Crossville chronicle. [volume] (Crossville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1915-02-10
PAYROLL Of
MET.
BY FARMER
WANTS NO "DEADHEADS" ON
LIST OF EMPLOYEES.
A CALL UPON THE LAW 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 it's bill it must make a 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; it is
as certain to seek the earth's surface
as an apple that falls from tree.
When farmer buys a pillow he pays
the man who mined the metal, the
woOdman who felled the tree, the
manufacturer who assembled the raw
material and shaped it into an ar
transported il and the dealer who
sold him the GOODS. He pays the
wages of labor and capital employed
in the transa ion as well as 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
hnf vat %l4 L41 II
Of the farmer He must pay the bills
all Of them.
The total value of the nations
annual agricultural products is around
$12,0O0,O00,OOO md it is safe to esti-
mate that 95 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 days toll he
devotes to meeting the payroll Of the
hired hands of agriculture, such as
the manufacturer, railroad, CONNER
cial and other servants.
The Farmers Payrol and How He
Meets II.
The annual payroll Of agriculture
approximates $12,000,000,000. 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, $1,252,000,00o;
$4,365,000,000 mining,
$685., 100000; banks, $200,0O0,OO0
$3,500,000,O 900, and heavy
payroll constitutes the
remainder.
1t takes the corn crop, the most
in agriculture, which sold
last year for 1892, 100000, to pay off
the employees of the railroads; the
money derived from our annual sales
Of livestock of approximately $1,000
100000, the yearly cotton crop, valued |
at $920,000,000; the wheat crop,
which is worth $61O,0OO,0O0, and the
Dat crop, that is worth $440,0O0,0OO,
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,
tic. After these obligations are paid,
he farmer has only few lunches Of /
vegetables, some fruit and poultry
which he can sell and call the pro.
leeds his own.
When the farmer pays off his help l.
le has very little left and to meet
hese tremendous payrolls he has
jeen forced to mortgage homes, work
women in the field and increase the
tours of his labor. We are, there
ore, compelled to call upon all In
ustries dependent upon the farmers
or subsistence to retrench in their
and to cut off all un-
ecessary expenses. This course is
bsolutely necessary in order to avoid
reduction in wages, and we want,
, possible, to retain the present wage
Gale paid railroad and all other in
ustrial employees.
We will devote this article to
iscussion Of unnecessary expenses
nd whether required by law or per-
lifted by the arrangements of the
oncerns, Is wholly immaterial. We
ant all waste labor and extrava.
ance, of whatever character, cut out
Je will mention the full crew bill as