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Show WILSON BLAMES I mm I High Cost of Living Brought . About in Part by the ; Dealers. j Washington, Nov. 14. President Wilson blamed middlemen for the high cost of foodstuffs here tonight 1 in a speech welcoming to Washington ; '1 the convention of the National ill Grange, the first formal speech he has ' IjmmW delivered since the election. Urging MH that farmers Increase their output, iil the president said: il "We ought to raise such big crops El that circumstances like the present f can never recur, when men can make iH as if the supply was so short that the middle man could charge for it H what ho pleased. It will not do to be niggardly with the rest of the world EH in respect to its food supply." The president did not mention re- ilH cent petitions to him to declare an PH embargo on exportation of foodstuffs fflH from the United States to the rest ll of the world and he did not refer even IH indirectly to tho outcome of the pres- nl identlal election. His address was in-terrupted in-terrupted frequently by applause from the' farmers attending the fiftieth an- ' niversary celebration of the founding ; of the grange. Farmers Important Part. fl "It seems to me," said the presi-dent, presi-dent, "that some of the most inter-eating inter-eating problems of our life and of the : life of the world lie before us, prob- lems in connection with which the farmers of the United States will play a part such as they have never play-ed play-ed before. "It goes without saying that the LL physical life of the nation has al- LLy ways depended upon the farm. It goes without saying also that to a large extent the physical life of the LL world has drawn its sustenance from the great areas of farm land in the LL United States. We have sent food to all parts of the world, and the Am-erican Am-erican farmer has contributed to the . :H life of all the countries of the world. H But you know that as our own popu- LLy lation has increased, the proportion LL in which we could help foreign coun- LL tries as contrasted with our own has decreased, and there are problems that are comparable with the prob-lems prob-lems of statesmanship lying ahead of LL the farmers of the United States. LL "In the future we have got to bring WM more of the area of the United States JW under cultivation than is under culti- VM vation now. We have got to increase ll the product at every point where it is susceptible for being increased. IH "One of the things that has most interested me about what has been fH done recently by legislation for the H benefit of the farmer, is the question jH why it was not done long before. It lH is astonishing that the assets, the val- lH uable, available assets, the visible as- LH sets of the farm should not have been IH available as a basis of credit in the Hl banks on the same terms as the as- Kl sets of commercial undertaking and IH manufacturing industry. Cattle are MM just as visible nnd tangible as goods in warehouses and goods on trains. MM "We have liberated the credits of the banks and we have mobilized through the department of agriculture the scientific intelligence of the world. With that combination, every nation in the world ought to come to us to learn how to raise big crops. ! We ought to raise such big crops that circumstances like the present can never recur, when men can make as if the supply was so short that the middle man could charge for it what he pleased. It will not do to be nig- gardly with the world in respect of its food supply. "I wish that all problems of govern- ment were displayed in as clear lines of duty as this problem of government with regard to how the farmer ought to be treated, is displayed. I wish, for JM example, that foreign affairs were as simple as agriculture. The great sat- isfaction about what you have to dis- JW cuss Is that when once your duty is jW of intelligence to go forward in the line of duty. L "The thing that makes a free coun- try vital is the large number of peo- fl pie who get together to do important things without asking the leave of the government to do them. The striking thing about a great country like the United States is that if the govern- JH ment neglected everything, the people would do it; that you do not beckon il to the peoplo of the United States, they command you to go on and things that are neglected they have got plenty of brains to get together and iH do for themselves." jH |
