<Ih* RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1349 
The A merican Farmer in Politics 
He Must Get In to Save His Business 
AN UNSOLVED PROBLEM.—Is there anything 
in the present political situation of State or nation 
to lend courage or hope to agriculture? Tf so, we 
confess that we have not yet discovered it. We say 
political situation, because after wealth is once pro¬ 
duced, the distribution of it is a purely social or 
political problem. It must be produced under cer¬ 
tain fixed definite laws that man has no power to 
change, but once in existence it is subject to any 
disposition that mankind may care to make it. 
Society may protect the man who produces it in the 
enjoyment of it, and in the rewards for it, or society 
may and frequently does take it from him and pre¬ 
scribe the disposition to be made of it, and the terms 
and conditions under which the producer may be 
rewarded for it, if rewarded he be. So that decry 
politics as we may they affect the farmer in every 
turn he makes from morning to night, and from the 
cradle to the grave. lie may elect not to bother 
with politics, but politics never ceases to bother with 
him. The farmer can no more escape politics than 
he can escape frosts and potato bugs and caterpillars. 
He can control one as he does the other; but if he 
neglects either of them he suffers the consequence. 
WARRING PARTY POLITICS.—We have now a 
Democratic President and a Republican Congress. 
We have in New York State a Democratic Executive 
and a Republican Legislature. In the Federal Gov¬ 
ernment our Agricultural Department is under Dem¬ 
ocratic control. In New York State the Department 
of Farms and Markets is under Republican auspices. 
In what single particular is the interest of the 
farmer being protected and safeguarded by either 
of them? 
DEMAND ON PATRIOTISM.—At the beginning 
of the war the farmer was commanded as a patriotic 
duty to produce food to win the war, and informally 
assured that his interests would be protected. As 
soon as the food was on top of the ground the 
Hoover administration appointed trust magnates or 
their agents to the head of every division, to handle 
and distribute it. Those familiar with the facts 
know and admit that the Hoover policy and aim was 
to get cheap food for Europe at the expense of the 
American farmer. The dealers did not suffer. Even 
farm organizations were denied the privilege of 
either selling produce or buying supplies. Never in 
the history of the country since English agents ap¬ 
pointed by George III. monopolized the trade between 
the colonies have dealers and speculators enjoyed 
the monopoly put into their hands by the Hoover 
Food Administration. The propaganda of the Fair 
Price measures would have been a joke if it had not 
been pitiable in its hollow pretences. An organiza¬ 
tion that encourages a profit of 25 cents a dozen on 
cold storage eggs, and certifies to their grade as 
strictly fresh to sell in the stores of New \ork at 
five cents below the wholesale price of eggs, cannot 
command the confidence of men and women who 
know. 
PRICE CONTROL.—There was no price control 
on a single thing that farmers had to buy, except 
that the system had arranged that it must come 
through dealers; but the price of everything a farmer 
had to sell was manipulated downward below the 
price it would bring in the open market. 
GOVERNMENT FOOD.—Our Federal Government 
bought up vast stores of food, every ounce of which 
paid a liberal profit to speculative interests repre¬ 
sented in the Hoover administration; and for a year 
after the war closed this vast storage of food was 
hoarded and kept out of competition with other vast 
quantities hoarded by the food barons. All through 
the planting season these stored supplies were held 
by Government and speculators in secrecy, and farm¬ 
ers were left to plant and sow in ignorance of their 
existence. Now that planting is over and harvest 
well on, a propaganda for low prices is started, and 
the existence of the vast hoardings is first revealed. 
Our State Department of Farms and Markets did 
not reveal the existence of this food. The Federal 
Department issued tons of bulletins, but was either 
ignorant of its existence or deliberately withheld the 
information. The net effect of the propaganda has 
been to lower the price of the products in farmers’ 
hands. From every part of the country come reports 
of lower prices for farm produce of every descrip¬ 
tion as a result of this Government propaganda, and 
the New York City wholesale market reflects, if it 
does not lead the general decline. Fair price com¬ 
mittees are trying to soothe the city housewife with 
quotations on low-grade staples and allurements to 
live cheaper on coarser food. Even now the con¬ 
sumer does not get the benefit of the farmer’s loss, 
but those who can exist on inspired publicity ought 
to be able to imagine themselves well and cheaply 
fed. Any reader of the general press of the country 
cannot escape the conviction that the whole purpose, 
past, present and future, is to force the price of food 
down below its normal and natural level to the man 
who produces it. 
A CITAMITON NEEDED.—At this critical time, 
where is the man in public life who stands out boldly 
for the farm interests, tells the truth and demands 
justice? We do not hear him. The few feeble voices 
from the Central West seem confused and helpless. 
Organizations are silent. Many of them are in some 
way directly or indirectly enmeshed in the political 
system that has produced this condition. 
LABOR IN THE SADDLE.—While labor sat in 
the background and voted the party ticket, it, too, 
took the crumbs from the capitalistic table; but since 
it turned to the Government for its share of the re¬ 
wards of production, the politicians in Washington 
and Albany will not allow a representative of labor 
to sit down until they have personally dusted the 
office chair for him. Today labor dominates the 
political consideration and shares with capital the 
privilege of shaping National and State policies. 
The farm population that furnishes the major part 
of the raw material, and all the food that makes 
labor efficient and capital remunerative, has no po¬ 
tent voice in the councils that decide the share of 
production that goes to the farm. 
THE NEEDS OF THE FUTURE.—The millstones 
are now being “picked” to grind out new legislation. 
If left to the politicians and speculators who have 
controlled it in the past we can expect nothing bet¬ 
ter than we have had before. Men with privileges 
never give them up voluntarily. It takes a fight to 
dislodge them. The problem is really not one of new 
laws. We could get along nicely with our present 
laws if they could be administered in the interest of 
the people, and no law, however perfect, will help us 
unless enforced. The new laws, however, will come, 
and they will affect the farm. The farmer is best 
served by full information and publicity. Secrecy 
and confusion best serve the speculator and grafter. 
The one thing they all fear is truth and publicity," 
and it is significant that no provision for publicity 
has ever been made in a food law, since publicity 
alone would remove most of the troubles that the 
laws are enacted to correct. There could be no hoard-1 
ing of food if the amount in storage were known. 
There could be no speculation, if prices were public. 
The law encourages speculation because it encour¬ 
ages secrecy. This is a discrimination against the 
producer and consumer in favor of the speculator. 
It is not then good advice for those in politics to tell 
farmers to stay out of politics. The interest of the 
farm demands that farmers openly and frankly go 
into politics with honest purpose and high ideals. 
Not to get jobs for themselves or their friends, but. 
with farmers picked for the purpose, to look after 
farm interests. There never was a greater need of 
that service than now, when the greatest evolution 
of the world’s history is in process of rapid forma¬ 
tion. 
Deductions for Milk Kept at Home 
Dairymen in the Summer boarding sections who 
have consumed the whole or a part of their milk 
during July and August to feed Summer boarders 
have complained that the milk dealers have made a 
deduction of 30 cents per hundred for milk delivered 
during the months of May and June, and have 
wanted to know if they could force the dealers to 
pay them in full. There was no provision for a 
reduction of this kind in the terms printed, and as 
the provision had always been that the farmers were 
entitled at all times to hold the milk needed for 
their own use, we advised complainants that we 
knew of no justification for this reduction, and ad¬ 
vised the farmers that in our judgment they would 
be able to collect on suit. During last month a 
farmer at Moutieello, in Sullivan Co., N. Y., either 
acting on this suggestion or independently, put his 
claim for the reduction in the hands of an attorney, 
with instructions to bring suit, and the dealers 
promptly sent check at the attorney’s demand for 
the amount in dispute. 
It seems, however, from advice received from the 
Dairymen’s League that supplemental to the June 
agreement there was a provision as follows: 
Producers desiring to withdraw milk from dealer’s 
receiving station during July and August for the pur¬ 
pose of delivering same to Summer boarding-houses 
should notify the New York office of the Dairymen’s 
League on or before March 1 of their intention to dis¬ 
continue the delivery of milk during those months, and 
the League in turn will notify the dealer affected. In 
this event the dealer may deduct from the payments 
made such producers 30 cents per hundred pounds from 
the League price for milk delivered during the month 
of May and the month of June. 
If notice was not given by the producer the dealer 
was authorized to deduct 00 cents a hundred from 
the June bills, and when the milk is returned to the 
creamery after being withheld for July and August, 
the dealer is permitted to make a further deduction 
of GO cents per hundred from the September bills. 
If only part of the milk is withheld during July and 
August then proportionate reductions are made. It 
is also provided that: 
In case of the producer not withdrawing his milk 
during July and August and deductions having been 
made during May and June, the purchaser shall reim¬ 
burse the producer the amount of the deductions made 
in May and June. 
This would indicate that the dealer may make 
deductions for May and June in anticipation of with¬ 
drawals for July and August. 
The first paragraph of this supplemental agree¬ 
ment reads: “For the purpose of delivering same 
to Summer boarding-houses.” This would not seem 
to include farmers who use the milk on their own 
tables, but those only who delivered to other board¬ 
ing-houses. be it for family or boarders, and if this 
interpretation should be accepted farmers using their 
own milk would not be subject to deductions even 
under the supplemental agreement. 
This part of the agreement does not seem to have 
ever found its way into print, and the producers 
affected say that they had no knowledge of it from 
any source until the deductions were made. "We had 
no previous intimation of this provision. 
Indiana Farmers are Organizing 
The following breezy note from oue of our West¬ 
ern readers tells what is going on among the farmers 
of Indiana. They are making use of their war-time 
experience in raising money: 
Our farmers’ federation in Allen County. Ind., is go¬ 
ing strong; we will complete the organization of the 20 
townships in this county by September 9. at which time 
we expect to have more than 500 members to start with, 
and we are laying our plans for 1.000 members by No¬ 
vember. and 2.000 by the first year. It has been hard 
to convince many of the farmers, and especially the 
older men. that the farmer can really organize an asso¬ 
ciation that will be formidable enough to accomplish 
anything, but as we grow we gain strength, and we have 
confidence of final victory. Already farmers who have 
wool to sell are 10 to 15c per lb. gainer by the efforts 
and labor of their organized brothers in the Eastern 
States. 
Farmers in this State have been largely responsible 
for a higher valuation of manufacturing concerns. Some 
factories worth $1,000,000 to $3.000.000 have been pay¬ 
ing taxes on $100,000 to $120,000. One concern worth 
$1,000,000 had paid no taxes for four years. The farmer 
simply says he does not care if they take his possessions 
at 100 per cent just so long as they take the other fel¬ 
low's the same way. On September 19 the farmers of 
Indiana will make a drive to secure $200,000 with which 
to fight for their rights. They plan to have representa¬ 
tives at the stock yards in the large cities; to fight for 
rebates on wheat bought last year for less than the 
guaranteed price, and numerous rights which today are 
denied a farmer but granted to others. 
We are going to organize into districts, with captains, 
etc., and comb the township and county, just like we 
did for Red Gross, Syrian Relief. Y. M. C. A., etc. We 
learned that lesson pretty well during the war. 
It is said here that two wealthy firms engaged in real 
estate (principally farm real estate) have consolidated 
and are buying farms in groups, planning to put Bohe¬ 
mians on them to work them. These firms bought 
mostly No. 1 farm land, corn land preferred. Then they 
painted the house and buildings, put down some cement 
walks and steps, added a porch or a few minor improve¬ 
ments, and sold it to some one from Illinois for a big 
profit. Certain sections in this couuty are filled with 
Illinois farmers, some of whom sold out for $200 to $300 
per acre and then came in here and bought land almost 
as good for $100 to $175. 
Another thing that its happening in here is buying 
land on options. A friend of mine and a former dairy¬ 
man has made $11,000 in the last three or four months, 
and had not over $1,000 invested iu options. He made 
this money ou two sales; in one he combined two prop¬ 
erties. making $S,400 on the deal, and selling the laud 
to another real estate firm (one of the firms before men¬ 
tioned) ; ou another he made $2,400 profit ou SO acres. 
This is something for the Farmers’ Federation to work 
on. Blue sky is another. Their field of organization 
will be Indiana, Ohio. Michigan. Illinois, Kansas. Ne¬ 
braska and any other farming States in the Central West 
that want to come in. When this thing gets going right 
I think the farmers will employ and pay the couuty 
agents themselves, instead of letting the State Agricul¬ 
tural College select them, and I’ll bet they will have 
had some practical experience, too. n. h. 
