10
—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday. Dec. 4. 1976
Uncle Sam is no f armer or
In the past, the U.S. has come close
to neglecting the agricultural needs
of friendly nations in order to muffle
the rattle of sabres in Moscow, Hanoi,
and Peking. While the American
farmer has bent over backwards to
produce, the U.S. government has
gone to great lengths to practically
give the merchandise away to nations
which have threatened to bury us.
Next year some new farm policies
are scheduled to be forged in
Washington, and hopefully legislators
will have learned from mistakes of
the past.
Uncle Sam is neither a farmer or a
banker because of the way he han
dles his money. Farmer Brown
doesn’t throw away his cash, and
when he borrows money he works
hard to pay it back. Similarly, no
banker knowlmgly gives credit to
someone whom he knows has a
terrible credit rating.
Ironically, our internal business
dealings are competitive, but we - as
a nation - have sometimes ignored
the principle of free enterprise in
dealing with foreign countries -
especially the Soviet Union. Labor
unions have to a large extent made
American industry uncompetitive on
the world market. If you need proof,
just check how many of the goods *m
your home were made abroad. In
dustry has in recent years been
unable to keep our foreign trade in
balance. We’re no longer competitive.
But the American farmer has for
the past five years or so taken up the
slack. Farmers have lifted the trade
figures out of the red and colored
them black again. Trade is balanced.
(Although in recent months it’s been
slipping again.) Yet, how much of a
thank-you has American agriculture
received for paying the bills most of
the rest of the country is responsible
for?
But farmers aren't the only ones
who have taken a licking in previous
years due to disastrous export
policies. Remember the “Great Gram
Robbery” of 1972? Uncle Sam says
that the American government paid
40 cents on every bushel of wheat
sold to Russia in order to make the
deal more attractive to the USSR.
More accurately, the American people
paid those 40 cents on every bushel
through their taxes.
While that in itself was an un
justified blunder, the effects of that
“business transaction" which we
loosely call a gram deal, had much
more serious consequences than
subsidies which totalled to over $3OO
million.
Remember the chicks which
poultrymen drowned because all the
cheap wheat went to the communists
while the precious little left at home
doubled m price? And how about the
slaughtered calves because dairymen
were faced with a seven per cent
increase in profits compared to a 34.4
per cent rise in feed costs (not in
cluding hay prices which increased by
more than 60 per cent).
Agricultural trade policies -have
been such during some recent years
that livestock producers were forced
to compete for American gram with
the rest of the world m an open
market. Then, when they turned
around to sell their products, they’ve
had to compete with foreign sub
sidized cheese and meat which of
tentimes does not meet the same
quality standards as the locally
produced stuff and almost always is
less expensive due to subsidies. So
the situation has left these farmers
holding a candle which was burning
on both ends. Fortunately, some of
this has disappeared during the past
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
two years, but Uncle Sam is still
neither a farmer nor banker.
A major reason Uncle Sam is not a
banker is because he has been
lending money to nations which have
a very poor record of remembering to
pay their debts. The most notorious of
these is the Soviet Union - the world’s
trouble maker - which has ignored
practically all of its foreign debts for
the past 60 years. So far - just for
1976 - the Soviet Union has arranged
credit terms in the West which
eclipse the $l5 billion mark. And that
doesn’t count direct government to
government loans. When the entire
Soviet bloc is taken into con-
Background Scripture:
Mark 1:1-3; Luke 1:1-38.
Devotional Reading:
Luke 1:11-17.
When people bFT*alestme
heard that a great prophet,
perhaps even the Messiah,
had come out of Nazareth,
they were incredulous: “Can
anything good come out of
Nazareth?” (John 1:46).
It was a fair question and
one could hardly blame them
for their skepticism.
Nazareth was an unim
portant Galilean hilltown
and it did not have the best of
reputations. No one could
remember that anything
special had ever happened
there, nor could they recall
that prophesy had ever
predicted that something
important would happen
there either. No wonder they
wanted to know; “How can
this be?”
The favored one
Elias, a Palestinian
Christian who has frequently
served as my excellent guide
in the Holy Land, has often
expressed to me the opinion
that, even though Jesus grew
up there, Nazareth seems no
more likely a home for our
Lord today than it did in the
days of his youth. I would
have to agree that, apart
from its religious
significance, it is one of the
least hospitable shrines I
have ever visited.
_ Max Smith
NOW IS THE TIME 394^851
TO PROTECT ANIMALS
FROM WILD BIRDS-
The problem of wild birds
confronts many livestock
producers. They are
especially bad m periods of
snow cover on the ground. In
addition, they are very
difficult to control in outside
feedlots and open bams. We
do not know of an easy,
prompt control or
eradication method. When
possible they should be
screened out of a building.
When this is unpossible, I’d
suggest the use of some
“Starlite” feed pellets that
are available from some of
the feed concerns; they are
BY DIETER KRIEG, EDITOR
HOW SHALL
THIS BE?
Lesson for December 5,1976
This was at least one of the
things that must have
troubled Mary when she was
visited by an angel and in
formed: “Do not be afraid,
Mary, for you have found
favor with God. And behold,
you will conceive in your
womb and bear a son. He will
be great and will be called
the Son of the Most High”
(Luke 1:30-32).
That had a wonderful
sound to it, but she could
hardly believe what she was
hearing. Who ever heard of
an angel of the Lord ap
pearing in Nazareth? And to
a woman of modest birth and
means? But most amazing of
all, how could this happen to
a woman who didn’t even
have a husband?
No impossibilities with God
The visitor did not rebuke
her question, but instead
gave her an answer: “The
approved for use on birds in
Pennsylvania. Some of our
Amish farmers use a
quarter-inch of common salt,
covered with a quarter-inch
Farm Calendar
Today, Dec. 4
Lebanon Young Farmers’
Christmas banquet, 7
p.m. in the Northern
Lebanon High School
cafeteria.
Travel and Adventure Series
sponsored by the
Paradise Rotary Club,
7-30 p.m. at Conestoga
(Continued on Page 26]
sideration for 1976 bills owed to the
West, the figure reads around $35
billion. If that’s not staggering
enough, then please note that the
communists in Russia have ripped
the U.S. off for $263 billion since they
took power in 1917. Former
President Nixon made arrangements
with the Kremlin a few years ago to
have World War II debts paid at 10
cents to the dollar. Try asking your
banker if he’ll accept similar terms
with your mortgage.
As though this slap in the face isn't
bad enough, the Russians have had
the nerve to ask for favored nations
status in order to receive even more
liberal trade agreements! The Soviets
have been campaigning very in
tensively so far this year to get more
credit from the U.S., especially to
remove ail restrictions on long-term
credits. Apparently the not so wise
toly Spirit will come upon
m and the power of the
(ost High will overshadow
m: therefore the child to be
jrrTmll be caUed'HoCTe
ion of God” (1:35). Her
testion, “How shall this
i?” deserved an answer
id the answer was that
these seemingly impossible
things would come to pass
because of the power of the
Holy Spirit in her.
The key to all of these
questions is to be found in the
angel’s parting words to
Mary: “For with God
nothing will be impossible”
(1:37), Nazareth may seem a
most unlikely spot for the
home of the Messiah, but
God’s power can overcome
that difficulty. Mary may
seem too lowly a vessel for
the birth of the Son of God,
but the power of God will
magnify that vessel!
So it may be in our own
lives when, having cried out
in wonder, “How shall this
be?” -how can a person such
as I know the love of God in
my life? How can my son be
healed? How can my
marriage be saved? How can
I find a meaningful life? How
can God’s promises*possibly
be fulfilled? - we must listen
once again with Mary and
hear God’s messenger say to
us: “For with God nothing
will be impossible”!
of melted lard in a flat pan;
put this container on the roof
of a shed, or on top of feeders
or fences where livestock
cannot reach. Wild birds not
only destroy and use feed,
but may be disease carriers.
TO PROVIDE
ADEQUATE WATER
This time of the year it
might be easier to water
some livestock only once a
day. This is not a good
practice under any condition
and will surely reduce gains
and any kind of production.
Water is one of the most
important intakes of a bird
or animal and is needed to
{Continued on Page 13]
banker
Banker Uncle Sam has gone
with the trickery too, because Soviet
trade and debts are rising very
significantly.
The Soviet Union, has been
remarkably shrewd. That’s putting it
mildly. Actually they’ve been
downright cruel.
The United States, through a
mixture of characteristic generosity
and shameful miscalculations (if
indeed these were miscalculations,
rather than deliberate blunders) sold
wheat and corn to the Soviet Union at
bargain prices. That was especially
true in 1972, and it’s still true to a
degree today. The communists then
turned around and sold equal
amounts of grain and corn to other
needy nations at prices which were
above the world market costs. The£))
reaped an unfair but yet .very
tangible profit. By their own ad
mission, the Russians gained $125
million on such deals in 1974. They
exported nearly an equal amount to
their captured nations as what they
practically stole from the West.
This last point should be of interest
to Americans too - the fact that
Russia sold agricultural commodities
to captured nations. They’ve main
tained a tight grip on Eastern Europe
and force these countries to do most
of their trading with Moscow. In other
words, East Germany and Hungary,
-for exampterhave to rely-on Russia to
get most of the imported goods they
want, even though they could
theoretically get them much cheaper
from the West.
The question comes up - if UncP
Sam is an AH-American businessmvj*
who's out to do all he'can for I® 7
farmers and bankers, then why
doesn’t he tell the Kremlin to fly a kip#
and proceed to trade with the
Eastern bloc countries directly. Those,
nations would be alble to buy their.*
grain at less cost, and American
farmers could get more for it. Makes
sense to me. Furthermore, many
foreign nations who are friendly to
the U.S. were vocally disappointed
over their having to pay more for less,
because Uncle Sam allowed his grain
bins to be robbed by the Soviet
Union, Other nations were left
holding an empty bag or one filled
with grain and sand. And many U.S.
farmers were just plain stunned.
A final point in all this has nothis»
to do with dollars and cents. It
do with humanitananism.
I’ve heard of East German farmers
setting their grain fields on fire just
before harvest in order to create
shortages and government in
stability. The Poles have voiced their
discontent on numerous occasions.
Many have died for the cause of
freedom or quest for free enterprise.
By continuously supplying the
communists with goods and
technology, the United States has
enabled that wicked system to
sustain itself. The simple fact that
communist nations have to rely on
the United States for assistance'
should be proof enough that their
system isn't anywhere near as ef
ficient and productive as the one we
have - free enterprise.
And even though he isn’t a farmer
or banker, that’s something very
special and important which we c&h
all thank Uncle Sam for. ,
More thoughts and facts on this
subject will appear on this page next
week.