OTHER PEOPLE’S TROUBLES

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19720, 10 December 1926, Page 6

OTHER PEOPLE’S TROUBLES

At a time when the farmers of New Zealand are facing serious difficulties it is interesting to know that their predicament is not singular. The conditions which have affected them adversely are all traceable to the fact that the prices of primary products have fallen while all other prices have remained high. Farmers in other parts of the world are therefore feeling the pinch as those in this Dominion are, and it is particularly evident that in the United States, the land of unprecedented prosperity, the farming industry is in sore straits. This is the more remarkable because the large industrial population consumes a very substantial part of the produce of the farms. The American farmer not unnaturally thinks that he is being exploited by his own countrymen, and for some time past he has been making emphatic demands for assistance from Congress and from those who hold vast stores of wealth.

During the last session of Congress many proposals for the relief of the farming industry were put forward. These included elaborate schemes of finance for farmers, plans for the fixing of prices and proposals for various measures of State control in the marketing of produce. All were rejected, but President Coolidge’s message to Congress this week indicates that the farmers are not discouraged, for he has uttered a solemn warning against any legislation that would involve the Government in the business of production and distribution. That he has deemed it necessary to speak is evidence that farming interests carry a good deal of political weight. The Republican Party emerged from the recent elections as the dominant party in both Houses of Congress, but its majorities are slender. It would not take a great deal to disturb the balance of power in the new Congress, and the farmers’ votes will, be very important.

Though America industrially and commercially is enjoying wonderful prosperity, the position of the farming industry constitutes a danger. The State coffers are overflowing, but the President is not willing to reduce taxation. No doubt he deems it wiser to be prepared for the possible rainy day, which the troubles of the farming industry may bring upon the country. Even America, with its huge industrial and commercial resources, cannot disregard its primary producers nor hope to maintain its financial stability if they do not contribute their share to the general prosperity. In this country it is, of course, infinitely more to be desired that the farming industry should be prosperous, for primary production is the ’whole basis of the Dominion’s well-being.