
umer, Nor does the steel corporation |
nconSiderately dump its products on |
he market. On the contrary, 1t so
cts that II Is frequently stabilizing |
as is often the case with 9TH |
r large organizations. 1t Is master OF |
Is distribution as well as Of It's pro |
If prices are not satisfactory
he products are held back or produc-
Ion is reduced or suspended. Ii Is not /
to send a years work to the
market at one time and take whatever
can get under such circumstances.
t has one selling policy and Its own
xport department Neither are the