Sioux County pioneer. (Fort Yates, Sioux County, N.D.) 1914-1929, 1922-01-26
Some Aspects Of the
Farmers Problems
Reprinted from Atlantic Monthly
BY BERNARD M. BARUCH

AeioASAS MOHCAlyy $.5 =Gss4 iSs s.ff|,sl =
Ing. 60 take the unfayorable chaace.
II the favorable one also is theirs and
they can retain for themselves part
Of the service charges that are uni.
form, In good years and bad, with
high prices and low. s. IS 4
While, In the main, the farmer must
sell, regardless Of market conditions.
ut the time of the maturity Of crops;
he cannot suspend production in toto.
He must go on producing If lie is to 70
on living. and If the world is, to exist.
The most he can do Is to curtail pro-
duction a little or alter its form, and
that-because he is in the dark as to
the. probable demand for his goods
may be only to jump from the frying
pan into the fire, taking the consumer
with him. K
Even the dairy farmers, whose out
put is not seasonal, complain that they
find themselves at disadvantage in,
the marketing. of their productions
especially raw milk, because of the
high costs of distribution, which they
must ultimately bear. .4
III
Now that the farmers are stirring,
thinking. and uniting as never before
to eradicate these inequalities, they
are subjected to stern economic lee
lures, and are met with the accusation
that they are demanding. and are the
recipients Of. special privileges. Let
us see what privileges the government
has conferred on the turner's. Much
has been made of Section 6 Of the
Clayton Antitrust Act, which pur-
ported to permit them to combine with
Immunity, under certain conditions
Admitting that, nominally, this ex-
emptinn was in the nature Of a special
privilege though think 1t was so in
appearance rather than in fact, we
find that the courts have nullified IT
by judicial Interpretation. Why should
not the farmers be permitted to ac-s
complish by cooperative methods what
other businesses are already doing by
cooperation in the form of incorpora-
tlon? If 1t be proper for men to form,
by fusion Of existing corporations or
otherwise, a corporation that controls,
the entire production Of commodity,
or lnrge part Of 1t. why Is It not
proper for group Of farmers to unite
for the marketing Of their common
products, either in one or in several
selling agencies? Why, should It be
right for a hundred thousand corporate
shareholders to direct 25 or 80 or 40
per cent Of an industry, and wrong for
a hundred thousand cooperative
farmers to control a no larger proper
5tion of the wheat crop, or cotton. or
any other product?
The Department of Agriculture is
often spoken Of ms a special concession
to tire farmers, but in its commercial
results, 1t Is Of as much benefit to the
buyers and consumers Of agricultural
products as to the producers or even
more. I do not suppose that anyone
opposes the benefits that the farmers
derive from the educational and re-
search work Of the department, or the
help that 1t gives them in working out
improved cultural methods and prac-
5tlces, In developing better yielding va
lrieties through breeding and sele ction, I
In introducing new varieties from re
mote parts 81 the world and adapting
them to our climate and conomic con-
5dltion, and In deyislng practical meas
'ures for the elimination or control of
dangerous and destructive animal and
plant diseases, INSECT pests, and the
like All these things manifestly tend
stos stimulate and enlarge production,
and their general beneficial effects are
obvious. 5 81 i53:,s5
II Is complained that whereas the
law restricts Federal Reserve banks
to three months time for 0mmercialS
paper, the farmer 10 allowed six
months on his notes. This ID not d.
special privilege, but merely such
sreeDgniti0 ion Of business c0nd itions AS,
makes @it possible Tor country banks:
to do business with country people,
The crop farmer has only one turn
over "a /, year, while the merch ant and
snlanuf acturer have many. Incid dental,
,ly,a note that the Federal Reserve
Board has just authorized ths sba
ssrals Reserve banks to- Discount export
paper for q period 0f slx ID onths.
con form tQ the nature nf thu hust-S
ness
The Farm Liam bankss arc pointed
to- AZ AN Instance 81 special govern
meIt favor tor As. y: s . NJ III
4;