Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1922-06-06
Awakening Farmer
Discovers City Worker
AS Friend and Ally

been told Lnat MS pO'eINJ anu nc,
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 a higher wage
The intelligent farmer of today does
NOT believe all that ne reads, nor all
that the politicians tell him. In con-
sequence, he had made discovery
that is revolutionzing the position OF
both farm and industrial labor IN
modern society. He has found that the
nroducers 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.
Enemies
The modern farmer has joined
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 debated
prices for farm products, and that the
same selfish interests which protlt
from the one profit from the other
also. With this realization has come
changed attitude toward labor
unions, because the farmer himself
has learned that only by united effort
and collective bargaining can ne Sc
cure a fair price for his own product.
In brief. the farmer sees that without
the labor unions the worker cannot
get a fair wage, and without talr
wages the farmer will not receive
fair prices Indeed, instead OF berat-
ing the unions, the farmer IS now or
ganizing unions Of his own. Some OF
these 90 under the name OF co-opera-
tive organizations, which market the
n,oduct of all for the benefit of each
Others are called out and out "tarm-
ers Unions ",
Farmer Profits from High Wages
This changed attitude OF the farm
or toward labor is summed up IN
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
sh5uld-that the biggest and
broadcast and most profitable mar
ket the American farmer has rs
the purchasing power of Ameri-
san labor. You know that dur
ing the war, for the first time IN
the history Of this republic, all
labor was adequately paid and
fully employed, and you know
that during that same period, for
the first time i'm the history OF
agriculture, YOU were able TO get
fair price for your produce, pc
cause 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 between agriculture and
labor. There are too many people
i'm the country interested in driv-
ing a wedge between them. We
are going TO act together one OF
these days for common pur-
pose
Farmer Aroused by DetiatiOn
This drawing together of farm and
city labor has not occurred over
night The recent deflation when
picked the farmers pocket to the tune
of nearly 100000, 100000 and Debated
agricultural values on an average OF
10 per cent in two years time COM
PEELED even the most Indifferent farm
er to do some Independent thinking.
The farmer learned, for instance, that
of nearly $S,000,000,000 and debated
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 pro
duce 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 oil the
market for the farmers crops is IN
dictated by the figures recently col
lected by the Joint Commission of
Agricultural Inquiry appointed by the
9th Congress. Chairman Sidney An
derson of this Commission discovered
that the per capita consumption OF
wheat i'm the United States had sud
denly dropped from 60 bushels in the
prosperous year of 1919 to 46 bushels
in 192O-21. Accounting for this alarm
ing decrease of SO l-3 per cent, caus-
ing a fall of 230,000000 bushels of
wheat in our annual consumption,
Congressman Anderson said: at was
due to the bad industrial conditions of
unemployment and industrial depreS-
sion" In other words, the country is
SulIRIlUG lIOUl uU'ltl -ONil~uililpt
and not over production. On the other
hand. when the farmer cannot sell his
crops Mt fair price, he has no money
10 buy clothing and farm machinery,
and the city workers who make these
articles are thrown out of employ
ment. Between the producing classes,
whether in field or factory, there is
an ineScapable identity of interests.
Why the Farmer Spurus the Tariff
Politicians have recently expressed
surprise that the farmer Is no LONGER
greatly interested in the tariff. The
reason is that the farmers have dis
covered that only about 10 Der cent of
the value of their products is exported
20 foreign countries. In other words
nearly nine-tenthS of their market is
found right here at home. and the city
workers constitute the largest part of
that market. In fact. so great Is this
interdependence that unemployment
- the city worker invariably brings
hard times for the farmer. The farm
$ not fooled as easily as he uSed
70 no, especially when he sees a high
tariff urged bv the same interests