IS THE FARMER GOING BANKRUPT?

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1682, 5 November 1925, Page 2

IS THE FARMER GOING BANKRUPT?

VIEWS OF “A DIRT FARMER.” AN INTERESTING BOOK. “ Is the Farmer Going Bankrupt ? ” is the title of a book recently written by Frank C. Platt, “ a dirt farmer,” as he terms himself, of New York State. Mr Platt gives his own opinion concerning the causes of agricultural depression. quotes statements from the farm press, bulletins of experimental stations, the United States Department of (Agriculture, and prominent men.

.He holds that the chief causes for agricultural depression are over-pro-duction, inadequate tariff protection, tax burdens, lack of organisation, inefficient labour, and the stimulation of production. He does not think agriculture is going to be saved through legislation or any scheme of co-oper-ation.

He recognises that certain laws must be enacted for the benefit of agriculture, and through a sane system of co-operation the farmer will receive more for his products. He emphasises, however, that so long as the farmer over-produces no system of co-opera-tive marketing, or any other plan of caring for surplus, will bring the farmer a price for his product that will give him the cost of production plus a reasonable profit. He holds that the farmer must limit his produc tion to the requirements of the consumer, and that he must be an efficient producer. For example, he sees no opportunity for the dairy farmer to make a profit if hi 9 herd does not average more than 5000 lbs of milk in a year. It is his opinion that the consumers do not receive sufficient salaries to permit them to buy dairy products, at prices which will make the-low-producing cow a profitable investment to the farmer.

In the closing statement of his book he says: “The writer still maintains that the only remedy which will save farmers from bankruptcy is regulation of production and restriction of foreign competition by an adequate tariff.” Mr Platt’s book is of more than passing interest, because it is by a man who is making his living on the farm, and presents his opinion of agricultural conditions and what must be done to make agriculture more profitable. The book is by no means a complete treatise of the subject it discusses, and we do not kno\V that anyone is capable of producing such a volume. It does contain many statements of fact, clear and concise opinions of the writer, and reveals that there are men still on the farms who are doing some genuine thinking concerning their own job.