86 
American Agriculturist, August 11,1923 
A Square Deal For the Farmer 
There Can Be No Durable Prosperity Without a Prosperous Agriculture 
I T is undeniable that a considerable meas¬ 
ure of prosperity has blessed the United 
States during the past three years. At 
the same time it is indisputable that this 
prosperity has not reached all of the groups 
composing our citizenry. The prosperity has 
been absorbed by certain groups to the ex¬ 
clusion of the others. The largest group 
which has been denied a share is the farmers. 
Spokesmen for the farmers have been long 
insisting upon this fact, but until recently 
the insistence has fallen upon deaf ears. The 
farmer has long borne the reputation of be¬ 
ing a kicker, a reputation perhaps 
not wholly undeserved. Whether 
deserved or not it is having this 
effect, that now the farmer 
has a real and substantial griev¬ 
ance, he has hard work in con¬ 
vincing the general public of the 
fact. If the public were open- 
minded, there would be no diffi¬ 
culty in demonstrating the prop¬ 
osition that not only is the 
farmer not getting a fair share 
of the general prosperity, but 
from an economic standpoint is 
not receiving a fair deal. 
Agriculture Outdistanced 
In the early days of this coun¬ 
try agriculture was not only the 
chief industry, but was relatively 
a lucrative one. With the remark¬ 
able growth of the cities during 
the past fifty years, one would 
naturally think that the oppor¬ 
tunities for making money on the 
farm would increase. For rea¬ 
sons which for lack of time can¬ 
not be discussed in detail now, 
agriculture has not only not held 
its own but has been submerged 
in comparison with industry in 
general. This process had been 
going on for many years prior to 
the Great War, so that at the be¬ 
ginning of that epochal struggle, 
agriculture was out of balance 
with general industry. The war 
with its vast economic disturb¬ 
ances not only did not restore the 
equilibrium between agriculture 
and other industry, but served 
still further to submerge agri¬ 
culture. So that it is not a mere 
figure of speech to say that agri¬ 
culture in its present plight is a 
war victim in no less accurate a 
sense than a khaki clad doughboy 
shredded with machine-gun fire 
on an European battle field. 
It is not sufficient to diagnose 
and proclaim the disease, but 
some effort should be made to 
discover and apply the appropri¬ 
ate remedy. Volunteer doctors 
with widely advertised cure-alls are not lack¬ 
ing, and herein lies the patient’s greatest 
danger. If agriculture experiments with 
some of the remedies now so vigorously 
pressed upon it, its condition already des¬ 
perate may be rendered hopeless. 
Public Treasury Panaceas of no Avail 
If agriculture can realize that legislative 
nostrums and public treasury panaceas will 
not avail, ground will be gained. Remedies 
of this kind at best can only be palliatives, 
and at worst might prove calamitous. The 
situation does not demand palliatives, but a 
careful and thorough probing to determine 
the underlying causes of the disease. The 
difficulties of agriculture are economic not 
political. The economic phases should be ex¬ 
plored conscientiously and painstakingly, 
By BERNE A. PYRKE 
Commissioner of the Department of Farms 
and Markets, State of New York 
free from bias and hysteria. We need fact 
finding bodies in order that sound economic 
conclusions may be drawn. Our national 
policies should be reexamined with the view 
-of determining their effect upon agricultural 
prostration. A dispassionate study of our 
tariff policy should be made to determine its 
agricultural effect. It is not an impossibility 
that the steady submergence of agriculture 
is simply asking for a modest place in the 
sun, and a fair share in the good things of 
life. Anything less is not good for agricul¬ 
ture and by the same token not good for the 
country as a whole. 
This Is the Go=to=Law Cow 
You See How Busy the Lawyer Is. He Is Milking. 
Copyright, 1023, by Star Company. 
THE LAWSUIT 
WHILE YOU GO TO LAW, THE LAWYER GETS THE MlLK. 
This picture, from an old copy of the American AgricuU 
turigt, printed sixty-four years ago, shows what the editor of 
that day thought about going to law. It shows you two men 
fighting each other in the law court about the ownership of a 
cow. One pulls the cow’s tail, the other pulls her horns. THE 
LAWYER SITS QUIETLY MILKING. 
WHEN NEIGHBORS GO TO LAW, THE LAWYER 
DOES THE MILKING. That statement by the agricultural 
editor, so long ago, is one to remember. 
T HE New York “Evening Journal” of July 27 “ran” the above 
picture and editorial written by Arthur Brisbane, whose editorials 
are read by more people than those of any other writer in the world. 
The New York. Sunday “American” of July 29 also carried this same 
picture and editorial by Mr. Brisbane as well as most of the feature 
story, entitled “Going to Law,” which we published in the American 
Agriculturist of July 14. 
during the past several decades is to some 
extent bound up with our national tariff 
policy. No less consideration should be given 
to our national attitude toward immigration. 
No one would contend that our present immi¬ 
gration policy has produced the present agri¬ 
cultural depression, but it is beyond contro¬ 
versy that the drastic restrictions of the 
present law are not calculated to remedy the 
labor stringency, one of the most acute 
troubles now besetting agriculture. 
Entire Country Involved 
The whole country is so involved in the 
welfare of agriculture to aid unstintingly in 
such a survey, because there can be no dur¬ 
able prosperity in America without a pros¬ 
perous and contented agriculture. Agricul¬ 
ture is making no unreasonable demands. It 
Recollections of Roberts’ Time 
T HE writer was greatly interested in the 
special number in commemoration of 
Professor I. P. Roberts’ ninetieth birthday. 
We often heard Professor Roberts in the 
earlier days of the Farmers’ Institutes and 
at the Western New York Horti¬ 
cultural Society meetings. At 
the latter meetings he always 
took along some of his boys and 
they generally gave him a good 
cheer after his off-hand talks. 
One of my own boys was one of 
his pupils and he came home from 
college saying “Professor Roberts 
lays great stress on fitting the 
land properly.” He says: “If 
your land isn’t fit, plow it again, 
plow it three times if necessary!” 
ko we might aptly call him “Plow 
it three times Roberts.” “The 
good old farmers’ institute air 
seems to be gone. I remember an 
institute at Ithaca in the good old 
days in the ’80’s when a large ar¬ 
ray of talent was present. Such 
men as Major E. H. Alvord, H. 
E. Cook, Seth Penner, Mr. Wood¬ 
ward being among them. It was 
at this institute, or about this 
time that a well-known phrase 
was coined. 
Mr. Seth Fenner was at the 
question box and to the question, 
“When is the best time to prune?” 
he answered, “Prune when the 
knife is sharp.” And to the ques¬ 
tion, “What is the best variety of 
apple to plant?” he answered, “I 
would make them 90 per cent 
Baldwins and the other 10 per 
cent would be Baldwins also.” 
Few readers nowadays prob¬ 
ably recognize the name Henry 
E. Alvord, but he was one of the 
bright lights in old institute days. 
It was at the above institute he 
gave a remarkable address. He 
was on the program at the even¬ 
ing session for “The General 
Purpose Cow,” and naturally we 
settled down in our seats expect¬ 
ing a genuine cow talk. If I re¬ 
member rightly he used the word 
cow but once in the whole lecture. 
The lecture in fact was a minute 
description of the battle of Win¬ 
chester. We would occasionally 
look at our program to make sure 
that no mistake in the subject had 
been made and wondered when he would be¬ 
gin talking on the cow. As he drew near 
the end of his description and came to the 
climax of Sheridan’s illustrious ride to save 
the battle, extolling especially on the merits 
of his horse, he exclaimed, “What, think you, 
would have happened at Winchester that day, 
and where would the name of General Sheri¬ 
dan been to-day in history had he rode that 
day a general purpose horse!” That was all 
he needed to say, and the point came home 
to us with full force never to be forgotten — 
W. A. Bassett, Seneca County, N. Y. 
Thrift is such a simple thing—and it 
means so much. It is the foundation of suc¬ 
cess in business, of contentment in the home, 
of standing in society. —Russell Sage. 
