Spudman April 2023 - 30

The Lighter Side
President Calvin
UNITED POTATO
GROWERS OF
AMERICA
Buzz Shahan
Chief Operating
Officer
Coolidge (18721933),
and his wife,
Grace, enjoyed a
great relationship.
One day during
Coolidge's presidency
(1923-1929), he and
Grace were touring
a poultry farm,
and Mrs. Coolidge
remarked to the
farmer that it was
amazing that one
rooster could fertilize so many eggs. The
farmer told her that roosters do their job
over and over again each day.
" Perhaps you could point that out to
Mr. Coolidge, " she told the farmer with
a smile - loud enough for the president
to hear.
The President, noting the remark,
inquired whether the rooster serviced the
same hen each time. " No, " the farmer
told him. " The rooster gets to choose a
different hen each time. "
" Perhaps you could point that out to
Mrs. Coolidge, " the President said.
Humor lightens things up. Difficult
issues can often be couched in humor
such that, even when one's potatoproducing
region is the butt of a potato
joke, no one takes offense. It's hard to be
angry through smiles and laughter.
Farmers are known for having good
senses of humor; they like to smile and
laugh. Farmers also like being close to
Mother Earth. For centuries that
closeness has balanced farmers'
worldview. A key aspect of a farmer's
world view is the desire to remain on the
farm despite cruel weather, misguided
governmental intervention and companion
farmers over producing, glutting the
market, and killing price.
Not long after the U.S. became
independent, farmers who lived near
big cities such as Boston and New York
got together each morning before locals
|came to the market to set price for
that day's produce. No matter where a
housewife went to buy a potato, the price
was the same.
This put a bee in the housewife's
30
Spudman * April 2023
bonnet, and she complained to her
husband. The husband, wishing home
to be a respite from daily strife, sought
refuge beneath the law by complaining to
Washington D.C., which responded with
the Sherman Antitrust Act; farmers could
not collectively set potato price.
About this same time, labor unions
wished to collectively bargain to sell
members' labor to enterprises like
railroads. To appease labor unions,
Washington gave labor unions the right
recently taken from farmers; labor could
collectively bargain. With the hypocrisy too
obvious to ignore, Washington fairly and
finally included farmers, restoring the right
to collectively bargain.
This is where humor comes in: Over time,
labor out-lobbied farmers, and farmers
gradually lost the right to collectively
bargain while labor unions continue doing
it every day. Stripped of legal protection,
the option left to farmers is to voluntarily
balance supply with demand to stabilize
price. This allows the farmers to stay in
business while supplying American families
with low-cost, high-quality food.
Look at how wonderfully not having
government involved in vegetable
production has worked out for the farmer,
and especially for the consumer. Stroll any
produce aisle in any grocery store to know
that this is true. Funny how things work
out, isn't it.
Spudman April 2023

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