THURSDAY. OCTOBER 24. 1963
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON
Georgia Hills Farmer Found in Middle of Chicken War
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By N. C. CIIRISS
linked Press International
CANTON, Ga. (UPI) - Al
most anyway you look at it
tried, roasted, barbecued or just
pecking in the branyard the
lowly chicken has become a
cause celebrc.
For a creature credited with
as much sense as a fence post,
'he chicken has caused angry
resolutions, international con
ferences, financial wrang ling
and some harsh words between
the V. S. poultry industry and
(he European Economic Com
munity (EEC).
What has now become known
as "the chicken war" began
last year when the EEC, better
known as the Common Market
(or as the "monster we spon
sor" by some American critics),
upped the tariff on U. S. chicken
imports by about eight cents a
pound.
' Depending on his economic
well - being, almost everyone in
the multi - million dollar poul
try industry in this country has
a different slant on the chicken
demarche.
But if there is a man caught
squarely In the middle of what
has become a tremendously
complicated problem, it is prob
ably the man down on the farm
where the chickens are raised.
In the rolling wooded hilts of
northwest Georgia, for ex
ample, there is Grady Chad
wick, 40, a soft-spoken farmer
who has spent all his life near
the good earth, trying to scratch
a living from it.
Scenery Excclls
Some of the most beautiful
scenery in the country can be
found in the hills and mountains
of North Georgia, but the land
has never done much to provide
a livelihood for the people who
live there.
Chadwick's home Is in Chero
kee County which claims to be
the biggest broiler - producing
area in the world. The popula
tion is split pretty much down
the middle:e!lhcr you work in
one of the few factories within
commuting distance or else you
farm chickens.
The transformation from cash
colton crops to poultry raising
began some 30 years ago when
the farmers, like Chadwick's
father, used to till the rugged
hills to raise cotton.
"Lord, It was hard work,"
Chadwick recalled.
The rural area around Can
ton is still dotted with the rustic
unpainted two - room houses of
the sharecroppers. A washing
machine sits on the porch and
lean and weather - beaten old
men sit on the front porch look
ing aimlessly at the highway.
Chickens did much to change
this.
Chadwick's longest sojourn
away from his native hills was
din ing World War II, including
the Battle of the Bulge. And in
a way he is doing battle with
the Germans again, this time
in the "the chicken war."
Income to Drop
Chadwick says his i n c o m e
will dron $1,200 this year, direct
ly he contends, because t h e
Common Market raised the tar
iffs and slashed U. S. poultry
imports.
Accustomed to raising five
flocks of 23,700 broilers annual
ly, Chadwick says this year he
will raise only (our.
He admits he is only dimly
aware of what the Common
Market is or who tlio members
are.
"To me It's just a new prob
lem," he said.
"But it does seem," he added
in his quiet voice, "that we
could continue to sell broilers
to them and thev could sell
something to us that they pro
duce cheap.
The one member of the Com
mon Market which Chadwick
was sure of, was West Germany
once the biggest importer
oi u. s. poultry.
Chadwick's understanding of
the tariff increase is that West
Germany and the other five
member nations are seeking to
encourage poultry raising in
their own barnyards.
I guess I can't blame them,"
he said simply.
However I know it will take
them a long time to be able to
produce broilers as cheaply and
in such quantities as we do.
Seems they could let us con
tinue," he said.
Started in 1916
Chadwick bought his first 80
acre farm in 1946. In 1955 he
purchased another of 235 acres,
in 1958 a third of 80 acres and in
1960 his fourth farm, 119 acres.
He paid $4,000 for the 235
acres, and recently, he said, he
was offered that amount for 80
acres of it.
"I think I'll hang on to it for a
while," he said.
Chadwick, who quit high
school in the 10th grade ("most
all the older boys had gone into
the Army, and there was a lot
of work to be done on the
farm"), has four children rang
ing in age from a boy of 17 to a
girl of 4.
"I work about an average of
10 to 12 hours a day and on Sun
day I usually get by with only
4 or 5 hours of work," he said.
He and his family live in a
modest white house and he
drives a pick-up truck and a
Chevrolet that saw its heyday
a dozen years ago.
You can see the way we
live," he said. "It ain't much."
Despite the slump, Chadwick
is building a large new chicken
house with the help of a share
cropper who, with Chadwick's
wife and children, help him
tend the four farms of chickens,
a few cattle and acres of rich
green pastureland.
"The Common Market isn't
the only problem I got to face,"
he said.
"Right now I'm having to wait
about six weeks before I get my
new flock of chicks. I don't be
lieve I've ever had to wait that
long before."
The reason for the delay is
over - production. Chadwick had
been making some money by
raising brooder hens and selling
the eggs. Now he says, with the
Common Market slash, and the
market glut, that income also
is going out the window.
Right now it costs Chadwick
14 cents per pound to raise his
chickens, and he is being paid
12'k cents. This is not perma
nent, Chadwick hopes, only the
result of a slump caused by the
Common Market tariff, over
production and other problems
in the industry. He has earned
much better and hopes to do so
again.
"When you've worked hard
for 15 to 20 years, you don't just
throw up your hands and quit
because you hit a rough spot,"
he said. "You just keep plugging
away. That's what I'm doing."
Mass Rail Transit
Said Fund Threat
PORTLAND (UPI) The
executive director of the Na
tional Highway Users Confer
ence warned Tuesday that pro
ponents of mass rail transit
systems are a threat to high
way building funds.
Arthur Butler told the Oregon
chapter of the conference that
a constant walch is required to
prevent rail transit advocates
from diverting funds from road
building.
He lauded the 13 Oregon
Legislature (or defeating a bill
which would have authorized
purchase of expanded freeway
center strips for monorail o r
other rail transit use an ex
ample, he said, of efforts t o
divert highway money u n-
obtrusively.
Butler, of Washington, D.C.,
also praised Portland's freeway
system, which he says "opens
tip the city and gives It a clean,
spacious appearance."
About 81 per cent of the U.S.
labor force works for wages and
about 19 per cent it self-employ,
ed.
U.S. railroads In 1954 estab
lished a passenger fatality safe
ty mark of only .07 per 100 mil
lion passenger miles.
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