A —Lancaster Farming, Saturday. March 18. 1961 FROM WHERE WE STAND - The Fragile Wall Of Respectibility He thought about it afterwards. How had he been reduced, from re spected citizen to common beggar, In just a few hours? How had it all started? It was only a tiny spot of printer’s ink on the culf ox his trousers, but the chain of events which followed pro duced a comedy of errors without much humor. Being reduced to beg ging is very seldom, if ever, funny. He had worked late that day on a report promised before midnight. As was his habit when quitting-time found him still in the office, he phoned his wife to tell her he would be late. “Why don't you bring the report with you and finish it at home?” she asked. She said dinner was almost ready—would be ready by the time he could drive home—and the children liked to eat at least one meal per day with their father. He could take the report to his man after dinner. He knew h 6 was nearly out of gas oline and had planned 10 stop on the way home to fill up, but dinner was waiting and he hurried on thinking he would stop at the service station when he went out later in the evening. With dinner over and the report finished, he sat down for a few min utes before delivering the material. Then he thought about it. That spot of ink on his cuff would dry and be hard to remove. It was a good thing he wore wash-and-wear pants, he thought. • Into the laundry with his old paint ing dungarees he went. Onto the con- venient shelf went keys, wallet, jack knife -and other assorted pocket para phanalia Into the washer went the soi’ed trousers and into the disreput able old painting clothes went he. He really needed a shave. It had been a long day. But he would just drop the report in the letter slot and no one would see him. The hint of snow in the air made his think of his warmest clothes, so he reached for his old sheepskin coat with the fur collar and his old stocking' cap. They didn’t look so good, but he wasn’t planning to be out in society. He pulled on his boots against the cold around his ankles, and he was on his way. Pocket the report, he thought, then Davidson Perhaps you wouldn’t call fanners “the vanishing Am ericans,” but that is what the Census Bureau’s recently completed 1959 Census Agri culture adds up to During the past 30 years the tarm population has been decreasing, with but few years excepted, at the rate of almost one million a year. Farm population has been cut in half during a period in which the national popul Lancaster Farming Lancaiter County's Own Farm Weekly P O Box 1524 Lancaster Penn* Offices: B 3 North Duke St. Lancastei, Penn*. Phone - Lancaster EXpiess 4-3047 Jack Owen Editor Robert G Campbell, -Advertising Director S. Business Manager Esta 1 lished November 4. 1955 Puhiinhert every - Saturday by Lancaster Farming Lancaster, Pa. Emend as 2nd class mat'e- at Lancaster Pa under Act of Mar B 1W additional entry *t Mount Joy, Pa Subscription Bates - J 2 per rear: three a ears $5, Single copy Price 5 cen ts Members Pa Newspaper Pub'ieh ers Association - National Editor ial Association THIS WEEK —ln Washington With Clinton Davidson Vanishing Americans aticn has approximately doubled The percentage of the total population living on farms declined from one third in 1925 to one-tenth in 1959. Along with the number of farmers, the number of farms has declined by almost 50% since the 1920’5; from 6 4 million in 1925 to 3.7 million in 1959, according to the Census Bureau count. Older Farmers Predominate How much longer will the farm population decline con tinue’ Sociology's and ecn omists are not agreed on the answer, but they do agree that farmers will continue to be a smaller and smaller per centage o: the total popula tion. The average age of farm operators has increased steadily for many years The Census Bureau said the aver age in 1959 was 50 years. Twenty-five years ago the average was 40 While the number of farms and farmers has dec eosed since 1930 the to'al acreage m cultivation has dropped only slightly This is account ed for by the fact that each farmer tills approximately stop and get gasoline at Paul’s where he had a charge account. But the hour was later than he realized, and the station was closed. “Oh well,” he said, “There are oth- er stations open along the road.” When he had gone quite a* distance from home he pulled in beside the pumps of a strange gasoline station and reached for his wallet. Truth came to him like a pricked balloon in the pit of his stomach, fie saw in his mind’s eye the convenient shelf in the laundry with the wallet on it. Well, only one thing to do. Deliver the report and hope there was enough juice in the tank to let him reach home. ' With the report delivered and the nose of his car pointed toward home he had begun to hope for the best when the engine sputtered and died. The lights of an all-night service station winked “GAS” invitingly in the distance He turned up the collar of his old sheepskin coat against the snow and headed toward the lights. He didn’t wonder at the startled look on the face of the service station pumps and .tried to explain his situa- tion. 0 It wasn’t lack of money that both ered him. Many times before he had been away from home with no money in his pocket, but now he had been robbed of his identity. He couldn’t ev en prove the car he told the attendant about was his, and he certainly didn’t look like he could afford a car of any kind. His pleas, his improbable story, and the offer to leave his old sheep skin coat and his boots as security fin ally moved the heart'of the attendant, and enough gasoline for the trip home was handed over. He was thankful the attendant had not demanded the .coat and boots as collateral, .and as. he trudged .back to ward the , helpless ' car, he -mused on. the fate which had changed him from respected newspaper editor to common beggar in just a few hours. “The wall ’ that separates beggars from the likes of such as we is as frag ile as a film of mist.” he thought. At least that’s how it looks from where we stand. - twice as many acres as did 30 years ago. Today four of every five fanners own their farms, compared with just over 50 per cent in 1930. The aver age value of land and build ing per farm in 1959 was $33,242, an increase of 63 over 3954. Why The Population Drop? There are many reasons why, as the World War I song hit went, “you can’t keep ’em down on the farm.” Mechanization for one thing, has enabled farmers to till and harvest more acres per man. More and more farm boys and girls are going to col leges, and finding their op portunities for earning and advancement greater in in dustry and the professions than in farming Only about 1 in 10 farm youths who graduate ■ f rom college re turn to farming. Rural Rhythms PENUMONIA WEATHER By J* O. E. ‘•pneumonia Weather*,* what he said. And I couldn’t help agreeing A hot sun scorched my over head; A Match wind chilled my being Pneumonia weather but it can’t stay. On the lawn a robin’s shop . ping, And here comes April, then May. The calendar’s not .stopping. •turn to Page 5) sible- Material: John 17. Varotioaal Banding; John IT 1-11. For His Own Lesson for March 19, 1961 WHAT ONE of us needs, an other does not. In a worship service in the church, the minister cannot offer the same particular prayers which any one person present might rightfully pray; for the circumstances vary from per son to person. Nevertheless a minister may of fer prayers which every one there may take to heart. So it was with the great prayer of Christ written down in John 17. This was a prayer for all be lievers, "for his own." Wherever a Christian lives, whatever his needs, these'"things at least are Christ’s will for him. If we want these’.things too, we may be sure we are desiring the will of God, praying in the name of Christ. Joy This prayer is full of requests, yet it is far from a "gimme” prayer. The reader may profitably sit down and think .what makes this different from so many of our request-prayers. Meanwhile we can high light for a moment four gilts Jesus asks from his Father for those who have been "given him." One is Joy. This is common place enough, by the sound of it. Who does wish to be happy, who does not pray for happiness for his friends? Yet this is'different from ordinary happiness. "That they may have my joy fulfilled m themselves,” Jesus prays. This Is not commonplace/ The reader is ■invited to think It oufc»-Wbat is the difference between ordinary hap piness and the kind of joy that we can think of as characteristic of Christ? “Keep Them From The Evil One” We wish we had the actual words Jesus prayed in; probably Aramaic. The Greek language of Now Is .The Time * TO IMPROVE TOBACCO SEEi PRACTICES—In the production of tol plants the effort should be focusei proper seedbed practices in order to the plants free from disease and la After they go into the field it is teo ficult and unpractical to control i problems. Therefore, from the time seeds are planted until the plants go the field special practices should be lowed. This starts with soil sterilizi! soaking of mu&lin and boards to cc mosiac, soil drench, and a ve.y thou spray program. Growers are urged to obtain the ma® graph sheet of suggestions at the Extension Office TO USE SPRIN GUO ATS AS A NURSE CROP—In the to get a new stand of alfalfa, clover, or pasture m spring months it is best to use a bushel ofs spring oats nurse crop; this will protect the young plants from weather and resu t in a better stand, it- is important to the oats to only one, bushel per acre. The soil shot lined and fertilized according to soil test prior’ to set The oats should be removed for hay or silage when ,n milk stage MAX SMITH TO CONTINUE CALF VACCINATION—Even though caster County and the state of Pennsylvania is compl signed up on the Bang's Disease Testing Program, it ls important that dairymen continue to vaccinate their er calves when four to eight months of age This will up resistance in the young herd and give additional tection against a serious outbreak. With the great ai of dairy cow traffic in this area and the large popular dairy cattle, it is more risky to be raising a he.d vaccinated animals TO TOPDRESS WITH NITROGEN—During nvd-' when vegetation begins to get green wheat growers increase their yields of grain by top dressing with 30 pounds of nitrogen per acre. This is espcclally true o n dy, gravel, or shale-type soils where nitrogen leaches er. On heavy, mors fertile soiis extra nitrogen is no able because of more danger of lodging; also, where 2 grass seeding is to be made in the wheat this extra o' will be less favorable for the new-seeding the Now Testament has no, distinguishing between *' e J! "the (evil one'*—-that is, we have to ask: Did our Lo ! that “his own" should jj from evil or from the There Is not space to gi Ve , reasons, for thinking thatpJ Jesus meant the evil one. c 3 we are in contact with eviu kind ail tlie days of our i,J in Our own hearts if nowhel] “That They May Ail Be 0 J It is a shame to arguij this great prayerCliristJ is a fact that this simple "that they may all be one had many meanings put onj least this can mean is t*. (1) that all the membei-, Christian congregation s j,, one in heart: (2) that even vidual Christian shall feej . heart, and practice in huj Christian brotherlmess anj mony with all other Now that is so simple sounds like a truism, something, so obvious that might have thought of' whatever it may sound hj never said anything tnon The mere fact that he pi unity of this hind shows cannot be achieved wither help. How easy it is t< harmony with people pi*' How hard It is to feel mony with people who ent! But that is just whi calls for. “Tfcat They May Be With !i Evangelists talk of for Christ That is the hi to start But times come are called on to decn Christ. The great and most searching question a~l:ed of Christians is with Christ ? He prayed ft do you? But most student Gospels beheve Jesus wot also —or perhaps ch’efy, was facing "death—of tr yond this life. It is pul emphasis somewhere be-i center when we talk of and hell. The question fi goes into the next 100 with him? To be with 'rv heaven is; to be withoi what hell means, E.'ery morning and erai hour, the Cnris- an .i ask ,himself; Is the “spending this hour a i Brings me closer to my' it it going to maim 3us to me? (Brsed on outlines Mtiin tho r )msiou ot Ci fi--' in Council 01 t j • €hr, j in the V. t'.. ' Comx Press Ser..o*i BY MAX SMITH
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers