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American Agriculturist, April 28,1923 
Editorial Pa^e of the American 
American 
Agriculturist 
rounded 1842 
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. Publisher 
E. R. Eastman .Editor 
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VOL. Ill April 28, 1923 NO. 17 
G. F. Warren on Immigration 
F armers do not need to be reminded 
that the labor situation on farms, none 
too good since the beginning of the World 
War, is now worse than ever. According 
to the United States Agricultural Report, 
the farm labor supply on April 1 in the North 
Atlantic States was 23 per cent_ below the 
demand. The danger is, in a situation of 
this kind, that we will be led to advocate 
takipg up remedies that do more harm than 
good. One of these so-called remedies for 
the farm-labor supply is the suggestion to 
let down immigration bars. 
Because we are sure such a policy is detri¬ 
mental to the long-time interest of farmers, 
we are especially glad to publish as a feature 
article this time Professor G. F. Warren’s 
article on the immigration question. As 
most of our people know. Dr. Warren is one 
of the soundest agricultural economists in 
the United States. He is the author of the 
famous Warren Formula. 
May we emphasize Dr. Warren’s remarks 
by repeating one or two of them here. He 
says: “Since farmers as a class depend more 
on the labor of themselves and members of 
their families than they do on hired labor, 
and depend more on their own labor than 
they do on the returns from capital, it is to 
their interest that wages be high. If over 
a series of years wages remain high, the pay 
that farmers receive for their own labor will 
be high. It is very trying to see one’s sons 
and hired men go to the cities and receive 
very high wages at a time when farm prod¬ 
ucts are low. It is not in the interest of 
farmers to have country and city wages out 
of adjustment, but it is in their interest to 
have wages high. . . . 
“One who complains that there is an over¬ 
production of farm products is certainly not 
very logical if he also clamors for more 
labor. Comparatively little of the work on 
farms in the United States is done by per¬ 
sons from southern Europe. More of the 
farm hands in this country are native Ameri¬ 
cans. Some come from northern Europe. 
Since the present law tends to stimulate 
immigration from northern Europe, the 
chances of your having a Swede, Dane, Eng¬ 
lishman, or German to work on your farm 
are better than they would be if immigration 
were unrestricted; but, in any event, these 
chances are very slight.” 
It seems to us that these statements of Dr. 
Warren are just plain, logical common sense. 
The farm-help . shortage just at the present 
time is irritating, to be sure, but, in the first 
place, immigration will not give us any more 
hands, as Dr. Warren points out, and, in the 
second place, more help would enable us to 
raise more products than the market needs, 
and thereby continue to keep the prices of 
agricultural products out of adjustment with 
other prices. _ 
Money For Condemned Cattle 
G overnor smith has signed bills pro¬ 
viding $5,000,000 to pay farmers for tu¬ 
bercular cattle destroyed. There are two of 
these laws. One provides payment for cattle 
slaughtered during the fiscal year 1922 to 
1923; the other provides for cattle slaugh¬ 
tered during the balance of 1923 and the 
spring of 1924. The money will now be 
available. 
American Agriculturist has called atten¬ 
tion to the need of this legislation several 
times, both in its columns and through its 
speakers at farm meetings, and with the 
legislators themselves, and we are naturally 
very much pleased that we have had a part 
in working for this much-needed legislation 
for dairymen. The situation has certainly 
been absurd whereby farmers who badly 
needed the money had to wait for so long 
after their cattle were condemned before the 
State was in a position to meet the obliga¬ 
tion. If the State ^money for payment of 
tubercular cattle had been more quickly 
available in the past, there would be less 
of such cattle to-day. Passing this legisla¬ 
tion is one more step in advancing the cam¬ 
paign to conquer a leading dairy problem. 
Let Us Get Together 
O N April 17 representatives of many of 
the farm organizations had an informal 
conference at New York with the Executive 
Committee of the New York State Chamber 
of Commerce for the general purpose of 
bringing about a better understanding be¬ 
tween city and country, and particularly to 
discuss the terminal and market facilities 
of New York with the view of suggesting 
Remedies that would improve them. 
The thought was emphasized several times 
that city people have little idea or appre¬ 
ciation of the farmers’ problems; and, vice 
versa, there was more or less understanding 
on the farmer’s part of city folks and con¬ 
ditions. This misunderstanding is not only 
bad from a social standpoint, for, whether 
we live in the city or country, all are human 
beings with many of the same problems, and 
the majority are American citizens. But it 
is particularly bad from an economic stand¬ 
point, for a better appreciation of one an¬ 
other’s problems will do much to put all back 
of a program to give farmers more for their 
products and help consumers get more rea¬ 
sonable prices. 
Arrangements were discussed for regular 
conferences several times a year between 
representatives of the Chamber of Commerce 
and other New York business men, and lead¬ 
ing farmers and representatives of farm 
organizations. This preliminary conference 
was well worth while from this standpoint 
alone, for regular meetings between leaders 
in^the country and city will lay the founda¬ 
tion of knowledge of each other’s problems, 
and may lead to action that will help to solve 
those problems. 
Terminal market facilities received a large 
amount of discussion at the conference. One 
Agriculturist 
speaker said that bananas, raised thousands 
of miles away in Central America, were 
transported to New York, sold on the docks 
to retailers at auction sales, and then sold 
from the pushcarts in the city streets for 
fifteen bananas for twenty-five cents, or for 
less than two cents apiece. On the other 
hand, apples grown in our own country, some 
of them within two hundred miles of New 
York City, sold from the fruit stands for 
from five cents to fifteen cents apiece. The 
difference is largely caused by the way the 
fruit was handled in the markets after it 
reaches the New York City terminals. 
Several of the speakers thought that the 
situation might be much improved by selling 
carefully graded fruit and products at auc¬ 
tion sales at the terminal markets, but all 
agreed that the first step to this, or to any 
kind of improved market conditions, was bet¬ 
ter grading on the farmer’s part of every¬ 
thing he offers for sale. The market success 
of the western fruit growers has been largely 
due to the fact that the dealers in New York 
know that the apple on the bottom or in the 
middle of the barrel was of the same quality 
and size as the one on top, and the same 
principle of careful grading applies to every 
farm commodity. 
The great problem of marketing all farm 
crops starts after the produce reaches the 
terminals. There is not much that can be 
done in the way of reducing transportation 
costs up to the time the produce reaches the 
city. The problem is, therefore, a city p»ob- 
lem, which can best be solved by closer co¬ 
operation and work between the city business 
men on one side and the farmers and farm 
organizations on the other. 
Potato Growers Organize 
AS we reported last week, the Empire State 
Potato Growers’ Association met with 
Aaron Sapiro to consider plans for perfect¬ 
ing their organization and more orderly and 
profitably put their potatoes on the market. 
Mr. Sapiro has just come from Maine, where 
an association has been organized to bring 
a large part of the Maine producers together. 
This organization will grade and store the 
crop through the locals, and will regulate 
its deliveries to the buyer through a central 
sales and merchandising office. The Maine 
growers’ operations will be cooperatively 
financed on a broader scale, and it is hoped 
that all will profit by the cooperative plan 
for more orderly marketing. 
Both of these movements, toward better 
marketing in New York and Maine, are in 
the right direction. There is much oppor¬ 
tunity for marketing potatoes to good advan¬ 
tage from the growers’ standpoint, but the 
movement will take a lot of time, ability, and 
hard work, both on the part of capable lead¬ 
ers and of every member. There will be 
stumblingblocks and disappointment. We 
believe a word of caution is wise against 
the danger that overenthusiasm may lead 
both producers and consumers to expect too 
much from their organizations, particularly 
during the first two or three years, while 
they are getting started. 
Look Out For Foreign Alfalfa Seed 
A ccording to the united states Depart- 
_ ment of Agriculture, 3,780,300 pounds 
of seed alfalfa were imported in the United 
States from July 1, 1921 to March 31, 1922. 
For the same length period ending March 31, 
1923, 8,094,700 pounds of seed alfalfa were 
imported, or more 'than twice as much. As 
much of this imported seed alfalfa is south¬ 
ern grown, and therefore not good for north¬ 
ern conditions, it is unfortunate that such 
importations are increasing. Farmers will 
need to take extra care to see that foreign 
alfalfa is not included in their seed purchases. 
