Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1915-01-16
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

| 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 1t 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 II
will rest upon the soil No dollar
will remain suspended In midair; II is
as certain to seek the earth's surface
as an apple that falls from tree
When farmer buys pillow he pays
the man who mined the metal the
Woodman who felled the tree the
manufacturer who assembled the raw
material and shaped II into an ar
ticle OF usefulness, the railroad that
transported 1t and the dealer who
sold him the goods He pays the
wages of labor and capital employed
in the transaction 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
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
a$l2, 100000, 900 and 1t 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
cial and other servants
The Farmers Payroll and How Ne
Meets II.
The annual payroll OF agriculture
approximates $4,000, 100000 A por.
ton of the amount Ia shifted to for.
eign countries In exports. but the
total payroll of industries working for
the farmer divides substantially az
follows: Railroads. $1,252. 000. 900;
manufacturers, $4,365,0O0,0O mining,
$685.. 100000; banks, $200,000,000;
mercantile $3,50O,OOO, 900, and heavy
miscellaneous payroll constitutes the
remainder
1t takes the corn crop, the most
valuable in agriculture, which sold
last year for 81. 1922. 100000, to pay Off
the employees of the railroads; the
money derived from our annual sales
of livestock OF approximately $4,000.
100000, the yearly cotton crop, valued
III
which is worth $610,OO0.0OO, and the
oat crop, that is worth $440,000,000,
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 off his help
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 of all I'm
necessary expenses. This course is
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
and whether required by law or per.
mitted by the arrangements of the
concerns, is wholly immaterial We
want all waste labor and extrava-
gance. OF whatever character. cut out.
We will mention the full crew bill a.