The Patriotism of Production
A wartime editorial debates whether local farmers are failing their country by exiting the livestock business during high feed costs.
There is a letter from A. S. Goss, who criticizes his fellow farmers for their failure to awake to the necessity of conserving the livestock supply. The letter is timely and touches upon a phase of food conservation which is going to be one of the most serious problems the nation will be called upon to solve. In spite of the urgent necessity for increased livestock production the livestock industry in this valley is sadly on the decline. There is not one hog now where there were hundreds three years ago and even the dairy business is on the downward grade. If this same condition is general throughout the country and unless something is done to arrest the downward tendency the livestock shortage is going to be little short of calamitous. If the dairyman and stock raiser is being squeezed out between the man who buys his product and the man who produces his feed, his case should be laid before the food administrator without delay. If, on the other hand, he is getting out of the business because he cannot make a larger margin of profit than before, he is failing in his patriotic duty.
“If the dairyman and stock raiser is being squeezed out between the man who buys his product and the man who produces his feed, his case should be laid before the food administrator without delay.”
This captures the anxiety of a wartime economy, framing the economic decisions of individuals as a moral or patriotic failure—a recurring theme in times of crisis and inflation.
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