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The MAN in the COUNTRY Speaks(Readers are invited to express their opinions on topics ofthe day in this column. Unsigned letters will not be printed.)W here Do Y\ »■Go From Mere?Editor: I am a Republican and cast my first presidential ballot for Hoover in 1928. The results of this year’s election did not surprise me. Little was done in this area to support the national ticket. I do not remember having seen one sticker or picture outside the newspaper supporting Goldwater and Miller. In fact, I was under the impression that even though this is strong Republican territory (4-1), anyone supporting Goldwater might as well have been voting for Hitler.The Republican party in this state has been without a leader since Rockefeller got the presidential bug. Yes, we have almost been without a governor.So you take this attitude of the three top Republican office-holders in the state and throw in some well-placed government patronage handouts and you come up with an inedible Republican cake.So where do we go from here? Well, the party isn’t going anywhere for a while and after Rockefeller gets through thrashing around, I am sure we can come up with some promising men. In the meantime, we are quite likely to come up with a Democratic governor.—Albion H. Barter, Chenango county, N. Y.cording to our departments of misinformation. This is about a 3 weeks supply-reserve, and a darn small one.2. In 1963, we had too much beef. The truth is, we were fed too much “bull.” We imported enough (1,* 700,000) pounds, to feed the entire U. S. population for 30 days. We do not produce enough meat at the present to feed our people. We are also led to believe imported beef is cheap meat. It is cheap in quality, but not in price. It cost local grocers 43c to 46c per pound last winter.and getting down to business and meaning it from the heart and tongue.It looks like we are living with our heads buried in the sands of ignorance while sliding down the well-greased gravy slide to a pit of destruction. For goodness sake, America wake up! — Keith Fravel, Howard county, Iowa.His Tear* Are forNow to inform you correctly about the National Farmer’s Organization. There is no 75 per cent mentioned in the NFO membership and the lengthy article that you claim that you read is false! When a farmer joins the NFO, he agrees to do two things:1. Pay $25 per year for three (3) years or 1 per cent of gross sales if a contract is consumated.Future Generation*2. He agrees to go along with a two-thirds (66%) of the farmers producing a commodity when they vote on a price or marketing procedure.Thev Believe inThe Farm BureauEditor: We really enjoy reading your paper. We think it is the best ever.Conditions were not too bad around here until NFO had their holding action. We can’t see any good they are doing or have done. Just causing a lot of trouble and making livestock prices cheaper. We don’t know the answer, but we think if we would ship hogs and cattle at a lighter weight and keep a steady flow to the markets and not have holding actions, everything would work out as it should.We believe in American Farm Bureau Federation and we are proud of it. We do not think NFO will ever work. It just breaks up small farmers that try to withhold with them. We tried it and know what it cost us to hold.Print this letter if you want to.— Mr. and Mrs. Fritz Leitman, Lincoln county, Mo.We will never get a fair price until we ask for and demand it.The day we go to town with our farm products and say we have this amount in this product and we must have this cost plus a profit in order to stay in business. Then we will have gotten our lost freedom back.The day we come to town with our products in salable condition and the established buyer tells us,” Sorry, we can not use it, we have too much already.” That will be the day when we have a surplus other than the paper one that exists today.To those who may wonder, I am a farmer and have no other source of income. What material things I possess, 1 have worked for, not inherited. I am a veteran of World War II with 45 months of service. I am a member of NFO and I am proud of it. — William E. Heber, Crawford county, 111.Editor: The U. S. voters have issued their mandate of approval to the present administration.Now, we will have bigger and better Bobby Bakers, more greedy Billy Sol Esteses, a more powerful bureaucracy, larger taxes, more federal spending and controls, less money to spend locally and last but not least more wars to end all wars, more sons buried around the world and more propaganda fed to a gullible, unthinking people.I am one of the elderly citizens the politicians cry for; but I am crying, not for my generation, but for the generations to come. May God forgive us for the burden we place upon posterity and for the corruption of the great heritage our forefathers fought and died for. — Mrs. Marjorie Porter, Rock county, Wis.Tax and Spend,Give and lakeFor Goodness Sake.America, Wake Up!Editor: The wheat and bread we eat are the highest taxed articles of anything one can mention.Before the tax was put on wheat, we farmers averaged $2.10 per bushel. After the tax of 70 cents per bushel was put on, we received $1.40 per bushel. This is 33% per cent tax per dollar, or 7 times more than the Pennsylvania sales tax of .05 per dollar, or 5 per cent.Before the tax, 100 bushels of wheat at $2.10 a bushel was $210. Now that 70c per bushel tax has been put on wheat, the average price is $1.40 a bushel, or 100 bushels equals $140. This is $70, or 33% per cent, less. We pay one and two cents more for bread.He Of’IVrs SomeHard, ('old FactsEditor: The following are hard cold facts:1. We are receiving 74 per cent of parity for our farm products.2. Net farm income equals approximately 5 per cent on the agricultural investment in the United States. This leaves us practically nothing for management and our labor.3. Non-real estate debt of United States farmers has risen from 7.5 billion dollars in 1953 to 12.7 billion in 1963 and according to reliable credit agencies, is expected to reach 25 billion in 1973.4. Real estate debt on land is at an all time high.5. Average age of U. S. farmers is well over 55 years.6. The price of our livestock is determined by the chain stores who sell over 85 per cent of the meat in the U. S.7. The price of our grain is controlled by the government and the Board of Trade.8. The price of our milk here inEditor: We always enjoy the letters from the Tabers and hope they will continue to inform us. I note that recently someone wrote in a letter that “books won’t help” inform people of the issues. No, books won’t help—it’s the broad minded, sensible readers of themwho read with open-minded consideration that will do the helping. We have read the books mentioned by Mr. Taber and found them informative and convincing.What this spirtually-dead country (and others as well) needs is a great spiritual revival for ChristDoes this maxe sense?If the tax is not on the farmer's wheat (I say it is), then the miller pays the tax of 70c a bushel. We average only $1.40 a bushel at the mill. A 70c tax on $1.40 is 50 per cent per dollar tax, or 10 times more than the Pennsylvania salestclXWe hear that the U. S. has “the highest standard of living in the world.” Now it has the lowest price wheat in the world! The wheat in a loaf of bread is taxed one-third the total price of bread.In the government wheat program the farmer pays himself, andthis locality is roughly the price inill.Wisconsin, plus a truck bilSome talk of liberty and freedom and our Pilgrim fathers, for whom I have great respect, and about millions of our people who have been lulled to sleep, but we are going to have to stay awake and be alert to keep our way of life.I doubt if any segment of our economy or any group of people have ever been lulled to sleep any more than we in agriculture. Our news and media and economists from our land grant colleges have fed us full of propaganda for years. We have surplus, not reserves, as it should be. For example:1. This fall, we had a mountain of beans, 40,000,000 bushels ac-IsI1(He’s Certainly Well Protected1!1
Newspaper Details
East St Louis Livestock Reporter
East St Louis, Illinois, US
Fri, Nov 27, 1964
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Mckenna L.
USA 01 May 2023
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