The Wahpeton times., 1918-03-21
is just as necessary as the moving
of trains.
Unions IN Accord

Is JuSI do uCCCbSd1y dO CuC IuUtIuS
Of trains.
Unions IN Accord
"The employees in the packing
plants controlled by the big pack
ers are strongly in favor of Gov
crnment ownership and operation
of that industry" said Edward
Nocklcs, secretary of the Chicago
Federation of Labor, while iu
Washington at the head Of a del
egation Of the workers in the Chi
cago plants. "They believe that
the benefits OF the industry should
go to the producers and the con-
cuners of the goods. They are
going to keep working for that
program. So far as organized
labor in the stockyards is COLI
ccrned, it wants the conditions
improved now, and not after the
war. We are to bring this ques-
tion up at the next convention
of the American Federation of
Labor, which will meet at St. Paul
in june
The packers lawyers and their
spies in the labor unions know all
about this agitation. A campaign
will BE- made inside the labor un-
ions to stop the public ownership
talk. and the leaders who insist
on public ownership will find
themselves attacked as bolshevi-
XII" and anarchists. ii not as
the packers have always been in
politics, and are now threatened
with criminal prosecutions on the
one hand and smashing of their
fabulous profits OH the other. there
is going to be desperate fighting.
Their influence will be felt in the
choosing of candidates for public
office in all the Western States es-
.pecially. from police Judges up to
nl1ed States Senators and gov
erllorS of the States.
SDntimcnt for Bar Blu
Sentiment i'll the West is devel-
oping so strongly for the Baer
Bill that the opinion is expressed
in many quarters that the House
Committee on Agriculture, which
failed to report the bill on a tie
vote, will reconsider it's action.
1t is confidently predicted that
this bill or an amended form Of
it will become Il law in time to
aid the farmers this season SO that
production may be kept to a max
imum.
General disappointment was felt
by those in position to speak for
the farmers when the news came
that the measure to appropriate
$50, ,000,00 to aid in financing the
farmers in seeding full acreage
and in purchasing fodder for their
stock had been turned down by
the committee.
"The failure of the Baer Bill
to be reported from the commit
tee is blow at war production
that may do this country and it's
allies more real danger than dis
astrols defeat on the western
'front.'" said President A. c..
Townley, Of the National Non
partisan League, in an interview
published generally in the news
papers of the east.
Mare Important Than Munitions
There is real need for finan-
cial aid to farmers. Without it
our farm production is bound to
suffer. Wheat is more important
than munitions in winning the
war. Food Administrator Hoover
i'll the hearings earnestly support
ed the bin and said food was d
vital problem and that we should
not fail in the production of sim
gle acre. Congressman Baer pro-
duced irrefutable evidence show
ing that we would fail in the pro-
duction of a great many acres un-
less some relief was forthcoming.
"Yet in the face Of this. the
bill fails in Committee because
Secretary of Agriculture Houston
spent several hours in talking
against it. He is reported to have
said that sit is poor business lend
ing money to farmers on credit. 81
docs he mean that it is poor
business for the government to
increase crop production. even if
they lost some money by so doing
or that it is poor business fo,
the private farm mortgage asso
Citations and the bankers?
Munition Makers Get Loan
The government found it nee
essary to loan a great many mil
limos of dollars to munition max
ers and ship-buildels. Aid of tn,
same sort is necessary to ins,,re th