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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1956)
Missouri Farmer, Lyle Wilson Exchange Letters on Rising Farm Prices Editor's note: I.y1e C. Wilson's dis patch today is in the form of an ex change of correspondence with a larraer in Missouri. Nelson, Mo. Jan. 6, 1956 Mr. Lyle C. Wilson, United Press Correspondent, Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. Wilson: I am a farmer out here in Missouri selling hogs and cattle at about 50 per cent of a fair price or parity. Our per cent of the food dollar has dropped from 53 per cent to the present 39 per cent. I read in Roy Rob erts' paper (Kansas City Times) (today an article written by you entitled "Food Price Spread." I agree with you that labor costs have increased about 97 to 100 per cent since 1945. And this has been a factor in the increase of food costs. But I wish the -whole story would be told. The USDA (US Department tof Agriculture) tells us today that slaughter of all meat animals in the US in creased 7 per cent in 1955 over 1954. In the afternoon paper (Kan as City Star) was an article which I am enclosing Armour's net jumping over 600 per cent from 81,500,000 to $10,000,000 more than six times as much as 1954 with only 7 per cent in crease in slaughter animals. If ypu will check you will find that Cudahy lost about $2,000,000 in 1954 and made about $5,000,000 in 1955. You will find the same story with Swift and Co., Wilson, John Morrell and Co., etc. Please don't misunderstand me, because I am for profit. But I think the public is entitled to the whole story. Hot Siove Gathering You see this all came about ' this afternoon around the hot stove at the country store. A dozen or so farmers reading the papers and then discussing them. I was elected to write to you. There are many interesting stories in this part of the coun try. Last year farmers were cuss ing Benson and at the same time put their OK on Ike. Now they say the parent is responsible for the child, "and Ike is held responsible. I heard one lifelong epublican farmer inyite his neighbor to go to the polls next November with him to prove he voted the Democratic ticket. This week I saw something I would never have believed had I not seen it a county Farm Bureau president selling mem berships in the new National Farmers Organization. He had sold some two dozen member ships in one day. The general opinion is that the Farm Bureau has outlived its usefulness. It was OK in 1918, they say, but so were horses and mules. No Contribution To G.M. A couple of farmers present were chuckling that they were still driving their 1949 Chevro Iets and that they had not con tributed to G.M.'s (General Mo tors') $1,000,000,000 profit on a S5,000,000,000 investment. Twen ty per cent profit, they say, ain't legal. Some of the farmers read about the go-slow on tax cuts. They wonder why not cut taxes on low and middle income groups. Industry and coupon clippers got over $7,000,000,000 relief a year or two ago. These farmers agreed that the Republicans have lost the 1956 election because up until 60 days ago the present adminis tration kept telling the world that farmers were doing OK. Everyone believed it except the farmtrs themselves and the bus inesses of the small towns. (200 to 30,000 population) that live from the new wealth that far mers create each year. These farmers, who are 13 per cent of the population, plus another 20 per cent in these small towns who are represented in 90 per cent of the counties of the U.S. hold the balance of power; and believe that the Democratic can didate will receive more than 400 of the electoral vote in 1956. So say these farmers. Sincerely, W. W. Marshall By LYLE C. WILSON United Press Correspondent Washington, D. C. Dear Mr. Marshall: I'm no farmer, barring a couple of hundred acres in Min nesota which are handled for me by a man who knows about farms. But I know a well-written letter when I see one. So, I asked Gaylord Godwin, who re ports the Agriculture Depart ment for us, to ask the appropri ate experts what were the an swers to the questions you rais ed. Gaylord talked to Harold F. Brcimyer, chief of the livestock, fats and oils section of the de partment. Mr. Breimyer said that the packers in 1954 gener ally had a tough time making any money. The report continued: The packers were caught in 1954 between rising prices for livestock and a slower rise in the prices of their processed product. Just the opposite occurred in 1955. The packers recouped, shifting from a narrow to a larger profit margin. -Price Forced Down Packers tend to make more money on rising supplies and de clining prices for those items than at other times. They made a lot of money on hogs last fall because slaughter facilities be came so jammed that the price of hogs was forced down. This created wide margins between the price the farmer got and the price the housewife had to pay at the corner grocery. Mr. Breimyer emphasized that 1954 was one of the low profit years for packers, 1955 a year of larger profits. Generally speak ing, returns to marketing agen cies do not parallel returns to farmers. They tend in the op posite direction. Last fall there were lots of hogs in the corn belt. Packers ran. tight on slaughter facilities. They had no place to put the sur plus hogs, buying lagged, prices were forced down. That was the simple operation of supply and demand. Not Deliberate Gouging Mr. Breimyer said the fact that the packers made money was not a matter of deliberate gouging. Naturally, the packers would not pay more than the go ing price for live animals, nor take less than the going price for the processed meat. He said the whole thing added up to: Too many hogs! There was a buyer's market. 'Well, Mr. Marshall, that's what Mr. Breimyer told Gaylord God winwho passed it on to me. I'm glad you saw the first story in Roy's Kansas City Times and I hope he prints this one. I expect he will. Sincerely, Lyle C. Wilson M EDF0RD Unuea Press Full Leased Wire Tribune United Press Full Leased Wire Second Section .MEDFORD, OREGON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 1956 Pages 1 to 10 Around Hollywood By ALINE MOSBT United Press Correspondent Hollywood ' ttJ.R) i Newman starts the new year destined to be a top star of 1956 but he is haunted b y the shadow of Jimmy Dean's tragic death. Like Dean and Marlon Brando, New man is a tal ented "r e a 1 istic" perform- Aline Mosby er from the Actors' Studio in New York. Alter Dean was killed m an automobile crash last summer, Newman was persuaded to take over his friend's role in an NBC television drama, "The Battler." This week Paul begins the Rocky Graziano role in "Some body Up There Likes Me," a film expected to push him over the top. That part, too, was slated for Dean. Portrayal Draws Praise Newman then:-planstQstar in Billy the Kid-,', a role he was Paulpraised for on television but another Dean wanted to do. Newman, like Dean, is under contract at Warner Bros, where the whisper is the new actor "will inherit Dean's roles." But Newman is unhappy at being compared to Dean or Brando, and at having his career breaks linked to Dean's death. "A person as an actor must have his own identity," he said at MGM where he's learning how to box for the Graziano picture. "I don't want to be com pared to anybody. The only thing it does is destroy." Resemblance Told Newman actually has a slight resemblance to Brando, and wore a T-shirt to our interview, but there the comparison ends. Unlike most new stars from the Actors' Studio, he's not a "char acter." He is an affable 30-year-old who's been married for six years, has three children, does not play the bongo drums and doesn't think Hollywood is a hor rible place. -. Newman looks at his new star- Southwest Airways Starts New Service Southwest Airways will inaug urate service today . on a new route from San Francisco to Los Angeles, linking Bakersfield, Monterey, and San Jose for the first time, according to John H. Connelly, president of the com pany. . New non-stop service from San Francisco to Eureka-Arcata also started today, which wall provide an improved basic pat tern of two round trips to Santa Rosa, Ukiah, and Ft. Bragg, and three daily round trips to Cres cent City and Medford, Connel ly said. dom with a realistic angle. "I didn't go into this business with stars in my eyes," he said. "I knew the chances of getting any place were a thousand to one. I didn't think I'd get any farther than being a drama teacher." Geren Reelected Head of Farm Group Don Geren, Eagle Point dairy man, was reelected president of the Southern Oregon Farm Tanks association Monday at a meeting in the Gold Hill Grange hall. Glen Smith, Jacksonville, was reelected secretary-treasurer and Floyd Smith, Applegate, vice president. Glen Chase, Gold Hill, was reelected to the board of directors. Oscar Hagge, Oregon dairy marketing specialist, Oregon State college, discussed the grade A dairy outlook. Besides the officers and Chase, board members are Lon nie Estes, Illinois Valley; Paul Sakraida, Applegate; and Lowell James, Grants Pass. HOT SPUDS Des Lacs, N. D.-(U.R) Baked potatoes could be had for the taking here recently. A ware house fire cooked $10,000 worth of the potatoes. IS I 4 J J tv GRAND VIEW MARKET IS PRIVILEGED TO ANNOUNCE: " GREEN STAMPS Now Given in ALL Departments! SPECIALS FOR FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JANUARY 20-21-22 KING SIZE ORANGES "50" Count HALF $169 DOZ. CRATE it PLUS S&H GREEN STAMPS! CELLO CARROTS One Pound Packages PLUS S&H GREEN STAMPS! 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SPONSORED BY THE agles and fledford Fi refightars The Jackson County Disaster Car will be on display tomorrow at the corner of Main and Central In Medford. The Medford Fire Fighters will be on hand to explain the purpose of the disaster ear and to sell tickets to tha Aunt Jemima pancake jamboree. PANCAKES wit COFFEE and lit A FlfiE FEED and a GRAND CAUSE This Announcement Published in Cooperation with the Medford Eagles Lodge and Medford Fire Fighters Disaster Car Program by the Medford Mail Tribune A Em 11 HITTER and SYG3UP . . . Adultsn , Children 3B Tickets are available at many downtown Medford locations or may be purchased from any member of the Eagles or the Fire Fighters.
