Licking Valley courier. [volume] (West Liberty, Ky.) 19??-current, 1915-03-25
PAYROLL Of
MET
BY FARMER
WANTS NO "DEADHEADS" ON
LIST OF employees.
A CALL UPON THE LAW MAKERS
TO PREVENT USELESS TAX
UPON AGRICULTURE.
Lecturer National Farmers Union

by Peter Hadford
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 O 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 1t
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 a 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 it 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 SUBJ
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
$4,000, 100000, and 1t is safe to esti-
mate that So 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.
Tho Farmers Payroll and How He
Meets Il.
The annual payroll Of agriculture
approximates Sl2,00O,O00,00O. A por-
tion 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,OO0, 900;
manufacturers. $4,365,0OO,O0O mining,
s655,O00,000; banks, 100000, 900;
mercantile $500, 900, 900, and a heavy
miscellaneous payroll constitutes the
remainder.
It takes the corn crop, the most
valuable in agriculture, which sold
last year for 1892, 100000, to pay of
the employees of the railroads; the
money derived from our annual sales
Of livestock Of approximately $4,000,
100000, the yearly cotton crop, valued
at $920,000,000; the wheat crop
which is worth 500, 100000, and the
oat crop, that is worth 100000, 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 few punches o.
vegetables, some fruit and poultry
which he can sell and call the pro
ceeds his own.
When the farmer pays Off his hell
he has very little left and to NEE
these tremendous payrolls he ha.
been forced to mortgage homes, worl
women in the field and increase tn,
hours Of his labor. We are, there
fore, compelled to call upon all in
dustrles dependent upon the farmers
for subsistence to retrench in thei
expenditures and to cut of all un
necessary expenses. This course Il
absolutely necessary in order to avoiC
a reduction in wages, and we want
II possible, to retain the present wag'
scale paid railroad and all other in
dustrial employees.
We will devote this article to
discussion Of unnecessary expenses
and whether required by law or per
mitted by the arrangements of thu
concerns, is wholly immaterlal. w,
want all waste labor and extrava
gance, of whatever character, cut out
We will mention the full crew bill al
strating the character OF unneces
y expenses to which we refer
Union Opposes "FuIl Crew" Bill.
The Texas Farmers Union regis
.ered its opposition to this characte
of legislation at the last annual meet
ing held in Fort Worth, Tex, Angus
. 4, 1914, by resolution. which we quote
as follows:
"The matter OF prime importanc
to the farmers OF this state is an ade
Quate and efficient marketing system
and we recognize that such q systeu