The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1922-12-14

gle menace to the onward march of
business activity and prosperity in this
country it rests in the dissmilarity be-
tween the prices paid for farm prod
ucts and the prices of these commodi-
ties which the farmer must buy" In
the month of October, 1922, for exam
pie, the prices of farm products stood
3s points over the 1913 level, but food
stood 40 points, cloths and clothing SSI
points, fuel and lighting 1876 points,
building materials SO points, housefur-
nshings &c points, all commodities to-
eether 81 points. The farmers prices
have fallen faster than the prices of
the goods hc buys from the cities. This
is the underlying condition against
which the farm bloc has risen to pro-
test
There are two primary causes of this
condition. The first cause of the low
prices of farm products is due to the
fact that Europe cannot buy as she did
About Is per cent. of our agricultural
produce is sold abroad. # it cannot be
sold abroad It remains in this country
as a surplus and pulls down the domes-
tic price. This is just what has hap
pened in the last two years. Between
1919 and 02O the export of meats fell
Al
off third. This nearly ruined the cat
tie and hog farmers. This year alone
grain exports fell off nearly Is per
cent. in volume and over ~ per cent in
value.
The Western farmer sells i'm a world
market. The prices are fixed in world
market. And if the world market isl
suddenly unable to buy, a collapse in
farm prices is inevitable. The collapse
took place. The average net income OF
the American farmer this year will be
about 1866, according to Mr.. Gray Sill
yer, very moderate spokesman of the
farmers. To make bad matter worse,
the middleman has succeeded in so sta
hilizing prices after the crop left the
farmers hands that the consumer de
riyes no benefit and his buying power
remains crippled.
But this does not explain the whole
of the farmers troubles. 1t does not
explain why lie has suffered 50 much
more than the manufactures who also
produces for world market The
answer to that is that each farmer sells
his crop when he harvests it. lie can t
afford to hold his crop, He must sell
il all mt once, and so there is no bum
pcr between him and world conditions
TO soften the shock. He is morgan
lied. He has little power to finance
himself He must sell individually and
under the worst conditions.
This is the real difference between
the business man and the farmer. The
business man, at least the wholesaler, is
organized and well financed. lie can
afford to wait. lie can afford to sell
little at time and so keep prices from
falling too violently.
All kinds of troubles arise out of the
farmers compulsion to dump his crops
all at once. One of the most impor-
lant is the inability of the grain cle-
yators and railroads to handle such a
large crop at one time, Owing to the
shipments and coal-mners' strikes ana
to other railroad difficulties, there has
been this year frightful congestion
of the grain shipments to the East ana
10 Europe. Thus, bad as was the Euro
pcnn market, the American farmer was
unable to get to it with his crops 1t
is estimated that he lost 10 to 10 cents
hushel because his crops could not he
moved adequately.
Here. for example, is what happened
in North Dakota town; "Thc ele-
yniors were filed with wheat and could
not take another bushcl ;on one day
some 1913 wagons loadcd with wheat
and other grains were hauled in by far
mers and standing on the street. I'M
able To find market, and the farmers
had to dump their grain wherever they
could find storng-place for It, or
haul il back home, but il could not he
sold"
Those farmers undoubtedly went to
the pollng-boolh ready 10 vote for n
farm-bloc candidate. Undoubtedly they
were in a mood to believe almost any
thing, that they were the victims OF a
Wall Street conspiracy, that the red
eral Reserve Board was TO blame, that
Big Business was conspirng against
them. For though they could not sell
their crop for what II cost to produce,
they had to pay their debts and they
had to pay high prices for what they
bought at the country store.
The time has come for the whole Ma
ton to recognize this problem and deal
with il as an American problem, not as
a sectional or class problem. The
farmers should be encouraged TO or
ganize comparatively and TO market
their crops scientifically. They should
be financed generously SO that they can,
carry their crops Transportation facili-
ties should be radically improved both