Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1932-02-04

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wool. If they are not going to dc
this ridiculous thing and get out OF
the business, what can they do?
The only other thing they can pos
sibly do is to so cut their costs OF
raising lambs and wool that they
can sell lambs at SIS per cwt. and
wool at zoe per pound, and still
make profit. Now don't say that
this can not be done, because it is
being done by the men who have
been putting into practice in their
sheep enterprise the teachings Of
their experiment station and ex-
tension service as to what things
the sheep owner must do if he is to
produce efficiently 1t is your sheep
owner who will not drench his
sheep; who will not keep record
from which he can Gull intelligent
ly; who will not use a good ram be-
cause the price is high for that
kind of ram; who will not rid his
sheep of ticks, and who will not
feed his sheep enough; he is the
man who today is out of luck in
the sheep business. Now anyone of
average intelligence knows that
what is true Of the production of
lambs and wool is true of the pro-
duction of every other farm prod
uct. The place where the farmer
can get the most relief is right on
his own farm doing the things he
must do to produce efficiently,
which means producing at the low
est possible cost. That kind of
farm relief will actually enable a
farmer to make a profit and it is
the only kind of relief which will
make whit of difference as to
whether he is successful farmer
or not Legislate for his longer
term credit. or cut his tax bill in
half and reduce his interest charge
all these things will help, but
how much power has he to accom-
plish these things, and when they
are accomplished how much differ
ence will it make to him on his own
farm as to whether or not he makes
any money, if he is an inefficient
and high cost producer?
From 1914 to 1929, with the ex-
ception Of the year 1921 and part
of '22, the least efficient farmer
had a ready sale for anything he
produced at pretty good price.
He did not have to be efficient to
make money because prices were
high enough to enable him to be
shipshod in his business methods
and still make money. That pic
ture has changed since 1929 and
from all indications ii will be
sweet long time until the farmer
can enjoy that situation again If
the past hundred years experience
means anything in an attempt to-
fortell the future, it will take an
other great war to bring the price
OF farm commodities up high
enough to a point where any Tom,
Dick or Harry can sell anything
they produce and make money on
it.
Before farming in general will
be prosperous the price of things
farmers buy will have to come a lot
further down. Getting these prices
down is slow process because
wages are the principal cost in the
things farmers purchase, and it
takes a relatively long time to
either raise or lower the general
level of wages. The statement is
made that until farmers have pur-
chasing power, general business
conditions can not improve much
This is probably true, but it still
remains that what little, money is
being spent by farmers now is be-
ing spent by those who, through
greater efficiency, have some prof
its to spend That this condition
will remain true for several years
seems quite a probability. Farming
has already been considered a job
for a strong man and it is, but
there must be injected into it as
far as possible, a great deal more
thought and planning along with
the strength.