The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-02-14
The Farmers strike.

Many people are troubled about
he industrial strikes that are re-
orted from day to day but OF the
lost serious strike Of al, which IS
prospect, one hears very little. We
an manage to stand a strike in the
extile mills and the clothing indus
~, because, il worse comes TO
worst, we could make cut with our
Id garments fer whole year. \
trike of electrical workers would EN-
arrass the country greatly, but so
ong as there was food to eat the
nblic might worry along somehow
)ut what shou d we all do ii the farm
RS struck work On raising food
rops to sell? Starvation would ioi
ow. And precisely such strife rs
hat is threatened ---------
In Russia, the peasants, In whose
.ands the land now is, have put just
ueh strike mtg effect They arc
rot giving ND her food lsmducte
Their grain Is inltheir bins Etofty
Up against tlln Immediate ntadsl y
heir own ,leglfiesl They wsli iibli
leithet;Hhhsr sfnts Sassie, theNt MhsI
heir Hiilk.tam HhaN woaEh Nas
hould they? The money offered
hem Is worth esS, Aleans, OF trans
Dortation are paralyzed. Still mere
3vil days are coming The peasant
;eeps his products, even hiding then
beneath the earth if necessary The
American farmers situation - 20.
precisely stint az 10 that Brittle Rms.
ian ptasap tt butshe openly declares,
through itlfeS y Agricultural Journals
through the grange meetings, and
TO all and sundry, that he
IS tired of producing food fer other
people and letting the middeman
make all the money on It. and he Is
not going 10 do Il any more. Said a
northern Massachusetts farmer to
the writer Of this: II can get
enough for myself and my family out
of this place without selling any food
crop, and am going to do 1t after
this. The land is mine and not the
eountry's. ! am through working
early and late to fatten somebody
else" On this theory Aroca.oolS
decides that it will raise no more po
tatoes. Farmers all through the east
are killing or getting rid of their
poultry stock, except what they want
for their own tables. Dairying is be
ing given up. In New England
there are plenty of farms where the
sacrifice OF the timber would furnish
clothing and all requirements Of the
family outside OF it's food require
ment, and the farmer does not mind
sacrificing the timber because therf
is nobody to come after him on the
farm,
II is easy to see where the adop
ton of this philosophy, il it prevailed
all over the country, would lead. Til
farmers would live-yery poorly, &c
be sure, but still somehow--anf
everybody else would perish. T.
answer II, the question would have
to be asked whether the farmer real
ly has any right to behave in any
such manner. Has the nation no in
terest in his production OF food t.
sell as well as to have2 The English
law on which our institutions are
founded says that 1t has 1t recog
Mics no absolute private ownership
OF land. The absolute title is in the
crown and the ownership of land II
fee simple Is but tenancy. The
same principle prevails in this coun
| try with the state in the place of thu
crown. The law gives the legis a
ture the supreme power over The
land 1t may readily be seen there
fore that the state will have some
thing to say about the farmers abdi
cation of his function as a produces
of food il the farmer should attemp
its-Boston Transcript