Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1925-05-21
Written Specially for The Leader
Bv EDWARD PERCY HOWARD
Tbrourh AutocaSter Service

Bearing the flnanclal non TO
his den, Ex-Governor Frank Q.
Lowden, rich farmer of Illinois,
who declined to run for Vice
Presidency of the Coolidge tick
ct, recently invaded the big city
of New York and made few pat
statements, relative to the situa-
ton Of the farmer in this country,
that made the city folks forget
the cabarets for minute and
realize that if the city interests
are determined to exploit the
farmer. then the city folks will
have to pay the price.
The former governor literally
tore the hide of the metropolitan
newspapers, explaining in mod
crate but clearly understandable
language that either through ig-
norance or design the entire farm
problem is misrepresented in the
great metropolitan centers.
ouE dSllCuItul e 10 bSSoyHi6s ooiu
Gov. Lowden. Farm bankruptcies in
recent years have increased more than
six hundred per cent. According to
the Department of Agriculture the
farmer could have obtained larger
income since 1920 if he had hired
himself as farm hand"
The former governor said that In
considerable portions of the country
farms cannot be sold today for the
value of the improvements the farmers
have installed The new fence has
gone. he said. Old barns, old fences,
old houses going to ruin for lack OF
paint are to be found on every hand.
"And vet despite these facts which
are gathered from the records" he
said. "there has been persistent Ell
fort during all these years OF farm
distress to minimize the seriousness
of the agricultural situation.
Interviews from prominent imam
ciers. articles inv magazines-one 60
ing so far I recall as to characterize
the agricultural depression as a myth
have appeared with = astonishing
regularity during all this time. deny
| ing there has been serious situation
on the farm or announcing confidently
th,t the farmers troubles were over
! and that his future was assured.
False Facts
The manner in which the city pub
lie is misled by the city newspapers
was brought clearly to the 'front.'
eff the price of some major farm
product, as cotton. for instance, goes
up, as it did the year before last on +,
account of the ravages. OF the Dol
weevil," Governor Lowden explained
chat abnormally high price has been
| emploved to reconstruct the modern
magical index number so as TO- snow
the purchasing power OF the farmer
has been restored. And this despite
the fact that during this very time
Weld was so low outside the two
states Of North Carolina and texas
that the cotton farmers of the south
found themselves in as desperate a
situation as they ever faced,
BEFORE he finished, Governor Low
! den rather wondered if even SO the
boll weevi1 is not the farmers TREND
;f the drought should not be welcom-
led in place of the rain drop. Index
Number he declared, are totally mis-
leading when applied to agriculture
"IVhatever NAV be the popular opir-
ion in the cities" he said "the abiest
economists generally agree that the
farm situation is desperate 1t Will take
twenty wears to adjust the difference
ha+ween what the farmer has to pay
for what he buys and what he gets
for What he sells if nonthing is con-
ec;ouslv done to relieve the SITUATION
N a. ~ end of that time, they tell us.
+bere will be another maladjustment
of prices. but this time in favor or inc
farmer. with a great cost OF living ~
the so called consuming classes WITH
j its attendant distress. ITO
Next. Mr.. Lowden dissected the
! falocious reasoning of the city iolks
! when # comes to judging the farm
; nroblem from their economic stan
dards According to the classical eco
,,or1ists of century ago. he explain
cd and our political economy TO-DAY
;e baeed LARGELY on the teachlngs-the
co,,,ne+;t;ve frinciple is the all power
f,1 and controlling factor in the busi-
n ne, world They deducted from TINS
tl,e ";ron law of wages under which
woes never could rise above the
no;n+ If hare subsistence. Under the
law labor was doomed forever ~ q e
life little above that OF the oe@s's u
the field. no a;ror law
Of wages" has gone INTO the dlSca1u,
said Gov. Lowdcn. Former freSluent
Had1ev of Yale one OF the fore. ,
economists of his time. says: ho9S
of rs who were brought up on the ola
! fashioned text books OF polItical eocl, Il
omv can hardly conceive how s1nai.
part of the prices or wages, or rel1tS
of the world have actually been oe-
termined by competition. we are
coming to learn that unrestricted com
net:t;on is not clothed with all the VIZ
tues If was once thought to possess:
Unrestricted competition is a form OF
warfare Whether among the nations
! of the world for larger armanents, OF
among the producers of useful com,
modities. it has been found to entail
losses to society far beyond the bene-
fits it has conferred"
High Prices, No Crops
Illustrating his point Gov. Lowden
called attention to the recent state
ment issued by the Dept. of Agrlcul-
ture on the estimated value of farm
crons for last year which was herald
ed in the cities as another proof that
the farmer had come into his own:
for it was found that the total value OF
farm crops for the wear was three
quarters of billion dollars in excess
of the value of the crops of the year
before. Welcome news-but the corn
crop was twenty per cent smaller than
the crop of the preceding year. The