Evening star., 1923-07-22
BLAME DESPO|LERS
!. FOR WHEAT BREAK
Farmers Scoff at Claim That
0verproduction Caused
Break in Market.
PROFITS ARE WIPED OUT
Grower Gives Detailed Cost Fig
ures Showing of $3.50 Per
Acre on 81 Grain.
PROFITS ARE WIPED OUT
by GREENVILLE BROWN.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
CHICAGO, July 21.-What is the
matter with wheat?
For this question, asked with
anxiety in hundreds Of farm houses.
throughout the nation, in financial
centers, and in the councils OF the
major political parties. there are al
most as many answers as there are
classes propounding the query. When
wheat went below the dollar mark
here this week, the fact was hcralded
as a seventh day wonder. In 1915
dollar wheat caused an even greater
hullabaloo, but in a different sense y
Dollar wheat before the war was the
height of the farmers ambition. but
today. after years Of imitation, dollar
wheat brings cries OF calamity.
Farmer Has just Complaint.
The farmer. IL is admitted. has good
grounds for complaint. But he is ais
the victim Of poor judgment Intoxi-
Gated by the pre-war and immediate
postwar periods of high prices, he
increased production greater than tho.
world conAimeS and now he is suffer
ing because OF this fact. In addition
many renters. who became prosper
Gus through war prices. were able 10
buy their own farms. but they paid
gums far above the intrinsic value
of the land. Today they find they ar.
uhaDIe TO produce wheat on this In
Hated land. and secure a profit at the
present r5' price of the grain.
Tpe greatest sore spot to the far.
mer is the fact that while he has
mad to undergo all the sufferings of
ueHatlon, industrial lines have not
been subjected to the same opera .
!lon. AS result he finds his incomS
outgo or the cost of living. which
remain in the neighborhood of 1915,
Agftators Help Drop.
Politicians and agitators have been
quick TO learn of the farmers dis
content, and have done all they could
90 TO keep it alive. Laws have been
passed 10 bolster up the wheat mar
het' out these have proved unsuccass-
ful. The present low price of wheat
can be attributed to the remarks Of
unlnformed agitators and politicians
VINO believed they were helping tfe
producer, but instead only informed
the buyers of our whea- that yve b.5
an oppressive surplus This informa-
tion scared off the speculative pur-
chaser and the market today lacks his
support ii!7
European raisers have practically rs-
I'll
purchasers OF the surplus wheat Of
america, with the sole execution oo
Great Britain. face deprecated curren-
power. 'iHs
Meantime, a recent estimate nv
delegate to the international Insti-
tute OF Agriculture showed the
worlds crop 119.000.0O0 bushels in ey-
cess OF last year, and BroomhaIl, the
English statistician, said the world
requirements would be only 5s2 600
o0o oo pushels this year as agaianst 65G
ooo,oO0 bushels last year.
Overproduction Cause of Break
me chief cause of the low price of
"heat Is overproduction Is n anv!
WONDER 3 that wheat is selling at a
Remedies for the wheat situation
are onered by many people. but most
vi them are artificial suggestions II
takes demand to keep up the price
eroh er hMneaL and the organized grain
handling the crop. Unrestricted
speculation and less government IN
business Will help the farmer more
than anything else.
All of the foregoing represents
compilation of views Obtained in Chi
cago-the center of the wirld's grain
market-today. Other views are haid
in other places The farmer. for In
stance, wouldn't give a penny for
dispatch. In an effort to get ths
farmers reaction, a correspondent in
Wlch1ta, Kan, was asked for in
formation. His reply, in rather pic
tur.esque language began as follows
beg"
Farmers Blame Manipulntors.
The Wichita correspondent reports
that the farmers believe a group or
oespoilers are responsible for the
present low price. Interviews with
ten farmers. representative wheat
growers from different sections of
Kansas, demonstrate that the farmer
does not believe the "overproduction.'
theme, and the typical view of the
farm belt Is set down in this wise:
EVERY few years the industrial
system. through the manipulations of
the despoilers, gets the jim-jamsx
capita! flies to cover. factories clost
and labor goes tramping across the
country seeking honest employment
and listening to the cackle of over
production by despoiIers, while the
country at large becomes sick unto
death. The able editor looks into
his leather spectacle case and with
owl-ltke gravity announces that II
the farmer raises less wheat and
more cockle-burrs, if the import tax
on putty be increased somewhat. or
nae nddie strings be placed on the free
list, the American farmer will have
money to throw at the birds-that
mortgages and mendicacy will pass
like hideous nightmare and the
farmer gaily bestride his plow like
unto Solomon in all his glory
Scof at OverproductiOn.
ITO the farmers of the wheat belt.
who keep in touch with actual con-
ditions throughout the country. the
cry of 'overproduction' is but a tale
told by an idiot, full of sound and
, fury, signifying nothing. For at the.
same time this cry is raised there
come figures from the five large mar
refuting it,"
AT the newly organized Southwest
Wheat Producers Conference, held
in Wichita this week, Clayton N.
ers in Oklahoma, gave the following
figures on the cost of wheat produc-
tion on his farm, the unit of compu
tation being an acre:
Story Told In Figures.
Cost of labor, So; rent, -; board,
to machinery. 25 cents; threshing.
$3.50, and seed. 81, or a total of $10.15
an acre actual cost of production.
With an average yield of ten bush@
els to the acre and the present price
of so cents a bushel the farmers of
the southwest bid fair to play a los
ing game to the tune of $2.15 per
acre.
Perhaps these figures account for
the vigorous phrase used by the
Wichita correspondent. At any rate,
the farmer and the middleman hold
J views as widely separated as are the
poles of the earth regarding what
is the matter with wheat.
The ultimate consumer is the only
silent element in the controversy.
He has to pay, no matter what it
may be.
| Copyright, 1927