The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1926-11-12

phorous- of lime. These cost money
and he defers employing them to an
other and more prosperous year.
'The great agricultural plant Of
America has been running down for
many years, but never so rapidly as
during the last five years of rela-
lively low prices for farm products.
Affects POsterity.
"The city dweller is vitality inter
ested in having the farmer receive
such price for his product as to en-
able him to go on producing and to
conserve the fertility of his soil. Milk
is now selling in the city of Chicago,
am told, at IA cents a quart. Of
this the farmer receives, at the re-
ceiving station where he delivers his
milk, 512 cents. 1t may mean moth
ing to the purchaser of the milk for
the present whether or not the far
mer receives enough of the IA cents
which ne pays to enable him to go
on producing and maintain the plant
food in his soil. However, it means
everything to his children and his
children's children.
The Consumers Problem.
1T Is probable that the consumer
of food is already paying enough
and possibly in some instances more
than he ought to pay. The farmer
does not, however, under the present
system of marketing and distribution,
receive his proper share Bread is
high. We have always thought of
wheat and bread as almost synonym
Gus terms. And yet, according to
the department Of agriculture, the
farmers receive but from Is 10 is
yer cent of the price you pay for
your daily bread. The point am
now making is that the consumer is
interested in having enough Of the
price of the loaf go to the farmer so
that there will be loaves Of bread at
a reasonable price for his children
after him.
Must Stabilize Prices.
Some way must be found reason
ably to stabilize the price of products
of the farm. Progress in an indus
try Is measured by its approach 20
sterilization of price. Wild fluctua-
tiOns in the price of any essential
commodity always result in a loss to
the community. In the first place,
bankruptcy becomes more frequent,
and bankruptcy of any business is
injurious to society as a whole. The
owners of the bankrupt business
are not the only sufferers, but the
community, even though in a lesser
degree, share the loss. One economic
writer goes so far as to say that
whoever sell his product for less
than the cost of production is com
hitting a social wrong. Wide fluc-
tuations of necessity mean an aver
age higher cost to the consumer, for
the dealer must add to the price ne
makes something for insurance
against the risk he runs.
Consumer Doesn't Profit.
"The tendency in America for the
last quarter of a century has been
toward stabilized prices save in ag-
riculture alone This does not mean
that the law Of supply and demand
does not still operate, but only that
elsewhere an effort is being made to
the operation of that law
by determining upon prices which
will need adjustment as seldom as
possible. In agricultural products,
however, the swing of prices in re-
cent years has been more violent
than before. Within a period of two
years the price of wheat has ranged
all the way from 81 TO So a busheI.
During the same time the retail
price of bread has fluctuated less
than Is per cent. Within this period
hogs have sold from $6.75 per humid
red weight to $14 per hundred
weight. During this time the retail
price of bacon has fluctuated less
than Is per cent. 1t is clear that the
consumer derives no benefit from ex-
tremely low prices at which agricul-
tural products at times have sold. It
IS equally clear that the distributors
Of food products better organized
are able to prevent the wide fluctua-
lions which bring distress to the far
mer.
Famine Most Destructive Force.
every civilization is conditioned
upon its food supplies. In all ages
famine has been the most destruc-
tive enemy of mankind. We in
America, with our broad acres of
virgin lands, feeding our own people
easily are likely to overlook the