Kankakee Valley Post, Volume 11, Number 48, DeMotte, Jasper County, 9 October 1941 — Page 3

Washington Digest

Dangers to Agriculture Need Careful Attention ‘Ceiling' on Farm Prices at 110% of Parity May Be Answer to Economic Problems Of Lend-Lease Spending.

WNU Service, 1343 H Street, N-W, Washington, D. C. “Defend me from my friends; I can defend myself from my ene^ mies.” That is what the farmer is beginning to say these days as he casts a wary eye toward some of his “friends” in congress, who are shouting “let her rip” when others urge some kind of a “ceiling" on farm prices. The people who really have the interest of American agriculture at heart talk this way: “The farmer has been on the downside of parity for a long time. He ought to be allowed to ride on the upside awhile. But inflation means deflation and deflation hits the farmer hardest as he knows from his bitter experience in 1921 and ’22.” So these more conservative folk are urging a ceiling placed at 110 per cent of parity. And from the way things look now, in spite of the farmers' professional friends who are shouting “let her rip," that figure will probably be established in the pending price control bill, plus a good set of teeth to enforce such a limit on runaway farm price figures. Well, says the farmer/how about a ceiling on wages, too? It would be a courageous prophet who would predict that wages will be limited by law now, although the administration would like to see that happen—if congress made it happen. There is just one argument that the worker puts up against a wage ceiling, and while it is hardly based on sound economic principles it has in it a certain amount of the quality of justice that cannot be denied. The workman says: “There is no limit on supply. Nature can go on producing and the producer can reap the benefit as long as there is a demand. But the amount of labor a man can do is limited no matter what the demand is. There are just so many hours in the day.” And that is what the government faces when it sits down and tries to" figure out a price control bill that will be fair to everybody. Prediction Impossible Nobody can sit here in Washington and predict just what is going to happen to farm prices, wages, peace, war, love or silk stockings in the next few years. The officials know, as the farmer knows, what happened to agriculture in and after the last • war—c hills and fever, with the feverish days pf high prices and land speculation followed by the chilly days when the banker owned most of the farms and there were mote absentee landlords than there were ticks in a grandfather’s clock. That is history and . the job the department of agriculture has done - with the help .of the farm.'organizations and congress—is to try to . This is the way one official summed the situation up for me: “A billion dollars is going to be spent for food for Britain in the -in xt year. Wages are up all over the country. Pretty soon when defense production pushes a lot of gadgets off the market, folks will spend -more on food because they won't have a lot of other things to spend it on. It will be a ease of going down to the corner and getting another dish of ice cream instead of going riding in the new car you can't buy because there aren't enough cars to go around," So far. so good for the farmer. But what about the time when lend-lease spending ends, when there may not be so many dollars in so many pay envelopes? Will the farmer be faced with more surpluses on his hands 0 *’s listen to my friend again on that subject. “We’ve got a law, you know—” he said, “a law that says that this extra production the government is urging has a price guarantee of 85 per cent of parity—a promise, an obligation, on the part of the government to support prices for milk and eggs and pork and chickens at 85 per cent of parity. “And we also have a law—part of the same one—that says the secretary of agriculture has to give due notice in advance when it is time to stop extra production of these products. So this time the farmer

BRIEFS...

C Orientals have been using the soybean for some 5.000 years. Americans until 25 or 30 years ago thought it a curiosity. Now they have found more than 300 uses for it. C A new synthetic developed by Du Pont will help free the U. S. from its dependence on importing natural rubber 4or airplane parts from the Far East.

By BAUKHAGE

Rational Farm and Home Hour Commentator.

will have a chance to get out from under —to shift his production while there is yet time, to cut his cloth according to his suit.” Will it work? Well, if we can prevent the fever now, there certainly is a chance of avoiding the chills afterward, when we beat our tanks into tractors again. *, * * Can a War Be Won ——Without Fighting? Whither are we drifting? That is the favorite question posed by all the good, old-fashioned orators. What is the answer today? Is it into war? Sitting here in my office looking down over a busy street in the capital i wonder. I see the slim tip of the Washington monument in the distance. I see the gentle hills of Virginia beyond. Between the hills and a filmy fringe of trees the peaceful Potomac is flowing. I can im- | agine, when I close my eyes, equally peaceful scenes across the na- ; tion: Busy corners in midwest towns, the hurrying crowds in Denver—a mile up with Pike’s Peak and sister mountains rimming the horizon —the soft bay at San Diego, the' wide sweep of Lake Michigan, palmetto-fringed ( squares of the | South, steep streets of Seattle, the neat white houses of the Southwest j still bearing the gentle mark of their j Spanish heritage. Are these quiet places to send theif sons to die in some far country 0 I think not. Perhaps this is a wishful thought. But let me repeat to you? a conversation that took place as I walked home from a recent news conference at the White House. Three of us came down the winding drive and out onto historic Pennsylvania avenue. Another American-owned ship had been sunk. The President had spoken very earnestly, very emphatically. He had Spoken about new measures of defense, about resisting attempts of a group who were trying to gain a foothold to dominate the Western hemisphere. “It looks,” said one of the men, “like a declaration of war.” I glanced up quickly to see what the other member of pur threesome would say. Like me, he had fought in one war and covered two. “No,” he said.' “I believe that Franklin Roosevelt wants to go down in history as the President who won a war without having to fight it.” I smiled because I agreed.

That man’s comment is not pontifical. But it is typical of at least one group of observers here in the capital. Perhaps they are right. I hope so. I still believe so. This is a topsy turvy world. Legion's Attitude Take, for example, the more belligerent attitude of the American Legion. The Legion has always been strong for defense. (You would be, too, if you have ever been in a fighting unit.) But heretofore it has always been against foreign entanglements. It Itas always been against foreign wars. At its convention in September, however, the Legion voted to support the President’s “shoot-on-sight" naval policy with all it implies. Why the change? As a former soldier and legionnaire I had my ideas. But I heard them best expressed by a man who knows the Legion better than I do. He said, with the philosophy of an old soldier: “We have started shooting. You can’t shoot and argue at the same time without spoiling your aim.” But- this does not mean to me that we arc going to war tomorrow. It simply mentis that the President has more backing in carrying out his policy of beating Hitler without fighting a war. Of course, there will be naval engagements, but the President puts these in the category of the early battles in our history between the navy and pirates and privateers. * * • There are 31,565.000 persons—nearly one-fourth of the nation—enrolled in America's army of education this year, from the elementary schools to the universities and night schools, the United States office of education reports.

by Baukhage

C. The bureau of animal industry has just compiled a directory of United States Register of Merit sires and dams, the first national publication of family records in the history of the poultry industry in the United States. C. There was one national forest 50 years ago. Today there are 161 in 36 states, Alaska and Puerto Rico.

THE KANKAKEE VALLEY POST

Kathleen Norris Says: Time Heals All Wounds

Ted's mother came to stay with us and ran me out. We lived at an army post and I became intimate with an army officer who was a married man. I was carried away by his devotion to a lonely girl.

By KATHLEEN NORRIS

ONE of the hardest' lessons for an American woman to learn is to leave anything to time. We are an impatient people, and whatever we do must be accomplished in a very fury of speed. Hundreds of women go to Reno for divorces every year, only to plunge into fresh matrimonial experiments the moment they are free. Decisions that should be made only after months or even years of planning and praying, they reach in a few moments. Having failed conspicuously in one attempt at wifehood, they plunge into another, sure that if happiness doesn't wait on one pathway it must on some other. But happiness and character and success in marriage are things of slow growth. They are never ready-made. It takes months and sometimes years of patient effort to work out even the simplest domestic problem, and in these days almost no marital problem is simple. Impatience and marriage never mix. Threats of European conquest and invasion from sea or air have never given me a moment’s concern. But the destruction of that all-important thing—American marriage—through the hasty and ill-considered action of husbands and wives who flock to divorce courts at the first sign of trouble, is a real blow at the safety of the nation. Divorce Is an Evil.

Divorce is not a solution, it is an unmitigated evil and it ought to be used sparingly, like the poisonous drugs that help pain, or the surgeon’s knife that is employed only in the last emergency. Unless this national failing is somewhat lessened, we are going to be a nation without homes; and a nation without’homes is no nation at all. It doesn’t hurt children to grow up in the care of a mother who is silently enduring difficulties and injustices. It hurts them irreparably to be told by their mother that Daddy is a bad man; and by Daddy’s mother that their own mother is so selfish and vain that poor Daddy had to leave her. In the beginning the men and women who contemplate divorce always assert eagerly that there will not" be this sort of criticism before the children. But when those children, missing their father, shifted uncomfortably about, trying to accustom themselves to a stepfather, ask wistfully why their own Daddy has gone away, then Mother has to take a defensive attitude. So she tells them how mean Daddy was to her, wouldn’t give her any money, and liked another lady better than Mummy, and twisted "her arm. And when they tell their paternal grandmother this she can only counter majestically, “Well, Mummy doesn’t always say what’s true, dear. She was very unkind to poor Daddy. Don t believe everything Mummy says.” The army of the children of divorced parents—that’s the army we ought to fear. What possible training in self-control, consideration, patience can they derive from the ill-disciplined man and woman they call their parents? And how find happiness against a background of changes, recriminations, charges and countercharges?

(Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.)

Far more terrifying than the possibility of invasion by a foreign army, says Kathleen IS orris, is the menace of divorce, which is breaking up our homes. More sinister than Hitler's legions is the army of children of divorced parents. But how are we to prevent divorce? Patience will help. Impatience is probably our greatest national weakness. We leap from one mistake to another; we plunge into illconsidered marriage and hasty divorce ... Don't fail to read Kathleen Norris' uncompromising discussion of the part women can play in building one of our first lines of national defense, happy homes.

Here is a letter from a woman who has made a series of hasty mistakes, and who feels that to make a fresh series would be the way out, “I am 28,” writes Em-Bee, from Indianapolis. “I was married at 19, and j have two sons, seven and four. That first marriage was a girl’s mistake; Ted seemed to me the epitome of everything that was wonderful, but I was too much of a kid really to judge a man as a husband; We were miserable from the start, quarreling, making it up, quarreling again. One of my babies was delicate and the other unmanageable, and we had very little money 4 . “Ted’s mother came to stay with us and ran things generally. She ran them so well that she ran me out and I went home to my stepmother, as I cannot stand the man my own mother married after divorcing my father. We lived at an army post and I became intimate with an officer who was a married man. I don’t excuse this, but I was carried away by his devotion to a lonely, bewildered girl of 24. This gave Ted an excuse to ask for complete guardianship of the boys, which was granted him. Floyd’s wife divjorced him and we were married. “Ted died last December and his mother has my boys. They come to see me now and then, but we are strangers. My husband does not understand how a mother feels about her children. We have been married three years and as yet I have no hope of another child. Ted’s mother, who is well fixed, says she is going to take the boys to another city and place them in school, and Floyd feels that that is a good thing for them. But they are mine, mine, mine, and I will not have them carted about as if they had no mother. Can’t Help Her. “On the other hand, we have only Floyd’s pay, not sufficient for the many expenses connected with two growing boys. I feel strongly that I have made many mistakes in handling my life, and am anxious not to make any more. • “What do you think of my present plan of going to Reno for a divorce, asking an alimony that will permit me to learn a profession that will support my children, and suing my mother-in-law for their custody? Does that seem the best thing?” Em-Bee is not speaking honestly when she says this, nor when she speaks of a mother’s feeling for her children. Having broken up her own life and Floyd’s and Ted’s and the children’s, no advice will save her now from crashing ahead into further mistakes.

HOME DEFENSE

The Once Over

by H.I.Phillips

ELMER TWITCHELL ON THE GAS CRISIS “I’m all set for this gasoline rationing,” declared Elmer Twitchell today. “Ain't a bit worried. Got myself all adjusted. Won’t notice it at all.” “How so?” we asked. “Preparedness,” snapped Elmer. “Been salting it away or got a pull with a gasoline bootlegger?” “Neither.” explained Mr. Twitchell. “I’ve done nothing beyond the reach of any other American. Any auto owner can take the same steps I have so that the gas' shortage won’t bother him in the least.” “Speak. What have vou done?” “Well, I’ll tell you,”* said Elmer. “It’s very simple. First of all, I’ve painted every light in the house a bright red.” “What's the big idea?” “I want the full atmosphere of the open road,” he continued. “Then I’ve put obstacles all over every room so there'll be trouble getting anywhere. I’m hanging a dead-end sign at the front door and I put a detour marker on the back door to complicate matters.” “Yes, but . . .” “Don’t interrupt,” he snapped. “I'm putting windshield wipers on every window in the' house, breaking them first. I mean breaking the windshield wipers, not the windows. I want to be sure none of ’em work. Then I’m setting the furnace on full tilt and removing the thermostatic adjustments. I want to be sure I’m hot.” * * * were beginning to get the drift. “I’m putting in a big stock of horsemeat, frankfurters and stale rolls, a lot of wet peanuts and plenty of bananas and soda pop. Enough

to last all fall and winter,” he continued. “And I’ve ordered a four months’ supply of pickles, hardboiled eggs and all the other junk people eat on their Sunday afternoon pleasure trips. Gas or no gas, I don’t want to take any chance on being cut off from all my accustomed pleasures.” * * * “You mean you’re not even counting on using an auto?” we exclaimed. “Exactly,” said Elmer. “I’ll have my house all fixed up with everything I can get through motoring. I’m even arranging to have grease put all over the chairs and walls and I’m putting in a small stove to burn nothing but rubber. And see this?” Elmer held up a phonogiaph record. “Put it on the machine and all it does is just snarl in different keys. Every little while a voice yells, ‘Get over, ya big bum!’ ” * * * Mr. Twitchell was well pleased with himself. “It’s a pretty good idea,” we agreed. “Good my eye. It’s perfect,” concluded Elmer. “Without a pint of gasoline to my name I’m all set to enjoy everything at home that I would enjoy if I went out in the auto.” * * * INEXPLICABLE It seems to me somewhat ironic, That tender care, massage, and tonic Should be required of men who cherish A scalp that’s adequately hairish. Whereas unwanted hair that’s »strewn Across the chin and cheeks, though hewn And leveled to the skin and thwarted When it is barely getting started, Despite mistreatment, curse, and scorning Returns augmented every morning. —Richard Armour. * * * “New automobiles will lose their decorative touch and frills.”—Headline. We may even have to get along for two years in succession with the same radiator ornament. * * * Autumn: When you feel so strange going around with no broken-bottle wounds in your feet, no mustard on your shirt, no sand in your ears and no plaster across the bridge of your nose. * * * VAGAJBONDIA Books and beer upon a table, A pinch of snuff for those who’re able; A pipe of ’baccy for a friehd Whom fortune may see fit to send: So shall mjne house well ordered be For a friend who finds his friend in me. —Gordon R. Higham. * • * Elmer Twitchell insists that he drove up to a fashionable pumping station Sunday and found a sign “Res' on it.

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT

CATTLE FOR SALE FOR SALE—Young registered Guernsey bulls, Lang water strain, from high producing cows and outstanding bulls. Farmer* prices real opportunity, write KESSWALL FARM, Bo* La Porte, Indiana. Affectation Vulgar The simpler and the more easy and unconstrained your manners, the more you will impress people of your good breeding. Affectation is one of the brazen marks of vulgarity.—Etiquette for Ladies, nTibJi 111 f /Jr&l Forgetting Friends He who forgets his own friends meanly to follow after those of a higher degree is a snob.—Thackeray.

MILLIONS OF WOMEN Hare Discovered This Economy

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CLABBER GIRL BAKING POWDER

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