4—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, April 9, 1960
FROM WHERE WE STAND
All The Government
The late Will Rogers is credited
with having said, “We don’t git near
all the Government we pay for—and
ain’t it a blessing.”
Of course the famous humorist
was referring to the kind of govern
ment handed down from somewhere
up in an ivory tower with no realistic
thought as to its effects on the govern
ed.
The Lancaster County Farmers
Association, has gone on-record as la
beling the Poage-McGovern farm bills
now in congress this kind of legisla
tion.
The bills, called at times, “supply
control and direct payment” farm pro
grams, would, according to the Farm
ers Association, set up nation wide
marketing orders and agreements with
the elimination of present milk mark
eting orders based on local markets
and conditions;- set up compensatory
payments in conjunction with ouotas
lor all farm commodities; establish a
compulsory soil bank with every farm
er required to reserve a percentage of
his land: and establish a.committee of
producers to develop a program for
each commodity.
This last provision, the Farmers
Association maintains, would tend to
foster a J“commodity war” with each
segment of agriculture pulling in the
direction of special favors and destroy
ing the united representation of Agri
culture at a time when farmers are a
declining percentage of the total pop
ulation.
According to information from the
national affiliate of the local farmer's
group, the Poage-McGovern bills (spon
sored by representatives Poage of Tex
as and McGovern of South Dakota)
would propose ceilings on direct pay
ments to farmers, although it appears
that the sponsors are not agreed whe
ther the top should be $lO,OOO or $5,000
The Joint Economic Committee of
Congress has already suggested a lim-
Davidson
One of the simple laws of
physics we learned as a child
is that when a swing goes
far out in one direction the
force of gravity invariably
pulls it back to center and
then momentum carries it
out m the other direction.
In more titan 30 years of
association with Washington
we have learned that there
exists a similar and equally
true phenomena in govern
ment. Public opinion, in this
case, serves the same func
tion as gravity does in the
example of a swing.
Congress and the adminis
trative agencies of govern
ment react to public opinion
in the same manner as an ob
ject, sach as a swing or pen
dulum, reacts to gravity. One
excess almost invariably is
followed by an excess in the
opposite direction.
Lancaster Farming
Lancaster County’s Own Farm
Weekly
P O Box 1521
La.ru isttr, Penm
Offices
53 North Duke St
Lanc.v>tfi, Pinna
Phone - Lancaster
EXpress 4-3917
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Pubished e\erv - Saturday bj
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THIS WEEK
—ln Washington
With Clinton Davidson
Pendulum Swings |
Big Business
Tre colonists reacted to ex
cessive taxation by the Brit
ish with violnce that erupted
at the Boston Tea Puny. An
early Congress enacted trade
barriers and tariff'walls to
halt cheap competition from
aboard.
Business, protected by high
tariffs and aided by cheap la
bor, adopted a policy of “the
public be damned” and in the
process accumulated huge
personal fortunes. A wave of
public resentment -forced
through Congress anti-trust
and other repressive laws,
some of which have since
been modified
At the time of the forma
tion of Standard Oil and the
U. S. Steel Corporation, the
pendulum was far on the
side of the power of big busi
ness. The excesses that oc
curred in this period resulted
in the pendulum starting to
swing toward -government
regulation.
The public demanded “pro
tection” from the excesses of
big business. Congress creat
ed the Inter-state Commerce
Commission, the Federal
Trade Commission, and the
Anti trust Division in the
Justice Department.
The pendulum had begun
to swing away from business.
Teddy Roosevelt gave it
quite a push and later his
cousin, Franklin, helped to
push it further. Congress
created the Federal Commu
nications Commission, the
Securities Exchange Commis
sion, the Civil Aeronautics
Authority, the TVA, NR A
and other alphebctical con-
We Pay For
it of $2,000 on direct payments to in
dividuals. , .
Every farmer who feels as Will
Rogers did that we need less Govern
ment in Agriculture, should become
informed on proposed legislation of
agricultural production, and then let
his legislator know what his opinions
on .the bills are.
At least that’s how it looks from
where we stand.
TODAY
"It is a gloomy moment in history.
Not for many in the life
time of most men who read this—has
there been so much grave and deep
apprehension; never has the future -
seemed so incalculable as at this time.
“In France the political caldron
seethes and bubbles with uncertainty;
Russia hangs as usual, like a cloud,
dark and silent upon the horizon of
Europe; while all the energies, re
sources and influences of the British
Empire are sorely tried, and are yet to
be tried more'sorely, in coping with
the vast and deadly disturbed rela
tions in China.
“It is a solemn moment, and, no
man can feel an indifference—which
happily, no man pretends to feel—in
the issue of events.
“Of our own troubles (in the U. S.-
A.) no man can see the end. They are,
fortunately, as yet mainly
and if we are only to lose money, and
by painful poverty to be taught wis
dom—the wisdom of honor, of faiths ,
of sympathy and of charity—no man
need seriously to despair.
“And yet the very haste to be rich,
which is the occasion of this wide
spread calamity, has also tended to de
stroy the moral forces with which we
are to resist and subdue the calamity.”"' -
When worrying too much today,
remember that the above article is re
printed from Harper’s Weekly, Vol. 1
Page 642 of the issue dated October 10,
1857, more than 100 years ago.
trol agencies.
Labor's Turn
While business was being
shackled with regulations,
Congress passed the Wagner
Labor Relations Act which
gave labor many advantages,
including exemptions from
anti-trust regulations impose
ed on business. The result
was Big Labor in the place
of Big Business.
Irresponsible labor leaders
promoted a reign of intimi
dation and, in many instanc
es, lawless terror through
strikes and violence. Govern
ment sanctioned, and in some
cases, encouraged those ex
cesses.
Recent hearings and inves
tigations by the Senate Mc-
Clellan Committee into labor
union practices have shown
very clearly that the pendu
lum has swung too far on la
bor’s side. They show that
legislative advantages given
labor have been misused and
in some instances have en
dangered the democratic
principles of self-government
Public opinion has begun
to Remand that the govern
ment curb the activities of
such labor officials as James
Hoff a. The pendulum has be
gun to swing away from la
bor dictators and the mno
urn to' Page 5)
Rural Rhythms
The earth turn over behind
my plow
In one unbroken row.
And I smell the good rich
smell of earth
As down the row I go,
It’s spring again; the earth
awakens
.There’s work that must be
be done
But I wouldn’t trade the
Farmer's life
For any other one.
By Carol Dean Huber
THE FARMER
DIM* Material:. Matthew 5'3-5: Luke
14.7-M, J 6-18-31. "
Devotional Beading. 'I Peter B-1-11.
Love Thyself Last
Lesson for April 10, 1900
JESUS shocked his listeners.then,
and shocks' his readers today,
by many statements. which are
plain enough, so far hs the''lan
guage goes; but unbelieveable.
That is, wo can understand every
word in the statement, oi? we think
. we can. What hard to take
sentence as
a whole. Take'
those" three sen
tences with
which the Ser-_
m o n on the
Mount begins:
“Blessed" are
the poor in spirit
. . . Blessed are
the meeft . .
Blessed are they Dr. Foreman
that mourn . . .” “Blessed” means
happy, or rather the Greek won!
translated “blessed” means happy.
All the other words are commonly
used, we have no trouble under
standing what Jesus- saldr But
could he have meant it T The thing
sounds upside-down, backward,
quite the opposite of real life.
Wbaf Jesus Is Driving At
Well, it Is the,opposite of the
way most people do live. There id"
an old saying, “Look out for Num
ber One.” Who is Number One?
Why, I am Number One: We. have
other proverbs mucfi like that.
“Self-preservation is the first law
of life." "Every man for himself
,and the devil take the hindmost.”.
Jesus means to say that these prov
erbs-are clear out of line with God’s
will and his kingdom. Either they
are right or “Blessed are the meek”
is tight; you can’t have it both
ways.
That word "meek" needs some
explanation, to be sure. The word
in the Greek language, in which
the Now Testament was first writ
ten, does not mean Just the same
as our word "iheek” has come to
suggest today. The word Jesus
used did not mean humble-come
tumble, lacking selfrrespect and
-self-reliance, it did not mean a
dishrag sort of character. What he
Now Is The Time .. ,
TO SHEAR SHEEP—Sheep producers!
advised to clip their animals as soon
possible in' order to realize the B reJl
returns. The. ewes will milk better di
the warm spring weather if out of
fleece and therefore the lambs wil
heavier to sell. Aiso in many cases
pounds of wool per head will be deci
ed if shearing us delayed too l° n =
warm weather. Tie the fleece with P !
twine and store in a dry clean pl ace
marketed. " *
MAX SMIIJH
TO DISCONTINUE THE USE OF HEPTACHLOK ONP
AGE CROPS—AII alfalfa, clover, and trefoil fields s' l '
not be sprayed with, heptachlor this spring regardless
type of farm operation. Steer feeders, poultrymen,
men, and all hay producers alike are not to use this c
ical for the control of insects. Methoxyclor is the h l3
to be used later in the spririg for the control of spitt* 6
and alfalfa weevil.
TO INVEST IN QUALITY HAY EQUIPMENT —Hay »
tioners, (cntshers and cruppers) mow hay finished
ble heat units, wagon dryers are all pieces of modern
making equipment that'should improve the quality
forage. One or more of these will aid in the makmg
quality hay and should be accepted early in the - _
Plans are available from the Extension Office on th cse
installations.
TO PLOW DOWN NITROGEN FOR CORN
needed m large amounts for a good com crop, a s
best if the mtrogen is placed under the corn P lan
than beside it. Thtrefore, one of the best tunes
this nitrogen application is in the spring before
rates of from 50 to 125 pounds of actual nitrogen
are recommended depending upon conditions,
application is needed where the land goes back 1
for the second (or more) years Also, nitrogen ,
will help to decompose green manure crops and o
material
,/jir' u
meant by the word can
ed by the words "not :
one’s rights,’’ "not dem 4)
place,”—the opposite of ■
celled, demanding, agg u
old-fashioned word “g,
used in the words “genti
“gentlefolk” comes c!o s ,
than “meek.” You might
Jesus' sentence this \ V!tl
is the man who is not
slstlng on his rights' n a ,
man who loves himself ■
Another word is “hut
many scholars think tht,
first three “beatitudes” #1
at the same point: Hapj
humble, those who i e ,,
themselves last. This « 0I
many teachings of Jesus
practical two ways, for ti
for the next, for eveiy c
tions and for eternity t
himself has suggested
works. He was once *
dinner, and he called the
of those sitting next to
“polite” but persistent
for the best places. In,
dining room as m our t
places at the table are m
orablo” than others j (
the down-to-earth advice.
If you must scramble,
for the lowest places, nc
ones. It is much better to
to take a better place i
asked to get out of om
who is always insistii
rights, standing on his
generally unhappy and,
he cannot take any pleas
success of others. It is tl.
who really get the fun oi
Payoff In Elornify
Jesus’ parable of the
and Lazarus has a good
with all thlsl The rich •
story, while he w<*s livii
to have seen nobody '
himself, thought of nobot
fare but his own If he
the beggar, he made nr
help him. His brother!
counsel, but he nevei
about them either He an
his share of. the big melt
world . . . and he got it
covered his mistake too !at
have another light on
meant The man who is the
of meek —the selfish, grer
is a man who hardly e\;
one but himself. He cji
himself in the other m?
He learns at last what
character Mr Mai ley It
late: “Humanity was raj
Only the meek know tht
being told.
(Based on outline* cop™
the Division «i Christian I
Hationa! Council of the Ci
Christ in Jko I\ b A K<
-•Community Press Service)
BY MAT SMITH