The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-09-30

ing the results of withheld credit
could not borrow Io'' of tn
value of my crop ON a warehouse
receipt. The banks extended
little credit this spring for th'
production of crops, but notes
must be paid now Sc that middlcmcr
can take their plumber. The prof.
teering banks will force the farm
ers to the conclusion that market
ing is a part of production. Farm
ers sooner or later must choose co
operation or bankruptcy
Prices and Profits Mount While
Wages and Farm Returns
Drop
A current press dispatch states
that Roger Babson, b. c. Forbes,
and the other high priests of Wall
! Street economies make "a virtually
unanimous prediction that the cost
of living will be higher this win
ter. Economic experts in public
and private service see in a price
rise sure indication that the
country is striding back to normal
once more" Figures just released
by the u. S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics show that the cost of
food in Is principal American cit
les has mounted from l per cent
to per cent during the past
month, and that in general it is
from 5 per cent to 62 per cent
higher than in 1913. The Govern
ment figures also show that this
l., az
who is today facing bankruptcy,
but that "there is bigger margin
of profit today somewhere between
wholesaler and the consumer than
there was in 1913" This is con-
firmed by market quotations from
Omaha, the center Of the cattle
raising industry, showing prices for
Western cattle lower than at any
time since August, 1911-although
the packers price for medium and
prime beef is still on the rise.
With general farm prices barely
above, and in some cases actually
below the 1913 level, the prices Of
household Furnishings are 250 per
cent higher than in 1913, while
lumber and building materials (pro-
tected by Lumberman Fordney's
tariff are POP per cent above pre-
war prices.
While prices and profits are
mounting still higher as "the coun-
try is striding back TO normal once
more" the Wall Street Journal con-
graduates the stock market on
"the continued downward trend Of
wages" Striding back to normal,
with higher prices and profits,
while six million men, with twenty
four dependent women and chill
dren-nearly one-third Of our pop
winter Of unem-
ployment and want, of cold and hun
ger and deprivation! The stupidity
of such an economic. system would
be comedy were it not for it's
tragic consequences.
One thing is certain: profit. greed.
rivalry and enlightened self-inter-
est have proved CHASTITY failures
as the foundation for a Just and
stable economic organization The
civilization that builds upon the
assumption that men are antagonis-
tic and not members of one social
body is fundamentally anarchical.
Only as men have learned to CO.
operate has civilization increased
and social progress been achieved.
With cooperation there could be no
increase in prices without a CORE
spending increase in wages and COM
pensation to the producers, while
all savings or profits" are re-
This is not Utopfh1<ls the hard
est kind of common sense. 1t is
| being realized today by thousands
| of cooperative associations through
| out this country and Europe. In
dozen countries cooperative or
| ganization is already breaking the
| she'll of decadent and discredited
profit" regime.
If the Wall Street Journal does
| not like cooperative system
which co-ordinates prices and re-
wards and cut out profits, we
commend for it's thoughtful con-
sideration the other possible alter
native, expressed by the Chinese
adage: when the poor have moth
| ing else to eat, they eat the rich. "
Profiteers Continue Dumping Milk
| 10 Boost Price
Following the revelation recently
made in these columns that Chicago
milk distributors had combined to
dump milk into the city sewers rath-
er than lower prices to the con-
sumers, comes word of similar dis
/ closures in Baltimore and Fort
| Dodge, Iowa. The mayor of the
latter city, after a personal in
vestigation, affirms the report that
more than 100000 gallons of milk
have been dumped into the sewers
of Fort Dodge during the past
three months in order to keep up
the present high price. 1t looks
as if the cooperative creameries of
Spokane, Minneapolis, and other
progressive cities would have to be
| duplicated elsewhere.