Evening star., 1923-03-11

MAT plant How can we Keep
! tho boy on the farm" or
/ How can we get the boys
| back on the farmsc" that
we have been hearing for the last
few years is all wrong, according
to the inside views of officials in
the Department of Agriculture, who
| have the best possible perspective
| OF the farm situation.
The big problem now is to get
| enough boys off the farm and get
them started right in the cities. The
| real trouble is that the farmers
! have become so efficient that they
are working themselves out Of their
| jobs. Secretary Wallace supports
| this conclusion in his annual report,
| in which he says: THE greatly &C
/ celebrated movement of farmers, and
| especially farmers sons, from the
farms to the cities and industrial
| centers is one Of the hopeful signs"
Facts I'm the Case.
Here is the "showdown'' on facts:
We are having an overproduction
Of food for this country, and that is
4
on the farm
About the only way that those who
are trying to safeguard the future
see to improve the situation is to
reduce the number of farmers.
This country requires relatively the
| least number of people of any in
the world to produce it's food sup
plies. China requires about 75 per
cent of its population in agriculture,
while the United States requires less
| than 33 per cent. So, in China, it
takes seven and one-half men to feed
| ten men, while in the United States
three persons feed ten, with an
abundance of overproduction
To Eliminate Poor Land.
Then the question arises What
acres must be eliminated?" for when
nate acres.
Answer-First, those that are far
thest from markets; second. the un-
profitable small areas on farms such
as sandy hills.
The next great thing that is going
to happen to the farmer is that he
viii be forced to ship to market only
graded and desirable or marketable
parts Of his crops. for it will not pay
him to ship the culls.
We will be called upon to eliminate
such things as dust and foreign seeds
in his grains, so as to ship the usable
| portion at less cost and command bet
ter prices. If 10 per cent of the
| wheat Of North Dakota is dirt, the
farmer will have to take that out
before selling the wheat
Following all this, production is 60
ing to move in closer to markets be-
cause of the high railroad rates, or
cost of transportation. And the COM
petition is going to be so keen that
nearness to market will be an i'm
portant factor.
Michigan as an Example.
How do the specialists in the De-
partment of Agriculture know all
this? Take Michigan, by way of ex-
ample. You'll find it has been pro-
ducing about $4,000 900 bushels Of
corn, 20.5oo,O00 bushels of wheat, &C..
100000 bushels of oats, 24,000,OOo
bushels of potatoes. The value of this
crop is approximately s152,0o0,ooo.
Now when that product was fed to
live stock and placed on the market
1t brought less than it would have
brought If sold off the farm. In 9th.
er words, the more the farmer works
to manufacture his product the less
he gets for it.
If we want manufactured products
from raw farm products-such as
meats and dairy products-the prices
will have to be raised sufficiently tc
pay the farmer for his cereals and
allow something for his labor and
risk involved, which isn't done now.
In other words, all this brings out
the fact that the great need of the
farmer is not credit. as Congress de-
cided. They may think it is, but It