—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 28,1970
4
What New Rail Rates Mean
Local farmers should note the recent
nine per cent interim rail freight rate in
crease granted by the ICC.
Such freight increases ultimately can
be expected to reach the farmer in the form
of increased costs for feed and supplies
which he buys. Therefore, the freight rate
increase represents an overall increase in'
farming costs.
Fortunately, since most farmers in this
area grow all or part of their own feed,
the impact of the freight increase probably
will not be as adverse as in many other
more specialized farm areas.
But overall, this area still may suffer
severely in the long run because of the
freight increase. This is because of the re
gional difference in the freight rate. While
the increase was nine per cent in the East
and West, it was only seven per cent in the
South.
The South already enjoyed ,a substan
tial rate advantage over the Northeast.
As Farm Labor Costs Rise
Various farm publications have begun
to carry items indicating that the widely
publicized unionization of grape employes
in California will set a pattern for the na
tion.
George Meany, AFL-CIO president, in
a widely carried article in the leading na
tional newspapers, has made it official. The
Chicago Daily News on August 6 quoted
Meany as saying that the AFL-CIO is now
aiming at organizing all farm workers in
the nation.
Specifically, the Daily News quoted
Meany as follows:
‘We Will Spread’
“Now we will spend as much as we
dan possibly-.afford to spread our activities.
“Fqr f 50 years, agriculture has been
exempted from labor legislation because of
the powerful farm interests, such as the
big ranches in Texas.
“One big job in the future is to secure
for the farm worker the same status as the
industrial worker.
“At present we can’t bring unfair labor
charges against a farm employer or get
a union election because they’re not cover
ed by the National Labor Relations Board.
“But we’re going to force the employ
ers to give the farm workers decent wages
and decent living conditions.”
Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune re
ported that Meany plans to start the new
efforts in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and-
Indiana.
What does this mean for the local farm
er and what should he do about it?
The Family Farm
Farm labor unionization will have lit
tle or no direct impact on most Southeastern
Pennsylvania farm operations because they
are family enterprises using little or no
outside labor. These family enterprises
have always been highly self-sufficient and
can be expected to want neither the rewards
nor the problems of unionization.
On those farms which do use outside
labor, unionization will tend to increase the
cost of that labor in the form of higher
wages and more costly fringe benefits.
This can be expected even if there is little
local interest in unionization.
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
P. 0. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. 17543
Office; 22 E Main St., Lititz, Pa. 17543 ’
Phone: Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 626-2191
Robert G. Campbell, Advertising Director
Zane Wilson, Managing Editor
Subscription pi ice $2 per year in Lancaster
County S 3 elsewhere
Established November 4,1955
Published every Saturday by Lancaster
Farming, Lititz, Pa.
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz, Pa.
17543'
Member ot Newspaper Farm Editors Assn.
Pa. Newspaper Publisheis Association, and
National Newspaper Association
\ v s
With this new increase on
an already lower rate, this difference will
be magnified.
The lower freight rates in the South
are one very important reason why broiler
and egg production has increased in the
South at such an overwhelming rate in re
cent years. Feed costs.-represent the ma
jority of the cost of production of both
broilers and eggs and any significant sav
ings achieved by one region in feed-costs,
such as are made possible by the South
through lower freight rates, gives it a tre
mendous competitive advantage.
The additional savings in the South on
shipping costs of equipment and supplies
increases the advantage over the Northeast.
So, not only do the higher freight rates
represent higher operating costs for farm
ers in this area, they also give our competi
tors, particularly in the Southeast, a better
competitive position in the national farm
economy.
At the same time, however, because
labor will be more- expensive, the larger
farms can be expected to turn to more
highly automated systems in an effort to
reduce their unskilled labor needs.
The overall result should be to accele
rate the already fast-moving trend of
American agriculture toward a highly capi
talized structure in which big investments
in modern buildings and machinery are ask
ed to take the place of labor. As labor be
comes more expensive and harder to get,
machinery becomes more attractive and
economical.
Efficient Labor Use
this doesn’t mean there won’t be a
place,, for, the family farm using Jarge
amounts of labor. It does mean the labor : ~ " , ~ ” -
will have to be used wisely and efficiently. ; UNLIMITED HORIZON
It indicates each person will have to do
more work, either through more know-how
or better equipment, in order to remain
competitive.
Actually, as the cost of farm labor in
general rises, the individual farmer should
be able to get a higher return for his work.
The family farm should be strengthened.
Also, it should be kept in mind that the
trend toward unionization is a speeding up
of something that has been happening all
along
Rising Labor Cost
Fanners already are well aware that
labor is both increasingly scarce and ex
pensive. Industry and government have
been steadily increasing the competitive
pressure for farm labor. The cost of that
labor will almost certainly continue to
rise, even without unionization.
Thus, for those farms which now use
labor or need it in the future, the union
movement is one more warning that labor
is going to cost more in the future.
To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed.
Now is the time to begin to solve the future
labor problems to change the farm
operation to meet future conditions, to turn
to mechanization, to change crops, to in
crease the level of skill and production of
the employe.
Those farmers who allow themselves to
move in the years ahead into a situation in
which they need more labor withou? being
able to afford to pay more for it both in
terms of increased wages and benefits
are putting themselves in a potentially very
unfavorable position.
For the farmer who is alert and who
recognizes and meets his problems early
before they overwhelm him, problems be
corhe opportunities. Just as' the first crop
on the' market generally brings the best
price, so does the first' farmer to solve a
new problem generally reap rewards.
The growing cost of labor represents an
opportunity for those who don’t need it. At
the same time, we predict some imagina
tive farmers will find ways to profitably
use* more labor ' even -as- the cost rises. .
To Observe Silage
Some of the corn crop made
into silage last fall might not
have been the very best in rela
tion to moisture and fungus
disease infection. Much of this
was due to the southern corn
blight which dried up the
plants very quickly. We have
not had reports of severe mold
ing of this corn in the silage,
and livestock authorities con
tinue to feel that to make it in
to silage was the best way to
harvest the crop. However, as
the silage comes out, producers
are urged to inspect it closely
for mold. Mature cattle are
quite resistant to the toxic ef
fects of moldy corn but pregn
ant cows should not get much of
it. Yearling or older young
stock and fattening steers seem
to handle low quality feeds and
silage the best.
To Check Those Batteries
Cold weather is a good test
for the battery of car, truck, or
tractor. The water level should
be kept high and the motor
should be used enough to keep
Lesson-for November 29,1970
mother of the family was a victim
' laclcground Scripture: Matthew 5 10-11; Of multiple Sclerosis. She W<3S CCHI
-625 34: 7 13, 14,- Ephesmns 610-it, fined to a wheelchair and her
Pevotienal Reeding; 1 Peter 1 3-9, lj m b s were terribly twisted, De-
One day the wife of Robert spite the gentle, but firm deter-
Louis Stevenson went to his bed- mmation in her face and the look
room where he had been forced of one who did not know she was
to put away his writing materials “handicapped”, I think I felt sor
to stop the flow of lifeblood he ry for her.
was coughing away in a wracking I need not have, however,-Some
K; his indomitable time years later I read an article
irit, she said: “I in a newspaper that told of an
ipppse you will award “for outstanding service”
11 me that it is which had been given to her.
glorious day.” “Outstanding service’” I said to
r es,” he replied, myself. How could this woman
grange, isn’t it, seive anyone. Yet, as I read on, I
lat I was just go- found that this, badly crippled
ig to say that.” and twistdd' woman goefe to a
lokmg at the nearby hospital in her wheelchair
inlight stream- several days a week' and spends
...g through his hours there with handicapped pa-
Rev. Althouse window, he add- tients, many of them less" handl
ed: “I refuse to let a row of medi- capped than herself. She sets be
cine bottles be the circumference fore them the priceless. Example
of my horizon.” of a woman who will not jallow a
wheelchair to be the cirfcumfer-
Beyond our obstacles ence of her horizon.
Stevenson possessed a body Hannah More once said -that
which would have caused most “obstacles are those' frightful
men to “throw in the towel” in things you see when you take
resignation. He had been phys- your eyes off the goal:” Certainly
ically.weak and ill throughout his there are always frightful things
childhood and' then passed into before us in life. The Christian
youth and adulthood without any does not ignore them, but looks
better prospects of substantial beyond those to his goal. One
improvement. Yet he never ac- must always choose whether he
cepted these infirmities of his will focus on the obstacle'nr th*
body as the circumference of his goal.
horizon. His literary works dom- ~ . _ ..
. . ,_ . J - (lased on outUnes copyrighted by th»
inat6(l lllS OWll era and Still arQ Drvisidn c* C EtJ*jcahon r< t^phonal
regaided as classics today. ' Chr . i . st in
° i xi t 3„ USA, Released ty Community Prtss
One may also think of Beetno- s ervscc \ 1
ven, who though quite deaf, wrote
his finest symphony; 'of Elizabeth fif-tAMM Tma
Barrett Browning, who wrote nllvllll I 111?
many of her best works from a
wheelchair; of Paul who per
formed his ministry through'con
stantly beseiged by some “thorn
in the flesh”, of former Secretary
of State Christian A. Herter or
President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
both of' Whom carried on de
manding careers as public ser
vants despite severe .physical dis-
HOW !S
THE TIME... _
By Max Smith - .
Lancaster County Agent
the charged. En-
gineers inform us that it takes
about three miles of average
' driving to recharge the average
battery on a cold morning. Mo
tors that are seldom, used-,dur
ing cold weather may need fre
quent recharging in order to
perform their duty. Normal re
charging is much slower during
cold weather.
To Mulch Strawberries
The strawberry crop of next
summer may depend upon how
well the plants survive the- win
ter weather. Covering the
plants with two to three inches
of wheat or barley straw when
freezing weather arrives is
strongly recommended. This
will protect the plants through
freezing and thawing. This' type
of mulch also provides a more
constant temperature around
the plant roots and brings them
through the winter much
stronger. One pleasant thought
of making this chore much
easier is to think of how £ood
the strawberry shortcake will
taste next- June.
jmfort and pain. '
The trouble with examples Eke
lese is that you and I fend hr
link of these people as .so spe
ial, so extraordinary, that, we
ismiss their victories over hard
dp as basically irrelevant to
mr own Eves.
eyond a wheelchair
Yet. this ~experience of over
imirig life’s obstacles is not at
all limited'to exceptional people.
Lots ,of unknown, unsung people
refuse to let their obstacles serve
as the circumference of their hor-'
izons. A number of years ago I
called in a home where the
.< S I
Church of
Your Choice
Sunday;,
e » M ( i