Evening star., 1931-05-31

OF that sort OF thing there Is oeluge
I mention 1t merely $50 far as this
article goes) to record the existence OF
an important phenomenon that has not
yet figured muct ir the newspapers. !
am quite sure 1t has not been brought
home to average readers throughout the
country.
Most of this talking and writing Is In
abstract terms, about theories OF social
organization, forms of organized society
and their relative desirability.
Let us leave that. Let us turn ana
take brief look over America to see If
there is anything tangible, anything we
can really look at and get our hands on.
At all times changes are under way.
There is at all times in America a
process of evolution (as distinguished
from revolution).
Ford is Quoted.
Henry Ford, the other day, said or
implied that we are about to have a
| fundamental change In farming. Mr.
Ford's theory appears to be that In a
period just ahead of us. farming. In
the sense Of the raising of fundamental
crops, is going to be carried on in large
units, on a kind of factory system. His
notion is that there will be immense
tracts of land, tens of thousands OF
acres or hundreds of thousands under
one ownership To this tract on a
morning in Spring will come great crews
Of factory workers. travelling in trucks
from distant cities. These workers,
with motcr-drawn plows and motor
drawn cuitivetors and motor drawn
drills, will plant the whole of the great
tract of land in single crop; wheat
for example. The whole of the planting
will be done, with Ford efficiency, In
not more than four or FIVE days.
Thereafter, the crews of workers will
be taken back to the city and will re-
sumo the making Of automobiles. or
steel rails, or whatnot, leaving only a
few watchmen to keep away crows and
other marauders during the period OF
the crops growth.
In the Fall when the crop Is ripe. will
come the same or other crews OF work.
ers, this time with tractor Implements
for reaping. Again, in the space of a
few days, the crop will be harvested
The total number of days devoted to the
raising of crop of wheat. for example,
might be less than 20. During all the
remainder of the year the workers will
be in distant cities engaged in manu-
featuring.
Cooperative Farming.
Mr.. Ford seems to think that the
man who owns the land will be the
same who owns the factory, and that
he will use his factory hands for the
work of farming. Supervision of the
farm operation, presumably, will be
done by farm experts.
If farming is to be done in the way
Ford suggests, the ownership of the
land must take one of a few forms.
Some (not many of the big new units
of land may be owned by individuals,
as Mr.. Ford and his family own his auto
mobile manufacturing business. Such
cases of individual ownership will be
as rare in farming as they are in man.
ufacturing. Most of the big tracts, if
the system Is to come at ell, will be
/ owned and operated by corporations
Those who do the work on the big farms
will have the status of employees, as Is
usual in factories. 1t will be corpora
ton farming. There is, of course, yet
another possibility-the Russian way
In Russia the land is owned not by any
individual. nor by any corporation, but
wholly by the State.)
Kansas Fights System.
Just about the time Mr.. Ford made
his suggestion the State of Kansas, act
ing through its appropriate officials, in
augurated movement to ouSt from
the State all of what is called corpora
ton farming" In Kansas, according to
the objective of this movement, there
shall be no farms owned by corpora
tons. Farming in Kansas shall be done
in the familiar way
Here, then, we have direct contrast
between old and new. Ford believes
that farming (much Of it at least) of
basis. The State of Kansas is deter
mined that farming shall be done on
an individual basis, in the familiar way.
If Ford is right the American farm as
We have always known it will largely
disappear Except, perhaps, as to vege-
table raising and possibly 6airying-
though Mr. Ford thinks that dairying
also will be done on the large scale
basis. If the Ford prophecy becomes
reality the family-owned farm, IA
miliar and fundamental in America
since the country was first settled. will
disappear or become a comparatively
small factor. The system under which
land Is owned in small tracts Of from
is owned by one family, under which
the farm commonly passes from father
to son, under which all the work Is
Gone by the farmer and his family with
seasonal help from few hired hands
all that, If Mr. Ford is right. Is menaced
Kansas is determined to rescue it.
Kansas is determined to preserve what
Mr.. Ford thinks must go.
One mentions the conflict without
venturing to guess the outcome. 1t is
presented here as merely one fruit of
brief look at America to find few
concrete examples of the sort of change
that is always under way or being
attempted.
There is another. The Supreme Court
the other day declared that the State
of Indiana has right to put a pro-
gressively high tax on chain stores.
Since that. decision any State that
wishes to hold back the coming Of the
chain store can probably do so. In this
case, as in that of the farm, we have
conflict between old and new. 1t is
claimed for the chain store that it Is a
better and less expensive way of distrib-
uting the goods the public wants. An
other school of thought wishes to pre-
serve the individually owned store for
what is claimed to be its social value.