The Bottineau courant., 1922-07-13
AWAKENING FARMER DISCOV-
~ERS CITY WORKER AS FRIEND
AND ALLY.

AWAKENING FARMER DISCOv.
ERS CITY WORKER AS FRIEND
AND ALLY.
A decade ago the American farmer
regarded the city worker with more
or less suspicion. For years he had
been told that his poverty and hard
times were due to the fact that the
industrial workers got more, than
their share of the national wealth by
reason of trades unions, which en-
abled them to secure higher wage.
The intelligent farmer of today does
not believe all that he reads, nor all
that the politicians tell him. In con-
sequence, he has made O discovery
that is revolutionizing the position of
both farm and industrial labor in
modern society. He has found that the
producers of food and the producers
and transporters of manufactured
goods are each others best friends and
customers, and that an injury to one
is inevitably an injury to both.
Common Interests and Common
Enemies
The modern farmer has ioined
hands with the city worker because
he realizes that they have common
interests and common enemies. Even
the most obtuse farmer now admits
that debated wages mean deflated
prices for farm products, and that the
same selfish interests which profit
from the one profit from the other
also. With this realization has come
a changed attitude toward labor un-
1oLs, because the farmer himself
has learned that only by united eff
fort and collective bargaining can he
secure a fair price for his cwn prod
uct. In brief, the farmer sees that
without the labor unions the worker
cannot get fair wage, and without
fair wages the farmer will not re-
celve fair prices. Indeed, instead of
beratlng the unions, the farmer is
now organizing unions of his own.
Some of these go under the name of
cooperative organizations, which mar
ket the product of all for the benefit
of each. Others are called out and out
Farmers Unions"
Farmer Profits From High Wages
This changed attitude of the farm
er toward labor is summed up in a
recent address by an officer of the
National Farmers Union before the
state convention of the Nebraska
Farmers Union:
'You know-if you do not you
shou1d-that the biggest and broad
est and most profitable market the
American farmer has is purchasing
power of American labor. You know
that during the war, for the first
time in the history of the republic, all
labo- was adequately paid and fully
employed, and you know that during
that same period, for the first time in
the history Of agriculture, you were
able to get fair price for your pro-
duce, because the laboring man was
able to buy what his family actually
needed. Let us not run away with the
idea that there is any conflict be-
tween agriculture and labor. There
are too many people In the country
interested in driving wedge between
them. We are going to act together
one of these days for common pur-
pose" 81. s .,,.:.ssz.e e..s -s
Farmer Aroused by DefIation
This drawing together of farm and
city labor has not occurred over
night. The recent deflation which
picked the farmers pocket to the tune
of nearly sS,0O0, ,000, 900. 90 and deflat-
ed agricultural values on an average
Of 70 per cent in two years time COM
PEELED even the most Indifferent farm
er to do some Independent thinking.
The farmers learned, for instance,
that this $4,000, ,O00, 10000 did not go
into the pockets Of the city workers,
who were even more debated than
their rural brethren. On the contrary
low wages and low prices for farm
poduce impoverished them both for
the enrichment Of the same group Of
bankers. spectators and middlemen.
Low Wages Ruin Wheat Market
How quickly low wages cuts off the
market for the farmers crops is IN
dicated By the figures recently col
lected by the Joint Commission of Ag-
ricultural Inquiry appointed by the
9th Congress-. Chairman Sidney An
derson ef this Commission discovered
that The per capita consumption 81
wheat III tho United States had sud.
denly dropped from 80 bushels III ths
prosperous year of 1919 to 4.6 busheli
lin 1920-21. Accounting for this alarm,
Ing decrease " 81 Is Dor cent, cans
Ing Y fan :of go, ,O0o, 900 bu. of whse