Milford chronicle., 1948-09-24

=
Those 100000 farms
= marketed % per
"A AE'SO" cent of the total Of
.arm products produced 80. with
ess than 10 per cent Of the farm
population.
THOSE BIG FARMS are big busi-
ness, just as much as United States
Steel, General Motors or any Of
the other big corporations. A large
of them are corporation
owned. They are operated as busi-
ness strictly for the profit they can
produce. In the number Of people
they support they represent about
Of all farm population,
but in total farm production they
about one-fourth Of all
farm crops that are marketed.
ON A PER CAPITA FARM
population basis these 100000
big farms collect the lions
share Of the benefits which the
government guarantees TO the
farmers, the money for which
comes from the pockets Of
American taxpayers. The gov
ernment maintains a parity
price which means high price;
it provides subsidies and other
forms Of farm benefits. The
government maintains the high
prices which American house.
wives of the cities and towns
must pay for food.
BY MAINTAINING a demand
pressure, by paying subsidies, by
guaranteeing parity prices, the gov
ernment insures those investing ir
big farming operations a profitable
return on their investment. The
American taxpayer provides thC
hundreds of millions Of dollars need
ed each year so that the govern
ment can make good on that as
surance; that the investors in those
big farming operations can collec
dividends on their investments.
AT THE SAME TIME, those
same American taxpayers ar,
forced to pay the high food prices
the governments program create
and maintains. So it is the taxpaye
who feels the sting Of the whiI
both going and coming. He is force,
to insure the profitable operation
of the big farms and is forced t
pay the high prices for food tn
governments program creates an
maintains.
THERE is ANOTHER class {
big farms totaling 100000. Thes
are large family farms. They ar
not the property of corporations no
are they operated by absentee lanC
lords. They are family-owned an
represent a farm population Of 2
100000. They produce "a per Ger
Of marketed farm crops.
THE SMALL FAMILY farm,
100 acres or less up to $40 acre
numbered 100000 in 1945. Th
farms in this class supported
population of 7,4OO, 900 people. Sue
farms represent a way Of life MOI
than a business. They produce foe
for the people who live on and o.
crate them and are responsible f
II per cent of all farm produc
that are marketed.
IT is THESE small family
farms we of the towns and
cities think Of when we speak
Of farming. They represent,
not simply a production plant,
the one and only purpose Of
which is TO make a profit for a
corporation, but a way Of life
for those who live on them.
That IL per cent Of the farm
products marketed represented
the cash income of the seven
and a half million people Iiv.
ing on small farms.
In addition the farms provid
essential food for the family, sh
ter and heat that was needed, a
what was to these farm families
satisfactory way Of life. On a r
capita population basis each of
7,4O0, 900 of these small farm peoI
received but a meager portion
what the government spent on 81
sidizing the farmers Of the matte
MUCH OF OUR PRESENT {
ficulty is more the cost of high
ing rather than the high cost
! living. What we once consider
! luXuries. available only to the ri
are the everyday necessities Of
today. We considered the horse g
n buggy rich mans luxury so yet
/. ago. Today both rich and poor
r an automobile a necessity. It is
= difference in the American stand;
v of living, more than the high priC
n that is the cause of the larger p
n tion of our walls about increas