The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-09-13
GOOD OLD Times
NO LONGER APPEAL
DIR. |. l.. MAGEE THINKS COUNTRY
NOW ROLLING IN CLOVER
WHEAT FARMER EXCEPTION

People generally were never so
prosperous as they are now, and the
| good times OF the present day have
it ali over the so-called good old
times, states DR.. 1. l.. Magee, of Ven
ice, California, who is in Moscow
visiting his daughter, Mrs. George
r. Horton. DR.. Magee, who was a
pioneer physician of Palouse, and
later of the Coeur d'Alenes, very
vividly recalls the days of 35 years
ago, prior to and during the 1893
panic, and is well content with pre-
sent conditions. While he used to
drive a span of cayuses, hitched to a
blackboard, over the Palouse hills,
averaging some six or seven miles an
hour, he now drives from Los Angeles
to Moscow in less than a week.
Japanese Reap Big Profits
The doctor, whose jovial disposi-
ton and optimism is as undiminish-
ing as his waistline, has his own
idea about conditions generally.
When seen by a Star-Mirror repre-
sentative this morning, he said that
there is too much wheat produced,
one reason being that it is an easy
crop to produce, and is grown on
less expensive land than that gener-
ally used for intensive farming. He
said, too, that there is now but little
barley grown, and that acreage has
been turned to the production of
wheat, and that the result is more
wheat than can be marketed pro-
fitably. The Japanese in California,
according to the doctor, select the
best available land and then grow
the things which will bring the most
money. In some cases as high as
$1,000 an acre will be received for the
lettuce crop from an acre of ground.
The farmer, Dr. Magee says, must
organize and do something for him
self instead of trusting his affairs to
the hands of the politicians. His
wheat crop is the most enduring crop
grown, being capable of being stored
for an unlimited period, and yet he
is forced to take the other fellows
price for it, everybody having more
to say about the price of wheat than
the man who produces it, while if
he was organized like the men who
control the railroads which haul the
wheat to market, he would be able to
demand a profit from every bushel
grown. The farmer, the doctor said,
should have price which would guar
antee him something for his efforts
in years when he failed to get a
bumper crop, and it is possible to
work this out, just as it has been
possible to work out the problems of
the railroads and of labor, SO that a
legitimate return is secured.
The great battle between capital
and labor is settled, DR.. Magee says,
and trouble will only occasionally
break out in local spots. Labor won't
go back to low wages and long hours,
but neither will there be any further
cutting of hours, or advance in wages,
the doctor believes, conditions gener-
ally finally adjusting themselves on
the present basis, or somewhere near
About the only man who is not
pretty well satisfied with present con-
ditions, Dr. Magee says, is the old
time saloon man, and his tribe is ra-
pidly growing smaller as the years
pass.
The doctor is cSways interested in
politics, and predicts that the re-
publican party will be returned to
power next year.
Remarkable Development
California is enjoying remarkable
development, DR.. Magee says, and pre-
diets that conditions will continue as
they are, with thousands of people
into the southern California
cities and towns. The great problem
now is to house the people and to pro-
vide parking room in the cities for
the automobiles. Venice, the Coney
Island of California. is now a city of
10000 people, and it is not unusual
for 100000 automobiles, on special oc-
casions, to be counted in the city, hav-
ing come from all parts of the country.
In Los Angeles parking room is a
real problem.
Dr. Magee and family will remain
in Moscow for week. The doctor
has three children who are graduates
from the University of Idaho.