—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. August 16. 1960
4
From Where We Stand ...
She Figured It Out
Much that’s said by a number of “con
sumer protection” groups indicates rather
low regard for the homemaker’s ability to
figure things out for herself as she purchas
es products including food for her fam
ily. The “Protectors" could very well have
been selling her short. Take, for instance,
the following letter from Mrs. Frank West,
Glidden, lowa, which appeared recently in
the Des Moines Register:
“.. . Food is today’s best buy. The cash
register tape from the supermarket keeps
going up but so does the number of non
food items. For example, my grocery’ bill
recently was over $24. This included: 59
cents, dog food Rover used to eat scraps:
$1.79, bug spray we used to swat, swat,
swat: 29 cents, paper napkins we used
to have cloth and wash and iron; 89 cents,
fabric softener we used to hope for a
windy day; $1.59 Bandaids and shampoo
we used to go to the drug store for these;
$3.75, Thermos Bottle and light bulbs
used to go to a hardware store.
“Deducting these, my groceries cost
less than $l6.
“I spend time in the supermarket to
estimate the floor space devoted to food,
luxury foods and non-food items. I was
amazed to discover that one-fifth of the
area was used for what I call luxury and
prepared foods. We, the consumers, pay
for this preparation and should not include
the wages of a hired girl in the cost of food
as such. Two-fifths of the store area was
filled with non-food items. This leaves only
two-fifths devoted to plain foods and yet
we all complain of the cost at these ‘food
stores’.
“Many will think I do not use prepared
foods, snacks, pop and candy, and non-food
items. I do, but when I bring them home I
break the bill down into the proper categor
ies before listing it in the household account
i book which I have kept since 1959. This book
shows that my food bill for 1960 was $971.57
and the household items $347.98; and for
1968, food cost $975.65 and household items,
$725.82.”
Hurrah for Mrs. West. At least this’s the
;way it looks from where we stand.
Don’t Blame The Fanner
As everyone knows, the U.S. farmer is
the most productive on earth. One farmer
now produces enough to feed 45 persons as
compared with 15 in 1948. The American
farmer has increased his productiveness
through the use of new techniques, hybridiz
ation of plants and animals and other ad
vances that are products of agricultural re
search.
Logically, people wonder why, if output
Farm News This Week
Voter Eligibility For ASC Committee
Flections Explained Page 8
Terri Ann Shank Selected To Represent
Poultrymen At Hershey Queen
Contest Page 1
Guernsey Field Day Set For
Tuesday, Aug. 19 Page 1
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
P. O. Box 268 - Lititz, Pa. 17543
Office; 22 E. Main St, Lititz, Pa. 17543
Phone: Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 626-2191
Everett R. Newswanger, Editor
Robert G. Campbell, Advertising Director
Subscription price: $2 per year in Lancaster
County; $3 elsewhere
Established November 4, 1955
Published every Saturday by Lancaster
Farming, Lititz, Pa.
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz, Pa.
17543.
Member of Newspaper Farm Editors Assn.
per farmer has increased so dramatically,
food prices are so high. The truth is. as' Mr.
Charles B. Shuman, president of the Ameri
can Farm Bureau Federation, points out
that the U.S. Farmer, to achieve his effi
ciency, “. . . has had to increase his pur
chase inputs such as fertilizers, chemicals,
machinery, and other equipment. These in
puts make up more than half of the total re
sources that are used in farming and ex
plainwhy farmers are so hard hit by spiral
ing inflation..
Food costs as a percentage of our dis
posable income have declined from 23 per
cent in 1951 to 17 per cent in 1968. If any
thing, the farmer deserves a higher reward
for his efforts than he has been receiving.
Individually, his productivity has been ris
ing in relation to his earnings, while of late,
the productivity relative to wages of those
in many other lines of activity has been de
clining. At least that’s the way it looks from
where we stand.
A Relative Term
Poverty is a relative term. What one
person calls poverty, another would con
sider abundance. U.S. Representative Olin
E. Teague of Texas calls attention to some
interesting figures. A survey of one of the
poorest regions of the U.S., where 8 out of
10 families live on less than $3,000 a year,
showed that 37 percent owned washing ma
chines, 48 per cent owned cars, and 52 per
cent had television sets.
Representative Teague points out that
a major portion of the so-called poverty
stricken class of America enjoy fruits of
affluence which the middle classes of Eur
ope cannot afford—not to mention the rest
of the world. He believes, “The core of the
poverty problem often is psychological, not
physical. We should be fighting human at
titudes that cause poverty ... We should re
place the ethics, of slavery—the brazen de
mands that ‘somebody do something’ and
the slogans that ‘the government owes it
to us’—with the ethics of self-reliance.”
Money alone will not teach people that a
balanced diet is more important than a
shiny new car.
Points made by Representative Teague
are well taken. They harken back to the
fate of the “poverty-stricken” Indian tribes
of long ago who sank into oblivion, not from
poverty, but from the misuse of the tools
and luxuries of the white man.
Across The Fence Row
“Beer? I don’t drink six beers a year,”
says Leo (Durocher). He pulls the' towel
off the bucket, points at the ice-covered con
tents. “Right here. This is what I have after
every game milk.” So said the Chicago
Daily News in a July 18 interview with the
Chicago Cubs manager, written by sports
writer George Vass.
Little minds are wounded by little
things.
* & *
Nothing drives out the little worries like
a big worry.
A person’s weaknesses are often a truer
index of his character than his virtues.
Local Weather Forecast
(From the IL S. Weather Bureau at the
Harrisburg State Airport)
The five-day forcast for the period Sa
turday through next Wednesday calls for
temperatures to average above normal with ~
daytime highs in the low to upper 80’s and To Do Fall Soil Testing -u I seedmgs of alfalfa
over-night lows in the 60’s. Generally warm p a ii soil testing has ih/ * h .? Uld . be sprayed for weeds
over the weekend. Not quite as warm there- over sprm» testing 6 ‘ her ;,ust pnor to plantmg us ‘
after. The normal high-low for the period is ways and° these advantages UJ§ Eptam ’ or when the weeds
85-63. , . should be recognized at this aie 1 to 2 inches high using 24-
Rain may total u{s to one-half inch with time - Prod ncers will have the Bln many cases the farmer
possible higher amounts over the South sec- entire winter to plan next sea- notice ma ny weeds un
tion occurring as showers Sunday and as son’s fertilizer program and bet- a-aJI large spray '
at eM of the period. - te bays mt* b. 0t0..ed t aUo, £g
THE 6RASSHOPPER COMPLEX
Lesson for August 17,1969
HacfcjretJnJ Scnpfurt: Mumbtfi 13 through I 4«
P«v«ftMMt lUrfnft&oduiOJ HO.
Look out for the grasshopper
complex! There are many Christ
ians afflicted with it today. Even
worse, it seems contagious, like
a plague that is carried from one
victim to another.
Of ' this is not a new
malady to man
kind. The He
brews knew of it.
The Old Testa
ment books of
Joshua and
Numbers men
tion it, particu
larly in the story
of Calab. He
was, you will
Rev. A 1 (house remember, one
of a number of spies whom Moses
sent into the land of Canaan.
When they returned to give their
report, most of them painted a
■very dark picture. The people of
Canaan were very large in size
and well-equipped with weapons.
Compared to die Canaanites, the
spies said, (he people of Israel
would be as grasshoppers.
Different perspective
There was a minority report,
however. Caleb, though he had
seen' the same sights and had
been to the same places, saw
things differently. "Let us go up
at once and occupy it,” he urged,
"for we are well able to overcome
it” (Numbers 13:30). He saw no
giants, just men; not a hopeless
situation, but an opportunity.
Unfortunately, the Israelites
rejected-Caleb’s view and ac
cepted the gloomy picture drawn
up by the other spies. They pre
ferred to believe that the job was
itoo big for them. But what a
price they paid for this decision!
.Because of this choice, God told
them they would not enter the
'promised land now, but would
nave to spend an additional
forty years in the wilderness.
Their grasshopper complex cost
them tjieir hope of crossing over
into the promised land in' their
lifetime. This lack of faith had
demonstrated them to be a
generation unfit for the promise.
Instead it would be given to their
children.
To Buy Feeder Pigs Carefully if a soil needs lime, fall is a good
Hog cholera continues to be a tune to ma^e the application be
threat to the swine industry cause this will give the lime time
several eastern states are known w ° rk and malf e the soil more
to have serious outbreaks and feline. In more recent years
are under quarantine. Local * 3rmers have made fall and win
feeders should use extreme cau- ter ap P lications of phosphorus
tion in buying pigs to be sure and potasfl fertilizers when the
they are clean and from known ground is firm and to avoid the
sources Also, hogs should not spnng ™sh
be fed garbage or food scraps of
any kind unless it is thoughlv
cooked
Not optimism
Wo must not make the mistake
of thinking that God rewarded
Caleb simply because he gave an
optimistic report. Nor should we
assume that the people of Israel
were penalized simply because
they had accepted the negative
report. Optimism is not the issue
here, for there sire many times
when an optimistic point of view
Is mere wishful thinking.
For example, there are many
times In the later history of Israel
when prophets like Amos, Hosea,
Jeremiah, and others, brought'
very negative reports to the
people;, prophesying great doom.
Opposing these spokesmen for
God were certain false prophets!
who optimistically told the peo*
pie what they wanted to hear,
predicting prosperity and peace.
In these times, it was the negative
report that truly reflected the
message of God to His people.
No, Caleb wasn’t rewarded
simply because he gave an opli
mistic report rather than a
negative one, but because he re*
ported what God had revealed
to him. Thus, he "wholly fol
lowed the Lord.” He reported
what God revealed to him as the
truth.
A lack of faith
The Canaanifes were strong
and well-equipped for war as the
other spies had reported, but
Caleb remembered something
which the others had forgotten:
the power of God. With God’s
help the land could be won,
despite the strength of the
Canaanites, Their negative report
therefore meant a lack of faith in
God’s promise. ,
Thus, flie sin of the otherspies,
was not that they saw the
Canaanites as great warriors,
but that they saw themselves as
"grasshoppers,” for this was a
reflection upon their God. People
thus afflicted cannot hope to enter
the promised land.
So it is with us today too.
Our obstacles are great. Our
difficulties are many. But let us
not forget that we are not called
to go forth alone. It is God who’
is with us to guide and empower,
us. With him at our side, let us
throw of the "grasshopper
complex”!
(Based en euHfots copyrighted ky Hit OtvTrfett 1
•I Christian Education, National Council of Hi*
Churches of Christ in Hit U* S, K WtfStd k)f
Cwmmvnity frmt Service.)
Attend The-Church Of
Your Choice Sunday
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
To Control Weeds In Alfalfa