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Show SHOULD THE FAMILY-SIZE FAMILY-SIZE FARM BE ELIMINATED By Eva H. Koyen Duchesne, Utah There have been many things said and written about the current cur-rent farm problem. However, it is the family-size farm that is feeling the heaviest part of the squeeze. Many have sold their farms to try and seek a living elsewhere; others have lost every thing it has taken a life time to accumulate. Most of these farmers farm-ers are at the age where their services are not wanted in another anoth-er busines. But people do best when they do the work they like; so why should farmers fe forced to another kind of work? There are men in high position in the present administration who have stated, that the small farmer should seek a living elsewhere. And their actions sustain their words. The commercialized farms are indirectly responsible for some of the plight the small farms are in today. These people plowed up good grass land and planted it into in-to wheat during the war.. The government urged people to produce pro-duce all the food they could, but it caused much speculating. These are the farmers who will benefit most under the proposed 'soil bank,' and they are the ones who have been receiving the big subsidies. sub-sidies. They are the ones, no doubt, of whom Senator Holland (D-Fla.) calls the "more efficient, more prosperous farmers, who are the larger operators because they earned the right to a bigger place in the farm economy." The smaller farms received some subsidies and some not any. One reason is because the farmer has to stand one-half the cost in any aid or given project, and with prices down this has been a handicap. han-dicap. Most projects are setup under un-der high government specifications and the most is more than the farmer can afford to pay. Why have there been price sup-I sup-I ports on five basic crops and not on the other agricultural products? Price-supported grain can't be fed to non-supported livestock. The livestock farmer has had to take what the packers would pay him and it resulted in a $700 million loss, and has left him in debt. At the same time the pack- ers made a profit of $50 million, l of 140 corporation profit. There- I fore, labor isn't to blame for the farmers' plight as the Secretary of i Agriculture claims they are. It also shows that the farm economy I is not on the sound basis that he l also claims. I There cannot be such a thing as supply and demand. When the i farmer has to compete with a low tariff, and the domestic market i becomes flooded with foreign sug- " ar, wool, catle and other commod'- i ities in order to keep a good neigh- bor policy at the expense of the i farmer; at the same time protect- ing all manufactured goods, it i becomes a disgraceful situation. ' The public should take cogni- i zance of the fact that the farmer is not the only one whoc receives i subsidies. The very papers and magazines that have been sharing i in this so-called 'hand out' are the ones that have caused much i prejudice against the farmer. The Postmaster General is asking for , a raise in postal rates to help pay I these subsidies. Mines receive sub- , sidies through stock-piling; defense I project, where the big industrial- , ist gets his share; the U S. Oil ! and Gas Industry enjoys a subsidy sub-sidy of $1 billion a year, not to I mention the shipping industries, airlines and railroads. I Some of these subsidies are necessary; ne-cessary; just as it is necessary for I the farmer to receive government supports He has the right to share I in the high economy with the rest of the country. I There are ways to help the farmer. There shouldn't be such a wide margin between producer and consumer. There should be a floor placed on all commodites, or he sholuld receive price supports to meet parity.. If the family-size farm is eliminated elim-inated how will the commercialized commercial-ized farms operate? It is true this is an age of machinery, but it takes manpower to operate this machinery; to round up cattle; to repair fences besides all the other odd jobs. Surely they don't think the ousted farmer will come back and work for them! There are things that are raised on a small farm that a larger farm wouldn't bother with. When the small farms go the county in the near future might find itself it-self going hungry. What will all the government employees do, who are doing so-, called jobs for the farmer? They won't have anyone to tell when to oil their machinery; what to plant and when, and how warm milk should be to be fed a calf., There has never been a time in our country when the young people peo-ple in such large numbers have left the farm. The land has been their heritage, but they have had to leave it to make a living elsewhere. else-where. The family farm has been the backbone of our whole economy, and when it fails so will the rest of the country. |