The Nezperce herald. (Nezperce, Idaho) 1900-1957, 1924-06-26
A FARMER ON
AGRICULTURE NEEDS
r. Benz Addresses Audience of Rep
resentative Farmers At
Nezperce


ern Pacific Railway Co., was give
wrapt attention by goodly audienc
of farmers and towns people during hi
address on HThe Needs of Agricul
ture,' in the Chautauqua tent at thi
place Tuesday afternoon.
His visit to our community, tn
third for public speech, was in nj
wise connected with the Chautauqua
but his dating here made the use O
the tent convenience to him and tn
community, and the courtesy of th'
Chautauqua management made /
available. Portions of his talk wer,
well received, while some phases of i
did not find ready approval by hi
audience.
Mr.. Benz was accompanied by A. f
Shirley, of Lewiston, general freight
and passenger agent of the Northern
Pacific Railway, and the two gentle
men made a visit to the Turner Broth
ers big farm southeast of town just
after noon. They were greatly i'm
pressed by the 950-acre bean crop they
saw growing on this farm, as well as
the modern Improvements and general
"business-like.' conditions they found
prevailing there, and by the fact that
all of the 1000 acres included in the
farm were in crop; not one acre of
idle land on the place.
Mr.. Benz spoke, in the main, as fol-
lows:
To the logical and analytical mind
farming is the basic, and hence the
most important, the most problemat-
ical, the largest, and the best business
America knows or has today. But
viewing it in its present condition,
from a purely economic standpoint, we
find it to be sick, and, unless real
remedf is found slowly but surely
starving to death, and starving agd-
culture spells in the final analysis
starving and dying nation.
This condition of Americas agricul-
ture is not a new one, but rather a
elimination of long-standing economic
complications. These complications are
the consequence of false psychology,
which has been permitted to imbed it.
self into our national mind, relative
to the farming business. The fault
for tbs lies equally with the farmers.
on the inside, and the general public
on the outside. Through the several
Homestead Acts, and while the supply
of homesteads lasted, farming was a
highly governmentally subsidized bus
iness, and the farming element, be-
cause of this easy start, became to a
great extent satisfied in its landed
possessions, and failed largely to rec
ognize itelf as being charged with the
nation Is greatest business. And failing
in that, it neglected to fit and equip
itself for the proper execution thereof
The general public on the outside,
being somewhat biased by the idea OF
the land subsidy to the farmer, nour-
ished the thought that the farmer,
having received his land as gift, or
near-gift, deserved little or no con
sideration in the marketing OF his
crops. But the day of free homesteads
belongs to past history. To start In
the farming business today, even on
a moderate scale, requires an invest
ment, on an average, SURPRISING the
capitalization of many banks, or the
ordinary mercantile establishment. A
business only remains "going con
Germ" so long as its income balances
its outlay, plus reasonable margin
of profit. The income must cover the
interest on the investment, taxes, in
surance, depreciation, labor or cost OF
production, necessary improvements
and management. IF any or all of
these, in whole or in part, are denied,
the business must fail. The American
farmer, for some time past, has been
denied a fair living income, and has
been compelled to use up his economic
strength-hence is economically i'll to-
day.
But there is another side to this
question, which to the truly American
heart is even worse than economic
sickness or death, namely, the yield
politically speaking to the de-
structive influences Of radicalism, So
clalism and anarchism. Radicalism, in
its hydra headed form and its insatiate
hunger and lust for the destruction of
all things truly American, recognizes,
In the justly discontented farm ele-
ment of today, possible "balance Of
power" which, if won to its irrational
Ideas, would make it possible to enact
Its revolutionary and destructive pol
lcles into the laws of our land.
Therefore, although permeated and
saturated with natural antipathy to-
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