The Orlando Clipper (Orlando, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 52, Ed. 1 Friday, December 4, 1914 Page: 5 of 8
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ORLANDO. OKLA. CLIPPER
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WE ARE LONG ON PRODUCTION,
SHORT ON DISTRIBUTION.
Dy Peter Raclfor.-!
lecturer National Farmers' Union.
The economic distribution of farm
products is today the world's greatest
problem and tbo war, while it has
brought its hardships, has clearly em-
phasized the importance of distribu-
tion as a factor in American agricul-
ture and promises to give the farm-
ers the co-operation of the govern-
ment and the business men the
solution of their marketing problem.
This result will, in a measure, com-
pensate us for our war losses, for the
business interests and government
have been in the main assisting al-
most exclusively on the production
side of agriculture. While the depart-
ment of agriculture has been dumping
tons of literature on the farmer telling
him how to produce, the farmer has
been dumping tons of products in the
nation’s garbage can for want of a
market.
YH* World Will Never Starve.
At no time since Adam and Eve
Were driven from the Garden of Eden
have the Inhabitants of this world
•uffered from lack of production, but
some people have gone hungry from
the day of creation to this good hour
for the lack of proper distribution.
Slight variations In production have
forced a change in diet and one local-
ity has felt the pinch of want, while
fchotUer surfeited, but the world as a
thole has ever been a land of plenty.
V,*e now have less than one-tenth of
the tillable land of the earth’s surface
Uiider cultivation, and we not only
have this surplus area to draw on but
II la stife to estimate that la case of
dire necessity one-half the earth’3
population could at the present time
knock theit living out of the trees
of the forest, gather it from wild
vitee and draw It from streams. No
bne should become alarmed; the
world will never starve.
The consumer has always feared
that the producer would not supply
hltri and his fright has found expres-
lion on the statute books of our states
«nd nations and the farmer has been
urged to produce recklessly and with-
out reference to a market, and regard-
less of the demands of the consumer.
Sack to the doll.
the city people have been urging
gsdi other to move back to the farm,
but very few of them have moved.
We welcome our city cousins back to
the soil and this earth’s surface con-
tains 10,092,160,000 Idle acres of till-
able land where they can make a
living by tickling the earth with a
forked stick, but we do not need them
So far aa increasing production is con-
cerned; we now have all the producers
we can use, The city man has very
erroneous Ideas of agricultural condi-
tions. The commonly accepted theory
that we are short on production Is all
Wrong. Our annual increase in pro-
duction far exceeds that of our in-
crease in population,
The World as a Farm,
Thklng the world as one big farm,
n find two billion acres of land in
Itlvation. Of this amount there is
iproSlmately 750,000,000 acres on the
rstefn and 1,200,000.000 acres on the
latere hemisphere, in cultivation.
H1h estimate, of course, does not in
tide grazing lands, forests, etc.,
here large quantities of meat are
educed.
The world's annual crop appro*!
ates fifteen billion buahels of re-
als, thirteen billion pounds of fibre
sd sixty-five million tons of meat.
The average annual world crop for
ls past five years, compared with the
reviow five years, Is as fallows:
FrevUmsHatf
*'
Fast Half
Crops— Decade. Derail *
Corn CBu ) 3.934,174 000 3.4n?.fi"-oia*
Wheat!Mu.) 3,522,709.000 3,25?.520.00,',
Oats (Hu.) 4,120.017.000 3,508.315.000
Cotton (Rales) 19,803.890 17.541.200
The world shows an average in-
crease in cereal production of 13 per
cent during the past decade, compared
with the previous five years, while the
world’s population shows an increase
of only three per cent.
The gain in production far exceeds
Mini nf r.,ir ir> nnrnil a timi. anil
it is safe to estimate that the farmer
can easily increase production 25 per
cent if a remunerative market can be
found for the products In textile
fibres the world shows an increase
luring the past half decade in produc-
tion of 15 per cent against a popula-
tion increase of three per cent.
The people of this nation should
address themselves to the subject of
improved facilities for distribution.
Over-production and crop mortgage
force the farmers into ruinous com-
petition with each other. The remedy
lies in organization and in co-opera- [
tion in marketing.
1HE RURAL
THE FARMERS THE CUSTODIANS
OF THE NATION'S MORALITY.
Co-operation of Church, School and
Preco Essential to Community
Building.
By Peter Radford
^ Lecturer National Farmers’ tfnloft,
Tho church, the prefes and the School
form a triple alliance ef progfess that
guides the destiny of every commun-
ity, state and nation. Without them
civilization would wither and die and
through them life may attain its great-
est blessing, power and knowledge.
The fanners of this nation are greatly
indebted to this Social triumvirate for
their uplifting influence, and on behaif
of the American plowmefi I want to
thank those engaged in these high
callings for their able and efficient
service, and I shall offer to the press
a series of articles on co-operation
between these important influenza
and the farmers in the hope of in-
creasing the efficiency of all by mu-
tual understanding a/nl organized ef-
fort. We will take up, first, the rural
church.
The Farmers Are Great Church Build-
ers.
The American farmer is the greatest
church builder the world has ever
known. He Is the custodian of the
nation's morality; upon his shoulders
rests the "ark of the covenant” and
he ts more responsive to religious in-
fluences than any other class of cit-
izenship.
The farmers of this nation have
built 120,000 churches at a cost of
$750,000,000, and the annual contribu-
tion of the nation towred all church
institutions approximates $200,000,000
per annum. The farmers of the t’ni-
ted States build 22 churches per day.
There are 20,000,000 rural church com-
municants on the farm, and 54 per
cent of the total membership of all
churches reside In the country.
The farm is the power-house of all
progress and the birthplace of all that
Is noble. The Garden of Edeh was
in the country and the man who would
get close to God must first get close
to nature.
Ths Function* of a Rural Churoh.
If the rural churches today are go-
ing to render a service which this age
demands, there must be co-operation
between the religious, social and eco-
nomic life of the community.
The 'church io attain its fullest {pets-
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of the people in the community it
serves; it must build character; devel-
op thought and increase the efficiency
Of human life. It must serve the so- j
vial, business and intellectual, as well !
Us the spiritual and moral side of life.
If religion docs not make a man more
capable, more useful and more just,
what good is it? We want a practical
religion, one we can live by and farm
by, as well as die by.
Fewer atitl Better Churches.
Blessed is that rural community
which has but One place of worship.
While competition Is the life of trade,
it is death tb the rural church and
moral starvation to the community.
Petty sectarianism is a scourge that
blights tho life, and the church preju-
dice cape the Vitality, of many com-
munities. An over-churched commun-
ity ia a ofhne against religion, a sbri-
this .handicap to society and a useless .
tax upon agriculture.
While denominations are essential j
Biid church pride confrtiendable, the !
high teaching of universal Christianity |
must prevail if the rural church is to
fulfill its mission to agriculture.
We frequently have three or four
churches in a community which is not
able to adequately support one. Small
Congregations attend services once a
month and all fall to perform the re- }
ligious functions of the community.
The division of religious forces arid
the breaking into fragments of mot-fil
efforts is ofttimes little less than a
calamity and defeats the vefy purpose
they seek to promote.
The evils Of too many1 churches can
be minimized by co-operation. The
soctfii and economic life of a rural
community are respective units and
Cannot be successfully divided by de-
nominational lilies, and the churches
Can only occupy this important field
by co-operation and co-ordination.
The efficient country church Will
definitely serve its community by lead-
ing in all worthy efforts at community
building, in uniting the people in all
co-operative endeavors for the gen
eral welfare of the comrauhity ahd in
arousihg a real love for Country life
and loyalty to the country home and
these results can only be successfully
accomplished by the united effort of
the press, the school, the church and
organized farmers
end guide the plow. What Is to be-
come of that nation where poverty
breaks the crowns of the queens oi
the home; despair hurls a mother’s
love from Us throne and hunfctr drives
Innocent children from the schoolroom
to the hoe?
The benaus bureau ebo ''8 that 155,
years of ago a, u over. There i3 no
more pitiful sight in civilization than
these saintly mothers of Israel stooped
with age, drudging in the field from
sun until sun and at night drenching
their dingy pillows with the tears of
despair as their acjting hearts take
it all to God in prayer. QlV|ll2ation
strikes them a blow when it should
give them a crown, and .their only
friend is ho who broke bread, with
beggars and said: "Come unto me t»l*
ye that are weary and heavy laden cad
I will give you rest.”
Ob, America! The land of the fteo
Hnd the home of the Dmve, tho
World's custodian of chivalry, the
ChampiOii cf human rights ahd the de-
fender of the opprCBdeii-—thail we per-
mit our maiden? fair to be torn from
the kedfthstona by the ruthless hand
Of destiny and chained to the plow?
8hall we permit our faithful wives,
whom we covenanted with God to cher-
ish and protect, to be hurled from tho
home to the harvest field, and our
mothers dear to be driven from the old
am chair to the cotton patch?
In rescuing our cltlz,ens from til*
forces of civilization, can wo not apply
to our fair Dixieland the rule of tim
sea—"women and children first?”
There must be a readjustment of
the wage scale of industry so that tITa
women can be take?, from tho field or
given a reasonable wage for her serv-
ices, Perhaps the Issue has never been
fairly raised, but the Farmers' Union,
with a membership of ton million, puts
Its organized forces squarely behind
the issue and we now enter upon.the
(locket of civilization the case of "The
Woman In the Field” and demand an
immediate trial.
Children Nsed Rrsteotlen.
Because they have less resisting
power, children are more cusccptlbis
to all kinds of disease germs than old-
er persons. This Is why every child
should be early taught to avoid the
habltB which lead to Infection. It i?i
little short of a criminal rial; to Vt?
low a child to work or play In a rctom
or yard that is not e’ean aa it twj
he made.
To the Point.
A lawyer residing in Washington,
and noted for hia laconic style of (?:•
preselon, sent the following terse end
witty note to a refractory, client whCf
would not comply with his retterateiJ
demands tor the payment oi his bill;
'Sir: If you pay tbe Inclosed, yo’u vili'
oblige me. If you do fiot I sha'l oblige
you.”
(Miiir ....... I "*«y
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Lanter, W. L. The Orlando Clipper (Orlando, Okla.), Vol. 8, No. 52, Ed. 1 Friday, December 4, 1914, newspaper, December 4, 1914; Orlando, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc910566/m1/5/: accessed May 1, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.