The Donaldsonville chief., 1915-01-23
Payroll. 0F-
CIVILIZATION NE
BY FARMER R
WANTS NO sDEADHEADS"
ON LIST OF EMPLOYEES.
A Call Upon the Law Makers to
Prevent Useless Tax on
Agriculture.
BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union.

BY Peter Radford
Lecturer National Farmers Union.
There is no payroll in civiliza-
ton that does not rest upon ths
back Of the farmer. He must
pay the bills-all of them.
When a farmer buys a p1oW
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 article Of use
fulness, the railroad that trans
ported it and the dealer who sold
him the goods. He pays. the
wages of labor and capital en-
ployed in the transaction as we'll
as pays for the tools, machinery,
buildings, etc, used in the CON
struction Of the commodity and
the same applies to all articles
Of use and diet of himself and
those engaged in the subsidiary
lines OF industry.
The total value Of the nations
annual agricultural products is
around S12,O00,0OO,O0O, and it is
safe to estimate that o5 cents on.
every dollar goes to meet the
expenses of subsidiary 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.
commercial and other servants.
The Farmers Payroll and How
He Meets It.
The annual payroll OF agri-
culture approximates S12,0OO,OOO,-
OOO. A portion Of the amount is
shifted to foreign countries IN ex-
ports, but the total payroll Of in
dustries working for the farmer
divides substantially as follows:
Railroads, 81, $4,000, 900; manu-
facturers, 81 44,365 100000; mining,
s555, 100000; banks, 100000, 900:
mercantile, S3,500.000,00o, and a
heavy miscellaneous payroll con
stitutes the remainder.
1t takes the corn crop, the
most valuable in agriculture,
which sold last year for 81, ,6o2,-
to pay off the employees
of the railroads; the money del
rived from our annual sales ,of
livestock Of approximately S.
ooO,O00,000, the yearly cotton
crop, valued at So2O,OOO,OOO; the
wheat crop, which is worth $780,
and the oat crop, thar
5 worth s44o,D0,0O0, are re-
lulred to meet the annual pay
oil Of the manufacturers. The
money derived from the remain
ng staple crops is used in meet
ng the payroll Of the bankers,
merchants, etc. After these OBJ
1gatlons are paid, the farmer has
'nly few bunches Of vegetables,
ome fruit and poultry which he
an sell and cali the proceeds
lis own.
When the farmer pays off his
Ielp he has very little left and
Q meet these tremendous pay
oils he has been forced to mort
age homes, work women in the
leld and increase the hours OF
is labor.
We will devote this article to
discussion of unnecessary ex-
enses and whether required by /
NV or permitted by the man
gements OF the concerns, IS
holly immateriai. We want al1| s
'aste labor and extravaganza. Of /
Fhatever character, cut out wei s
I'LL mention the full crew bill as,
lustratlng the character of unnec-
ssary expenses to which we refer
'nlon Opposes Full Crew" Bill.
The Texas Farmers Union !
egistered its opposition to this y y
1aracter of legislation at the /,
lst annual meeting held in Fort t
Worth, Texas, August 4, 1914. n
y resolution, as follows: :
The matter OF prime inpor- +, :,
lnce to the farmers of this state t t
an adequate and efficient mar v
citing system; and we recognize b
Tha Eis+ ~ ~