Evening star., 1925-03-23


the opinion that farming is just
much ma tioraI business and presents
just as many ma ationaI problems as
ba mixing. building or other pursuits.
The new Secretsry's views in this
connection are plainly set forth in an
interview in the Nations Business.
official organ of the United States
Chamber OF Commerce.
Doesn't Want Pity.
Declaring that the farmer does not
want 10 lean on the Government for
everything, Secretary Jardine points
out:
He doesn't want the Government
constantly monkeying with his busi-
ness. He doesn't want 70 be babied or
pitied by other people. What the
farmer wants is just this: He wants
his business TO have an equal oppor-
tunity with other businesses.
The sound farmer business man
does not seek legislation TO FIX prices
or to regulate details He knows that
legislation csnno; annul economic law.
The only legislation he wa MS is leg
iSlation that viii assist him in get
ting reasonable credit on sound So
curity: legislation that will help him
build up machinery for marketing his
products successfully-legi gisls tton that
Will put him on par with other
business men.
There are certain special statutes
dealing with banking, with corpora
tions, with labor. The farmer does
not demand leEisla tion any more
speciali from his point of view
than those laws are from the point of
view of the men particularly interest
ed in them.
Living Standards Upheld.
In the land lies most of the farm
er's capital and il is on his land that
he must make fair interest return.
With land at its present price. the
farmer cannot make money by using
the methods and getting the returns
Of 1900
There are. of course. several pos
sibilties in this" Mr.. Jardine
plains. The farmers standard Of liv-
ing may be lowered for one thing.
/ This no farmer favors-and no
city man ought to favor. Advances In
standards of living are among the
marks of a rising civilization In par
ticular, the farmers standard ought
not to be lowered. because, in consid-
erable measure, it sets the standard
for the rest of the country. A poverty
stricken farmer class can never mean
a prosperous America.
Rather, the farmer will strive to
/ increase production 10 point where
il will represent a fair interest re-
I turn on the present value of the
land. That is way out and il is
the way the most sensible, hard
headed men-farmers or others-will
naturally consider the best way"
isn't there talk that production
ought TO be curtailed. instead Of
being increased" he was asked.
Loose talk" said Mr. Jsrdine.
Even if the curtailinG Of agricul-
turaI production was practical BILE. il
would not get Us anywhere The
acreage of certain crops should he
adjusted from time to time-now in
creased, now cut down.
Farmers already have done this
For in stance. they have decreased the
acreage of wheat and OF cotton and
have devoted to other crops some of
the land that they used to devote IN
these. But they don't let their land
lie idle.
Better Crops Sought.
There are farmers in Kansas who
are raising 0 bushels of wheat more
to the acre than their neighbors, be
/ cause they are plowinG early ana
/ deep and are using the best seed. |
/ know other farmers that are getting
/ solely on the basis of a strain Of oats,
Kanota. that was developed here at
! our experiment station.
Then l know farmerS-often the
! same farmers-that go in for quality.
( They are getting a premium or :"
| cents a bushel on their wheat because
/ of its high protein content. They
are feeding animals that Will mature
| in the shortest possible time and fur
( a.; III rYtTz DF me =
! thus bringing the highest prices on
| the market.
Although ow-testins associations
are only 10 years old. COWS Of thes"
associations in Wisconsin average
/ e73 pounds of butter fat a year. a.
against an average OF 100 pounds for
! all the cows in the State.
Quantity and duality-those are
the two things that count. They
| count in the farm business the same
! as in any other business. Profita bic
| production doesn't lie in producing
! at the lowest possible cost per acre.
! II lies in producing in such way
/ as TO give the biggest margin be-
! tween the production cost per acre
! and the selling price per acre.
1T is just a business matter and
I the farmer is working il out on his
/ own farm.
! Cooperation Held Remedy.
! Another thing, there are now 5000
cooperative grain marketing associa-
tions in the United States and about
/ the same number of cooperative live
stock shipping associations.
/ IF applied in the right way CO.
operation can make of American
! farming big, voluntarily unified
permanently and dependably profitable
business in way that no paternalistic
! legislation could possibly do.
What we all need TO do is to talk
less tommyrot and throw fewer
monkey wrenches into other people 3
! machinery. We want TO stop trying
TO line up one group against other
groups, We want to work together.
! Americans should be cooperating
rot quarrelins with each other over
| tha intsEesIz of this ornun or that.-