The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-12-11
DOLLAR
WORTH ONLY
g. CENTS
Gray Silver Is Speaker al
Farm Bureau
Banquet

Gray Silver, Washingtons rep
resentative Of the American Farm
Bureau Federation, was speaker
this week at the annual banquet
of the Vermont Farm Bureau at
the Hotel Vermont, Burlington.
The Caledonian-Record recently
published from the Worlds Work
the interesting life history and
achievements of Mr.. Silver as the
Farm Bloc Leader in Washington.
His address and that of Mrs. Jul
, ian A. Dimock of East Corinth
were interesting FEATURES of the
Burlington banquet. .....
Mr.. Silver declared that the
farmers dollar is today worth but
go cents as against a premium on
the dollar earned by labor and
used by industry and finance. The
constant mounting costs of man
ufacturers' wares which the fam
lily must supply, with the cons
family decreasing sale price for the
farmers product have brought
a condition where the farmer at
this time finds himself in the most
unhappy plight in the life of our
nation.
The American Farm Bureau
Federation of one and d half mir
lion members, with two thousand
county organizations and many
thousand community centers,
representing eighty odd billion
dollars invested is now in the
throes of distress for the lack of
reasonable income to take care of
actual needs, In many cases the
farm income has not been suffi-
Gent to maintain the FANNY and
pay the fixed charges so that we
find the girl in school brought
home and the boy ready to go to
school kept at home serving with
the parents as unpaid labor in
order that the foodstuffs and raw
material for clothing TO supply the
nations needs may not be reduced
to the extent that it would jeop-
ardize the nations welfare.
All farms in the United States
in the year 1920 showed a net in
come for the farmer and his fam
lily of $4,000. These figures are
bad indeed, but when the 1922 fig
ures are compiled they will show
less return to the farmer than
those above given, so that the
farmer is compelled to organize
and endeavor to set about some of
the things that so sorely distress
him and his family.
As remedies for this situation,
Mr., Silver said that the farmer
must have: Passage of the Muscle
Shoals bill in order that his ferti-
lizer may be reduced in cost; pas
sage of the "Truth-in- Fabric"
bill, so that his wool will not come
in competition with reclaimed
tracts from the battlefield or city
dump; passage of the flled-milk
bill that his dairy may be free
from the competition of the "co-
coanut COW" of the South Sea
/ Islands; a reduction in freight
rates; quotations from the Federal
Reserve at Alp per cent and
charge the farmer 10 and II per
cent; a proper system of interme-
date credits.
The farmer must not rely on
other agencies for the distribution
of what he produces, Mr.. Silver
maintained but must standardize,
pack and distribute by more eco
nomical methods, namely the CO.
operative marketing system. The
farmer must produce in abundance
and on an economical basis, pro
perly warehouse his product and
supply the market sufficiently as
the consumption demands through
out the consuming period from
harvest to harvest, thus avoiding
, the dumping of his goods and
flooding the market, which brings
in its train the cruelty of low
prices at this time so seriously dis
! tressing to agriculture.
Mrs. Julian A. Dimock of East
Corinth gave the gathering some
idea of what the farm stands for
in American life. Under the in
teresting title "The Looking Glass