The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1922-10-24
FARMERS ARE HARD
PRESSED DESPITE
REPUBLICAN BOAST
Farm Bureau Head Disputes
Campaign Talk That Pres
ent Administration Has
Aided the Farmer
By HUGH w. ROBERTS
Washington Bureau, The Age. Herald,
bO0 naVfnEnu building.

HOV hhttubOH DuliuhHE,
Washington, October 2S.-(Special)
Republican politicians, at present on
the stump, indulge in daily boasts
of what the Harding administration
has done for the farmer Likewise.
the so-called farm bloc in the Sen
ate takes great credit to itself for
having relieved the burden of the
farmer--for having raised him from
kind of serfdom to independence II
not affluenco.
1t develops that neither the Hard
ing administration or the farm bloc
has achieved anything in behalf of
the farmer. Authority for such state
ment is based on formal interviews
by James r. Howard, president of tho
American Farm Bureau federation,
and DR.. Henry C, Taylor, chief of
the bureau of agricultural econom-
les, United States department of ag-
riculture.
Howard Ii Alarmed
Says Howard. Continued shrink
age in the purchasing power of tho
farmers dollar Ia heading agricul-
ture towards certain destruction.
am convinced that only great and I'm
mediate Improvement of this condi-
ton can prevent:
4. Control of farm lands by
syndicates
q. Growth of only enough for in
dividual farmers needs.
In 1913, a farmer could take 800
received for his produce and buy 800
worth of farm machinery, clothes
and household items. Today for the
same amount of produce, no receives
$3.50. but with 1t can buy only &84
worth of merchandise.
This condition, coupled with mort
gage and short time note demands
has robbed many farmers OF their
homes"
Howard proposes as remedy CO.
operative marketing and an extern
sion of credit that will permit stor-
age of produce until 1t can be sold
profitably
Expert ON Conditions
The Howard statement indicates
the falsity of glowing declarations
by republican politicians and mem
bers of the farm bloc. AS a matter
of fact, farmers have threatened TO
produce less in order that a short
supply might cause an increase in
prices. So moved was the President
by such possibility that he issued
an Interview to the effect that re-
duced production would be dis
astrous to the country and the farm
ers themselves.
The chief of the bureau of agri-
cultural economies, DIR. Taylor. de-
clares: Prices at the farm are so
low that millions of farm men and
women are wringing their hands be-
cause they cannot sell their produce
for enough to meet immediate obliga-
tons. The problem before the farmer
is not the holding down of the pop
Ilation to the food supply but the
holding of the food supply down to
the demands of the population.
Hope Not Realized
I'm recent months, the increased
cost of transferring farm products
from one part of the country to an
other and the increased cost of ship
ping manufactured products to the
farming districts has greatly dis
couraged commercial agriculture. A
year ago, we believed that either
farm prices would rise or the cost
Of transportation and the prices Of
manufactured products would fall 80
that the farmers purchasing power
would be re-established
This has not come to pass, and
farmers must give serious thought to
the question of adjusting production
to the changed demands of the mar
ket. Farmers should produce more
for home use, and less for the mar
ket; produce better quality, and mar
ket only high quality products"