Small State Has Big Name

Hello Folks! — What's in a name? Rhode Island which is the smallest state in the Union has the longest name.

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A small community is one where you chat for a while on the phone even if you got the wrong number.

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In a column written by Drew Pearson a while back, mention was made of the fact that food prices went up two per cent since 1952, while at the same time prices to the farmer dropped 16 per cent. 

In writing his column Mr. Pearson was doing his best to smear the present Administration and blame it for the condition. It is true that that is the way prices have gone until lately; but he fails to put the blame where it belongs.

There are three reasons why farm prices fell. One was because we were coming down off a war time peak, and the demand for the food was not so great. Two, Congress (in its effort on won votes) kept high supports (which were put there to encourage production) in which in effect gave many of our young farmers a false incentive to go into farming when they should have gone into high paying jobs that were begging for good men. Three, the farm efficiency went up almost 25 per cent in that length of time, which was bound to reflect in the market place and give the consumer a better buy. In the meantime the cost of processing went up in the direct proportion to the wage increases, minus the greater efficiency. 

It is true that the big processors made bigger profits. Their business expanded as they were more efficient. At the same time the small businesses lost ground. This is to be regretted unless we realize that it added to our standard of living. It seems that in our social progress there is bound to be growing pains, we can either work with this progress and adjust or fight it and get hurt worse. 

We know that around here the small creameries have faded out and the stronger ones have grown. The same thing happens in a forest as it matures. If it did not do so there would be no tall timbers for lumber. So all in all, while we regret to see the small community enterprises die out, it seems to be all for the best and we learn to adjust to the changes and in a little while we see the advantage in the change.

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Congratulations to Cliff Cairns on his promotion to the position of manager of our Wilson and Co plant. I am sure that it was a good move. I had the pleasure of working with Cliff on the Minnesota Spring Barrow Show and realized then that he had a real gift for following though on a project, along with a sound approach to the problems at hand. No doubt these qualities and the 'spirit of motivation' were the things that qualified him for the position. I am quite sure that I speak for the community when I say "Best wishes and success in your new job, Cliff."

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I see that one long range forecaster is predicting a dry spring and a wet July. I agree with him. In my observation of the weather, I have noticed that we generally get our rains from 90 to 100 days after heavy winds. For instance we generally get our most winds in Feb. and March and our heaviest rainfall in June. This year we got very little wind until the second week of April, and it has not stopped blowing as of this writing. So look out for July.