The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1921-03-01

10 Rescue ret MEASURES from tHr
Clogged Calendars. Summons Issued
For Great Mass Meeting.
WASHINGTON, D. CA call for
a mass meeting here April 20 has been
issued to members of the National
Farmers Union by its president, Chas.
S. Barrett, who declared he was
prompted by "the perilous condition
of agriculture"
This is the time" the call said,
when the farmers like other inter-
ests, should in the most forecful man
ner compatible with the respect we al
ways should have for authority inn
press upon the government the need
of legislative measures in behalf OF the
noble calling of agriculture.
The farmers defend their action by
pointing to the other lobbies.
Lobbies, or to phrase it more dis
creetly, Legislative committees are
working night and day IN an effort to
rescue pet measures out OF the legis-
lative lam which has clogged the ma
chinery of congress in the closing tort
night of its session. Some members
of congress have been wondering Tor
weeks what possible excuse they could
make for failing to pass the many
proposals pressed on them, and again
machine organizations are secretly
glad that everything is III tangle-
it is such d convenient abb. But II
congress imagines the powerful lob
bies which have been concentrated IN
Washington for the past several weeks
mean to cease their efforts with the
ending of the present session no great
er miscalculation could be made.
Barrett Tells of Lobbies.
Every interest seeking to control
the food, the clothing, the transporta-
ton systems and the distribution OF
the nations commodities is ably rep
resented and we'll entrenched here"
said Mr.. Barrett in issuing his claims
for a farmers mass meeting with rep
resentatves from every community
that can possibly send them to Wash
ington soon after the Inauguration.
Mr.. Barrett's description of the vari-
Gus Hobbies is interesting because ne
saws he has run counter to them IN his
own desire to advance the cause OF
agriculture.
"The packers" he says, have lob
bv which Senator Kenyon, joint au-
! thor of the bill to regulate the meat
packing industry in the nation, has
| said seems to be more powerful than
congress itself. This organization is
well financed, with national and inter-
national connections reaching to the
| farthest corners of the civilized world:
THE coal operators trust, retail and
other agencies have a lobby which tor
subtle power and far-reaching effect
| iveness is second only to the institute
of American packers and the big i've.
"The chamber of commerce OF the
! United States is here to protect the
interests of is membership and to see
that commerce, domestic and foreign,
| is not allowed to suffer through the
adoption of laws that they may con-
slider inimical to themselves.
THE Association of Railway Exec
utives is here to impress upon congress
the wisdom, as they see it, of caring
for the railways, protecting them
against what they regard as the evil
effects of diminishing revenue, while
insisting on increased freight and pas
senger rates.
"The shipbuilders of the country are
here to see that navigation laws are
enacted which tend to protect them
against what they say is ruinous COM
petition by foreign bottoms. 80
THE lumbermen from north, south,
east and west are here to see that no
| legislation discriminatory against them
is enacted.
THE fertilizer trust and all and ev-
ery interest which might profit by
governmental action or inaction are
here to see that they are not disturb
ed in their profit making careers"
Mr. Barrett omitted the powerful
organization of union labor, which, too,
descends internationally upon the halls
of congress with pleas for action or
inacton as the case may be. And there
are many other legislative committees,
as. for instance, the various women's
organizations and educational bodies
which are pushing welfare organiza-
tons Opposed to them are the many
other institutions, social or religious,
which are trying to prevent such well
! fare legislation from getting through.