The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-04-16
WHY SHOULDN'T
FARMERS STRIKE
By Mac MacDo

II Lively HOhaiih5 DSiotS uoyASHt,
| thousands of farmhouses begin to
stir. Lanterns flicker from house to
barn; cows are fed, and then bucket
by bucket, can, by can, and carload
by carload, a great river of milk
begins flowing towards the city.
I This great milk flow supplies 21
per cent of the Protein,
~ per cent Of the Fai, Z
1 5 per cent of the Carbohydrates
consumed by the people of the United
States every day. But these figures
only show the Importance Of milk
as "a carrier of the food elements.
Modern research in the physiology
of nutrition has shown that, besides
the food elements, other substances
known as vitamines are absolutely
necessary to sustain life. Many emf
nent professors bring evidence to
lprove this and further to show that
milk is without doubt our most i'm
portant food. WHY? Because it con-
tains BOTH forms of these vita
mines and because both "orms are
4 essential. Look at the ads, in any
street car by yeast firm. Yeast
contains but one form.
Milk then is a mighty weapon in
the. hands of working farmer. He
holds in his hands the health and
Happiness of the nation. WHY
lSHOULDN'T HE USE THIS WEAP-
ION TO STRIKE THE MIDDLE
MEN FOR A LIVING WAGE FOR
HIS LABOR?
| Every morning before daylight
thousands of city homes begin to
stir. Gas jets flicker from room to
room. Men are fed. Then, one by
one, they go out into the street and
become part of the great river of
men pouring into the hungry fac
tories.
This great army of men supplies
100 per cent of the necessities of life
manufactured from the raw products
Of the Earth, which are consumed
| by the people Of the United States
every, day. Without the labor of these
men, all industry would stop. Babies
would die of cold The city.would be
dark. Transportation cease. Starva-
tion stalk abroad,
Labor power then is a mighty
weapon in the hands Of the city
worker. He holds the health and
happiness of the nation. WHY
SHOULDN'T HE USE THIS WEAP-
ON TO STRIKE THE BOSSES FOR
A LIVING WAGE FOR HIS La
BOR?
what's The difference There
| none. The farmer who Gowns" his
farm EXCEPT for the mortgage on
Lit; who Gowns" his machinery EX-
CEPT for the notes against it, is
not as well off as the city worker
who uses the boss's machinery. The
|organized action of the city worker :.
limits his hours-the farmers day
is limited by sunlight. &
It's up to you city workers to
take off the boss's smoked glasses .
and see the farmer as he is. Forget
that infantile stuff about his being
"petty bourgeois.
He is abouta hundred years be-
hind you in organization. So when
he strikes, as he did through his
milk organization of New York in
1916, DON'T join the scab army of
the N. Y. "Times" by yelling about
babies not getting their milk. Pull
your belts tight around your CUTS
and refuse to take any milk until
the farmer wins.
1t is about time that you learned
the Importance of the agrarian work.
ers to your own success in the
struggle against "Middlemen"-or
Capitalists as you know them. When
the final struggle comes. When the
STRIKE is not for a living wage
but for the ownership of all industry,
success will be possible only if the
workers of the farms understand the
struggle. That understanding will be
possible if they are made to feel the
support of the city workers in their
preliminary struggles against their
"Middlemen". You must support
them n,if they seem unorthodox
to your more. revolutionary view