A NEW PERIOD OF PROSPERITY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 90, 9 November 1932, Page 7

A NEW PERIOD OF PROSPERITY

TREND TOWARDS BETTER PRICES GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR YOUTH OF TO-DAY These days of depression have had the effect of making people more sympathetic towards those who, by patient toil, win a livelihood from the land. We who live close to the farmer have, perhaps, always anpreciated to sryne extent the difficulties of his lot, but to-day, even in the cities, the present abnormal conditions have compelled people to realise the importance of our primary products and have stressed the national value of farm work. When prices fall rapidly the farmer feels the effect first of all. His Income is halved or ceases altogether, while the prices of other commodities ■which he needs to carry on his work fall more slowly. He is then doubly hit by such conditions as those through which we are now passing. If his land has been bought at a high price, operations must in many cases be suspended, as he is unable to meet, the overhead charges on his business. It can therefore he easily understood that parents at present view farming with little favour as a future occupation for their boys. They see around them so many examples of men who have failed that they hesitate to allow the youth of to-day to engage in what they consider a 'hazardous occupation. These conditions however are not new. The history of farm economics shows us that these waves of depression occur at fairly regular intervals. Prices fall, many are ruined, and many more are worried by the crushing difficulties under which they struggle. Particularly are these periods of depression noticeable after a great war which upsets, for the time being, the relations between trading countries. After the Napoleonic Wars conditions were worse perhaps than they are today. There is, however, a brighter side to the picture. When conditions become stable the farmer is one of the | first to feel the effect of rising prices, j By shrewd business methods and care- i ful finance, he is then in a position to husband his resources, pay off his mortgage and so establish himself that any future depression will not so deeply affect him. Those farmers who j during our last period of prosperity j observed these precautions have so j consolidated their positions that they | have not been discommoded, to any great extent, by the lowering of the price level. At present we are approaching a new period of prosperity. I do not say that the depression is ended, but from now on there should be a gra- | dual improvement in prices, so that by 1910 we shall again be fairly launched I on a fair tide of progress. If we can {

I read the future by the help of the i past it seems almost certain that this I will be so. I is there any occupation to-day which offers the modern youth a j fairer prospect than that of the 1 land? He has time to take up farm work, gain some experience, and just be ready to reap a wonderful harvest during the great years that are to come. Other occupations are not nearly so attractive. Building and mechanical trades will take many years to recover, so that apprenticeship to these will be, of necessity, limited. Office work and the professions are overdone in this small country, but business, especially the business of farming, offers the finest opportunity for those boys who are suited to the work. Much capital has been made of the unpleasant nature of farming conditions. It is true that farming, especially dairy farming, involves long hours and becomes somewhat of a tie. All occupations have some unfavourable aspects. Those that are engaged in any work soon find that /Ife is not a lied ’of roses, and that man must work in order that he may eat. In farming much of the drudgery has been eliminated by the mechanical devices that have been called in to help; and in reality there is no occupation which is in a sense freer than that of the land. Men live closer to nature, lead more healthful lives, and altogether can get more real en- j joyment than those who are tied to j a desk or fettered in a shop. The boy of to-day then has a great opportunity. Given brains, 1 industry and perseverence he has i a better chance of making a real success on the land than in any other avocation.