The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1915-03-05
PAYROLL Or
CIVILIZATION 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
Iectnrer National FARMERS, union

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 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 tree.
When a 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 1t into an ar
ticle of usefulness, the railroad that
transported it and the dealer who
sold him the goods. He pays the
wages of labor and capital employed
in the transaction al 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
$12,000,000, 900, and it is safe to est.
mate that IS 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 az
the manufacturer, railroad, CONNER
cial and other servants.
Tho Farmers Payroll and How He
Meets It.
The annual payroll of agriculture
approximates $12,000.000 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 az
follows: Railroads, 1,252,000. 000;
manufacturers. $4,3e5.oOo.ooo; mining
$685. OO,0 900: banks, 100000, 900;
mercantile $500. 900, 900, and heavy
miscellaneous payroll constitutes the
remainder.
It takes the corn crop, the most
valuable in agriculture, which sold
last year for 1882. 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 $920,000,0O0; the wheat crop
which is worth $610.000.000, and the
oat crop, that is worth $440,000,00o
are required to meet the annual pay
roll of the manufacturers. Thu
money derived from the remaining
staple crops ia used In meeting thu
payroll Of the bankers, merchants
etc. After these obligations are paid
the farmer has only a few punches o.
vegetables. some fruit and poultry
which he can sell and call the pro
ceeds his own.
When the farmer pays of his hell
ha has very little LETT and to mee
these tremendous payrolls he hal
heen 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
dustries dependent upon the farmer'
for subsistence to retrench In theil
y arnenditures and to cut OF al un
necessary expenses. This course u
absolutely necessary in order to avoi'
: reduction in wages, and We want
Il possible, to retain the present wag'
aoale paid railroad and all other II
Idustrial employees.
We will devote this article 70
A,scnssion Of unnecessary EXPENSE
and whether required BY law OF pen
nitted by the managements OF Tn
ocrcerns. Is wholly immaterial w
~ert ali waste labor and extrava
,~.rca Of whatever character, cut ou'
g. vii mention the full crew bill Q