The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1923-08-28
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4htt tO1et - N0H~N'NfN :
on one big problem, that OF obtaining
for the American farmer prices that
will give him money enough TO pay
high costs for the things he buys. Cur
tailed production. subsidies. diversif-
cation. better distribution and market
ing, lower freight rates-,hcsc are the
remedies that are suggested Except
for one. that OF government guarantee
for wheat or any other farm crop. the
remedies are economically sound. But
they will not cure. They are merely
palliative.
For the problem is deeper than that.
Farmers are getting enough for the
food and crops they produce. But the
prices of other things are too high
The editor OF the Rock County Her
aid. Republican newspaper in Min
nesota, thinks this way:
ANY intelligent survey of the stu
alton must inevitably lead to the con-
clusion that what the farmer needs
most is not higher prices for the stuff
he has to sell. but lower prices on the
things he has to buy.
IF the cost of the things the far
mer must buy were brought down to
the level Of the products on the farm,
the farmers condition would be salts
factorily improved and the condition
of no other class of people would be
injured. 1t is true. of course that this
would necessitate a big reduction in
wages, but the reduction in the cost
OF the things the wage Garner must
buy would make up for the lower wag-
es he would receive. The only ones
who would be injured would be those
who are today reaping extoritonate
profits from present conditions.
Viewing the other angle OF the sit
uation. that of increasing the price OF
the things the farmer has to sell so
that his dollar will be worth 100 cents |
in buying power, conditions will be
reversed. The farmer produces food. |
ah0 ~ wv NVNt vi iOOQ Ri OddNto /
is increased forty per cent, the cost OF
food to the consumer will inevitably
go up. Labor. as we all know, will
then demand an increase in wages -
Offset the increased cost OF living. ard
this increase in wages will have to be
added to the cost OF commodities. in
GLIDING finished food products, thereby
further increasing the cost of living
all along the line Under this process
the farmer would not be any better off
han today. while the great mass OF
not in position to secure
increased wages or higher prices
would be placed in even worse con-
iition than they find themselves in to-
lay.
The great problem. then, is not one
Il higher prices, but of lower prices.
therefore,, when we seek to help the n
armer merely by increasing the price 4
t the things he has to sell we arc I;
tarting the job of improving his con- O
ition at the wrong end. This is true j,
, other respects than merely equaliz- O
'g the buying power of the dollar, Ii
esirable as this is.
1T would accordingly seem that less b
ttention should be paid to boosting c
rices and more attention be given to
prices OF commodities that n
'eryone knows are now commanding e.
prices. The task of bring
g about general reduction is as n,
fficult as any that can be imagined,
It IT offers the only relief from the m
resent intolerable conditions under N
hich the farmer labors. Reducing T,
c cost OF certain necessities to a fair or
vel OF the price of other certain ne az
ss'ties is economically sound, where
boosting by artificial means the
ice OF certain necessities to the ex-
bintantly high level of other neces-
les is fundamentally wrong and GER
n 10 prove disastrous" cit
TAT