The Holly chieftain., 1922-03-16

and regulative, corrective, or equaliz-
ing legislation, which apparently Is OF
4 special nature, Is often Of the most
general beneficial consequences. Even
4 the First Congress passed tariff act
that was avowedly for the protection
OF manufacturers but protective
tariff always has been defended as n
means of promoting the general good
4 through a particular approach; and
the statute books are filled with acts
for the benefit of shipping, commerce,
! and labor.
! Now, what Is the farmer asking?
! Without trying to catalogue the re-
I medal measures that have been sug-
I gested in his behalf, the principal pro-
4 posals that bear directly on the i'm
4 provement of his distributing and mar
4 keting relations may be summarized as
| follows:- =
/ First: storage warehouses for cot
I ton, wool, and tobacco, and elevators
for grain, of sufficient capacity to meet
1 the maximum demand on them at the
peak of the marketing period. The
farmer thinks that either private capt.
4 tai must furnish these facilities, or the
/ state must erect and own the eleva-
1 tors and warehouses,
Second: weighing and grading OF
agricultural products, and certification
thereof, to be done by impartial and
/ disinterested public inspectors (this Is
already accomplished to some extent
by the federal licensing of weighers
and graders), to eliminate underpay.
ing, overcharging, 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
tlte world, so that they shall be as well
Informed of their selling position as
buyers now are of their buying posi-
tion.
~ w liONtpHi " lIllCsTule LHe DuSl.
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, II 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, II he wishes.
the farmer may go further and engage
in four-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, If he finds 1t desirable and feas.
ible, to resort to cooperation with his
fellows aud neighbors, 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.
olistic 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 antlquated methods, or by no
methods at all, but they are surrounded
by a 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 new
seek the benefits of such largeness, un-
ion and Indignation.
The American farmer is a modern Of
the moderns in the use of labor saving
machinery and he has made vas'
strides in recent years In scientifi,
tillage and efficient farm management,
but as business in contact with other
businesses agriculture is zone horse
shay in competition with high power
automobiles. The American farmer Is
the greatest and most intractable OF
indivldunlists. While Industrial pro-
ductiUn and all phases of the huge com
mercial mechanism and Its myriad ac-
cessorles have articulated and c0-ordi-
mated themselves all the way from nat
1 ural raw materials to retail sales, tha
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