The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1921-08-18
BY WALTER W. LIGGETT

BY WALTER w. LIGGETT
WASHINGTON, D. C.-Presiden
Harding succeeded in blocking TIN
Norris farm export bill, but the KEEL
logg bill, offered as the administration
substitute, was too raw even for thu
reactionary senate to swallow.
AS a consequence it was laid on tn.
shelf and now a bill drafted by Sena
tor McNary of Oregon passed thu
senate and was sent to the house with
administration support.
The Norris bill was opposed by
Harding, Mellon, Hoover and admins
tration spokesman such as Lodge anC
Edge because it went directly to the
bottom of agricultural distress anc
proposed to curb matters by creating
government corporation which woulC
direct and sell it abroad. It virtually
dispensed with the bankers, profess
sional exporters, grain buyers and
other middlemen and this is why it
aroused opposition. The Harding adj
ministration looks upon life with a big
business viewpoint and is not sympa-
| thetic with any measure that would do
away with any social parasites.
The Kellogg bill, which was drafted
at the request of the administration,
was designed to help the bankers in
stead Of the farmers. It provided that
advances should be made to bankers
by the War Finance corporation and
then the farmers might get assistance
by giving new mortgages and paying
high rates of interest. There was
practically no provision for exporting
grain to starving Europe and it was
careful to protect the interests of the
middlemen at every turn Of the road.
NORRIS FLAYS KELLOGG BILL
Senator Norris exposed the iniqui-
ties Of the Kellogg bill, and the irreg-
ular manner in which it was drafted,
in one of the most sensational speech
es heard in congress in recent years.
The Nebraskan was thoroughly angry.
He dispensed with the usual "sena-
torial courtesy" and called spade
spade. eve wanted to eliminate the
middlemen and the bill which the agri-
cultural committee reported 1.-THE Nor
ris billy would have enabled the or
gained producers of agricultural
products in this country to carry their
own products from the farms to Che
markets abroad" he said.
"If the operation of this bill had
been a success-and I think it would
have been-there is not any doubt that
these producers themselves then would
have taken the very machinery that
this bill set up temporarily and would
have made it permanent, and they
would have had to great extent per-
manent elimination of the middlemen."
NOTHING FOR FARMERS {
This, of course, was exactly why
the administration opposed the Norris
bill and brought in the Kellogg meas
ure. This rank bill, which was con-
cocted at White House conferences
and never came before the agricultural
committee, Norris handled without
gloves. ut provides nothing for the
he declared. '"He is left
out entirely. The bill deals with bank
ers, with middlemen, with trust COM
panies, and confers all it's favors on
them. There is no provision in it un-
der which anything can be done for
the farmers without rake-off to a |
banker, or dealer, or a speculator,"
and he pointed out that it's administra-
ton would be in the hands of the War
Finance corporation directors "whose
only knowledge of agriculture has
perhaps been acquired in their tedious
trudging over the golf links" Norris
boldly asserted there had been fire.
quent conferences at the White House
for the express purpose of blocking
his bill and directly accused Secretary
Mellon of looking at conditions solely
through big business viewpoint.
Norris well-aimed attack so thor
oughly exposed the vicious provisions
Of the Kellogg bill that the admins
tration ran to cover and withdrew the
measure. Then McNary of. Oregon
drafted a substitute, which also turns
over the administration of farm cred
it's to the War Finance corporation
and protects the middlemen, but does
allow advances to individual producers
and associations of producers as we'll |
as to bankers and spectators. The
agricultural committee reported this
bill by vote Of 10 to 2. T."
=
SHIPPING BOARD IS ATTACKED
Senator La Toilette has launched
IN attack on the United States ship
ping board this week, charging that
the American merchant marine was
dominated by British influences which
we're deliberately sabotaging it's oper-
atoms. Senator La Toilette declared
hat certain powerful railroad mag
lates, putting profits above patriot