The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1923-08-02
CaIlef0r Action to Remedy
Present Plight of Farmers

There are good many who dc
not yet understand the situation, the
farmer is in. IN some sections OF
the west he has been held down for
four or five years without crop. In
most sections this year there are
good crops, but the money return to
the farmer is too small to enable him
to make Roadway in paying his debts.
We do not understand that the
farmer who appreciates the real stu
alton is asking for loans. He docs
not want loans, because he knows that
loans i mean more interest to pay.
What the farmer wants is fair price
on what he raises, so that he can re-
duce his debt as it stands, without adj
ding to it.
There are a good many farmers,
less competent as managers, who, in
their desperation, borrow money
from the Government and thus add
to their debt. We believe, after
reading the various arguments that
come up from the farmer, that the
great majority do not believe in Dor
rowing to get temporary relief. They
want that relief to come in the price
they receive for their products.
- 1t will be well to get the farmers
viewpoint as the problem looks to
him. He has done his blowing; he
has done his seeding; he has taken
care of his crops as they grew; and
he finds when he comes to market
that the prices, with the single ex-
ception of corn, are low or moderate.
If all his crops were doing as well as
corn, he could begin to make the
turn.
When he goes into the market to
buy, he finds that all the articles he
desires to purchase are higher instead
of lower. He cannot understand this.
In looking about, he finds that the
Government has provided tariff
that in most cases is helping the man.
ufacturer of these products to pay
their bills of added costs of material
and labor, and make profit. If this
can be done for the manufacturer, he
does not see why it cannot be done
for him on his products.
Congress has provided him with a
tariff on grains, but the tariff in non
effective, because there is a surplus
to sell in the worlds market. Liver
pool fixes the price of this surplus,
hence the. farmer gets no benefit.
There should be way out.
We do not believe the farmer
wants charity. He does not want to
be treated any differently than his
fellows in business are treated, but
he wants to be treated as well as they
are treated.
There is a proposal through organ
ization to have a wheat pool. This
will not work, but the farmer is grab
bling for it as a possible process
through which some relief may come.
If the farmers of the Country, in
stead of agreeing on a pool, could
agree on a twenty-five per cent re-
duction of acreage in wheat, it ought
to be possible to handle the matter
just as other tariffs are handled by
giving the farmer the same tariff pro-
lection on Importation, the manufac-
turers in hosiery and other lines re-
ceive.
If the farmer is raising wheat for
home consumption alone, he will re-
alize a good price for his product,
when protected by tariff as other
lines are protected. If this cannot be
done, then the tariff should be scaled
down, so that by means of depression
the farmer may be able to buy as
much for his dollar as others receive