White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1926-02-19

kAhWETto WHO dio uoeoA lAtnoo W
y help themselves can be assisted
materially, in certain limited re-
spects, by the government. Neither
the government nor any other force
can do much for the man who is un-
willing to help himself. The success
Of farmers in large measure depends
upon their own individual and collec-
tive efforts. That remains true after
the government has extended every
Legitimate assistance.
Before point out some specific
aids that public agencies can offer to
the farmer who wants to make the
most of his opportunities, let me sug-
gest a thought that may help clear
away some misunderstanding.
Solve the farmers problems" is
an expression you have heard thou
sands of times. The expression seems
to imply big mass problems and huge
groups of people. That complexities
our efforts to understand and to know
what can be done. The fact is that
just as we have over six million
farmers in many different sections
producing many different commodi-
ties, so we have an untold number of
separate problems. The so-called ma
tional agricultural problem is an ag-
gregation Of smaller problems. be-
lieve we can make faster Roadway by
tackling smaller problems separately
than we can by trying to solve them
all by one sweeping stroke.
have no panacea for agricultural
relief, and know Of no one who has.
My aim will be to pick out a number
of practical adm constructive things
that farmers can put into practice to
get their business on more satisfac-
tory basis, and to push those things
hard. The farmer back home is the
man who will be kept in mind
Definite progress toward increased
and maintained agricultural prosper
Z . r Z > 54 8 r.
ity will be made If the attention of
farmers can be fixed upon a few ele-
mental principles. Once they clearly
see the advantages of adopting these
principles, farmers themselves will
do most of what is necessary to make
agriculture more profitable. Among
+h, ir,,n Mt Of T,ri Il.
pies are these:
1. Balanced production.
. 2. Efficient methods Of production.
8. Improvement in quality and
Standardization of product.
4. Efficient and orderly marketing.
S. Reduction of spread between
farmer and consumer.
6. Fuller application of general
business precepts to farming.
Balanced production means, broadly
speaking, adjusting our production to
the demand for our products. 1t does
not mean leaving good acres idle. 1t
does not mean that we shall predict
ito the last thousand bushels how
much grain is going to be needed and
then undertake to produce just that
exact amount, regardless of drought,
storms and elements that we can't
control That would be absurd. Bal
anced production does imply that we
can, by gathering enough facts, deter
mine cur needs more closely than we
have in the past; and that farmers,
with these facts in mind, can more
nearly adjust their production to the
need.
Our wheat acreage has been reduced
in six years from 75,000,000 to 54,-
100000 acres. This reduction has
been made because farmers have
plainly seen that too much wheat
was being raised. With this example
before me I cannot believe that bal
anced and orderly production is i'm
possible.
The hog situation is another Illus
tration in point. This spring there
were 1S per cent fewer hogs than a
year ago, and Indication pointed to
higher prices for hogs during the fol
lowing eighteen months than any
time since 1920. The wideawake
farmer had these facts and knew that
conditions were favorable for expand
ing fall narrowing.
Some products we cannot produce
at profit in competition with other
countries. For other products, how
ever, we have natural advantages, and
with an adequate tariff protection our
farmers can probably produce them
at a profit in larger volume than at
present.
Since 1920 we have been importing
from twenty to sixty-five million
pounds Of clover and alfalfa seed.
There are regions in this country,
some of them now producing potatoes
and alfalfa and crops that are scarce
lly profitable in those regions because
of the heavy freight charge to their
! markets, that can and ought to grow