The daily banner., 1916-10-26
FARMER REkPS GAIN
BY EICHT-H0UR LAW
Prevented Tying Up of His Prod
ucts Valued at s6,0OO.O0O,O0O.
PRESIDENT is BEST FRIEND.
BY FRANK G. ODELL.
Editor Nebraska Farm Magazine.


The New York Sun quotes James
Wilson, Of Iowa. former Secretary OF
Agriculture. as saying that the farm
ers were hit hardest by the Adamson
eight-hour law, which stopped the
threatened general railroad strike. Ac-
corling to The Sun. Mr. Wilson said:
"The farmer has no eight-hour day
Should that number of hours become
general in all occupations, including
the farm. the prices of food would
rise still higher than those current"
The logic of the venerable eX-Secre-
tary Is bad The farmer is not worry
ing about the high price of food. He
raises his own food. He grows food
for sale. That's his business. IT. as
the ex-Secretary says. the eight-hour
day will increase the cost of food.
the farmer has everything to gain.
And "Uncle Jim" has overlooked
the fact that the farmers of the Unit
ed States had not less than S6.O00.OO0.-
600 worth Of products practically
ready to send to market when the
strike crisis was imminent at the
first Of September. The threatened
strike would have paraiyzed the farm
ere market and stopped the wage OF
9lso worker in every industry.
McaIcuIable losses, running into
hundreds II millions. were averted
when the strike was prevented. Wood
row Wilson did it,
STama Jim" wrs Secretary of Agri-
culture through four Republican ad
m1nistrati lions = sixteen Years. These
were sixteen years of monopoliStic con
troll Of the farmers market. During
this period. these great combinations
which have stood between the produc
or and the consumer. reached the zen
ith Of their power. Greed and extor
tion ran riot. The high cost of living
became a cry of universal complaint
for which the farmer was made the
goat.
During this period the farmers of
the country compla ined continually OF
capitalistic extortion. They held con
ventions throughout the great grain
and live stock belt TO voice their pro,
test. They sent deputations of able
men to Washington. They sent their
appeals for justice to the Secretary OF
Agriculture and waited at the door OF
the White House during the admins
trations Of Mckinley. Roosevelt and
Taft. They asked for bread and re
ceived stones of Indifference. They de
manded justice and received platitudes
about prosperity" "contentment. and
making two blades of grass grow
where one grew before"
Then came another WilSon-Wood
row Wilson. Things BEGAN to change
David F. Houston was made Secretary
Of Agriculture. For the first time In
the history of the Government the
business problems of the farmer re
ceived the attention of his Govern
ment. The Office of Markets and the
Bureau Of Rural Organization were
created to help him break the stranr'e
hold Of entrenched monopoly. The
epoch-making Rural Credits Law wa
passed by Woodrow Wilson Il d Dem
ocratic congress. The power of the
Insurer and extortioner was broken
when that act was signed.
The farmer has a good memory. He
does not forget his life long battle with
entrenched privilege = organized anl
grown purseproud Curing forty Years
Of Republican Indifference and n'isruIe
He will not forget that it was WOOD
ROW WILSON. the Peoples Presi
dent, who saved his market from ruin
on Sept. 2. 1916. The srerial pleadngs
Of Republican defenders of special
privilege and monopoly will find the
farmers ready on Nov Z