The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-07-20

ly we'll known in practical literary cir
cles and in Kansas is regarded as one
Of the "big men" of the nation, while
farmers throughout the United States
look to him as leader in the attack on
the serious problems that confront
them. In the following story he sheds
light on the agricultural bloc" that
may give you a new understanding of
its aims. The senator from Kansas
knows his subject and has the courage
of his convictions.
For many years the United States
government has been content to let ag-
riculture take care of itself. There has
been no national policy of construc-
tive nature. Farmers have gone on pro-
ducing under many handicaps that
might easily have been removed. The
result has been disaster that in the last
two years has overtaken farmers, caus-
ed billions of dollars in losses by
shrinkage in the value of farm products,
and has been seriously detrimental to
business throughout the land. Agricul-
ture has been brought to point where
its future is in peril, where it is bound
to go backward unless real relief is
Forthcoming.
The need of a constructive national
program looking to the rehabilitation
Of agriculture is regarded by the farm
bloc as imperative. | think that fact Is
appreciated by business men as we'll as
by farmers. It is generally accepted
that prosperity must come first to the
farms before it can prevail in the city.
Farming is the only business left that
buys at retail and sells at wholesale,
that pays what is asked when IL buys
and accepts what is offered when it
sells. The farmer remains merely pro-
ducer of the necessaries of human life.
After he has produced them other or
CARNATIONS take them over at their own
price for distribution. This is true of
no other important industry. The pro-
ducer gets but one-third of every dollar
paid by the consumer for the products
Of the farm. Our expensive and anti
quated marketing system takes the 9TH
er two-thirds.
Small Frams Needed.
The unfavorable conditions under
which agriculture has been struggling
have wrought serious changes in it. The
hazards of the business have driven out
owners and brought in tenants. Tenan-
cy is increasing every year, and this is
menace to the nation, because it
means, in the final analysis, that soil
e, lasr.. lap1atal and ltts1a ig
being done on many acres to build up
fertility. The average renter is not
soil improver.
Farms are growing larger because
land is steadily passing into the hands
Of capitalists and investors, The num-
ber of renters has not increased so far
as the number Of acres they lease. While
the proportion of rented farms increas-
ed three per cent between 1910 and 1920,
the increase in acres rented during the
same period has been 20 per cent. The
nation needs more small farms titled by
the owners of the land.
American agriculture has become the
football of the market manipulation and
the market gambler, the legitimate good
thing of the organized buyer and the
organized seller until at last it is break
ing under the strain. Both producer
and consumer are suffering from a mar
keting and distributing system so years
behind the times, hte only difference
being that the producer on the farm is
suffering from it little more at the
present time than usual because we are
in the throes of readjustment. He parts
with his products long before the con-
sumer sees them or needs them. A host
of toll and profit takers meanwhile busy
themselves with these products, trans
ferring them from hand to hand and
absorbing as much profit as they with
their skill at that sort of thing are able
to extract from the marketing business.
Farmers Needed.
We have Just recently learned that
for the first time in history we have
more people working in factories than
on our farms, although our population
is increasing at the rate of one million
a year. A study of the census returns
shows that agriculture has been the
only interest to decline. In the last de-
cade employment in manufacturing in
creased 20 per cent The professions all
show healthy growth. But we are not
keeping the boys and girls on the farm
and we are not going to until the condi.
tions Of the agricultural industry makes
II worth while for them to stay here.
The enactment of constructive, whole
some, progressive legislation, which will