Norwich bulletin., 1922-12-01
PREDICAN1ENT OF THE PRODUCING CON- :. SUMING PUBLIC ---.- -. = =.

try are being treated right now by the Pharaohs at Washington and elsewhere?
 Don't get any idea from the foregoing that I'm pleading the cause of the rail- road and the steamship companies. I care no more for them than do for tho Hebrews of 2,0Oo B. C.
 I'm pleading for the American people. whose interests the vote-worshtppiDg congressman at Washington and the "fussy- minded bureaucrats' everywhere are using as footballs. I'm pleading for the farmers who can't sell their crops, mainly because of exorbitant freight rates and inadequate trnnsporta- ton facilities. I'm pleading for the city consumers who are daily robbed on the right hand and on the left by ex- rraVagant charges for the same farm products. I'm pleading for fair play and a square deal for all concerned. For both rail- roads and steamships: for their owners and tf1eir employees; but, first of all, for the producing consuming public who out number them both ten to one and whose 1 interestS z are superior to both by at least Q million to one. l put 1t to any farmer among you; ; How would you like to have congress at Washington tell you how much land 1 J should keep, how much you should pay your hired man and how many hours you i should jet him work, what colored over als you should wear and how many times week you should shave? Would you like it? Would ir make for better farming? Would it Improve the rela- tions between capital and labor?'' Would you vote a second time for the gentle man who undertook. without any knowl- l Cly tya vocation, to cabin, crib, and conf1ne" you within limits such as his superior I ignorance imagined advisable?
 l Yet such an interference in your sf- fairs would be hardly any more dam , sging than government interference has thus far proved to be in transportation
 matters. l What are we going to do about it?
 Bless you brother,I don't know. I may have my own ideas and theories. But they're not based on sufficient knowledge
 of the problem to warrant me in adding
 them to the hodge-podge and muddle of dreams and visions already on the mar ket. I don't really know anything more of the actual insides of the mess than l the average congressman. And that's
 saying mouthful: l don't suppose you do, either.
 l But ain't 1t pity?
 We farmers can't possibly work up
 any sympathy for the railroad manag- CTS. They never showed us any. con- sideration when they had us under their thumbs There's no reason to suppose they would show any more if they
 should be given free hand again. Nor
 can ] imagine any farmer assisting a parcel of railroad employees to get wag- les of $1,956.S8 a year because they
 cant live on" their present pay of s1,- 397.76. The average farmer is living on a good deal less than, that-and is
 not calling for town help, either. Both sides seem to be out to get all they can while the getting is good This may
 be good business" for them, but It's
 mighty poor business for the producer consu | ., from whom they're both strip
 ping tine undershirt just on the edge tot
 winter. - II There are only two things clear about
 the whole matter: The first Is that
 government interference with any bus
 mess should be undertaken only to pro
 tect the outside majority. from extor-
 tions attempted by the inside minori' ty. The second is that such interference
 should be guided by. experts who know
 the -ins and outs of the offending busi-
 ness as well if not better than it's ac. tive managers.
 . Oh, yes there Is one thing more thai
 is fairly clear and getting clearer every . day. That is that the present laws
 regulating railroads and shipping are simply making a bad matter worse. | . they're really the best that government al wisdom can solve. then we've got t
 look elsewhere for results.
 Unless we should undertake the un heard of and almost unirnaginable tasl
 of raising the standard of congressiona
 wisdom.
 Do ye s'pose such thing is possible THE FARMER