—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 29, 1964
4
From Where We Stand...
Some Statements On Policy
Because of the change in our edi
torial management we would like to
restate some of our past principles and
policies, and perhaps add a few new ones.
I—We will continue to represent
the interests of farmers in general
and Lancaster county farmers in parti
cular.
2—We will continue to urge streng
thening of your individual farm com
modity groups (poultry, dairy, swine,
etc.) in the county and in the state. We
will vigorously support these groups,
and will faithfully report their activi
ties.
3—We believe that agriculture, the
national economy, and Lancaster coun
ty can best be served by the indepen
dent, progressive, family farm. We don’t
believe that anyone can do that job
better, or more efficiently, than you
can.
4—ln the future there will regular
ly appear on this page a column that
you will write. It will be called “The
Farmer Speaks”. We want your ideas
and opinions on what’s going on in
Lancaster county. If we are to truly
represent you we must know how you
feel on key issues. You can whisper
your thoughts in our ear with a letter,
and we’ll broadcast them to farmers
all over Lancaster county.
(Ed. note: It is our policy to accept
only those letters which are signed.
If you should wish your name withheld
from publication we will gladly do
that).
s—We also pledge renewed effort
on news and feature articles aimed at
the “business” farmer.
This list doesn’t cover everything,
of course, but it does cover the main
principles that shape our policies.
The really important thing to keep
in mind is that we’re here to provide
a local service for you. It’s a service not
obtainable 'thru any other news media
available to you. Use it in any way
that best suits your needs, but use it.
fa
Where Was NFO When Prices
Were Really Low?
Until the day comes when the
farmer can place his livestock in a
state of suspended animation at times
of low prices and market them only
when the price recovers, we fail to see
how a withholding action of livestock
no matter how widespread can
lead anywhere but to eventual economic
loss for the producer
We realize that during the past
four or five years there has been an
increase in the number and size of
feedlot operations, and that the per
centage of total cattle fed out on the
farm is decreasing This means that
there are more cattle concentrated into
fewer hands and, therefore, more in
dividual control over marketings is
possible.
But we seriously doubt that such
Lancaster Farming
Lancaster County’s Own Farm
Weekly
P. O. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa
Offices:
22 E. Mam St.
Lititz, Pa.
Phone - Lancaster
394-3047 or
Lititz 625-2191
Don P. Timmons, Editor
Robert G. Campbell, Adver
tising Director
Established November 4,
1955. Published every Satur
day by Lancaster-Farmmg, Lit
itz, Pa.
Entered as 2nd class matter
at Lititz, Pa. under Act of
March 8, 1879.
control can be extended 'tßK’lnclude
enough cattle marketings to substantial
ly effect the price in the market place
for any meaningful length of time. And
how many farmers are going to bene
fit from a slightly higher price for a
short period, especially if that brief
recovery is followed by an extended
period of below normal prices as
it surely would be when the withheld
cattle were eventually marketed.
We’ve been talking about cattle.
Let’s talk about hogs. Everything we’ve
said about cattle is just as true for hogs.
Moreso. Hogs will become overfinished
far more quickly than cattle. What do
you do with them? What happens to
your feed conversion while a hog is
going from 200 to 300 lbs? You can
imagine^
Let’s look at the other side of the
coin. The consumer. Assume a with
holding action were effective, and that
Mrs. Consumer was not able to get the
meat she wanted for her family. Meat
not eaten one day is not wanted as an
addition to normal consumption on
another day. The lost demand for meat
during the withholding period does
not accumulate. It’s lost. Gone.
We feel that the farmers and
ranchers who are persuaded to hold
back their livestock marketings are
being sold a bill of goods. And we
don’t like it. We don’t like it because
we believe that, as usual, the farmer
is going to be the guy stranded on third
base after the ball game is over.
We don’t pretend to have the
answer to this whole complex problem,
but we do feel that the answer lies in
the removal of some of the external
influences such as beef imports
and letting supply and demand stabilize
the issue, as it must eventually do
anyway.
What do you think?
★ ★ ★
Know Your Own Mind
From now until November the
political pots will be boiling in each
party. Backstage maneuvering will
reach an all-time level in interest and
importance.
Which once again makes us realize
how unfortunate it is that many citizens
haven’t taken the time and trouble to
find out for themselves who’s who and
what’s what.
Only by long careful following of
events can anybody really discover for
himself what’s involved in the decision
making, both on the record and off, that
goes into making our political systems
what they are . . . good and bad alike.
If you’re interested in good govern
ment, and getting good people involved
in it, now is the time to begin thinking
about what’s going on and observing
how officials function.
The choice is your own to make,
but you do a disservice to your fellow
citizens, as well as yourself, if you
fail to base your decision on facts in
stead of opinions.
They’re not so hard to come by, if
you care to take the trouble.
• Livestock
(Continued from Page 1)
earlier this week, by James
Dunlap to the effect that the
supply of good quality cattle
was below normal, and that
this was the main cause of
the price increase. Mr. Kunz
ler believed that some holding
action was taking place in the
Midwest, and he suggested
that this action, if significant,
would effect his company
more through their hog pur
chases than beef. He referred
to a release by the Ameri
can Meat Institute and said
that over the years the In
stitute had established an ex-
eellent record for accurate
analysis of marketing situa
tions. The meat of the In
stitute's analysis in this cur
rent situation was that “the
price of livestock is deter
mined by basic economic laws
that continue to operate de
spite all efforts to tamper
with them."’
Local opinion suggests that
the NTO holding action has
not effected the Lancaster
market appreciably, but admits
that the effects, at least over
the short run, are not easily
measured, and that it may be
some time before they can be
accurately evaluated.
4 ! i • I 1 !1 ' ft S Ia i 5 » >
WE
xoßasas ;
\ SPEAKS
t —,
W-— yf'
| UailatM I' r
| Surfay Sck»«l LtaiMi [ '
[T
Promised Land
Lesson for August 30, 1964
Btckeroond Scrip tare: Deuteronomy SI
Joshua 1 through 6; 21:43 through 24:51,
Derolionsl Beading: Psalm 74:1-11.
it PROMISED Land”—'what does
Jt that suggest to most people'
who read or hear the words? To
many it suggests a land of rest, a|
perfect* paradise, the Utopia, the
never-never land of heart’s de
sire. This was not the original j
meaning at all. Itj
referred to a def-!
inite area on the:
K „ surface of this
Planet, about the.
■ size of the state
H of Vermont, land.
which most Amer-
farmers
jH would consider
far from the best,
•Dr. Foreman a land without
good roads, a land of very crude
culture compared with our own.
It was promised to a rather un
promising set of desert tribes,
children of slaves. They needed
a place in the sun, and the Prom
ised Land was it.
The land
The land is still there, much
changed, with the dust of cen
turies of misuse thick upon it,
and yet a land which today is
beginning to blossom again. When
the Israelites began to edge their
way in, it was a fresher land
than now. There were forests in
which men might be lost, there
were clear streams, there were
wild beasts such as lions. Partly,
it is still there. You can buy a
ticket to places in it. Some of
the towns mentioned in the Bible
are still in existence. This writer
has telephoned to Jerusalem from
the top of Mt. Carmel. You can
drive the length of the whole an
cient kingdom of the ten tribes in
an afternoon. But while the cen
turies have made many differ
ences, and the wars and neglects
of man have damaged the land
In many ways, the Promised Land
is still there, with the same rivers
and mountains, desert and sea
Now Is The Time . . .
To Rent Farm Equipment
Faimers should always bp looking for
ways to reduce the cost of expensive equip
ment required to perfoim some of the fain l
operations Present trends in agriculture m
dicate further increases in the investment m
machinery and equipment Many fainien
are over-invested in machinery which mates
a high overhead. We suggest the lenting or
equipment or the hiring of custom woik for
some of the operations.
To Fertilize Alfalfa This Fall
Alfalfa producers should include hbeioj
amounts of alfalfa fertilizer in then tal ;
orders. With the possibility of having to w
the first crop quite early next spring, «
strongly advised to have the crop in a high state of feitihtj■ ■
order to come back faster. After the last crop is removed t >
September or October the area should be top-dressed u*
400 pounds of 0-20-20 or 0-15-30.
MAX SMITH
To Get Most from Corn Silage To Utilize Wheat Crop
5.,. ill™, ,™.e „ approach- fl
mg and corn is the crop to crop . Lives tock pioduc«‘>
make the sxlo investment pay should realize that wheat '■>
off. Growers are urged to per- valuable as a livestock
mit the corn to come into the poultry feed; there is *
, „ , . , . , , as to the amount m the
full dent stage before ensil- but d use of the ci
mg. Corn is one crop that un- may b£ r ° alized _ Breeders
proves in feed value as it ma- are having some breedi n ->
tures; from the milk stage to problems with their herds.
the full dent stage the mois- not able to get their foma
ture content and the dry mat- to conceive, lect^
, , , wheat in the ration Dev ‘
ter losses decrease, and the lt is b j g jj in vitamin
feed value increases. Finely which is helpful to
chopped (V*" cut) will pack five organs. The wheat sho
better in the silo than longer be coarsely ground
cut materials. ' " ' cracked.
it . j v ititf; tf'n in in
•coast that were there when Joshua
was fighting his way m, (v.
notable difference between thus*
days and these is that instead of 1
being split into dozens o£ ti nv
city-states, each city almost \
nation to itself, there are tian
only two, Israel and Jordan.
Conquist
. Palestine is not now a peaceful
country, it almost never was. m
Jew and Arab are at each other !
throats today, they are only keep,
ing up with an ancient tradition
Joshua found the cities of the
land in league against him, but if
they had not been fighting him
they would have been fightm*
each other. This brings up an old
question. Today wars of ester,
mination are regarded by all the
world as criminal. We have i
name for what Joshua tried to do:
genocide, the complete slaughter
of a nation. Can we today approvi
of genocide when Joshua com;
mitted it (or tried to—the it.
tempt was not wholly successful),
while thinking of it as a horrible
crime today? One thing we cm
say: A Christian,, even a non.
Christian in a world which has
long had the influence of Chris,
tianity, has a light which Joshua
did not have. Joshua had never
heard of the Sermon on the
Mount. ,
In song and story i
The “Promised land” has cap.
tured the imagination of people
who make poetry out of history.
The conquest of Canaan has been
idealized, romanticized, spiritual*
ized, out of all resemblance to its
actuality. One of the oddest uses
of the Historical conquest by the
Israelites is to take Jordan as a
symbol of death, and Canaan (the
Promised land) as a type o'
heaven. Considering the bloody
cruel ugliness of what actually
went on, one hopes that heaven
is not like what the Hebrew s
found and did in the Promised
Land! It would be better to take
those wars as an example of hoi 1 '
God can bring good out of evil,
using “the wrath of men to praise
him.” Let us be grateful’that
victory came not to the sprawling
tribes who worshipped animals,
but to a people who for all their
faults and sins still were aware
of a God of purity and justice, a
God of tiuth, King of all the
Kings and kinglets of this earth.
F.
'r
L*,
(Based on outlines copvnifhted by tn»
Division of Cnnstian Education, National
Council of the Ci» '■h's of Curat in tie
V S, A. Released hy Commui ity Tress
Service.)
BT MAX SMITH
i .•> * nv • »