Weekly journal-miner., 1919-11-05
FARMERS URGE NO IDLENESS
 FOR LABOR

KANSAS CITY, Mo, Nov. g. -
 Organized labor cannot count on the
 farmers to join it in any efforts to
 further shorten the hours of labor or
 increase wages. Furthermore, organ
 ized labor mLlst very shortly heed a
 concerted demand from the farmers
 that it not only cease agitation along
 these lines. but that 1t use its best efforts toward "exerting a steadying
 influence" in these turbulent times, particularly by refraining from strik-
 ing.
 This stand of the farmers of the
 United States is outlined in reSolu-
 tions recently adopted by the Inter
 national Farm Congress, at its annual three-day's sessions at Kansas City.
 The resolutions begin by pointing
 with pride" to the splendid war-pro- duction record made by the farmers,
 and pledge to continue to produce
 in such measure as may be required to meet any further emergency" Then, after renewing to the hosts oi labor our expressions of friendship and good will" the resolutions pro ceed to 'view with apprehension and disfavor the turbulent conditions ex-
 isting. particularly in the ranks of organized labor"
 Next comes a protest against the policy or organized labor in urging greater production on the farms, while deliberately restricting the out put of the factories, and encouraging lessened individual effort. "We con tend" the resolutions recite, that production in the factories Is second in importance only to production OH the farms, and that the obligation of labor to society is not less than that of the farmer"
 The resolutions "deplore the calling of strikes in times like these for any reason other than a grave emer- gency." They oppose the unioniza- ton of police officers, or any other officials or employees ill public service; view with disfavor and alarm the growing tendency toward idleness among all classes of people; voice vigorous protest against the wide margin between prices paid the pro- ducer and those charged the consum- CT; condemn prohteering, particularly ill the necessities of life, and oppose further government operation of rail roads.
 A statement from the headquarters of the Farm Congress, in Kansas City, points out that these resolutions were adopted unanimously by more than a thousand delegates, represent ing the farmers of a dozen or moro states, and that they are the result or months of careful study and investi gation These farmers are now awake to the fact that the labor situation constitutes a menace to them greater than all others com bined," the statement declares. Farms cannot be operated on a six hour basis, or even eight. Neither can dollar -an-hour wages be paid. To put the farms on any such bass, even if it could be done, would at once force the price of foodstuffs so high that all but the well-to-do would go hungry. Farm labor now demands wages approxinlating those paid lin the factories. And, if farm laborers do not get such wages they go to the factories.
 "The farmer delegates who sound ed this warning to labor know that the workmen in the factories as a rule are not trying to be efficient; that the output per man IS greatly lessened, and that this policy is not only permitted but encouraged by the labor rganizations-eve demanded, in effect, by some of them It is the knowledge of these things that this challenge, this calling to account, by as representative gathering of farmers as ever assem- Dled anywhere.
 Every time wages are increased. pr the hours shortened. the cost of things the farmers and everybody else have to buy is increased. Every strike is paid for by the consumers in costs. Every loafer and stacker in the factories adds to such costs. No one knows this better than the farmers who met at Kansas City. The farmer does not strike or shirk. He is coming before the country with clean hands, to demand of the work man that he shall work or go hungry, and of the manufacturer and mer- chant that they shall not take more than is fair"
 There is no moral, physiological, social or business reason why all able bodied men should not work reasor- able number of hours each day or week; and we hold that 1t is all eco homie necessity, becoming more pro- lounccd each year, that they do so. The limit of Hess work and more pay" has been reached. Conservative reports indicate that the average eff ciency per workman in all the fact OrieS of the United States has de creased at least 25 per cent in the last three years.
 "The Farm Congress has for Is years been one of the greatest con 5tructive agricultural educational in- stitutions in the world. Ii is now adding the above, in substance, to its declaration of principles. This must not be construed as a fight on organ zed labor, as such. but rather for the very existence of the farm as an in- Stitution."