Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 62, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 November 1918 — FIXING WHEAT PRICE WAS A WAR MEASURE [ARTICLE]

FIXING WHEAT PRICE WAS A WAR MEASURE

Under That Law Farmers Have Been Able to Produce at a Profit. The Difference Between $2.40 and $2.26 Represents Contributions By Producers to Our Allies for Freedom of Mankind. (Lewis A. Taylor) Fixing the price of wheat was purely a war measure, intended solely to enable wheat to do its part in. the final defeat and unconditional surrender of the Kaiser. The manpower of the nation was conscripted because only by doing so could we hope to meet the manpower of the enemy, and a price was fixed upon “the labor of every man. The price of labor, S3O per month, while many times the price paid by the Allies and by the Central Powers, is ridiculously inadequate in innumerable instances. Many of our boys now serving at S3O a month were receiving from S3O to SIOO per week. Yet taking everything into consideration, the Selective Draft law is recognized as the greatest military move the U. S. has yet made. A survey of the food conditions at home and abroad disclosed the fact that it was quite as necessary to conscript food as men. Wheat, by reason of its adaptability for shipping and to the baking facilities of the Allies, was the on© outstanding American foodstuff that the necessities of the war demanded. The ability of the Allies to hold the line while we h.urried to get ready depended upon the 'supply of wheat which we could deliver to them. It was the only thing that we eould do at that time to help, and it was of greater military importance at that moment than a coar tribution of men or munitions. Conservation of this vital war necessity was urged in an intensive campaign, and with such success that our own and allied wants were supplied. Them remained the future bread supply to provide for. The fields of France and Belgium were devastated. Every available acre was in intensive cultivation and made to do its utmost, but this, at best, was totally inadequate to meet their wants. The wheat in Australia and South America rotted for lack of ships to carry it. The only hope for us and our Allies lay in the

wheat lanas or tne u. s. ana canaaa. An intensive campaign was waged from one end of our country to the other to raise more wheat. To encourage the production of this precious grain, Congress enacted into law the unanimous recommendation of a commission of laboring men, farmers and Agricultural college professors, appointed by the President, that a minimum price of $2.26 be fixed on the next wheat crop. Under this guarantee against loss, we have produced a large crop of wheat, second only to that of Kansas. It was enacted solely as a war measure to meet a situation fraught with as much danger as a shortage of munitions or of ships. Under this law farmers have received profitable prices for their wheat. Country banks show thi3 In the vast volume of their deposits. Purchase of Liberty Bonds, War Savings Stamps and liberal contributions to the Red Cross and other war activities have proved that farmers are making money as never before and that one of the chief sources of their profits is the wheat crop.

The difference between what we actually received for wheat at $2.26, the price fixed by the government, and $2.40, the price vetoed by the President, 14 cents per bushel, represents the price paid by the farmers to FVance, England and Belgium for holding the lines till we were ready to fight at Chateau-Thierry. Never in the history of the world did any class of men buy such a priceless treasure at such a bargain. In that bargain Was a land saved from destruction and desolation. In that purchase was our womanhood saved from outrage and debauchery. In that deal our youth and manhood was saved from mutilation and death. For 14 cents per bushel the farmers of the nation bought the lives of countless numbers of our bravest and best who would have been led to battle unprepared. For less than 100 millions of dollars they Dought the freedom of mankind.