—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 16, 1966
4
From Where We Stand,..
Food Marketing Report
Pleases No One
Although it wasn't designed neces
sarily to please anyone in particular,
except perhaps the consumer, the Na
tional Commission on Food Marketing
alienated almost all parties as it report
ed recently on its 18-month study of the
nation’s food industry.
Farmers in general liked the re
port’s criticism of the food trade, but re
sented the idea put forth by the com
mission that government should be in
volved to a greater extent as a negotia
tor in bargaining for better farm prices,
sales terms, etc.
While the commission found the
food industry “generally efficient and
progressive”, it was highly critical of
what it described as a weakening of
price competition in that industry.
“Preventing the various branches of
the food industry from becoming highly
concentrated in the hands of a few large
firms is essential to maintaining effec
tive competition,” the commission stat
ed.
When such concentration results,
the report said, competition by price
is replaced with competition by adver
tising, sales promotion, and other sell
ing efforts
The commission found that firms
tend to grow larger than necessary
for maximum efficiency, and urged that
regulatory agencies act to prevent such
horizontal mergers and acqusitions by
large food firms
In a step toward helping the con
sumer get her money’s worth at the
supermarket, the commission suggests
consumer grading for all foods for
which grades are feasible; establishment
by FDA of standards of identity for all
foods recognized as belonging to a de
finite product category; nondeceptive
packaging and informative labeling, and
a centralized consumer agency establish
ed in the executive branch of the
government
In commenting on the 113-page re
port, Charles B Shuman, president of
the American Farm Bureau Federation,
said “the report will be a great disap
pointment to everyone who believes in
the market system ”
He stated that if federal regulatory
authority over all segments of the food
industry were expanded as the commis
sion suggests, it would, m effect, be
putting the industry m a “regulatory
strait]acket which has no parallel any
where else in the economy”
We agree with Shuman’s conclu
• 4-H Queens
(Continued fiom Page 1)
ly piesident of the County
Council’s hone economics divi
sion and is secietaiy of the
Red Rose Baby Beef Club
Miss Kiantz twelve is the
daughtei of Mr and Mis El
vin B Kiantz, New Pi evidence
R 1 She has been in 4-H ac
tivities foi the past foui veais,
and is a membei of the Rough
Rideis Hoise and Pony Club,
the Holstein Dairy Club, and
the Lampetei-Stiasbuig Cook
ing Club
Judges foi this event weie
Robert Mahck and Ann Hen,
Lancaster television peisonali
ties, and Mis Elsie Zug, home
economics teacher at Manheim
Centi al High School
(Continued on Page 7)
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm
Weekly
l.itit!' l J a 17~i43
PO Box 2(,f,
Ofiitc-5
2' I’ Aram bt
IntityC, I’a 17")4r
Phone Imncastei V't-idr?
Don Timmons, 'j'juo.’ 1 •» POSING FOR THEIR FIRST-official picture im- get the variety they want-Cer- wwW be Tor
P Dn’ccidr C ' ,mpbtl1 ' ' d ' clt,Mn ® mediately following the crowning ceremony at Long tl£ied seed grains carry tested Sllag ’ e; ' when cut £or a
Subsr i iption pt ic( >-2 pet \ear m Park Thursday evening, are the 1966 County 4-H P® rformanc ® and a greater crusher? dr crimper should be
Established >,o\ ember e K e "ia e -d-d Queens Left, Junior Queen Marilyn Krantz, New yield P° te ” tial - The 1966 A S r0 ‘ used to hasten curing.' The
Eanclo!ttr F.diminpa Providence Rl; and, right, Senior Queen Judy Buck- - U1 !Lf V3l 3 -,f a- ° Ur gPOWth should be cut U P t°
Class postage pa.d at , T ititz L F Photo Extension office will Jiscuss heading time for best feed
tiititz. Fa; i < ,43 : r y ti tz Rd., r .-f ‘ f , recommendedwiydeties,: -
sion that, although some regulation
is necessary to prevent unfair prac
tices, excessive regulation would have
the effect of stifling competition
rather than stimulating it to say
nothing of the effect on food prices
of the typically high-priced bureaucra
tic costs of administering such regula
tion!
It is not expected that much action
will be taken on the commission’s con-,
troversial report this year, but it has
been pointed out by some observers that
individual technical reports by mem
bers of this 15-man commission may be
the most important development of the
entire study. These reports are expected
to be issued over the next three months.
Tax Farm Land According To Use
We were particularly well pleased
to note the recent introduction into the
Pennsylvania General Assembly of the
Pennsylvania Farmers’ Association pro
posal for farm land to be taxed by use.
At present, farm land is largely taxed
upon its non-farm market value.
The bill, known as House Bill 381,
was introduced with bi-partisan sup
port It proposes an amendment to
Article Nine, Section One of the Con
stitution of the Commonwealth of Penn
sylvania to permit this special taxation
provision on active agricultural land
The bill also provides for payment of
additional taxes if such land is there
after applied to non-agncultural use.
Passage of this bill by the House
will put the issue of constitutional
amendment directly to the people of the
state. If approved, the General As
sembly would draft a Farmland Assess
ment Act outlining the details of appli
cation.
There is ample precedent for this
measure. Beginning with Maryland in
the late 1950’5, some 20 states have
passed laws or constitutional amend
ments permitting suburban, farm lands
to be valued on the basis of use for
agriculture rather than on higher values
of adjacent property.
This will be a particularly mean
ingful tax break for the farmers in
Lancaster County with the ever-boom
ing land values on the urban fringes
of our cities. If passed and adopted,
the measure will help keep farming in
this area competitive with other agri
cultural sections of the country. Every
farmer in the county should actively
support this bill and watch its pro
gress with interest.
Vest-Pocket God
Lesson for July 17, 1966
Becligreuffll Scripture* E»oduj 20 4 6 32 I 24 I
O roniclej lb 29 '»oioh 46 I 4, John 4 7 24,
Davehenel Reading Psc m 95 6 7
A little girl was working at her
table with great intensity of con
centration ami eflort. Seeing her
kindergarten teacher approach,
she proclaimed mattei-of-factiy,
"I’m drawing a pictuie of God.”
The teacher smiled one of her
superior adult
smiles and said
sweetly,, "But
dear, no one
know s what God
looks like.”
' Well, they w ill
wh e n I'm fin
ished,” the little
gul snapped.
In d kmdei-
Rev. Althouse garten such
confidence is amusing. In an
adult it cannot help but sound
arrogant. It idlects not only
upon the humility of the adult,
but also peihaps upon the si/e
of his God. "Too little!” is oui
judgment upon both.
The thud of the Ten Com
mandment sa\s: "You shall not
make yourself a gra\ en image,
or any likeness of anything that
is in heaven above .. . You shall
not bow down and seive them.”
What’s wrong wuth graven im
ages? Is theie something really
harmful about them or is this
just one of God’s peculiarities?
No, the prohibition against
graven images rs not only for
the satisfaction'of'-God but also
the piotection of men. Protection,
from what? Fiom a god that is
too small. Whenever a man thinks
he can adequately sum up the
meaning and peison of God in
some man-made object or origi
nal idea, Ire is insulting God and
deceiving himself. Man needs to
be protected hom the vest-pocket
gods ot his own making.
ATTEND THE CHURCH
OF YOUR CHOICE
SUNDAY
Now Is The Time . ..
By Max Smith, Lancaster County Agent
Local glowers who are interested in
competing in the Pennsylvania live-acie coin
contest are reminded of the eniollment dead
line of August 1 Seveial contour stups or
one field, with at least five acies of one
kind of coin aie lequired, migated coin is
not eligible Entiy blanks are avail? jle at
the Extension Office
To Seed Cover Ciops
The months of August and September
are good times to seed open ground to a
cover ci op, these crops may be used for
green manure to be plowed down next
spring, or may be pastured this fall and
again next spring before being plowed.
winter giain ground that has not been seeded
disced or plowed and seeded to a covei ciop.
grass, domestic lyegrass, or winter rje aie
of cover crops.
;er Grain Orders To Utilize Excess Forage
is passing rapid- Faimeis m the noithein pait
, 8 weeks it will f Lancastei County me not
botheied with this problem be
■ed winter oats, cause 0 f the extreme diy con
by barley and ditions, however, in mam other
varieties are paits the rainfall of a week
me farms better a §° lesulted in very fast grow
.d selected vane- * of f dan and the
- sudan-sorghum hybrids! the
\ier in this part g-- u *
growth got ahead of th'e hve
■oweis are urged stock In these'cases thfe >crop
orders early to ma y be cut for hay oi' silage
ice ti
EASY TO HANDLE
One reason that men like
small, limited gods is that they
can be more easily handled. The
ancients fashioned gravenimagee
not so much to honor the gods,
but to get them to work for them,
to pacify them, or to keep them
from doing them harm. Ths
portable god was easily used and
manipulated.
i The Second Commandment,
then, i> not just an eccentric whim
of God, but a fact that is essentia]
ito the welfare of man as well as
[the satisfaction of God. Having
discovered the existence of anulti
■mate Higher Power, men hava
responded by either (1) trying to
use that power, or (2) allowing
it to use them. When our God is
only vest-pocket size, we tend to
try to use him to fulfill our own
needs and purposes. But when
our God is big enough lor the
ever-expanding universe wo are
experiencing, we will tend to sur
render ourselves to him so that
he may use us to accomplish Iris
pm poses.
Today giaven images are not
much of a threat to Christianity
but the principle behind the
Second Commandment is still
\eiv relevant. Gin God may still
be too small, too limited, too much
fashioned in, the image ot man.
We ma\ be like the enterprising
bo\ who chaiged his filends ad
mission to his back \ard to see
an eclipse God and his truth aie
not limitecLto oui denominational
and doctrinal back \ ards He is
too big and too complex to be
limited by our petty pa.oclual
fences.
MORE THAN RIGHT HILL
When Jesus spoke with t' e Sa
mai itan w Oman b\ the w ell it aas
appaicnt to him that her God was
>oo small Her vest-pocketrelig.on
nas too small to include bodi Jews 1
and Samaritans; one ot them had|
to be the "light’’ group and the
other the "wrong ’ Her God s,vas
so small that he had to b.'i-Vfcoi
shipped on but one mountaThtop
and she was concerned to make
sure which was the 'right”.one.
And a ou 9 What about the si/c
of a oui God? Is he small e rough
for aou to use and contiqs> to
di\ ide the w oild into small, li&stile
neighboihoods, to fit into ypur
ow n \ est-pocket sued w oild? If
he is. he is lai too small -n*and
soaiecou. >
(ftasad •n ‘outlines copyrighted by the Division
af Chnutian Education National Council of the ,
Churchas of Christ in tha USA. Re!eo>od by 1
Community Press Service)
To Enroll In Com Club
*