The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-09-21
MORE IMPORTANT TO VEL
APE OF HUMANITY THAN
LEAGUE OF NATIONS.
nFcIDEDL Y BIG QUESTION

r. Present Conditions AS TO Farm
Labor Remain Unremedied Re-
dueed Crop Yield Is Inevitable.
The Farmer Must Have Profits.
products of agriculture constitute
+ba real substantial foundation OF
o on national life; the important prob
f"nns of the farm are therefore the
-e;taI nroblems of the entire country,
',rtas r. F. Yoakum, chairman OF
w. hoard of directors of the st.
TOuis and San Francisco railroad,
in the New York Times.
=" Vet each political party is chal-
Longing the other to make the
ieague of nations the principal issue
for fore next November's election, which
a oorried to it's final analysis means
that other subjects affecting the crit
;naI Situation in the economic life of
tho nation must take second place.
The farmers as a class should
know if either party will earnestly
;ndorse the construction of a plan
that will aid farmers and the future
development of the farming indus
trv as business conducted under
the same business principles as 9TH
or business enterprises of the coun-
trv none of which could exist if the
farmers should selfishly say: 1--WE
will only produce food to feed our
selves and families"
There is no legal, moral or equita-
Bile reason why the farmers as a
class should not quit their work UNI
til lust compensation for their la
bor is paid, as others do who are
more fortunate in being organized;
NOR is there any reason why a farm
er should not make a profit on his
investment and labor as others do
in different lines of business.
A strike to force better treatment
is not the proper method to solve the
difficulties; but whether or not it
takes the form of an organized
strike. a condition is growing so that
food shortage is inevitable unless
plan for lettering the farmers,
condition is provided.
City as Well as Farm ProbI I'm
The last statistics at hand give
the total number of cultivated
farms at 6,j00,O0D, with approx
mately 33,0OO,050 workers on these
farms, producing food for the re-
naming 100000 population. That
is. the average farm must furnish
food for approximately fifteen peo-
pie, or, to put it another way, each
farm worker has three factory and
town people to feed.
Discomfort on the farm is causing
the boys and girls and many grown
ups to abandon the hard work and
poor pay of the farm to join the
to-be-fed class. This is perfectly nat
ural, as all of us are inclined to look
1 for less work and better pay.
4 Farming-the business upon which
the life of every individual, every
B enterprise, every industry, big or
& little, depends can pay less for
labor than any other business in the
United States, and therefore must
be satisfied with the poorest and
least dependable. To illustrate:
To operate a farm tractor salts
factorily man must know how to
operate and repair gasoline motor
and keep the machinery in running
condition, which requires more skill
than is required of the average man
at a lathe or piece of machinery
The machinist is paid So day for
eight hours work, while the tractor
man is paid $3.50 a day for ten
s. hours work.
The man who drives a mule eight
hours day in the coal mine is paid
a Sc day. The farmland who plows
in the hot sun all day is paid $18
week, or So a day. 1t requires
more judgment to properly pillow a
straight furrow and cultivate the
growing crops than to drive a mule
over a beaten path.
Biggest Question in the World"
Such condition is fundamentally
wrong and fraught with danger. Ev-
cry Individual, rich or poor, in every
!lne of business or industry, is vital
ly interested in this question. The
"age-earning class cannot continue
70 pay higher prices without receiv-
ing higher wages, and if wages con-
tinue to increase and we thus con-
tnue to engage in this game of pyr-
a!mldlng we will allow the founda-
Ion to weaken to the point where
me structure will tumble.
consequently townfolk, whether
employers or employees, laborers or
capitalists, must be and are vitality
interested in the cost of food-for
sne cost of food is not only the most
important proportionate part of the
cost of living" of each individual
out largely determines the cost Of
very other item in the individuals
Oudget. And the problem of how
" reduce living costs can be solved
only on the farm.
II follows that the solution of the
Iarm problem is fundamentally more
nc city problem than a farm problem.
Inc Inc farmer, to continue feeding the
oalance of the nonulation must have