The Richfield recorder. (Richfield, Idaho) 1909-1931, 1915-01-28
PAYROLL Of
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


The farmer is the paymaster OF
industry and as such he must meet
the nations payroll. When industry
pays its 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 yer 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; it is
as certain to seek the earth's surface
as an apple that falls from a tree.
When a farmer buys a plow he pays
the man who mined the metal, the
woodman who felled the tree, the
manufacturer who assembled b raw
material and shaped it 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 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
S12. 900, 900 900, and 1t is safe to esti-
mate that 95 cents IN 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 It.
The annual payroll Of agriculture
opportunities $12,000.000, 900. A por-
ton of the amount Is shifted to for
eigns countries in exports, but the
total payroll Of industries working for
The farmer divides substantially as
Railroads, $1,252, 000. 900;
manufacturers, $4,365, 000, 900; mining,
s655, 900, 900; banks, 5000. 900. 900:
mercantile $4,000, 0O0, 900. and a heavy
miscellaneous payroll constitutes the
'emainder.
1t takes the corn crop, the most
in agriculture, which sold
asst year for 1882, 900. 1000. to pay of
he employees of the railroads; the
money derived from u annual sales
# livestock of approximately $4,000
100, 900, the yearly cotton crop, valued
It 1920 900, 900; the wheat crop,
which is worth $500 900, 900, and the
crop, that is worth $440, 900 1000,
required to meet the annual pay
oil Of the manufacturers. The
honey derived from the remaining
crops is used in meeting the
ayroll OF the bankers. merchants, ]
tc. After these obligations are paid,
he farmer has only a few punches Of
e%getables, some fruit and poultry {
,hich he can sell and call the pro-
eeds his own.
When the farmer pays of his help s
9 has very little left and to meet r
lese tremendous payrolls he has
forced to mortgage homes, work
omen in the field and increase the r
ouss of his labor. We are, there !
compelled to call upon all in =
1stries dependent upon the farmers
II subsistence to retrench In their
spenditures and to cut of all un-
expenses. This course is C.
,soluxely necessary in order to avoid a.
reduction in wages, and VIZ want, Ii
possible, to retain the present wage a
ale paid railroad and all other in b.
employees. II
will devote this article to q
scussion of unnecessary expenses It
ID whether required by law or per- II
tilted by the arrangements of the HI
ncerns, is wholly immaterial- We ri
ant all waste labor and extrava- m
nee, OF whatever character. cut out. r.
9 will mention the full crew bill as m