The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-07-15
CONGRESSIONAL
INVESTIGATION
AGRICULTURE

Congress has decreed an investi-
cation of agriculture, the chief re-
suit of which we have reason to
fear will be to prevent Congress
doing the obvious things which it
should do Immediately to relieve
the agricultural crisis. The crea-
tion of this Commission gives the
enemies Of farmers a good excuse
for doing nothing and they will use
this excuse to the limit unless
American farmers and their friends
in the organized labor world pre-
vent them from making investi-
cations merely to take up time, and
to prevent action or provide an eX-
cuse for inaction.
OF the five senators on the COM
mission all are lawyers except one;
Of the five congressman on the
commission all are lawyers except
one. There are two farmers out of
the ten.
If Congress really wants to help
American agriculture it will prompt
ly enact the following legislation;
G) Restoring the railroads to
unified government operation, re-
ducing railroad freight rates to
those in force when the railroads
were returned under the vicious
Cummmins-E -Esch law and making up
any deficit if there should be one
out of the Treasury. The present
railroad law is costing farmers at
least a billion dollars a year. If
Congress really cared anything for
the farmers it would never have
passed the Cummns- -Esch bill and
if it had any regard for the farm
ers desperate straits today it would
promptly repeal it as we have out
lined above Will Congress repeal
-he Cummins-Esch law?
(2) A bill really to control the
packers, and this cannot be done
without divorcing the packers of
all their special equipment cars and
refrigerator cars and having the
railroads, or a government con-
trolled holding company own and
operate the cars.
(3) Repeating the present taxes
upon consumption and levying taxes
upon incomes, estates and corpora
tions which will yield four and a
half to five billion dollars a year
and permit the prompt retirement
Of the national debt, of which the
financial and monopoly interests
plan to peddle at least one-half
upon the farmers, and compel them
| to pay hundreds Of millions of dol
lars interest annually for forty to
sixty years.
(4 A law which will evict the
big investment bankers from their
| present control of the Federal Re-
serve Bank system and their con-
| -rol of the entire banking and credit
| system of the country and make
it a servant Of the American peo-
| pie.
| (5) The Federal Coal Act as to
publicity and methods of coal op-
orators and dealers
co. Reducing the standing army
and the enormous appropriations for
| military and naval equipment OF
the country.
(O Establishing a personal ru~
raj credit system for agriculture.
(S) Providing for such taxation
of inflated farm land values par
ticularly of city lots and farm
lands hold for speculation, as will
encourage home ownership and end
our national menace of impoverished
tenement dwellers and broken farm
tenants.
(9) Authorizing cooperative and
commodity sale of farm products
subject to appropriate Federal su-
pervision without the harrassing
menace of uniustified prosecution
under alleged antitrust and anti
monopoly laws which hit only farm
ers but permit the u. S. Steel Cor
poration and the Standard Oil Com
| pany to escape the definition Of
monopoly Of trust.
U0) Repeating the Jones Ship
ping Act, and providing for govern
ment ownership of the peoples
ships and government control of
ocean freight rates, the ships to be
operated for service and not for
private speculative profit
Only by enacting the above pro-
gram can Congress place agricul-
ture upon the road to prosperity.
No investigation is needed to do
this. Will Congress do this ?