The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-11-04
FARMERS NATIONAL COUNCILS
VIEW OF BOUCK'S SUSPENSION

State Master and the wife or hus-
band of the State Master, as the
case may be, are allowed to vote at
the National convention, and no ref
erendum is taken of the members of
the Grange on questions of public
policy.
The National Grange boasts of its
age. 1t is to hold it's fifty-fifth
convention this year. Is it not a
tragic comment upon the reactionary
and stupid leadership of the National
Grange that agriculture is in its
present precarious condition, al
though the Congress of the United
States had adopted many of the
policies advocated by the National
Grange? Is it not time for the
bona fide farmers of America to
refute the leadership of the National
Grange which has brought such over
whelming disaster upon agriculture?
In the October issue of the "Na-
tional Grange Monthly" National
Master Lowell, in an article entitled
"The Power of the Facts" enumer-
ates some national legislation for
which he claims credit for the Ma
tional Grange. Among others is
the establishment of the Parcel Post.
Brother Lowell knows that Brother
George P. Hampton had charge of
the campaign which put the Parcel
Post legislation on our national sta
tute books after he had been ex-
PEELED from the National Grange for
exposing the corrupt dealings of the
National officers. Brother Lowell
also gives the National Grange credit
for measures top rotect dairy farm
ers and securing stringent oleomar-
garine laws. In this fight Brother
Hampton took the lead and was
chairman of a special emergency
committee of the dairy interests,
which defeated the most vicious at
tack of the oleomargarine interests
upon the dairy industry. Brother
Lowell, in this address, refers to the
defective regulation of public SER
vice corporations through such agen-
cies as the Interstate Commerce
Commission" In it's report for
1911, page ~, the Interstate Com
merce Commission, ihowever, adj
mits very frankly that there cannot
be regulation of the railroads, as
long as railroads are privately owned
and operated. 1t says:
"The evils most difficult to detect
and to prove today are those arising
out of the community of interest
of certain carriers and industrial
corporations. The ownership of in
dustrial corporations by carriers and
of carrier corporations by industrials
is frequently taken advantage of to
defeat that equality between ship
pers which the act contemplates.
1t becomes increasingly evil
dent that entire freedom from dis
elimination can be secured only by
a complete separation of the business
of transportation from every form
of commercial or industrial enter
prise"
Brother Lowell attempts to give
the National Grange credit for the
acknowledgements of woman. He is
perfectly we'll aware that the Ma
tional Grange did not endorse the
national woman's suffrage amend
ment until it was certain to be
enacted. l would also remind Broth
er Lowell that Brother Hampton had
to go over to Brother Lowell's own
State of New York and conduct a
campaign among the officers of the
New York State Grange, of which
Brother Lowell was an important
member, we assume, or he would not
have been elected National Master,
to get the New York State Grange
fighting for the State Constitutional
Amendment granting equal suffrage
to women in Brother Lowell's own
State of New York. This is all a
may very pertinently be addressed to
National Master Lowell to be an
swered at the Portland meeting with
reference to his report. In the Oc-
tober issue of the National Grange
Monthly" DR.. T. C. Atkeson, the
representative at the National Capt.
tai of the National Grange. en-
dorsed officially on behalf of the
National Grange the Cummins -Esch
law. Brother Lowell does not refer
to this law in his article. DR..
Atkeson, speaking for the National
Grange, openly endorsed the return
of the railroads to their owners when
he knew perfectly well, as every
other man with any common sense
knew, that the roads would not be
returned without the guaranteed divi-
dend and without legislation validat-
ing the billions of dollars of watered
stock of the railroads.
Brother Atkeson evidently, with
the approval of National Master
Lowell, endorsed the Cummins- Esch
law, which validates the in creases
in the value of land given to the
railroads and the increase in the
value of the land they own over the
prices they paid therefor, although
at its fiftieth annual convention in
1916 the National Grange adopted
a resolution introduced by Brother
Kegley which urges upon Congress
the prompt enactment of legislation
to make the original cost of land
owned by the railroads, and not the
present selling price, the basis of
capitalization to the end that farmers
and all other workers may be re-
lieved of the present injustice of
rates sufficient to pay dividends to
stockholders upon value which the
users of railroads have made" DR..
Atkeson attempts to Justify his ac-
ton on the ground that they were
opposed to the guaranteed dividend,
but this is only a childish excuse
unworthy of a grown man. for what
the railroads were after was a guar
anteed dividend and the validating
of their watered stock, and they
would not have taken back the roads
without these provisions. DIR. Alike
son knew this but cites the action of
the National Grange as justification
for his action. The National Grange
was not serving the interests of
the farmers of America, but the pre-
datorv financial interests when it