Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1915-01-14
PAYROLL Of
NET.
BY FARMER
WANTS NO "DEADHEADS" OIL
LIST OF EMPLOYEES.
A CALL UPON THE LAW MAKERS
TO PREVENT USELESS TAX
UPON AGRICULTURE.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union


Lecturer National Farmers Union
The farmer is the paymaster of
industry and as such he must meet
the nations payroll When industry
pays its dill 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 bulld 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
IS an apple that falls from a tree
When farmer buys plow 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 it and the dealer who
sold him the goods He pays the
wages of labor and capital employed
in the transaction as we'll 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 Industry.
There is Il tc. 'Jil IN civilization
that does n, rest urUn the back
of the farmer .ia aust pay the bills
all of them
The total value of the nations
annual agricultural products is around
S12.OOO,OOO,O0O and 1t Is safe to esti-
mate that IS cents on every dollar
goes to meeting the expenses of suO.
sidiary industries 'Fhe 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 Payroll ana How Ele
Meets 1t.
The annual payroll Of agriculture
approXimates Sl2,O00,0j0000 A por-
tion Of the amount is shifted to fer
eign countries in exports, but tho
total payroll OF industries working for
the farmer divides substantially as
follows Railroads, sl252,O0OO0
manufacturers, $4,365,0C0,000; mining,
$655OO0OOO; banks, $200.OO0.OO0;
mercantile $500 100000, and a heavy
miscellaneous payroll Constitutes the
remainder
1t takes the corn crop, the most
valuable in agriculture which sold
last year for $1.G920 100000 to pay of
the employees Of the railroads. the
money derived from our annua sales
Of livestock Of approximately $4,000
100000, the yearly cotton crop, valued
at $920000.0O0; the wheat crop
which is worth $61OOOOO0O, and the
oat crop, that is worth S440,0O0,0G0
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 few punches Of
vegetables, some fruit and poultry
which he can sell and call the pro-
ceeds his own.
When the farmer pays of his help
he has very little left and to meet
these tremendous payrClIs be has
been forced TO mortgage homes work
women in the field and increase the
hours Of his tabor 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 of all un-
necessary expenses This course is
absolutely necessary in order to avoid
a reduction in wages. and we want,
If possible. to retain the present wage
scale paid railroad and all other in
dustrial employees
We will devote this article to a
discussion of unnecessary expenses
and whe her required by law or per-
mitted by the arrangements Of the
concerns. is wholly lmmaterial We
want all waste labor and extrava-
gance. OF whatever character cut out.
We will mention the full crew bill as