
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 11, 1994                   TAG: 9405180003
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOYCE STAMPER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TAXING TOBACCO

ONCE AGAIN, farmers are being victimized and should be included on the endangered-species list. Taxing cigarettes as is being proposed will have the inevitable domino effect on the industry. From farmer to finished product, the industry will suffer enormous losses in jobs and revenue.

In 1983, I had the opportunity to become a part of harvesting tobacco, from cutting to seeing it sold at market. My late uncle took this fresh-out-of-the-city kid from Washington, D.C., and put me to cutting.

His eldest son said "she will never make it.'' Well, I did not think I would, either, but of course I did not let him know that. For four summers, I worked in my uncle's tobacco patch. For those of you who have never done it, let me warn you: It is hard work, hot and with long hours - but the most satisfying work I have ever done.

I also learned that farmers are never fully compensated for the hard work they do. Today, a farmer can watch his crops grow, and in a matter of hours see them wiped out by nature. A farmer's livelihood and paycheck are in God's hands totally.

According to II Timothy 2:6: "It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops." I think most of us would agree he does not.

Of course, there are those who will say farmers have it easier, with an array of modern equipment, than did their counterparts of 100 years ago. I agree. But nature has not changed.

Farmers today still face the same weather elements. If they are wiped out, they have to wait until the next growing season and not the next day, week or month.

My parents come from farm families that struggled through the Depression, and farming brought them through that most difficult time.

If we victimize the farmer with a tax on tobacco, will there be a five-year, possibly 10-year, plan to help him that in all likelihood will take the government 10 years to put into effect? What will he do in the meantime? Will the government let him produce a crop that will have the monetary significance that tobacco does to his livelihood?

Tobacco has always had enemies - from King James I, who disliked the odor, to the settlers of early New England, where laws were instituted to prohibit its use. Now, to finance a health-care plan that few people can understand, President Clinton and his supporters are going to victimize the farmer once again!

Farmers are like the Bible. After many years of use, a Bible becomes worn and frayed. But the message is still the same, pure and true.

Farmers will continue to work hard, become frayed and worn - and will remain, I hope, steadfast in their love and loyalty to the land, but will press elected politicians to fight for them and an alternative method.

Joyce Stamper, produce manager for a grocery store in South Carolina, is living in Marion while recovering from surgery.

by CNB