Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1921-03-21
THE FARMER-LABOR COM
MON INTEREST For al 49,

THE FARMER-LABOR COM.
MON INTEREST-For centur-
les passed, through the periods d
empire, when absolutism, Their
feudalism, now capitalism, have
been the succeeding stages Of
control Of man and mans affairs
the powers that be- have sue
cessfully played both ends
against the middle" by con-
stantly batting the proletriat
with the peasant and the peasant
with the proletariat, in the olden
days, and now batting the laborer
with the farmer and the farmer
with the laborer.
It is simple game and the
wonder Of it is that it has worked
SO successfully because it has
always worked we'll for those
who directed it.
The signs of the times are that
farmers and working men are
pulling the bandage from their
eyes now and are looking around
to see who tied it there and why.
The farmer and the laboring man
are beginning to realize that
something Of common interest
must bind them together when
they seem always to arise and
fall at the same time, if not to-
gether.
WI M. Martin, local union
leader, sent ray of light into
the community of interest be-
tween laborer and farmer Sun
day when he spoke to the Farm
ers Union at Wray, Ga. He said
that the same interests and the
same power which broke the
price Of farm products last Fall
are now trying to break the price
Of labor.
During the first half of the
year 1920 the farmer and the la
oring man both were getting a
larger share OF the worlds goods
than ever before. The farmer
and the laboring man were buy
ing automobiles, or planning to
buy them, and learning how it
felt to wear good clothes and
dream about still better times
aconling after all the hard times
of the past.
Then farm products began
their heartbreaking tumble in
price. The break in prices was
directly due to the policy of the
United States Federal Reserve
Board. which has strangle hold
on every little fellow in the
finaficial world. On the prosper
ity OF these small country banks
depends the prosperity of the
sections served by the banks.
The federal reserve board refused
to supply the little banks with
the credit necessary TO enable the
little banks to extend their pa
irons the ample credit that could
havN prevented the breaking Of
the markets for cotton, wool.
wheat, corn, hogs, peanuts, and
everything else the farmer has
for sale. Wall street had cor
nered most of the credit availa-
bic in the United States and Wall
street wanted prices down, The
farmer was getting too big a
share Of what he produced.
Now, Mr. Martin said, the al
lied railroad interests. backed
and sponsored by the same pow
er that took the farmers auto
mobile, and put the mortgage
back on his home, have decided
that the laboring man is getting
too big aashare of what he pro-
duees. 81 wages must come
down, IioGfere and there where
local conditions give good excuse
for cut, but everywhere.
And, following she grand old
game of playing both ends
against the middle, the railroads
are now batting the farmer, who
has been beaten down already,
with the laborer, whom they are
trying to beat down. And they
expect the farmers to help them.
But the farmers aren't such fools
as some people seem ia think