Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-05-21
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

| Has that increase of the wealth OF
the farmers home market for his aE-
ricultural products been the cause of
| farm poverty? A strange reasoning
would be required to prove such an in
consistency, according to the expert in
! economics, DR.. Copeland. 1t Is not
! competition of the industrials that has
caused farm incomes, per capita, to fall
off % per cent between 1920 and 1925,
while incomes of industrial workers in
| creased per cent. Farmers have
failed to march forward in organiza-
ton. in general economies and in in
creased production, at the same pace
as have the industrialists, but that is
not the fault Of the industries.
The outstanding secret Of industrial
growth lies in the labor -saving of mass
production in the great factories. and
chain stores. and in economic distribu-
ton methods. such as agriculture has
failed fully to emulate.
Agriculture has made tremendous
strides forward also in mass production
and cooperating marketing since 1913,
but not so great as have the factories.
1t is a favorite statement-which the
Department of Agriculture Is wary OF
verifying-that the improvement IN
farm machinery is such that, whereas.
half a century ago, it took four hours
of human labor to produce bushel OF
wheat. today it requires only 10 minutes
of toll Even that 10-minute quota was
a decade old before the Introduction
generally of the combined reaper ana
thresher. That marvellous machine.
which in California wheat f1elds cuts
and threshes a swath 40 feet wide, was
found too unwieldy and too costly for
the smaller grain fields Of the Middle
West. but in recent years macnneS
which cut and thresh swath IL 10 "a
feet wide have become very popular IN
the Mississippi Valley.
In place of harvesting 10 or 10 acres
a day and then later having TO tnresn
the grain in a separate operation, the
farmer with one helper now cuts and
threshes 20 to 40 acres day. The
fact therefore. that there are fewer
farmers in the country does not mean
that we are producing less In farm
crops.
In the South a similar labor-saver
is found in the sled with which COTTON
is picked-provided the cotton rlpens
evenly. ready for the whole crop TO
be stripped from the plant At one
operation.
While farmers have developed CO.
operative organizations for the mar
keting of their products. they have not
kept pace with marketing methods OF
the industrialists. Instead. they listen
to the yagaries Of the producers OF
schemes to rig" the market with
equalization" drawbacks and deoen-
lures. whose only ultimate result. &C
cording to experts OF the Department
of Agriculture, can be an increase OF
SURPRISES through incentives to grow
larger crops.
The farmers are often criticized Tor
failure to use the kind of economies
which have become proyerbial with IN
dustry, even such industries as are 50
closely associated with farming as meat
packing. wherein everything Is utilized
except the pigs squeal."
Very recently it has been demon
strated that 1t is possible to make eS-
cellent news and book paper from corn
stalks and several newspapers ana farm
papers have been printed on sucn pa.
per, The use of cornstalks in place OF
wood pulp for paper will be blessing
to both the farmers and publishers ano
will add greatly to the value OF the
corn crop. 1t may develop species OF
corn raised primarily for Its toer; as
dber fax differs from the kind raised
for fiaXSeed. ,,. g.
Now the cotton raiSers are calling TOT
paper to be produced from the COTTON
plant-the Stems-as it Is from coIH
stalks. Along such practica! lines asii-
culture has much TO hope Tor
Farm employers have to compete
with industry in wages offered to hanoS;
A survey by the Bureau Of Agricultural
Economics shows that the average
wages of farm hands is s46. - monln:
plus board and other perquisites valued
cat farm market values) az sSo.S4,
making the total national average cost
s76.78 a month per hand. This average
varies according TO the section OF the
country. from the Pacific Coast. slo49s.
down to the South Atlantic, $59.78, ana
East South Central. $55.72.
Unlike the UNACCEPTABLE Europeans
who refuse to pass from one trade to
another according to economical in
ducementS. our American farmers and
farm hands are adaptable. and when
ever industry outbidS farming. the flow
OF humanity from one occupation to the
more profitable one tends to equaliZe
the situation. That is why the trend
from farm to city, reducing the number
Of farmers is a benefit to such as re-
main on the farm-it reduces ~ompe-