The Foundation WheClt GrOWers’ Editioti Th*
^hr'y Tur OMAHA RFF
Built on the Farm A AJLi V/l»A/aA AliL LJLjLj Given the Manufacturer
VOL. 53—NO. 32.. OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 20, 1924. FIVE CENTS
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Wheat Growers Must Demand That Help
Which Only Government Officials,
Congress and Railroads Can Give
1. They Must ,
HaveanAde- !
quote Tariff.
2. Then Must Have Ex
port Rates Adjusted to
Meet Canadian Rates.
3. They Must Cut the
Wheat Acreage 20
to 25 Per Cent.
Then They Can Sell Wheat on a Domestic Basis at
Prices on a Par With Other Domestic Prices
nCH has been written ami much
nore has been said about the
American wheat farmer and the
•ondition he faces as a result of
.off price for his w'heat in the
face of continued high prices for every
thing he buys.
Unfortunately, a great deal of this
writing and talking has been wide of the
mark, much of it based upon the fond
hope that the general level of prices will
somehow come dowrn to the level of farm
prices.
In the judgment of The Omajia Bee.
the expectation of a fall of general price
levels is worse than a fond hope, it is
a mistake. Every indication points to the
continuance of the present increased
standard of living.
Time for Farm Inventory.
The farmer must stop planting and
marketing blindly. He must build his ac
tivities upon the same foundation as the
manufacturer.
High prices for manufactured prod
ucts, high wages for industrial workers
are good for the farmer—if he will but
organize to put his product on the same
high level.
The manufacturer operates behind
the security of an adequate tariff, and
properly so. Industrial labor operates
behind the security of a restricted immi
gration law, and properly so.
The plain duty of the farmer, especially the
wheat farmer, is to go and do likewise.
What Must Be Done.
This, then, is the program urged by T:.e
Omaha Bee:
1. Aa adequate tariff.
2. Readjaalneat ef freight rate* far the parpote
af giriag a lewar ratq far eapert wheat.
3. Reduction hy 20 te 25 per ceat af the wheat
acreage.
4. Sariaae ceacideretiea ta he gieaa ta the
■uggestioa af Secretary Wallace af the Depart
meal af Agricaltare looking ta the argaaiaatiea,
under federal ceatrel, ef a cerperatiea ta haadle
export wheal.
The effect of these steps will be to put
wheat on a domestic basis. The sale prices in
the American markets will then be on the same
foundation as the sale of manufactured goods
^ —those products which the farmer buys.
Menace of Surplus.
The heavy hand which now rests on the
American farmer is the wheat surplus. Not
only the surplus raised in our own country, but
the surplus raised in Canada, the surplus in
Argentina, in Australia, in all the countries of
the world, including Russia, which is rapidly
reaching an export basis.
Lower export rates are essential, but these
will not cure the difficulty nor raise the heavy
hand of the surplus unless there is an adequate
tariff to keep the surplus raised in other coun
tries from pouring over our borders.
Tariff to Protect Home Market.
^ Reduced acreage is essential, but we can
cut our wheat crop in half and still we will
face the surplus of the world, unless there is
an adequate tariff to keep it out
' MORE
sacks::
ro ngresF^
OfTARlFF)^'
When water caniee aeer tke levee tke ealy way te keep it eat
it te raise tke karrier ky piliay sacks *f sand. Tke barrier
ayaiast Ike wkeat from Canada mast kav* "mere sacks ’
b«
Ah export corporation, established by the
federal government, could handle the American
wheat for export, but the American wheat
farmer would continue at a disadvantage,
would still be compelled to sell at world prices
unless an adequate tariff is provided for his
protection in the same manner as an adequate
tariff is provided for the protection of the
American manufacturer.
To Establish ladependent Prices.
Give the American wheat farmer an ade
quate tariff, give him lower export freight rate?
and cut the wheat acreage, and his wheat will
sell on a domestic basis, at a domestic price.
Then the American wheat farmer can ab
sorb the higher wages for farm labor, can pay
fair domestic freight rates, can farm profit
ably on his higher priced lands, can pay
the high prices now required for everything he
buys. Then we will see our splendid Amer
ican prosperity spread out over our west
ern farms. Then we will have achieved thai
greatest need of the nation, a happy, prosper
ous, contented family in every farm home.
Not Matter of Credit.
Co-operative organizations among the farm
ers are valuable, but they cannot bring full
relief. Adequate credit facilities are essen
tial. but more than credit is needed. Credit
is of small value when wheat is selling be
low tie cost of production. Credit disappears
in bankruptcy when there is no profit on the
farm.
I.et us look at some of the facts.
The total world wheat crop in 1923, ex
cluding Russia, is estimated at 3,400,000,000
bushels. This exceeds the 1922 production by
300.000,000 bushels and is greater by 500,000,
000 bushel? than the pre-war production
v
Before the world war Russia exported
annually about 1G 4,000.000 bushels. It
will not be many years until Russian
wheat is again in the world markets, at
probably an even greater export level
Canada’* Crop 1* Problem.
Canada produced during the prewar
years 1909-13 an average of 197,000,000
• bushels of wheat a year. During 1923
Canada had increased its production to
470.000,000 bushels. This production
will be still further increased. The Do
minion government is following a con
sistent policy of attracting immigrants to
her western wheat growing provinces
At the time of the extension of the
Canadian railroads into western Canada
the dominion government gave them large
cash subsidies and land grants and in re
turn demanded and secured the present
low rates to the head of the lakes.
Local and short haul rates in Canada,
as is shown on another page of this issue,
are as high, and in some instances higher,
than rates in the United State? for similar
distances.
Canada has only about 9.000.000 in
uabitants. yet her farms produce a wheal
crop greater than half the American pro
duction. We hare a population to feed
12 times as large.
Canadian wheat, therefore. must be
exported.
Keep Out Surplus.
i’he wheat production in the United State?
ui 1923. including carry over In the form
of both wheat and flour, is estimated at 893.
000,000 bushels and it is estimated that ol
this we exported between 130.000.000 and
140.000,000 bushels.
Thus, it is self-evident that we must keep
nut the surplus from other countries, especially
from Canada, from which country it could mo?1
easily be dumped across the border, were there
no tariff to prevent it, and we must eliminate
onr own surplus by reducing our acreage.
In spite of the best laid plans, however, sur
plus wheat will be raised in the United States
therefore, the need for lower export rates to
meet similar export rates in Canada.
What Figure* Prove.
Attention is called to the special articles on
the wheat tariff, the export rates, the reduction
of acreage and other phases of the wheat farm
ers’ problem that appear in this i*sne of The
Omaha Bee.
It will be well ror wheat farmers to keep
this issue as a permanent record in order thal
they may have before them at all times the
chief facts upon which their future prosperity
depends, as well as the steps necessary to be
taken to insure that this prosperity will be
achieved at an early date, and once achieved,
normanently maintained.
The data in this review of the wheat
tanner's condition are gathered from varioi>
sources, including government reports, market
reviews, and the record of freight rate- fr v
hoth Canadian and American radroaiU.