The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1922-01-19

luciI SeEflteS- IAc 1diiu 6tNSS INC
nation men as well as food. Cities
derive their vitality and are forever
renewed from the country, but an Inn
poverished countryside exports intelli-
gence and retains unintelligence-
Only the lower grades OF mentality
and character will remain on, or seek,
the farm, unless agriculture is capable
OF being pursued with contentment and
adequate compensation. Hence, to en-
bitter and impoverish the farmer is to
dry up and contaminate the vital
sources of the nation.
The war showed convincingly how
dependent the nation is on the full
productivity of the farms. Despite
herculean efforts, agricultural produc-
tion kept only few weeks or months
ahead of consumption, and that only
staple crops at the cost of reducing
that of others. We ought not to for
get that lesson when we ponder on
the farmers problems. They are truly
common problems, and there should
be no attempt to deal with them as
if they were purely selfish demands
of a clear-cut group, antagonistic to
the rest Of the community. Rather
should we consider agriculture in the
light of broad national policy, just
as we consider oil, coal, steel, dye
stuffs, and so forth, as sinews of ma
tional strength. Our growing popuia-
ton and higher standard of living
demand increasing food supplies, and
more wool, cotton, hides, and the rest.
With the disappearance of free or
cheap fertile land, additional acreage
and increased yields can come only
from costly effort. This we need not
expect from an impoverished or I'M
happy rural population.
1t will not do to take narrow view
of the rural discomfort, or to appraise
1t from the standpoint Of yesterday
This is peculiarly an age of fiux and
change and new deals. Because
thing always has been so no longer
means that it is righteous, or always
shall be so. More, perhaps, than ever
before, there Is widespread feeling
that all human relations can be Inn
proved by taking thought, and that 1t
is not becoming for the reasoning anil
NAL to leave his destiny largely to
chance and natural incidence.
Prudent and orderly adjustment of
production and distribution In accord
ance with consumption Is recognized
as wise management in every business
but that of farming. Yet, venture
to say, there is no other industry in
which it is SO important to the pub
lic-to the city-dweller-that produc-
tion should be sure, steady, and in
creasing, and that distribution should
be in proportion to the need The I'M
farmers naturally act blind
ly and impulsively and, in conse-
quence, surfeit and dearth, accompa-
MED by disconcerting prlce-variations,
harass the consumer. One year pota-
toes rot in the fields because of excess
and there is scarcity of
the things that have been displaced
to make way for the expansion Of the
potato acreage; next year the punish
ed farmers mass their fields on some
other crop, and potatoes enter the
class of luxuries; and so on.
Agriculture is the greatest and fun
damentally the most important Of our
American Industries. The cities are
but the branches of the tree of ma
tional life, the roots of which go deep
Iy into the land. We all flourish or
decline with the farmer So, when we
of the cities read of the present uni
yersal distress Of the farmers, of a
slump of six billion dollars in the farm
value of their crops in a single year,
f their inability to meet mortgages or
n nav current bills, and how, seeking
elief from their ills, they are plan
ing to form pools, inaugurate farm
RS strikes, and demand legislation
polishing grain exchanges, private
attic markets, and the like, we ought
ot hastily to brand them as economic
eretics and highwaymen, and hurl at
hem the charge of being seekers of
pecial privilege. Rather, we should
SIX If their trouble is not ours, and
ee what can be done to improve the
ituation. Purely from self-interest,
{. for no higher motive, we should
clip them. All of us want to get back
to "normalcy;" but is 1t
easonable to hope for that condition
Mess our greatest and most basic in
ustry can be put on a sound and solid
ornament foundation? The farmers
re not entitled to special privileges
ut are they not right in demanding
hat they be placed on an equal foot
1g with the buyers Of their products
nd with other industries?