Evening star., 1919-10-05
Presidents Industrial Conference
Must Heed Voice Of the Farmer

the bidding for seven-dollar-a-day labor can't
be done by them except at a loss. That the
situation from their point of view thus resolves
itself down to either higher prices for products
lower prices for the labor and necessaries
they have to buy. That unless one or the other
of these alternatives is acceptable they the
farmers will merely decline to produce food
for their own personal consumption.
There will undoubtedly be many and sundry
subsidiary observations as to what appears to
be the cause for growing discomfort the part
of the farmers of the nation over their present.
day predcament but the outline above gives
what best advices indicate is an accurate synop-
sis of the farmer representations in SO far
their own estate is concerned. 1t may be antic-
pated that, having unburdened themselves of
these observations, the farmer conferees will
fold their hands and sit back. Shortly after
ward some one will ask exactly what they want
done about it. And right at that point there is
a strong likelihood that the rift in the lutte,
the fly in the ointment, the joker in the deck
will become apparent to all concerned.
X X X X
For there is variety of opinion among the
farmers themselves to just exactly what
they do want done about it. Farmer policies
run tho gamut from all that is conservative to
all that is radical And lacking any established
unity of program there is a strong possibility
that some highly sensational and radical propo-
sition may be dragged in with the claim that
it is heartily indorsed by the farmers of the
nation. And the fact that lends added tension
to this possibility is that once made, such
claim would be pretty difficult to disprove with
any degree of promptness-
For while the American farmer is organized
to the nth degree. as the conference will dis
close, he isn't organized in such
would enable him to speak with single voice.
He is organized separately for education, for
legislation and for cooperation He is or
ganized for marketing and for buying. He is
ganized distinctly for growing potatoes and
sugar beets and beef cattle. and for such pur-
poses and production and-and cleaning. Incl
dentally he is organized fraternally and equita-
bly, and by sects And, furthermore numbers Of
these sub-organizatons grouped together
into lesser but still considerable numbers Of
federations and boards councils and associa-
tions and leagues
The truth of the matter is that he has really
overdone this organization proposition. For the
purposes Of organization are, it is generally
believed today, to obtain force through unity.
while it would seem that in the of the
American farmer the multiplex character of his
organizing intensifes differences of opinions
and detracts from the possibilities of unified
insistence upon any given objective In other
words, the American farmer is today not or
ganized as the American farmer, pure and SIM
pie. There undoubtedly exist in any Of num-
Der of the organizations falling under one
another of the above indicated classifcations
potential germs Of union which might enable
farmers in the United States to become articu-
late as whole. But just at present that power
is denied them.
So when the question is asked the farmer