Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-06
Real Fight for Destiny OF
Grower in Laboratories
of the Nation.
Power, Identification and
Efficiency Real Needs,
Banker Declares.

They rejoiced because the country
had been saved from economic folly
and fallaCy." Even if you agree that
the proposed law was as unsound as
it's adversaries assert. you must recog
nize that the question of farm relief
still challenges solution.
In a recent address in Chicago,
O. II. Cheney, New York banker,
asserted there was no farm problem.
This brought a letter from an
agrarian. who related this story: 1.-TWO
boys held a contest to determine who
could tell the biggest lie, and agreed
that the winner should get dog. AS
they we're about to match their wits,
a minister came along, and inquired
what they were doing. Uoon learn
ing, he appeared shocked. and assert
ed that he never told a lie in his life.
Both boys promptly agreed that the
minister should get the dog"
The letter writer drew this moral:
II see that you say, there is no farm
problem You certainly ought to get
the dog"
Endlessly Complicated.
Mr.. Cheney is one of those who be
lieve that no simple formula, such as
the McNary-Haugen bill, could solve
the problems of the farmers, which ne
believes are endlessly complicated.
There is no farm problem" ex-
plains the man, who as superintend-
ent of banking under former Gov:
Hughes wrote the banking law OF
New York state, which has since
served as q model for others. There
are almost as many farm problems as
there are farmers-certainlt there are
as many farm problems as there are
farm crops and as many as there are
farm sections. What is known as the
farm problem at any given time Is
the problem of the nolslest group
And the amount of noise is not neces-
sarily proportionate to the value ana
Importance of the crop.
1.-THE competition between the Varl-
Gus AGRICULTURAL sections or the
country has been continuous since
the landing of the Pilgrim fathers
The old pioneering has gone ana is
now only a thing of the moves. But
there is a silent pioneering which IS
still going on---the frontiers are sun
moving westward. The old covered
wagon still passes over the prairie,
but it is q ghostly wagon OF economic
statistics.
"It is as accurate to say that there
is one farm problem as it is to say
that there is one farmer. AS long as
we lump all the farmers together, we
shall never get anywhere. Or course
there are some problems common TO
many groups, but we must recognize
the differences between crops, between
sections, between the results OF nat
ural causes, between ef1clent ana IN
efficient farmers. If there is one
farm problem it is that the farmers
have too many friends. The principal
farm crops OF the country are investl-
cation and legislation
Some Claims for Attention.
AS a New York banker, Mr.. Cheney
might be disqualified as art
farmer. And yet he has some speclal
Claims for attention. He is a native
of Illinois, and at present owns three
farms in Colorado. In telling me
about his farms, Mr.. Cheney said:
"Sometimes I make money on them
and sometimes I don't. This year
notatoes are planted. Other years
wheat rye and other heavy cereals.
They are cultivated by renters
Mr.. Cheney, who stands out among
bankers because of his candor and
capacity for picturesque expression,
was president of the Pacific Bank,
Exchange National Bank, which re-
Gently Joined hands with the Irving
Rank & Trust Co. Mr.. Cheney is now
vice president of the consolidated IN
stitution. the American Exchange Irv-
| ing Trust Co. viii, e.n.o ;,
1.-THE farmer in the United states,
said Mr.. Cheney, lis not radical. lie is
| like a child, and needs to be led. lie
does not want money from the GOV.
eminent, but leadership. The work or
tho Department of Agriculture should
| be extended and amplihed. ON the
other hand the farmer should be en-
| couraged to take more interest III
what is already available in the way
of helpful information. Some farmers
| are lazy, being disinclined to work
| continuously to improve their status.
The average farmers work hard only
| for a short time each year"
| Mr.. Cheney does not consider the
problems of the farm particularly
novel.
| The farm problem he declared,
sis only the curse of Adam. 1t is as
| old as the farm. Man has always had
| TO wrest the fruit of the soil against
| the strength of natural forces. And al
| though man has devised new and
! powerful means of beating nature
| there will probably always be some
|
have worked with him have met
| drought with irrigation; they have
/ met soil poverty with scientific ferti-
| exterminators; they have met deterior.
| alton with refrigeration; they have
| met soil poverty with scientific ferti-
| lizers and rotation; they have met iso
| lation with communication. When al
| the forces of nature have been met
! to the limit of human possibility. fur.
[ from
only through insurance.
Fought in Laboratories.
al believe that the real fight for the
| destiny of American agriculture is
| being fought in the laboratories of
the State universities. the agricultural
| colleges and the Government depart.
ments-not in the Legislatures. AL
| ready the farmer is producing more
crops on less land and with less labor
| than he did 10 years ago. And for that
he has to thank the college professor
the book fa,.mer,' the 'test-tube
| farmer and the microscope farmer
whom he has ridiculed for years.
"If the farmers of the country read
carefully and really followed their
farm papers the farm problem of
the United States could probably be
cut in half. There is probably
| enough llIOEIldtIOil HI Tic AdtkHeAS
bulletins published by the Federal
and State institutions and depart
ments to solve most of the farmers
technical problems. 1t isn't that the
art and science Of farming are 50
mysterious--the big farm problem is
how to apply what Is already known.
Scientific research properly support
ed-not only with money, but also
with contidence--is the real farm
aid
THE farmer protests not only
against low prices for farm products,