—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 31,1971
10
On the Spirit of Extension
Extension is such a long-standing and
important farm tool that we may take it for
granted. But recent debate over the form
of Extension funding has renewed interest
in what Extension is and does.
We think the following item from a
USDA publication captures the spirit of Ex
tension:
People in most institutions frequently
find it useful to review their charters. Ex
tension workers are no different. Veterans
of the Cooperative Extension system find it
a source of renewed inspiration. It gives
new workers a feel for the force that made
the Cooperative Extension system the most
copied educational technique in the modern
world.
Leaders of many nations have studied
the system with the idea of adapting it to
their needs.
One man who studied it was an English
man. He reviewed the debate in Congress
preceding passage of the Smith-Lever Act
and extracted a portion of Congressman
Lever’s remarks. We think the portion he
abstracted serves as a splendid review of
our character in this 67th anniversary year
of the Smith-Lever Act.
Congressman Lever said, “Mr. Speak
er, we have accumulated in the agricultural
colleges and in the Department of Agricul
ture, sufficient agricultural information
which, if made available to the farmers of
this country and used by them, would work
a complete and absolute revolution in the
FDA Publishes Regulations
The following editorial appeared in the
July 25 issue of Hoards Dairyman under the
heading “Labeling of Fats Opens Pandora’s
Box of Propaganda”;
The Food and Drug Administration
finally has published its proposed regula
tions permitting food manufacturers to la
bel the fat content in their products. Though
FDA commissioner. Dr. Charles Edwards,
declared, “We aren’t recommending
changes in American dietary habits,” it is
certain the proposed regulations, if finally
approved, will open the floodgates of propa
ganda asserting polyunsaturates will be the
answer to the heart disease problem.
We have evidence that the intent of the
cholesterol theorists is to put out “premi
um” products carrying a “premium” price.
There is no need to put a premium price on
cheap vegetable oils . . ’. unless the pre
mium is to underwrite intensive and mas
sive advertising and public relations cam
paigns.
Data on fats and oils consumption and
death rates from heart disease around the
world are difficult to bring together but we
do have some unselected information which
indicates the fallacy of the fat labeling pro
posal and the certain aftermath. In 16 so
called “developed” western countries, the
United. States has the highest death rate by
far. In 10 of these countries, where we have
been able to get butter and margarine con
sumption data, the U.S. consumer gets the
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
P. O. 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 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.
Pa. Newspaper Publishers Association, and
National Newspaper Association
social, economic and financial condition of
our rural population. The great problem we
are up against now, is to find the machinery
by which we can link up the man on the
farm with these various sources of informa
tion.
“We have expended in the neighbor
hood of a hundred million dollars in the last
half century, gathering together valuable
agricultural truths. We have been spending
50 years trying to find an efficient agency
for spreading this information throughout
the country and putting it into the hands of
the people for whom it was collected.
“We have tried the Farmers Bulletin.
We have tried the Press. We have tried
the lecture and the institute work. All of
these agencies have done good. They have
been efficient in a measure but there is not
an agricultural student in the country who
does not realize that the greatest efficiency
is not being had from these agencies.
“This bill proposes to set up a system
of general demonstration teaching through
out the country and the agent in the field of
the department and the college is to be the
mouth-piece through which the information
will reach the people the man and wo
man and boy and girl on the farm. You can
not make the farmer change the methods
which have been sufficient to earn a liveli-.
hood for himself and his family for many
years, unless you show him, under his own
vine and fig tree as it were, that you have
a system better than the system which he
himself has been following.”
lowest percentage of his fat intake (11 per
cent) from butter. But the highest propor
tion (73 per cent) of intake comes from fats
other than butter or margarine. Here, ob
viously, we lead the world. And we also lead
in heart disease.
Dr. Jeremiah Stamler, the most vocifer
ous of the cholesterol cult, has been attack
ing butter, eggs, and all animal fats in pub
lic appearances. And he scored the Food
and Drug Administration in a national tele
vision appearance recently for not permit
ting fat labeling.
But figures just released reveal that
this country has been following Stamler’?
advice for years and heart attacks continue
to climb.
Since 1957-59, per capita consumption
of all visible fats and oils has gone up 8
pounds, or 18 per cent.
But, in this same period, butter con
sumption is down 38 per cent, eggs are
down 11 per cent, and lard 48 per cent.
The products Stamler extols are up
sharply. He never criticizes margarine and
he praises the soft vegetable fats and oils.
Margarine is up 24 per cent, shortening 57
per cent ,and other edible fats and oils 61
per cent.
In total, butter and lard are down 7.6
pounds while the vegetable-oil-based pro
ducts are up a whooping 15.2 pounds per
capita.
Putting it another way, USDA’s Nation
al Food Situation reveals that per capita
usage of vegetable-oil-based products is now
at 46.3 pounds while per capita usage of
butter and lard is down to 9.9 pounds. And
the heart attack rate soars.
Anyone wishing to comment on the fat
labeling proposal has until September 13.
Send comments to the Hearing Clerk, De
partment of Health, Education, and Wel
fare, Room 6-62, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rock
ville, Maryland 20852.
Obviously, Food and Drug has been un
der tremendous pressure from the vege
table oil interests and the cholesterol theor
ists in the American Heart Association. The
disclaimer by Commissioner Edwards is
evidence of the pressure. But we think he
should have rejected it outright.
NOW IS
THE TIME..
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
To Use Band Seeding Method
The late summer seeding of
alfalfa will have a better chance
of success if farmers use the
band seeding attachment on their
grain drills. When the seed is
placed over a band of complete
fertilizer and then the soil and
the seed pressed firmly together,
germination is more rapid, and
in addition, the small alfalfa
plants will find plant food more
available and get off to a better
start. The last week in July and
the first 10 days of August have
been found to be ideal times to
make this summer seeding here
in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Growers should use certified,
inoculated seed.
To Prepare Silos
Silo filling time is approaching
•and the constant threat of severe
blight on the present corn crop
means that the silo should be
ready for the new silage crop at
any time. In many cases the in
side of the concrete silos may
need coated with concrete to fill
the small holes; doors or door
frames may need repaired. The
inside surface of the silo should
be smooth and air tight, rough
areas may mean air pockets and
some molding of the silage.
Livestock producers are urged
to 'be ready to fill their silos in
case blight conditions become
worse and that the crop will
need harvested promptly.
UNREALIZED IDEAL
Lesson for August 1,1971
loclcgreund Scripture Exodus 20 12;
Ephesians 521 through 6 4
Develienel Reading- Proverbs 31-10-22
“PAUL IS A MALE CHAU
VINIST”? read a placard carried
by a Women’s Liberation advo
cate in a recent demonstration.
There were probably many spec
tators who asked, “Paul, who?”,
but many of us, familiar with the
traditional crit
cisms of the Apos
tle Paul and his
view of women,
got the point.
Many of us are
familiar with the
view that Paul
was. (1) a woman
hater; (2) anti-
marriage; and (3)
Rev. Althouse advocate of a ty
rannical family structure. These
criticisms, however, are mostly
very unfair to Paul. Paul’s con
cept of both womanhood and the
family were, in reality, actually
revolutionary for the day in which
he lived.
“A piece of property”
To understand Paul’s contribu
tion to both womanhood and fam
ily life, we need to realize what
was the status of the woman in
Paul’s day. The Jew’s view of
womanhood was generally very
low. Every morning the Jewish
male gave thanks that God had
not made him “a Gentile, a slave,
or a woman.” The Jewish woman
To Feed Koughage
The feeding of some dry mat
ter to dairy cows at all times of
the year is recommended. We
are aware that dry weather
makes this necessary on many
farms where the forage crops
have slowed down in growth. In
the case of dry cows it is im
portant bo contain feeding hay
and not as much high energy
grain. The problem of twisted
stomachs in our cows is becom
ing more common and some
dairy authorities relate this
trouble to the lack of coarse
roughage during the dry period
and too much grain. The rumen
of the cow’s stomach needs
roughage in order to keep it
working and to keep it in the
proper place within the cow.
Some silage and some hay will
provide the needed roughage,
but silage and grain without any
hay may be-the cause of trouble.
Hay should be included in the
ration of dry cows, according to
present suggestions.
Samaritans
The once-powerful sect
called the Samaritans still
exists, but now has only sev
eral hundred members. A
schism about 332 B.C. estab
lished the group as an inde
pendent religious commu
nity separate from the Jew
ish people.
had few rights and was little
more than a piece of property for
her husband.
In the Greek and Roman worlds
the standards were even lower.
The wife had only two functions:
bearing children and managing
the household. Loving her hus
band, being his companion, shar
ing his life, were not part of the
concept of marriage. A married
woman was little more than a
slave and her husband’s rights
were almost unlimited.
When we view Paul’s teach
ings, then, we can see what a
tremendous change he was call
ing for. True, Paul’s vision was
limited from our perspective (he
did not anticipate a day of legal
equality), but it was revolution
ary for his time and, if we under
stand it, still an ideal that is sel
dom reached in our society.
“Wives, be subject to your hus
bands, as to the Lord” (Ephe
sians 5:21). Note that this sub
mission is to be the same kind of
voluntary, uncoerced submission,
we give to Christ. There is a
world of difference between this
and the standard of his own day.
Paul’s society was not about to
confer legal equality on the wife,
but Paul found a way of erasing
the old bondage.
“Husbands, love your wives”
Furthermore, look at the obli
gation he has placed on the hus
band! “Husbands, love your wives
as Christ loved the Church and
give himself up for her” (5 25).
If any man of Paul’s day tried to
follow this admonition, he had to
lift the level of his family life
several thousand per cent! What
an ideal —even today!
Legal equality and democracy
in the home are of great impor
tance. Yet, legal rights cannot
take the place of the kind of lov
ing relationship of which Paul is
speaking in Ephesians. With all
our progress, it is still a standard
that beckons us to bring our fam
ily life up higher.
(Based on outlines copyrighted by the
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Released by Community Press Service.)