OCR Text |
Show THE FARM KKS AND FOOT) CONTROL An illuminating side light on the food situation is contained in some expressions inserted in the Congressional Congres-sional Record recently by Senator Smith of Michigan. These were from farmers' organizations and individual farmers, and they without exception endorsed the food control measures before congress. These expressions give us a pretty clear idea as to whence come the present panic prices. We are told with great unction that this is the first time in our history that the farmer has received for his products what they were reauy worm. But let us see. What is the object of food control? Whence conies the insistent demand? Plainly, the demand de-mand is the direct result of food prices that are out of all proportion to wages and to prices in every other 'Hie. Is it reasonable to believe that f the farmers were receiving any- ihing like the present retail prices minus, of course;, a reasonable per ent of middlemen's profit that the-ould the-ould be not only willing but anxious to kill the goose that lays the golden egg? The plain truth is, the farmer is not benefitted by the present high prices of food in any degree to recompense re-compense him for what he is injured by extravagant prices in other lines. He is paying vastly more for every purchase he makes, from a plow point to a tractor engine. What he gains from his small profits on his sales of food stuffs is more than offset off-set by the enormous increase in the cost of everything that he must buy to operate his farm. This the farmers farm-ers know, and government food control con-trol a contral which will establish a minimum as well as a maximum price. The speculating food pirates will have to hunt some other scapegoat for their sins Instead of the farmer Mini his "interests." |