Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-08-05

uOSOL1S UOLLOu11 SCoCho VI dAld1Ad
single thing seems to have caused
the change.
will continue-to the benefit of the
farmer.
Some expect considerable benefit
from recent legislation forced by the
farm bloc in congress.
Many believe the growth Of coop
erative buying and selling enter
prises will help much.
The activities of the farm bureau
and government agencies in educat-
ing the farmer to produce more eco
nomically, will help wonderfully, so
many believe.
Money is easier to get at the
banks, too, which will also be of
help.
At any rate the farmer is in the
right frame Of mind for better things
this year.
Frank Fulkerson owns over 400
acres of land in Jersey county, Illi-
nois. He lives on and operates one
Of his farms. He is a shrewd bust
ness man, a keen thinker and strict
ly up-to-the-minute in farm meth.
DDS. If there's a way to make more
money on the farm Fullerson goes
after it. Yet, he says he lost money
last year.
Says Fulkerson:
1.-THE farmer is business man as
well as worker. He must figure
depreciation fund as we'll as interest
on investment. What, city business
man would be content with 3 or
per cent profit each year? But it is
impossible for a farmer to make
more than 3 or 4 per cent even I'M
der ideal conditions. Last year we
didn't make even 4 per cent. AS a
business we lost money.
1.-The farmer is worse off now
than ever before. His morale is
gone. He's about busted and doesn't
know where he is at, but conditions.
I think, are slowly changing for
the better"
Lauds New Laws
Fulkerson attaches considerable
to the new laws enacted
by congress last winter to help agri-
culture.
Tom Reilly, who owns and runs a
general farm in the hills Of Clark
county, Missouri, put most of the
blame Of the farmers plight on the
city man.
1.-THE town merchant and manufac-
turer are still trying to hang on to
their big wartime profits and the
city worker is trying to keep his
wartime wages, while the farmer
has taken his cut and big one, too.
1--WE have no kick on a reduction
if everybody else gets the same. But
for the farmer to get his income
sliced off while other classes stay up,
is not right. The farmer can't even
make his interest in normal times
to say nothing about the present"
In Clark county I learned harvest
hands were being offered $3.50 per
day and board. One man of 70 told
me he was shocking wheat at 81 per
day. The average cash farm income
here was put between $500 and $500.
Heffelfinger Bros, Of Butler, Ind,
agreed that they hadn't made any
thing but a living the past year.
They own a couple Of hundred acres
Of land.
"We are hopeful, though" they
said. Things are getting better.
Labor Is easier around here. More
men are willing to work on the
farms now"
In Kentucky they are pinning
their faith on the activities of the
tobacco pool, a cooperative selling
arrangement. The hurley men
formed their pool more than a year
ago, and the black-leaf men are Or
ganizing now. Last year, by agree
ment, the tobacco acreage was kept
low. The price rose.
More tobacco will be raised this
year, but through an intelligent mar
keting system the growers hope
to keep the price stable. They have
an iron-bound agreement among
themselves.
Taxes Too High
Albert Lang, of Lee county, Iowa,
told of a neighbor who owned two
quarter sections Of land, which he
rented at $1,000 each. The taxes
on one farm amounted to an even
$1,000, and on the other just little
in excess of $1,000, so the owner
lost money by merely owning the
farms.
Takes are too high" said Lang.
''They are running us. Nobody can
break even, now. Those town fell
lows make us little bit tired. The
farmer worked hard before the war,
he worked during the war, and he's
hard at work now. That's more
than the other fellow can say.
"The city man doesn't appreciate
the hard work, the worry, the risk
and chance the farmer takes. Dur
ing the war everybody wanted to
help the farmer. They did-a little.
When the war was over, they drop
ped him like a hot potato"
Lang told Of a man who for three
days ran a threshing machine in
daylight, then went into the field
and shocked wheat by moonlight un-
til two o'clock in the morning. He
did it because he couldn't get help.
A new force has appeared in ag-
riculutral America and its strength
is felt everywhere. This is the
American farm bureau federation
and it's more visible instrument, the
county agent system.
In the county agent, the farmer
has an alert, clear-headed young fell
low, who can, and does, do him a