Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1923-03-01
Agricultural Balance is
Necessary for Welfare
FARM BLOC LEADERS TELL WHY
GOOD TIMES MUST DEPEND
UPON ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Government has been content to let
agriculture take care of itself. Farm
ers have gone on producing under
many handicaps that might easily
have been removed. The result has
been disaster that in the last two
years has overtaken the farmers, caus-
ed billions of dollars in losses by
shrinkage in the value of farm pro-
ducts, and has been seriously detri
mental to business throughout the
land.
The need of a constructive national
program looking to the rehabilitation
of agriculture is regarded by the Farm
Bloc as imperative 1t is now general
ly accepted that prosperity must come
first to the farms before it can pre-
vail in the city.
Farming is the only business left.
that buys at retail and sells at whole
sale; that pays what is asked when
it buys and accepts what is offered
when it sells. The farmer remains
merely a producer of the necessaries
of human life.
He gets but one-third Of every dol
lar paid by the consumer for the pro-
ducts of the farm. Our expensive, an
tiquated and inefficient marketing
system takes the other two-thirds.
The enactment of constructive,
wholesome, progressive legislation,
which will bring about better condi-
tions agriculturally is the mission OF
the Farm Bloc in Congress. AS mem
Der of that body, l think | may say
with perfect candor that there is moth
ing dark, sinister nor forbidding in
its makeup or its purposes. 1t is not
political. It is for things rather than
against them, for the city man as
well as the country man. 1t is working
for honest industry, honest finance,
honest commerce, honest agriculture,
honest labor, and wishes to cooperate
with all of these.
The charge has been made by met
ropolitan newspapers of the East that
the Farm Bloc seeks class legislation
That it's aim is to profit agriculture,
no matter at what cost to other in
dustry. The men who make that
charge lose sight of the fundamental
fact that agriculture is basic, that
what contributes to its prosperity and
well being unquestionably benefits all
industry. When agriculture is profit
table the nation is prosperous.
In legislation the farmer is not en-
entitled to any more consideration
than any other class, but he is entitled
to just as much.
The Farm Bloc does not recognize
the right of any class to have an ad-
vantage at the expense of another
group or of the population as whole
The Farm Bloc believes that the
best way to mend the present situa
ton and provide for the future is. to
increase the producers profit by
shortening the road to market. One
way to accomplish this is through CO
operative marketing.
The recently published report of the
Federal Trade Commission shows that
the gambling transactions in grain
amount some years to more than
twenty billion bushels, or three times
all the grain produced in the world.
The public has made up its mind
that the Chicago Board of Trades
poker playing, using the country's food
supply as the stakes, is the most wan
ton, most wicked most destructive
game of chance in the world, and it
is now proposing to stop it by the
Cappertincher law, which places
grain exchanges under federal control
The Farm Bloc measure which had
strongest opposition was the amend
ment to the Federal Reserve Act, Pre-
viding that agriculture should be re-
presented on the Federal Reserve
Board along with other industry, com
merce and finance. Wall Street bank,
ers opposed it bitterly, claiming that
this is "class legislation
No one seems to think it "class
legislation" for commerce, finance and
manufacturing. to be represented on
the Federal Reserve Board, and, OF
course, it is not Then why should it
be considered class legislation for agri
culture, which is the largest and most
vital industry of all, to be so repre-
scented?
For a long while the big five pack
ers combine absolutely controlled the
livestock markets and fixed the prices
to suit themselves. AS a result of the
efforts of the Farm Bloc the packing
industry is now under government con
troll, and, as matter of fact, the pack
ers and everybody else now concede
that it is good law.
One of the most important measures
in the Farm Bloc program was the
bill for the revival of the War Finance
Corporation, making one billion dollars
available for loans to farmers and
stockmen. This legislation saved
thousands of producers from bankrupt
cy.
The Farm Bloc still has many i'm
portant things to accomplish One