Show THE FARMER UNDER COMMUNISM one of the best of the national TV programs recently showed a motion picture film taken in communist east germany the cameraman who made the film at enormous personal risk had escaped with his family to the west the film amounts to a grim exposure of the material and spiritual degradation of the people that is the hallmark of this and all the other communist workers paradises and it shows far better than words can describe the incredibly low living and working standards imposed in the police states one series of scenes in the film should be of exception al ai interest to american farmers A large piece of mechanized farm equipment which like practically everything else is under government control is brought into a village the local farmers make a major celebration of the occasion out of gratitude to the authorities who are graciously giving them the temporary services of the machine for a brief spell they would enjoy the wonderful boon of mechanical power the rest of the time of course they must do the work with their own backs and arms aided by a few undernourished draft animals here in america first class equipment is regarded by farmers as a basic necessity they own it and they use it as they choose it has resulted in more production accompanied by sharp drops in the amount of human and animal labor required it is a bulwark of agricultures agri cultures earning power and living standards it has been largely responsible for the transformation of farming into a business what we should never forget is that it like all the other tools we use is a fruit of the free enterprise system which is the source of our strength and wealth |