The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1915-01-15
PAYROLL Of
CIVILIZATION MET
BY FARMER
WANTS NO "DEADHEADS" ON
LIST OF employees. 7
A CALL UPON THE lay MAKERS
TO PREVENT USELESS TAX
UPON AGRICULTURE.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union

The farmer Is the paymaster OF
industry and as such he must meet
the nations payroll. When industry
pays its bill it must make . sight
draft upon agriculture for the amount,
which the farmer Is compelled to
honor without protest This check
drawn upon agriculture may travel to
and fro over the highways of COM
merce; may build cities; girdle the
globe with bands Of steel; may search
hidden treasures In the earth or
traverse the skies. but in the end It
will rest upon the soil. No dollar
will remain suspended in midair; 1t Is
as certain to seek the earth's surface
as an apple that falls from q tree.
When a farmer buys a pillow he pays
the mar who mined the metal, the
woodman who fe1led the tree. the
manufacturer who assembled the raw
material and shaped 1t into an ar
ticle Of usefulness, the railroad that
transported It and the dealer who
sold him the goods. He pays the
wages of labor and capital employed
in the TRANSACTION as we'll az pays
for the tools. machinery. buildings,
ETC., used in the construction Of the
commodity and the same applies to
all articles of use and diet of him.
self and those engaged in the sub.
sidiary lines of industry.
There is no payroll in civilization
that does not rest upon the back
Of the farmer. He must pay the bills
all Of them.
The total value of the nations
annual agricultural products is around
81. 000. O0O. 900. and 1t Is safe to esti.
mate that IS cents on every dollar
goes to meeting the expenses Of sub.
sidiary industries. The farmer does
not work more than thirty minutes
per day for himself; the remaining
thirteen hours of the da3.s toll he
devotes to meeting the piksoll Of the
hired hands Of ~agricufture,y such as
the manufacturer, railrcadE CONNER.
cial and other servants.
The Farmers Payroll and How He
Meets Il.
The annual payroll of agriculture
approximates $12, O00, 100000. A por-
ton of the amount is shifted to for.
eign countries in exports. but the
total payroll Of industries working for
the farmer divides substantially as
follows: Railroads, $1.252, 600. 900:
manufacturers. $4,365, OO0. 900: mining,
$685., 900, 900; banks, $780, 900, 900;
mercantile $780, 00, 900. and a heavy
miscellaneous payroll constitutes the
remainder.
1t takes the corn crop. the most
valuable in agriculture, which sold
last year for 1882, 900 1000, to pay off
the employees of the railroads; the
money derived from our annua. sales
Of livestock of approximately 1000.
100000, the yearly cotton crop. valued
at 1920, 000, 900; the wheat crop,
which is worth $610, 000. 900. and the
oat crop. that Is worth $440, 000, 900,
are required to meet the annual pay.
roll Of the manufacturers. The
money derived from the remaining
staple crops is used in meeting the
payroll Of the bankers. merchants
etc. After these obligations are paid,
the farmer has only a few lunches OF
vegetables, some fruit and poultry
which he al sell and call the pro
ceeds his own.
When the farmer pays of his helE
he has very little left and to meet
these tremendous payrolls he has
been forced to mortgage homes. WORK
women in the field and increase the
hours of his labor. We are. there
fore. compelled to call upon all in
dustries dependent upon the farmers
for subsistence to retrench in their
expenditures and to cut off all un
necessary expenses. This course il
absolutely necessary in order to avoid
a reduction in wages, and we want
IL possible, to retain the present wage
scale paid railroad and all other in
dustrial employees.
We will devote this article to q
discussion OF unnecessary expenses
anu WuctueT TcquITeu ny law UT per
mitted by the arrangements of the
concerns, is wholly immaterial. VIZ
want all waste labor and extrava
gance, of whatever character. cut out
We will mention the full crew bill a
illustrating the character Of unneces
aary expenses TO which we refer.
4 Union Opposes .FuIi Grew" Bill
" The Texas Farmers Union regis
tered its opposition to this characte'
of legislation at the last annual meet
ing held in Fort Worth, Tex. Angus
Z. 1914. by resolution. which we quote
as follows:
The matter Of prime importance
to the farmers Of this state il an ade
'Quate and efficient marketing system
and we recognize that such q system
is impossible without adequate rail
road facilities. embracing the creates
amount Of service at the least poi