The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1945-02-23
LOOKING
AHE4D
by GEORGE S. BENSON
h 'presideHf--Eardlng college
Searey. ArkaAsas
Farmers Friend


Two southerners sat near me in
crowded day coach recently and
carried on a heated and revealing
conversation. Both men were farm
ers, but their similarity ended there.
They were not at all alike. One
seemed to be about 70 years old.
He spoke with a soft deep South"
infection. He had attended college,
was well dressed and had lived in
several big cities.
The other man was nearer 80,
spoke with the accent OF the delta
country and was obviously prac-
teal dirt farmer with very limited
schooling. The conversation was
about rice. The older man insisted
that rice was not grown in Arkansas.
''It would be so foolish" he said
scornfully. $50 long as Asiatic la
Dor is cheap there will be no money
in raising rice in this country"
Young Man Was Right.
The old gentleman almost per-
suaded the young man that he had
been calling something rice that was
not rice at all. I didn't intrude to
say that drive through miles of rice
fields every time I make trip from
Searcy to Memphis, although I hated
to see a man in possession OF the
truth so crushed under courteous
language and ideas that have been
out of date for Is years.
Workers in the Arkansas rice
fields are relatively well paid, as
farm hands are compensated. They
earn more than cotton choppers and
pickers; draw wages more like a
California orange grove worker.
Just the same, Arkansas rice Is
priced right. Our growers could ship
it to Japan in normal times and sell
it there at a profit in competition
to Chinese rice, Coolie raised.
Custom Built Economy.
It sounded quite familiar when the
cultured gentleman farmer ex-
planned, "The biggest part OF the
cost of anything is labor" The
statement used to be made often and
used to be almost true, but Amer
ica's volume production by machir1-
cry has disputed the idea with sue
cess for years; longer than the
Younger man could remember. Rice
in Arkansas, a new industry, is
fooled up well.
That's exactly why our rice work.
ers are we'll paid. They produce a
lot of rice per man. An American
worker, with modern tools, can pro-
| duce so times as much rice as a
China boy with a heavy hoe. Al
lowing literally FOR machinery ex-
pense, he can earn 80 times as much
as the Chinese, and does. At the
same time, the rice costs less per
bushel and can profitably sell for
less. That's America.
Parent of Prosperity.
Shorter hours and higher wages
for people who work, lower prices
and better merchandise for people
who buy, are universally popular
ideas. The same people want all
four, because working people buy
the biggest part Of everything that's
sold. 1t is strange, however, that all
four of these benefits come from the
same source (investment), which is
not a popular idea.
Good equipment costs something.
It calls for investment. With good
equipment, workers increase pro-
duction per man and get their pay
raised, also increase production per
day Cor per acre) and show the
investor a profit. Good equipment
also increases the available supply
per customer and thus lowers prices.
What America needs, not to mention
China, is to encourage investment,