Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1920-02-03
FEARS UNREST
WILL LEAD TO
GREAT CRASH
Claims 1t is Inevitable Re-
suit of Present Eco
nomic Condition.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Especial to The Argus.)

Washington, D. c., Feb. 3.-An
economic crash is coming as an in
evitable result of the high cost of
living, increased demand for more
wages and less hours of labor,
scarcity Of farm labor and dimin-
ished production of foodstuffs.
City folks need to be more con-
cerned than farmers. There is no
unrest" among the agricultural
citizenry of the United States, as
the word was used in analyzing the
10000 answers given last week to
the QUESTIONABLE of the postotfice
department of agriculture, but
there is widespread dissatisfaction
and growing distress over the VIC
ious circle in which the economics
of these reconstruction days is
travelling. Unrest has been applied
to often to the discomfort OF boil
shevists and would-be destroyers of
organized government that the
word is resented by the spokesmen
of farm organizations who insist
that dissatisfaction with present
conditions" would have been more
accurate phrase and that if "un-
rest" comes it will be in the city as
a consequence Of rural causes.
Thus does Professor T. c. Alike
son, Washington representative of
the National Grange and recently a
member of President Wilson's first
industrial peace conference, ana
lyZe the present clash of city and
rural interests, and his explanation
is all the more interesting because
he believes congress can present no
cure, and because he doesn't blame
the city workman for refusing to
sell his services for less than he
thinks he can get. He reveals in
cidentally a big fact, namely, that
the United States has not assimila-
ted its returned army and that
hardly 1 per cent Of the boys who
used to work on the farms before
the war have gone back to the
country. How serious that is can
readily be imagined when it is re-
! allied that fully half of the MEM
bership of the American expedi-
tiopary forces, to say nothing OF
! the men who went to camps in
America, came f-om the farms.
Have Been Misled.
"The questionable of the post
office department" said Professor
Atkeson. who for 10 years was dean
of the agricultural college of West
Virginia, shows plainly how city
people have been misled as to coun-
try conditions. l dislike the word
unrest The farmers are simply
distressed at their growing inabil-
ity to cultivate the land. They
can't do what they want to do. The
labor market is rapidly making it
impossible for them to feed the
country. Somebody is going 10 go
hungry. Unrest may come as a
consequence in the city.
"The inability to obtain farm la
Dor is the most serious thing. Be-
fore the war the farmer trained
his children and hired help in the
country. Now, with the attractive
wages in the city, the farmer boys
who were in the army don't want
to come back to the country, and
l don't blame them or anybody else
for staying in the city if higher
wages are obtainable there. But
city people must realize that as
farm labor gets scarce, the country
must begin Offering higher wages
and thus costs of production must
rise. Add to that the great cost of
distribution, and you see why the
cost of living is going up. Why,
reckoned relatively, food is the
cheapest thing of all. Our city
friends ought to realize that there
are about seven million farmers
selling individually. They can't be
profiteers. They are helpless be-
cause they have to take what is Of
fered them. They have no organ
ization to fix prices and there are
no signs of one. They deal indivdi-
ually.
Boys Leaving Farms.
Now I know that nobody ever
sold what he had to sell-either
skill or labor or commodities
less than he thought he could get.
CONTINUED on Page Two)