Farming. Saturday. June 24.1967
From Where We Stand...
Country Mouse, City Mouse
Following the reading of a USDA
report on rural poveity recently, we tried
to recall the story of the country mouse
and the city mouse in detail.
As we remember it. the city mouse
was a real swinger, and "wnen his country
cousin came for a visit he really showed
him the whole, hectic town. Can't quite
recall whether ihe city mouse returned
his cousin’s visit, but it seems the country
mouse was one very happy little critter
when he finally made it back to his
humble hut in the country away from
the din. noise, and constant dangers of
the big city.
What has this to do with rural
poverty? Piobabiy nothing, but in
reading Freeman's remarks «e
couldn't help thinking that if one had
to be poor, how much better it would
be to be poor in the country rather
than in some dirtj. sweltering cit>.
And Freeman's facts seem to sug
gest that apparently some of the poor
must reason Similarly He shows that, al
though only 30 percent of all our people
live in rural America, almost half of the
nation's povei ty is to be found there
"Almost one out of every two rural
families has a cash income of under
$3OOO a year ' Freeman explained And
he noted that nearly half of the sub
standard housing in the U S is found in
rural areas
"In an age of two-or three-bath su
burban homes, one-fourth of all rural
nonfarm families are without running
water,’ the secretary added
These facts are not too comprehen
sible to us in lush Lancaster County, nor
probably in most other areas of the north
east The south is apparently the area
Freeman refeis to, although he implies
the problem is nationwide
Apparently, if you make less than
$3OOO now and don’t have two to three
bathrooms m your modern house, and if.
on top of all that, you live in the coun
try, better watch out: you may not
know it. brother, but you're on the pover
ty list Never mind whether you live
within your income, enjoy the benefits of
being close to nature and the land, raise
a considerable share of your own food,
and manage to feed and clothe your
family by government standards, you
are POOR.
Although there are undoubtedly
some noble and worthwhile thoughts and
actions involved in the Administration s
war on poveity, and while we are cer
tainly not opposed to lending a helping
hand to a guy who is down, we can not
quite stomach these smothering govern
ment programs that decree nationwide
emergencies Many of the problems in
poverty and in other things, are regional
and often even localized Why not deal
with them in a localized way rather than
launching sweeping, bureaucratic reform
pi ograms V
We can’t help wondering what
government criteria will be used to de
fine poverty in, say 1984 If the present
program is successful to any degree, it
may succeed I with the help of inflation)
in raising the minimum estimate of pov
erty to $lO,OOO and four bathrooms.
We’re certain there will always be some
poverty element in our population The
only thing any program can really hope
Tempeiatuios for the ne\t
five days ate expected to con
tinue neat 01 slightly above
the not mal range of 85 to (12
degrees. It will he seasonal
ly warm dining the hi si half
of the period, with giadual
cooling in the laltei half
Precipitation nia\ total 'a
inch, or moi e, o< cm i ing as
showers and thunder showers
about Sunday night or Mon
day morning.
to accomplish is to help those who want
to get out of the poverty category to do
so by training* them to support them
selves. or helping them to relocate, if
that is their wish. It will not solve the
poverty problem by declaring poverty
unconstitutional, nor by penalizing the
producing segment of the population too
heavily in an effort to raise the standard
of living of the non-producer.
Strong To Witness
The Jerusalem Christiana,
however, didn’t regard prayer in
that manner, it was for them not
"a least thing" to be done when
at wit’s end. They remembered
all the signs and wonder* that
kciirMiuiScriaiur* Ads 12 1 75. had followed their earnest
D«.i..n.i '..Jin,. 2 Cormtino a ,-\t. pra y er s, Thev bad remembered
The church was In great tur-too what had happened thstother
Tl , in pffnrf to nnHfltP Vietnamese moil once again! A second P«-time they had prayed for Peter.
In an etlort to update Vietnamese secution had broken out, not by They had proved and the nine*
agriculture, two government agencies the religious leaders as before, where they were "was shaken!"
US. Department of Agriculture and the but this time by none other than But what could they exoect to
Agency for International Development the dreaded Herod Agrippa I. happen this time? What'could
nr* snnnsnnno' an agricultural advis- The name ” Hero< r alone was Peter expect as he slepi Jn his
are sponsoung an agricultural aavis sufficient to prison cell? Were they confident
er program. strike terror into that he would be enabled to es-
Twenty-six more such advisers re- people’s hearts, cape again, that his safety was
portedlv left this month for civilian ser- Herod the Great ensured? Luke doesn’t tell us
vice in Vietnam, joining 23 agriculture- ,}“£ what , Peter thought or what the
,T. . J . s ~ & . ruler of the land people prayed, but we can re
lists i county agents, agricultural teach- when Jesus was member how they had prayed
crs. and others) already there. born. A violent before, not for safety or dellver-
This appioach is designed to help ? an j mur ' ance, but for strength to witness.
Vietnamese tarmers increase food pro- - ia ° lu”,. Pet . er cou , ld sle *P> not he'iause
, . , wue < ne was me his physical safety was as lured,
duction. and improve that country s eco- Rev. Althouse king who slew but because, like Stephen, he
nemy Secretary of Agriculture Orville the male infants of Bethlehem m knew that he was in God's hands.
L Freeman, in describing this operation, ° rder 1° ensure that he would if he was to live, he would con
notes that his denartment exoects to have £ ave competitionnrom a new- tmue his work; if he was k> die,
notes mat nis aeparimem expoois to nave born Christ. Nor did his son do he would die in the lo*d and
more than 100 agricultural specialists in anything to sweeten the family have no anxieties about equity.
Vietnam by the end of this year These name. Jesus called him'that Fox - ’ .
advisers will instruct the Vietnamese on a u nd re ™ epi kered as Deeper Security
such elements of agriculture as farm HantisT 1 ° eea e 0 n e In aU probability, tH little
credit and cocpeiatives. irrigation, plant
, . , f c A Strange Srenp tneir P ra Y er as an attempt to
breeding, and forestry. h oiunge deems _ change the mind of a reluctant
The Federal Extension Service has >.ow there wasi Herod Agrippa God. Their concept of prayer was
been responsible for recruiting the coun- aJ 8 ,?,* j hat of P uttin g themselves at his
. i j ,i i , i j: would become as the disposal so that he ao
ty agents, and some others selected for persecutor of the Church, putting comphsh his will through them,
this duty, and has conducted tiaming to death the Apostle James and So it is with us. When we are
centers in tropical agriculture in Florida, growing Peter into prison. Yet, in danger or trouble, we cannot
Each group also gets a month of addi- fj£ t aSS T 4 that prayer , wUI ?* otect
, , ® 1 ° , m .nat greets us in Acts 12 Herod our lives or guarantee an easv
tional training in rice production in Tai- plotting, th church praying, and solution. But we can pray secure
wan and the Philippines, Freeman ex-Feter sleeping in his cell! in the knowledge that we’are in
plained . James, one of their great his hands and that in neither;
This whole plan strikes us as a STLos. 3 ? eath iif^ an we bese P ara te d
~ , i j Y , j " as alrn ost certain to suffer the from him. When we can orav.
worthwhile undertaking toward accom- same fate, mat was the church to putting ourselves at his disposal
plishing our main objective in south- do? Perhaps they ought.to plotan to do hiswill.we will know thkt
east Asia the containment of com- u P ri ® in S ° r find some means of prayer is no "least tiling.”
a j i-i xu exerting political pressure. But _ *
munism And we like the way our agn- f e j| s us . "earnest prayer to
cultural envoys are being prepared to God was made for him by the *
meet this challenge. Too often in the past, church” and m Acts 12:2 we find immunity rr«,s»rv.:«) >
American “experts” have gone into other ? at a gr ° u P of Christ’s followers
° , , , were gathered together and were
countries in advisory capacities with lit- p rayin g” at the house of John
tie it any. knowledge of the host country Mark’s mother.
On The Food Front- In Vietnam
or the language of its people The latest
group to be sent to Vietnam, according
to Freeman, completed a 15-weok train
ing period in tropical agriculture and
Vietnamese language instruction In ad
dition, the group had four weeks of lan
guage and orientation by the Depart-
ments of State and Agriculture in Wash
ington D C.
We hope this new venture will be
highly successful; it has the potential for
great benefit, not only for the Vietnam
ese but for our own worldwide aspira-
tions
But it may also carry the seeds of
our own agricultural dilemma an over-
ly bureaucratic federal agriculture de-
partment It is good that wo should show
the Vietnamese how to modernize their
agriculture by giving them the tools and
knowledge to get the iob done But we
hope the program will stop there, before
our own USDA propagates too many ot
its production and income destroying
philosophical gimmicks on these unsus
pecting Vietnamese farmers. Some of
those notorious policies might be better
exported to North Vietnam'
I TCPI A C. plant in anothei oidei aiea,
UoUA Suspends a lhe dislnbuting plant also
makes route sales in the Dela-
IVllik rrovision waie Valiev maiketmg aiea
Ijl The oidei will be efiective
an V cmcy only tor the months ot lime
The US Depai tment ol Ag ancl July
i icultuie has suspended 1m two The suspension was request
months a piovision ol the Dola- od by the Danymen’s League
waie Valiev ledeial milk mai- Coopeiative Assn, Inc, pend
keling oidei mg the USDA’s decision on
Consume, and Maiketmg c , m od.fit..l. o ns ol (he
Sei vice officials said the sus- 1 1
pension Older will quality for pi ©vision consideied at a pub
poolmg status a supply plant he bearing held June 12 and
shipping milk to a distributing 13 in Philadelphia.
No least Thing
Leison for June 25, 1967
SMITH
left in the field In the of
The time to make summei
seedmgs of alfalfa is little " ®
moie than a month away, , Combine opeiatois mie
g.oweis are uiged to place “‘f* d \° ll V I ! theu felines
their 01 deis toi the vaneties 0 y .^ ien the " ia ['l 18 | diy
ot seed wanted In some years e "°. UBh to give quality gfrjam,
the supply of the pielened ™ J lm them sl ™, BO
kinds is not sufficient to meet vl ?h"Vr ’’ I l ''o'™ 0 '™ IIT
the demand Some sp.ead ,n ™ l . h , he d6 ?' ty
the maturity time ot seveial a ' d the gram farop
kinds of alfalfa will help T' 1 * ft he ’ P h de t le !' min ® how „ f ast
spiead the ha. vest season m ,'u' -r t ? thr ? ugt , th 6
the spans The band seeding r f e , time to l?° w
method is stiongl/ suggested * mdchm ® to sepaiatej fthe
lor summei seedmgs. belter ulJIn hom the stlaw
stands will be obtained and will
lequue less seed pei aue
To Thin Strawbeny Patch...
Stiawbernes that aie to be I "* ncaat * r ° wn lal '' n
letamed loi anothei ciop yea. t ee y '
should be thinned at the end r " ■ '-‘tit?, ra 1784*
of the picking season liv the ' ''a" it', is
use of a cultivate, oi hoe the p.n*ne l.uu,isi<. i'*i-.047f or
lows should be nan owed lo L.tit/ (!J(.-2i9i
about 12 inches to allow new L, '"‘ Timmons, i a.ioj
plants to set and to avoid R "'|' rt t: Camp.Kii,
uowded conditions foi next >llLao ‘
spring
To Order Seeds
TO Slow Down Combines.. ENUbWm.I November 4, {*>ss.
Volunteer growth Of small Published eveiv Sa.iurdsLfr~ by
grains in the fall ot the yeai £ano**st*r Farming, Lrititsi-P*.
reflects the amount of gram SSSf £ R m« btaße P ‘T “
». * «
That Jomu t item to M<| vsef
-tive way to meet thesltuatlorv
!< It? Yet, perhaps that ]« bo.
it wt do not have a vtrv high,
imate of the power of prayjtr.
look upon it as a last re
something one does when
e is nothing else to be done,
tething that probably doesn’t
t, but Isn’t expected to help
greatly.
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
HANCASTXK PARKING
Suhsinption putt* per >4a| la
L<lm <istex rount\, elsewhere
Adve>i |lsin*