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338 
Editorial Page of the American 
A \/f C'O T A XT gotten started without the backing and hard 
/x.iVl lLlvlVj/xiN work of the Farm Bureaus. More than this, the 
A , . . , _ . . Bureaus have been unceasing in their efforts to 
AGRICULTURIST get irdormation an d help to individual farmers 
Founded 1842 *; hat would aid to find markets and get 
—■ better prices for their products. 
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. . . .... Publisher Instance after instance could be cited showing 
E. R. Eastman . Editor that the Bureaus have succeeded in reducing 
m“ D g.'k “forbush ■ : : : : : : ftSlSd Id!£ rales on both farm supplies, like lime, and 
Birge Kinne .Advertising Manager ? n arm products, like apples. They have been 
E. C. Weatherby .Circulation Manager instrumental also time and again in helping farm 
contributing staff shippers to get sufficient cars on time. 
l ana g enen > H. E. Cook The Farm Bureaus have been unjustly criticized 
- T ~ • ugles M. V. Burritt f or increasing production. Rather, their work 
OUR ADVERTISEMENTS GUARANTEED has uot been a lar S er production, but a better one. 
The American Agriculturist accepts only advertising ^°t more cows, for example, but fewer and better 
which it believes to be thoroughly honest. & ones. This paper has stated constantly that with 
We positively guarantee to our readers fair and honest the increasing competition ill the farm business 
treatment in dealing with our advertisers. only those-farmers will be able to last who learn 
We guarantee to refund the price of goods purchased by how to keep down their costs of production Heln- 
our subscribers from any advertiser who fails to make good i n ,r formers in lower ilu-ir ™«tc W f + i 
when the article purchased is found not to be as advertised , . g u i ( .°' , ‘ been one of the 
To benefit by this guarantee subscribers must say: “I saw big accomplishments of the bureaus, 
your ad in the American Agriculturist” when ordering . during tne past decade, in spite of the hard 
from our advertisers. ” times, and in spite of a large number of young 
V hr l d w VI h - people leaving the farms, there has been a distinct 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, INC. u P wardbft in the spirits of farm people, a little 
Address all correspondence for editorial, advertising, or subscription de- more Ot the recognition of the great fundamental 
r" 1 ””" ' 461 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. fa<d that j? a PP> ne f , and nat material riches is the 
-—-—- real pot ot gold at the end of the rainbow toward 
y h : ch *0 ara striving. We believe that not a 
———-:--—:---— httle of this spiritual awakening has been due 
Sabs T p *“L pr fi™ r H ?n “’!? t y - ar> for three to the Farm Bureaus in the organization of such 
years, lor five years. Canadian and foreign, $2 a year. a • .. . . & . , „ 
-- - ■ " — aft airs as community singing, worthwhile farm 
VOL. 114 November 15, 1924 No. 20 meetings, great agricultural picnics, and success- 
- - ful county fairs. After all, it is perhaps even more 
. necessary to organize ourselves for happiness than 
A Campaign to Lower Taxes it is for material gain. 
R AILROAD taxes have increased 421% in The Farm l Bureau associations as they are or- 
twenty-five years. Most of the increase has gamzed la the Last be ! on g to the fa nners them- 
been in the last decade. Last year the tax on the e i Th % an instrument » a machine, if 
railroads for the whole country was $305,000,000. ^ p U , b eaf ? e ’ f a f mers can use for the accom- 
We cite these figures to show how alarming the pll . ahme . nt °? ce , rtam y >rth , wbde thln gs- If a F‘- 
tax situation is becoming. We believe, of course, ^continue to be a real occupation, 
that the railroads should pay their just share of ’* to be throu « h the farm ? rs °™,efforts, 
taxes. But we believe even more strongly that a 2 d , the Bu , reaus ° n ? means by which these 
government activities must be drastically cut so e ? r ■ can e , use ° brlng results, 
that all of us will pay less taxes. The most of the As i ? an 'I large , movement involving a lot of 
railroad taxes are really property taxes, the same f™’ i!^ We °J C - 0U S e bee " man y err ° rs and 
kind that farmers pay! When railroad taxes are fool ‘ sh m<n U n , lade A n Fa ™ Bu f au work. But 
high, farmers’ taxes are high. Moreover, the I? ake n0 . nua ‘? ke - « e who “"demns the Farm 
farmers in the end pay a large part of the railroad . f cl , " ! “ l ‘ e ™ a gogic e ™.V "f agricil- 
taxes for the farmers pay the freight. tare ’° be , does know what he is talking 
The direct State property tax should be aB out Their loss would be irreparable to the 
abolished. It is wrong in principle and unfair in interests of this section, 
practice. Now that the election dust is settling, 
LSi Amend the Automobile Law 
Last year American Agriculturist, through riTHE sentiment of New York State farmers is 
your help, was able to accomplish one real step. A strongly against the provision in the new 
We succeeded in getting the direct State tax in automobile law which forbids boys or girls under 
New York reduced one-half mill. eighteen from driving cars. The letters on the 
Next week we will carry an article in this opposite page reflect farm opinion on this subject, 
publication stating our program for lower taxes. Farmers are for the main provisions of the law. 
Will you look for it, and if it meets with your All agree that a drastic law is needed to curb 
approval, help us carry it through? reckless driving. Bi^t as we have pointed out 
before, placing the age limit at eighteen is seriously 
handicapping rural boys and girls in their efforts 
Keep Them and Make Them Better *;? get a high sc ; h °. 01 edacation - and they have 
difficulties enough in this respect without any 
I N practically every really worthwhile accom- more being added. Many thousands of young 
plishment in farm affairs, made during the last ten people have been accustomed to driving back and 
years, the Farm Bureaus have had a leading part, forth from their farm homes to the village high 
During and since the World War the farm road has school. Under the new law, many of them will 
been pretty rocky going, but without the silent either have to give up school, or break the law. 
but efficient help of the Farm Bureaus, the road There is another aspect of the case which is also 
might at times have been impassable. The trouble important. Farmers, more than any other class, 
is that the air is so full of the shoutings of in- use the automobile for business purposes and the 
dividuals and publications blowing their own young people have been of untold help in operating 
horns, that often credit is not given where credit automobiles to draw the milk, to make sudden 
is due; that is, to those real friends and organiza- trips to town, and to do other important farm 
Lons, that are working a lot and talking little. errands. The new law, therefore, interferes with 
It is impossible here to set forth even a smatter- the farm labor situation which is already bad. 
ing of what the Bureaus have accomplished. American Agriculturist has no sympathy 
Almost from the beginning they recognized that with reckless driving by anybody. But we 
the outstanding problem of farmers is to find a believe a farm boy or girl, raised in the habits of 
market for farm products at fair prices. The responsibility, is a better driver often at sixteen 
Bureaus have never ceased to work on this prob- than thousands of others who are older. We 
lem and they have accomplished much. They believe that the law should be amended, placing 
have aided every worthwhile marketing associa- the age limit at sixteen, and that a severe examina¬ 
tion. Some of these associations could not have tion or test should be given to young people 
American Agriculturist, November 15, 1924 
Agriculturist 
between this age and eighteen who apply for a 
license, and that their license should be revoked 
at the first indication that they have not been 
driving the car in a proper manner. 
The Real Problem of Agriculture 
D R. T. C. ATKESON, Washington repre¬ 
sentative of the National Grange, spent his 
vacation this summer in the old West Virginia 
farm valley, where he was born and raised, and 
while there he made a study for 90 miles up and 
down this valley of the farmers who now inhabit it. 
From this study, Dr. Atkeson draws some very 
interesting conclusions. He says that seventy per 
cent, of the land which is very fertile and iiigh- 
class farm land is not at present being farmed. 
In the language of the farmers it is “lying out.” 
Seventy per cent, of the land which is being 
farmed hardly makes enough profit to pay the 
taxes. Ninety per cent, of the present owners or 
tenants are preparing to leave the farms as soon as 
they can. The character of the farm population 
is entirely changed since the period when Dr. 
Atkeson was an active farmer in this valley thirty 
years ago. 
As we have stated many times in these columns, 
we do not get excited from an economic stand¬ 
point about this talk of abandoning farms. The 
more farmers that go to the city, the less competi¬ 
tion there will be for those who stay on the land. 
With modern machinery, those who are left can 
still raise more products than the market will pay 
a fair price for, but from the social standpoint, it 
is a different story. The farmer has always been 
the “backbone” of America and from his home 
have gone those who have acquired the greatest 
places of leadership in the political and business 
life'of the nation. Dr. Atkeson says that the real 
problem of agriculture is to keep as high-class 
men and women on the land in the future as has 
been there in the past. This is not being done at 
the present time, because conditions are so much 
harder on the farm than they are elsewhere that 
the old stock is rapidly leaving. 
A Dangerous Beast 
W E respect the man that is afraid of a bull. 
Such a man shows plain common sense. 
Hardly a day goes by that we do not pick up a 
country paper and read about some farmer being 
killed by a bull. Oh, yes, he may be as gentle 
as a kitten, and has never shown any ugly disposi¬ 
tion whatever, but all the same we fully agree witli 
our friend “Scotty” of Warren County, N. Y., 
when he says: 
“Sure he may be as gentle as a kitten, but it should 
always be borne in mind that ‘he isn’t that kind of a 
kitty.”’ 
No other animal in the world is responsible for 
so many deaths in the course of a year as is the 
good old domestic bull. 
Eastman’s Chestnuts 
I Sl PPOSE it s a sort of thing that we must 
expect and discount, but I have always 
deplored the “hot air” and the insincere state¬ 
ments that.are made by many candidates of all 
political faiths at every pre-election time. It 
belittles a man, and the greater he is the more it 
hurts him when he stoops to the usual mud- 
slinging that characterizes every political cam¬ 
paign. 
Judge told a little joke in one of its recent issues 
to which I heartily subscribe. It said that the yell 
of the electoral college this year ought to be 
“ Raw! Raw! Raw! ’ ’ 
One of our Canadian friends tells of an election 
meeting where the candidate was constantly being 
interrupted by a man in a back seat who shouted 
after every statement of the speaker, “Liar! 
Liar! Liar!” 
4116 speaker finally stopped. 
“If,” he said, “the gentleman who is so fond of 
telling us his profession will kindly let the audience 
know his name, I am sure we will all be very 
pleased to know him!” 
There were no more interruptions. 
