IShe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
589 
The Food Problem and Distribution 
One year ajro this month the United States entered 
the sreat world war now waged in Euroi>e. 
From the very first word on the subject it was 
announced that food was the most important factor 
in the many material needs to win the war. We 
needed food to feed our own men in Army and 
Navy, and to feed the same classes of our Allies in 
i'iurope. It was and is important also to feed the 
civilian classes at home and in the allied nations 
that the morale of the civilians at home and abroad 
may support and encourage the men on the firing 
line. This necessity of a full food supply was fully 
recognized by all classes a year ago; and it was fre¬ 
quently pointed out that the necessity would in¬ 
crease from year to year as the war lingered and 
progressed. 
From official sources appeals were made to fai*- 
mers to increase the food suppl.v. Appropriations 
were made by State and Federal governments to 
urge the farmer to greater production. Some at¬ 
tempt was made -to help farmers find seed supplies, 
fertilizers and farm help. In the end, of course, 
the farmer paid for it all. For the most part the 
labor furnished was a failure, but the official appeal 
no doubt stimulated production. Farmers responded 
to the call for service in their fields. They in¬ 
creased the acreage and the products. 
Then came an official propaganda to save. Armies 
of men and women were employed to induce the 
people to save food. They were requested to save 
Avheat, to save potatoes, to save milk, to save butter 
and fats generally. Hotels and restaurants were 
requested to save. They did. They cut doAvn the 
size of portions one-half, and increased the price at 
the same time. Prices increased in the consumer’s 
markets. Consumption fell off. The crops then 
began to mature, and Avhile the retail price re¬ 
mained as it was the wholesale price to the pro¬ 
ducer declined below the cost of production. Waste 
and loss followed as a natural consefiuence. 
Food administrators set up a .system of trade 
regulation and price-fixing. Without legal authority 
to fix prices directly the.y accomplished their pur¬ 
pose by mutual agreement with buyers and dealers. 
In order to further this project, dealers were 
licensed, and the whole trade of the country forced 
through their hands and their profits made secure. 
Before the American Revoiution the English gov¬ 
ernment cstahli.shed a similar system of trade agen¬ 
cies between the colonies. It Avas one of the causes 
of the rebellion; but in all the history of the countiy 
from that time to the pi'esent. middlemen never had 
such a complete control of trade‘iKitween the States 
or interstate as they have today. Their control is 
complete. The price to be paid the farmer for pro¬ 
duce in great demand is fixed. For the most part it 
is fixed l)etween the cost of production and. of 
course, below the cost for Avhich it would sell on 
the open market. But to the consumer there is no 
]trotection. The local dealer sets the price to con- 
sumer.s. 
On surplus crops the farmer is left to his own 
resources, and to the mercy of the middlemen. In 
hotels and restaurants a portion of potatoes that 
Avas formerly served free Avith an order of meat 
now costs from 20 to .^5 cents. All the past Winter 
l)otatoes sold in the city stores for six to eight cents 
a pound. In New York State they cost not less 
than one dollar a bushel to produce; but today 
agents or dealers supplying the government are of¬ 
fering prices for them that Avould net the farmer 
sc.nrceiy better than 80 cents a bushel. Milk and 
dairy products are in the class Avith potatoes; and 
poultry products are little better. The cost of all 
supplies has increased and multiplied Avithout limit 
or i-egulation. I.ahor is gone and it cannot be re- 
jdaced. Farmers are taking losses, and planning 
smaller production for the coming year. 
This time last year they faced the production 
problem Avith hope and courage and confidence. 
Today they are confused, discouraged and disheart¬ 
ened. They Avant to do their part this year as they 
(lid last year; but under the conditions they cannot 
keep up the pace. From every quarter of the coun¬ 
try Ave get the same report. They Avill do their best. 
They Avill plant AA’hat they can cultivate; but the pro¬ 
duction Avill be decreased. I.arge acreages that 
Avere planted last year Avill remain idle this year. 
The prospect is alarming. We are gambling on 
i.ature and Aveather conditions; and AA'e cannot af¬ 
ford to take chances. We cannot undo the mis¬ 
takes of the past, but Ave can guard against similar 
error for the future. Noaa’ is the time to do it. If 
food is to win the war, it is the part of prudence 
and duty to .see that the supply is surely abundant. 
We cannot reach that result by hampering and 
cheating the man aa’Iio produces it. The way to get 
an abundant supply of food is to encourage its jAro- 
d action. 
Price-fixing and official regulation has failed. 
Without regard to the cash saving, farmers all over 
the country say there Avould be more food produced 
and the government Avould be better served if Ave 
never had an,y food administrators at all. We quite 
agree with them. And yet the farmers agree that 
there is a real service the government can render in 
the encouragement of food production. It could or¬ 
ganize a sy.stem to store and distribute and sell food 
and prevent Avaste of it after the farmer has pro¬ 
duced it. It could leave the farmer free to devote 
his Avhole time to production and harvesting. It 
could then take it from his hands, sell it on the basis 
of supply and demand, and see that he got a fair and 
prompt and accurate return for it. In this way the 
government could eliminate profiteering, speculation, 
gambling and AA’aste in food distribution. It could 
return the farmer a larger share of the consumer’s 
dollar. So far it has refused to do so, because the 
middlemen control the government. They Avere never 
before so Avell intrenched as just now. So long as 
they remain in control, production Avill be discour¬ 
aged. Producers wili work under disadvantage. We 
Avill be in danger of a short food supply. We can 
only repeat now what we said here a year ago. If 
the government will establish an efficient and eco¬ 
nomic system of distribution and return to the pi'o- 
ducer a fair share of the consumer’s cost, the Amer¬ 
ican fanner Aviil feed the world, and have food to 
spare. 
A Railroad Wreck and Claim Wreckers 
I>ast Aveek, through criminal carelessness in the 
make-up of a freight train on the New York 
Central, two light cars, running between heavy ones, 
buckled near Amsterdam, N. Y., and fell over on 
the passenger tracks. An eastbound passenger train 
ran into the wreck. Rome of the passenger cars 
rolled over into the river. Some passengers AV'ere 
killed and man.v badly injured. Then the fast train, 
knoAvn as the Empire State Express, plunged into 
the double Avreck, killing and maiming more passen¬ 
gers and trainmen, and converting engine and cars 
into splinters of Avood and twisted masses of iron. 
The scene may be imagined. It would not be pleas¬ 
ant to describe its horrible details. Scarcely had 
Avomen and children been removed from the burning 
and twisted debris of the smoking cars, bruised and 
bleeding and maimed, than a pack of Hained claim 
agents for the NeAv York Central Railroad appeared 
further to annoy and harass them to accept trifling 
sums of money in settiement of claims against the 
company for damages. Nothing could.be more cold¬ 
blooded or heartless; nothing more revolting to a 
sense of decency or humanity. In the midst of ex¬ 
citement, suffering and death, caused by its own 
carelessness, the NeAV York Central Company set its 
hirelings to the task of harassing its bleeding and 
helpless victims into a contract to relieve the com¬ 
pany of the responsibility for its carelessness. It 
matters not that the victims were yet unaware of 
the extent of their own Injuries, nor of the nature 
of the contract, nor that they Avere not in a mental 
state to qualify them to act intelligently or pru¬ 
dently. All this Avas so much the easier for the 
bloodless agents, and so much to the advantage of 
the company. We doubt if these contracts Avould 
hold the victims or relieA-e the company; but, hav¬ 
ing signed them, many AA'ill go no further, and the 
reiease Avili no doubt embarrass to some extent at 
least those who repudiate them AA'hen they have been 
restored to normal mental conditions. The perfidy 
of this s.vstem rests on the head of the protected and 
respectable officials of the company; but the shame 
of it is on the State that permits and encourages 
such an injustice and untimely abuse of the unfor¬ 
tunate patrons of the road and the Avards and citi¬ 
zens of the State. 
Furloughs; Higher Wheat Prices; Liberty 
Bonds 
Throe things just noAV are of particular importance 
to farmers. The labor question and the prospect of 
obtaining help from the army, the proposed increase of 
the fixed price of wheat and the attitude of city people 
regarding the sate of Liberty Bonds. On page 455 we 
gave the text of a bill authorizing furloughs to army 
men. The object of this was to grant furloughs or vaca¬ 
tions to soldiers in the army camps, who decide to go 
back to the country and help with farm work. The 
furloughs are to be short and may be cut off entirely, 
if it is necessary to speed up the work of sending 
soldiers abroad. In order to obtain such a furlough, 
two applications must be made. One must come from 
the parent or employer on the farm, and he must make 
out a blank Avhich is furnished by the locai exemption 
board. This blank will show the kind of work required. 
the condition of the farm, wages paid and many other 
things about the farm operations. This is submitted to 
the board, and if they recommend the furiough it will 
be .sent to tht camp where the soldier is in service. This 
soldier must sign the application himself, and by doing 
so agrees to spend all the time of his furlough in farm 
Avork, and to return for military duty if his services are 
no longer urgently needed. This is the form for pro¬ 
ceeding, and many of our readers have asked how they 
must obtain the furlough. Some parents seem to think 
that all they have to do is to ask for the return of their 
boy. They Avill find much red tape about it, and the boy 
must join in the application. The facts seem to be that 
most of these young men do not want to apply for the 
furlough, and we understand that comparatively few of 
them are doing so. Most of the soldiers are anxious to 
get into action as soon as possible. In every camp or 
regiment there are many young men from town and 
city Avho would not be eligible for these furloughs, and 
any young farmer Avho applies for one runs against the 
criticism of these city men, and rather than be classed 
as a slacker many of the farm boys are not anxious to 
apply. We give the facts about this matter in answer 
to many questions, and our judgment is that under the 
circumstances the furlough system is not likely to be 
of much help to our farmers. 
In regard to the price of Avheat, there is a very mixed- 
up situation. The United States Senate by a large 
majority passed a bill increasing the fixed price of 
wheat to ,$2.50 a bushel. The opposition to this came 
almost entirely from the NeAv England and Eastern 
States, where no Avheat is groAvn. The bill has not yet 
come before the House of Representatives, but we are 
privately informed that it is not likely to pass that 
house. President Wilson, it is undei’stood, wiil veto 
such a bill if it comes to him, as he seems to be en- 
present crop. The argument attributed to him is that 
an increase of price at this time will not in any way 
increase this year’s crop, since it has all been planted 
It is also argued that this increase of price would not 
bring out the wheat, since farmers would be inclined 
to hold it in the hope of obtaining another increase. 
Another reason given for the opposition to this price 
increase is the statement that this country has practi¬ 
cally agreed with its Allies to supply a certain amount 
of wheat at a certain price, this price based upon the 
present rate of .'i;2.20 a bushel. Should the price be 
increased at this time, it is argued that the Govern¬ 
ment could not carry out its agreement with the Allies 
Avithout great loss. We give these statements without 
argument in order to state the fact. Personally we 
believe that price-fixing has proved a great mistake, 
and that farmers ought to be permitted to obtain more 
for their Avheat, as Avithout question the middlemen are 
milking more out of the grain situation than they ever 
did before. On the other hand, thousands of farmers 
in the Eastern States do not grow wheat at all. and 
buy all their flour and much of their feed. While the 
Avheat growers are strong for an increase of price, these 
Avheat consumers protest against it, and do not want 
to pay more than they are now obliged to pay. 
As for the Liberty Loan, some of the daily papers 
aie beginning the old foolish and criminally useless 
statement that the farmers are misers and slackers 
lliis IS done on the theory that abuse of this sort wili 
dnye our farmers to an increased purchase of bonds. 
It IS the most foolish proceeding that anyone can think 
enlarge of the sale of these bonds 
will, if they are wise, cut out this foolish and vicious 
talk at once. If it goes on as it did in the second sale 
ot bonds, there Avill nof only be a loss in these sales, 
but there Avill be even greater bitterness on the part of 
^r farmers, and a loss to the country in every wav 
Our country people are taking more of the bonds now 
than they ever did of the former issues, and they will 
sensible*^way’^ approached in a reasonable or 
Experiences in Borrowing Money 
On page 454 you print an itemized statement of ex¬ 
penses incurred in securing a loan from a Federal Land 
Bank at Louisville. You ask for figures from other bor¬ 
rowers for comparison. Some time before the Federal 
™^Ai existence and began doing busi¬ 
ness the M ashington Government, in an effort to help 
farmers, authorized ciirtain National banks to lend 
money to farmers, taking first mortgages, or deeds of 
trust, as security, and lending as much as half the ap- 
praised valuation, of the farm property offered. About 
the hrst of December, 101,5, the writer made application 
to a Richmond (Va.) National bank authorized to make 
loans secured by country real estate. The amount of 
l^oan was ;j>l,500, to secure Avhich I Avas char<'ed 
follows: 
iis 
Appraisement . 
Examining title . 
Revenue stamps on notes. 
Notary’s fee . 
DraAving deed of trust and notes."..".! 
Recording fees for deed of trust. 
Estimated recording fees for deed of release. .. 
Services Trust Department. 
,$5.00 
18.15 
.80 
1.00 
5.00 
4.25 
2.15 
75.00 
As you Avill obseiwe. 
siderably more than 0 
Virginia. 
,$110.85 
to secure this loan I paid con- 
per cent. 
NELSON COUNTY FAKMEK. 
I notice on page 527 some comments by Earle AV^ 
Gage on my list of expense items incurred when bor- 
roAving from the Federal Land Bank. I am not an 
expert on titles; before I bought my farm the abstract 
was examined and found good. 
The Title & Investment Co. gave on. mv farm 14 
years ago a mortgage of $1,800; they Avould iiot do that 
without good title. 
The five per cent stock is an expense, because Avith¬ 
out that no one could secure a loan. 
The statement of $14.98, figured out by the writer, 
is excellent, if it would only cover the expenses. Ques¬ 
tion : Is the writer of the article a borrower or officer 
of the bank? geo. neundorfeb. 
Ohio. 
R. N.-Y.—We understand that Mr. Gage is treasurer 
of his local borrowing association. 
