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American Agriculturist, October 13,1923 
Editorial Page of the American Agriculturist 
American 
Agriculturist 
Founded 1842 
Henry Morgenthau, Jr .Publisher 
E. R. Eastman . .Editor 
Fred W. Ohm .Associate Editor 
Gabrielle Elliot .... Household Editor 
BlRGE Kinne .Advertising Manager 
E. C. Weatherby . . . Circulation Manager 
CONTRIBUTING STAFF 
H. E. Cook, Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., H. H. Jones, 
Paul Work, G. T. Hughes, H. E. Babcock 
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ing which it believes to be thoroughly honest. 
We positively guarantee to our readers fair and 
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Published Weekly by 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, INC. 
Address all correspondence for editorial, advertising, or 
subscription departments to 
461 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. 
Entered as Second-Class Matter, December 15, 1922, at the 
post Office at New York, N. Y., under the Ac t of March 3, 1879. 
Subscription price, payable in advance, $1 a year. 
Canadian and foreign, $2 a year. 
VOL. 112 October 13, 1923 15 
Let There Be No Price Fixing 
F OR several months now great pressure 
has been brought upon the government 
by the farmers and particularly by the poli¬ 
ticians of the northwest to do something to 
relieve the hard situation which the wheat 
farmers are now facing because of the low 
prices their product is bringing. Several 
plans and schemes have been proposed and 
considered. 
One of these has merit and at this writing 
is being given much favorable consideration 
by the government. Briefly, it proposes to 
revive the War Finance Corporation, or-f 
ganizing all of the wheat growers in a coop¬ 
erative under its direction and controlling the 
exports of wheat to foreign countries by hold¬ 
ing this export surplus until the right time 
and then putting it on the foreign markets 
in an orderly way, and in accordance with 
the demand. It would be necessary for the 
government to finance the holding of the 
wheat until it could be sold, but the govern¬ 
ment would get this money back again when 
the wheat was marketed. The plan would 
not work wonders, but it has the merit of 
making the wheat farmers themselves co¬ 
operate to “sell their product by orderly 
marketing.” 
Another plan which is also said to be re¬ 
ceiving favorable consideration consists in 
reviving the same War Finance Corporation 
and giving it the power to stabilize or in 
other words practically fix the minimum 
price of wheat at $1.75 per bushel. This 
corporation was the one which practically 
fixed the price of wheat during the war. 
We have raised wheat on our own farm in 
central New York and sold it below the costs 
of production, so we think we know how 
badly off the wheat growers are now. We 
are in sympathy with any sensible plan that 
will relieve the present discouraging situa¬ 
tion ; but as we have stated many times, we 
are decidedly opposed—and we believe the 
majority of thinking farmers in America are 
—to any price fixing scheme. 
It was this very price fixing on wheat dur¬ 
ing the war that is the chief cause of the 
wheat growers’ troubles now. Wheat at two 
dollars and better a bushel caused an over¬ 
production, and over-production is the one 
and only real trouble that ails the wheat 
situation, and for that matter, the whole 
farm situation at the present time. Legisla¬ 
tion to put the price up artificially and there¬ 
by interfere with the law of supply and de¬ 
mand simply temporarily dams up the flood 
and when the dam is removed later—as it 
must be, for price fixing at best can only be 
temporary—there will be a worse flood than 
ever. It is obvious that the wheat grower 
is not going to cut down his production very 
much while the government practically 
guarantees him a profit by fixing the mini¬ 
mum sales price. 
And while we are at this price fixing busi¬ 
ness, let us be fair and if the government 
puts it on wheat, why not on cotton, eggs, 
milk, on everything in fact that the farmer 
grows? Why show any partiality? 
One other thing that we must not forget 
is that all such fool schemes have to be paid 
for. When the government, which is the 
people, steps in and pays $1.75 for something 
that is only worth a dollar, the tax-payer pays 
that extra seventy-five cents. Let us always 
remember that the government cannot pull 
the money right out of thin air, and do not 
forget either, that the farmer’s property is 
nearly all in real estate, and real estate under 
our present tax system stands most of the 
burden. 
If we could only have just a little common 
sense applied to all of these schemes that are 
being brought forth to help the farmer, we 
would see how foolish they are and what 
nonsense it is to rush to the politicians to 
cure our economic evils. It was long ago 
proven to the wise that it is impossible for 
anyone “to lift himself over the fence by his 
own bootstraps.” 
The Prohibition Vote 
HE number of ballots received by Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist on the prohibition poll 
up to October 1 was 11,476. Of this number, 
16,114 are for prohibition and the Eighteenth 
Amendment without any modification what¬ 
ever; and 1,362 registered themselves in 
favor of modification. The percentage was 
88 for the Eighteenth Amendment and 12 in 
favor of modification. 
Already there is much interest on the part 
of magazines, newspapers and city people in 
this canvass. One representative of a maga¬ 
zine said that the pool of the farmers’ vote 
was really very valuable because it actually 
proves how the farmers stand on this im¬ 
portant question. Another result of the vote 
is that it is causing farm people all through 
the East to give serious thought and dis¬ 
cussion in their Grange and other public 
meetings to the great problem of enforcing 
the law. An active public opinion is what is 
needed in Afiierica to-day on this question 
and the only way to make public opinion ac¬ 
tive is to bring out the discussion. Without 
exception, the ballots so far show no matter 
on which side the farmer or his wife voted, 
all were good American citizens enough to 
wish the law enforced while it is still a law. 
On the opposite-page is the ballot again. 
Separate supplies of ballots will be sent to 
any Grange or any individual upon applica¬ 
tion. Bring the matter up in your com¬ 
munity, get a live discussion, and then reg¬ 
ister your vote and send it in. 
Radio Time Changed 
A MERICAN AGRICULTURIST and De¬ 
partment of Farms and Markets reports 
will now be given at 11:50 A. M., standard 
time instead of 10:50, and the Wednesday 
evening program will be broadcast at 7:50., 
P. M., instead of 6:50. These changes in 
time are caused by the change from new to 
standard time in the cicy. Both 11 :50 in the 
morning and 7:50 in the evening will be 
much more convenient for our people to 
“listen in.” 
We hope that you have made some arrange¬ 
ments so that you get these market reports. 
This is the time of year when the farmer sells 
what he has worked all of the long season 
to raise. If he sells well, his season’s work is 
justified. Whether or not he sells well in 
many instances depends much upon his 
knowledge of when to put his products upon 
the market. American Agriculturist radio 
reports and its Market Page and other infor¬ 
mation on farm marketing will be of service 
to you if you will use them. 
For several months now we have been 
furnishing every Wednesday evening the 
best farm speaker that could be obtained to 
talk to farm people on some of their prob¬ 
lems. The many letters that we have re¬ 
ceived show how much these talks have been 
appreciated. We will continue to secure them 
for you, and all you have to do is listen in 
on your radio or visit your neighbor who 
has one on Wednesday evening at ten 
minutes to eight. 
Dollar Makers 
VERYBODY is always looking for a 
chance to make an extra dollar. Also, 
everybody who has lived for any length of 
time has found one or several ways by which 
they have earned an honest dollar with some 
sideline. Here is another way to earn one— 
tell us how you did it. 
In a short letter, told in as few words as 
possible, describe some little scheme or plan 
that you have carried out which you have 
found to be a money-maker, or a money saver. 
For every brief letter which we can use we 
will pay a dollar, and will occasionally print 
a column of them under the heading “Dollar 
Makers,” letting other farmers and farmers’ 
wives pass on to you in a few words their 
plans which made or saved dollars for them. 
.Eastman’s Chestnuts 
I ONCE had an uncle who was a great story 
teller, but like all good story tellers, he 
often forgot that he had told you the same 
story about seventeen times before. So one 
day after he had just finished telling a 
particularly ancient joke, my brother handed 
him a little card on which was printed— 
“Great Grandpa used to tell that.” 
When I told this little incident to my 
friend, Jerry Hammond, he said: “Well, Ed, 
your uncle didn’t have anything on you. 
Take that Delaware County story of yours, 
now. I’ll bet if I had a dollar for every 
time I heard you tell that yarn, I could buy 
a good suit of clothes.” 
Such lack of appreciation is very dis¬ 
couraging but all the same, I am going to 
tell that story again, even if I get run out 
of the country for it. 
It seems that a stranger was riding along 
a Delaware County road on a hot summer 
day. Now in spite of the fact that Delaware 
County is one of the greatest dairying sec¬ 
tions in the world, parts of it are exceedingly 
mountainous and a typical Delaware County 
road is quite likely to be bordered by a very 
steep hill on one side and a deep gully on 
the other. As the stranger proceeded, he 
saw what looked like a ball of dust come 
rolling down the steep hill and land in the 
middle of the road ahead of him. When he 
had hurried up his horse to see what had 
happened, he found a farmer picking hiin- 
self from the dust in the road with much 
groaning and grunting. 
“Why, mister, what is the matter?” he 
asked. 
And the farmer replied: “Wall, now, I’ll 
tell ye, stranger. I’m gittin’ pretty nigh dis¬ 
couraged. That makes the seventh time I’ve 
fallen out of my corn field this mornin’.” 
