Crossville chronicle. [volume] (Crossville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1922-02-01
BIG FOREIGN MARKET
FARMER NOT Benefited
His Home Market Was Bad and
Foreign Market Did Not
Make Up for 1t.

According to the official report OF
the Department of Commerce upon
1921 exports, the American farmer ex-
ported 27oo486oI bushels of wheat
last year-6o millions more than in
! 1920, twice as much as in 1919, five
times as much as the five-year aver
age for Iooo-I3. inclusive, more than
in any previous year with one ex-
ception) in the history of American
agriculture.
The American farmer exported I2o,-
o54,5o5 bushels, of corn last year
against only 20 millions in 1920 and 23
millions in 1910, and an average of on d.
ly 4I,4ooooo for the five-year period
of Ioo-I3 inclusive.
The Southern rice planter exported
COO, 100000 pounds of rice last year,
against only 3o2,6I2,ooo in 1920 more
by I2o million pounds than the gr at
est export year in the history of Amer
lean rice industry and 81 times more
than the average exports for the five
year period -ooo-I3.
American grain products (including
wheat, corn, rice, rye, barley and oats)
for the year 1921 were far above the
average of any fve-year peace period
in the history of American agriculture.
The American farmer undoubtedly
had his foreign markets to an unprec-
edented degree. Why, then, didn't
he have tOD-nOtCh prices?
The answer is simple. Because the
American farmers home market in
1921 was poorer than for many years
The Ameican workingman is the one
workingman who eats white bread and
red meat and good food eevry day.
provided he has a job at American
wages. Last year 100000 American
laborers were out of work. They
could not buy the American farmers
products as in previous years. His
home market, his best market, his
high -grade market was seriously af-
fected and all the exports he made
couldn't and did't make up for the
loss of that market.
1t is easy to see why the foreign
market for the farmer isn't worth
but fraction OF his home market.
With wheat at $IIo a bushel, the
American common laborer who gets
only SIS a week, has buying power
of nearly IA bushels of wheat per
week. Common labor in Germany get
COO marks a week. The present value
of the German mark is one-half cent,
American money With wheat at $I.1o
it takes 22o marks to buy one bushel.
| The German common laborer, then,
has a weekly buying power of less
than three bushels of wheat,-or one
fourth that of the American laborer.
To put it another way, one American
common laborer is better customer
of the American farmer than four
German laborers.
1t doesn't take any school child long
to figure out why the American work
! ingman is the American farmers best
customer. why the price of American
farm products are low when 100000
600 OF these customers are out OF
work, and why it is to the interest OF
| the American farmer to have the
| American factories all running and
! the American workingman all employ
ed-which cannot be done IT cheaply
made foreign goods are permitted to
| flood American markets
If the American farmer will give
serious thought to protecting the
American workingman-his best custo
mer-he won't need to worry about
| finding a good market and good prices
| for farm products. The official record
of exports of farm products, domestic
consumption of farm products and
prices OF farm products for the last rs
years conclusively prove that asser-
ton to be fact.