American Agriculturist, April 28,1923 
377 
The Decline of Agriculture and a Remedy 
President of theN. M. P. A. Speaks to American Agriculturist Radio Audience 
T hat agriculture is the basic industry 
is conceded by all. Destroy our cities 
and the farms will build them again. 
Destroy our farms and ships will rot 
at the wharfs; spindles will cease to hum; 
grass will grow in the streets of_ 
the cities and our proud Ameri¬ 
can civilization will perish. 
The process of readjustment 
since the war, including as it has 
the deflation of currency and of 
credits, has imposed upon agri¬ 
culture a burden greater than 
upon any other industry. 
This process of readjustment 
will, however, in due time, be 
complete. The burdens flowing 
directly from it will in due time 
be equalized, but it still remains 
that other grave problems must 
be solved by the American farm¬ 
ers. Before the war there was a 
gradual, steady decline in agri¬ 
culture in that it did not increase 
as did the population of the cities. 
This resulted in the supply of food 
becoming less and less as com¬ 
pared with the demand. The 
causes of this prewar decline still 
exists and will continue to exist 
after the period of readjustment 
of war conditions has ended. All 
the-people, both in city and coun¬ 
try, are therefore directly interested in 
knowing the causes of this decline and what, 
if any, remedy may be applied to correct it. 
This decline cannot be attributed to lack 
of efficiency in the farmers as pro¬ 
ducers. They have been quick to 
adopt every improved method 
that decreases cost of production, 
and it is not extravagant to state 
that the American farmer is as 
efficient as any farmer in the 
world. We must, therefore, look 
elsewhere for the cause of this 
decline. 
Those engaged in other indus¬ 
tries consider rightly that it is as 
necessary to efficiently market as 
to produce their respective com¬ 
modities. Owners of coal mines 
have built railroads to market 
their coal. Vast aggregations of 
manufacturers have sales agen¬ 
cies in the principal cities of the 
civilized world. The greatest in¬ 
dustrial movement of the last 
half century has been the central- 
'ization of the control and opera¬ 
tion of industries. These or¬ 
ganizations not only collectively 
produce but collectively sell, and 
it is from them that farmers must 
buy their supplies. Meanwhile 
there has also grown up other 
great organizations engaged in 
the processing and distributing 
of farm products. Growing with 
the growth of the cities, they have 
become powerful, and, with their 
far-flung financial, commercial, 
political, and social connections, 
stand like a stone wall between 
producers and consumers. Farm¬ 
ers having no other means of 
marketing have heretofore been 
compelled to sell their products 
to these organizations. As a re¬ 
sult of these movements, farmers 
are now the one great group that 
sell their products at wholesale, 
buy their necessities at retail, and 
in both cases at prices determined 
by others. No other industry thus 
By JOHN D. MILLER 
handicapped could long survive. In selling 
their products, farmers have found that the 
law of supply and demand has been nullified 
An Interesting Program 
TTARM people are talking about our radio service. Quite a few are 
■*" writing about it, but not enough. It is an unfortunate fact that 
one of the reasons why city people get more things than farmers is 
that they are more expressive and make their influence better felt. 
Farmers are just as appreciative, but they simply do not get around 
to write letters. As an illustration, the broadcasting station WEAF 
receives literally thousands of letters every week about their programs 
and although there is a large number of radio sets in the country, 
very few of the letters come from country people. 
The future of radio is now in the making. We are trying to give 
the farmers a part in it. E. R. Eastman, Editor of American Agi'icul- 
turist, talked on the possibilities, from the farmer’s standpoint, of the 
radio, on Wednesday, April 11. Enos Lee, President of the New York 
State Farm Bureau Federation, spoke on “Cooperation and Orderly 
Marketing” on April 18. John D. Miller, of the Daii’ymen’s League 
Cooperative Association and President of the National Milk Producers’. 
Federation, talked to farmers on April 25. On May 2, at 7:30, Mrs. 
A. E. Brigden, President of the'New York State Federation of Home 
Bureaus, will speak. 
Now here is the point. In nearly every farm community, some¬ 
one has a radio receiving set. Why not have a neighborhood gather¬ 
ing on Wednesday evenings, and listen to our program? Also, and 
this is very important, note the questionnaire on this page which we 
printed once before and if you have a radio and have not already 
sent in this questionnaire, won’t you please fill it out and send it in 
immediately? If you do not have a radio, hand it to someone who 
has. Write us a letter stating what you think about what we are try¬ 
ing to do, and whether this sei’vice should be continued.—The Editor. 
in that prices to them are determined by the 
supply and the demand at the point of pro¬ 
duction, where the supply always largely 
exceeds the demand, and one of the great 
Radio Questionnaire 
1. Have you a radio receiving set? Yes . No. . 
2. If so is it (1) A Crystal Set. (2) A Vacuum Tube Set...... 
3. How many sets in your immediate vicinity?. 
4. What radio broadcasting stations do you hear? 
1 . 4. 7. 
2 . 5 . 8 . 
3. 6. 9. 
5. What day of the week and what time of the day or evening* is the 
very best time for broadcasting farm news, market and weather 
reports?. 
6. How many ordinarily listen in?. 
7. Residence: City. Town. 
8. Have you a telephone?... 
9. Is your house wired for electric lights?. 
Male. Boys. 
10. How many in the family: Adults Children 
Female. . . . Girls. . . . 
11. Do you own an automobile . piano . player piano. . / . . . 
phonograph. other musical instruments .. . 
12. Are you interested in baseball .. . swimming. 
boating. camping. photography. 
hunting. fishing. other sports. 
13. Periodicals or magazines read: 1. . . 
* 2. . . 4. 
3. 5. . . 
14. Do you patronize the Public Library. . . 
circulating Library. . . • . 
15. Upon what particular subjects would you like to hear interesting, 
instructive or entertaining talks?. 
16. Name. . 
17. Address 
objectives of the farmers in acting together 
through associations to market their prod¬ 
ucts is to control such products until they 
reach the points of consumption where prices 
are deterrpined by nation-wide and even 
world-wide conditions. 
Another result of qld methods 
is the growing disparity between 
the prices received by farmers 
and the prices paid by city con¬ 
sumers. That farmers receive less 
than six and one-half cents a 
quart for milk and city consumers 
pay fifteen cents a quart for it is 
a grave indictment of present 
conditions. 
From all this it follows that 
farmers and city consumers are 
alike interested in such improve¬ 
ment in marketing methods as 
will permit the farmer to receive 
all that the consumer pays, less 
only the actual cost of processing 
and distribution. 
Farmers are now awake to the 
necessity of this and are seeking 
to improve conditions by acting 
together in marketing their prod¬ 
ucts. The economics of agricul¬ 
ture are such that farmers can¬ 
not produce collectively, but they 
should from that point on, both 
in their own interest and in the 
interest of city consumers, jointly market 
their products. Singly, they cannot create 
or maintain efficient marketing agencies. 
This requires large investments and th6 em¬ 
ployment of men skilled in mer¬ 
chandising. As applied to the 
dairy industry, it may be stated 
that the objects of these market¬ 
ing associations are, first, to as¬ 
sure the farmer of a market for 
his milk every day in the year, 
and, second, that the prices that 
they receive shall be the prices as 
from time to time are determined 
at the points of consumption in¬ 
stead of at the points of produc¬ 
tion. Only by doing this can 
farmers discharge the duties they 
owe to themselves and to all the 
people. 
These organizations have not 
been formed nor are they oper¬ 
ated in a spirit of hostility to any¬ 
one. They are simply the means 
adopted, and the only means that 
can be adopted, by which farmers 
may follow the example of those 
engaged in other industries in 
mobilizing their financial strength 
to create adequate marketing 
agencies. Nor does this mean 
increased prices to consumers as 
in the long sweep it will mean 
lower prices to consumers, and, 
what is of great importance, will 
do much to insure adequate future 
food supplies. This movement 
means that the time is short in 
which speculators and gamblers 
can continue to manipulate the 
prices of the people’s food; it 
means the elimination of unnec¬ 
essary middlemen and that those 
performing necessary services 
shall continue to function only 
on the supreme condition that 
they do so economically and at a 
fair profit. 
As a summary of it all, it may 
be stated that the problem of food" 
production and distribution is not 
(Continued on page 378) 
