The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-11-15


weight into the balance to prevent a
further and more complete collapse
OF. our Industry With our farms
plastered with mortgages, with the
canker of debt eating into our very
souls, with little or no available cash.
and credit ruthlessly withheld from
us, It looked as tho we were helpless.
Nevertheless, in October Of last year
We brought two large and representa-
tive gatherings to Washington.
We protested earnestly to Secre-
tary Houston, to Governor Harding
and to the who'll federal reserve
board. We told them that ruin and
devastation everywhere were following
in the wake OF a policy that could not
on any economic ground be justified.
Many of our speakers were received
with scant courtesy.
Then We were entertained by Sec
rotary Houston and Governor Harding
with clever eFasions which they
dignified as arguments. They insisted
that prices must come down. They
had nothing to say in criticism of the
profits of great aggregations of capital
which had been exploiting the con-
sumner and Uncle Sam alike. These
immense agsregations, as has been
shown, had plenty of credit and no
effort by the board was made to de-
fate them.
Agriculture only partially organ
lied was the easiest victim. 1t Of
fered the least resistance. Here then
was the proper field for deflative ex-
ploitation. Many of you were at the
Farmers Union meeting in Washing
ton last April. To that meeting is
properly traceable the beginning of
the end of the misunderstanding poll
cies. 1 do not mean by this statement
that the interests which these men
either consciously or unconsciously
serve with such fidelity have forever
abandoned such practices.
Il do mean, however. if the momen-
tUm gained. by that gathering is kept
up and continually gathers force as
it progresses, the financial Magma
Charta of agricultural liberties will
eventually be written. The fact re-
mains that thru the agitation begun
by the Farmers Union. fostered by the
National Board of Farm Organizations
and supported by the moral conscience
of the nation, the brakes were put on.
Commission of Agricultural Inquiry.
The history of the past year has
been repIete with achievement. One
of the noted accomplishments of the
National Farmers Union, aided by the
great self-help agricultural organiza-
tons. was the creation of the joint
com mission of agricultural inquiry.
THE resolution calling for the crea-
ton of this body was written by the
National Farmers Union. 1t was ap-
proved at the great meeting in Wash
ington last April and it was piloted
safely thru both houses by Fepresen-
tatives of our organization and the
national board of farm organizations.
Among the first unofficial announce
ments made by the commission was a
statement that agriculture could not
subsist in freight rates were to con-
tinue as high as they were.
"All candid students of this question
ie rat hp
by squeezing from the roads
the billions of dollars of watered stock
upon which the bankers who direct
them demand substantial dividends.
"A fair valuation of railway prop
erty would make possible a sweeping
reduction in carrying costs Would it
not be as well for railway managers
to give due consideration to questions
of management before announcing
policies which are usually productive
of strikes and class animosity?
"This fight for a. reduction in rates
was initiated by the National Farmers
Union even before the present scale
went into effect.
I'VE made a direct appeal to the
president. We presented a memorial
recounting our difficulties and plead
ing with the executive to use the power
of agriculture from conditions which
were intolerable.
The President Shows Interest.
"Then an unprecedented thing hap
pened. Evidently convinced that our
position was right and that the real
interests of the Nation itself were i'm
periled by the enormous freight rates,
the president walked over to the Of
flee of the interstate commerce com
mission and personally discussed with
the members ways and means for
meeting the emergency. We did not
gain our detectives then, nor have we
yet gained them in full, but at that
meeting we took the nation into our
confidence
Such are some of the constructive
things that have been done by, or
under the leadership of the Farmers
Union during the past year. There are
many other matters in which the
Farmers Union played full part, as.
for instance the revival of the war
finance corporation with its extended
powers. 1t was thru the sustained
and determined efforts of the Nation
al Farmers Union and the National