Norwich bulletin., 1922-10-24
sEC'Y WALLACE SAYS
The Farmer and stsTkes


 Fork club of Kansas City, Missouri, Mon day evening, Secretary of Agriculture Wallace referred at some length to the burdensome effect on agriculture of the present high freight rates. He condemn ed in most vigorous terms interference with transportation caused by strikes and lockouts On this subject he said:
 'Trhere are two things about our transportation system which the farmers want fixed.
 First, freight rates on agricultural products should be decreased. They are too high with relation to the prices the farmers get Transportation is part of production, so far as agriculture is con l cerned. The farmer pays the freight. i He does not want the railroads to reduce 1 freight rates so low that they can not | furnish efficient service Service is i'm portant to the farmer. But freight rates are now too high. The farmers want the railroad people to cut down their operat- l ing costs, to insist upon a fair days i work for a fair wage, to move their freight cheaper and thus be able to cut down rates.
 1 Second, some way must be found to break monopolies of both capital and la bor and keep them at work. These quar- rels between the railroads and the work men, which hang up freight movement, must be stopped in some way or other. 1 Farmers are both capitalists and labor ! CTS. There is more money invested in ag- riculture than in any other industry. There are more working people on the 1 farms than in any other sort of work. | But farmers get lower returns on their Il invested capital than the railroads get I They work longer hours and for much 1 less pay than railroad workn1en. Being both capitalists and laborers, the farmers l can understand and sympathfze with the just and lawful aspirations of both cap I ital and labor. More than this, the farm CTS want both to prosper so they can buy Il their crops at fair prices. Farmers re- I cognize the right of capital to organize, because only in that way can large business enterprises be carried on. Farm CTS also recognize the right of labor to organize and be able to bargain effective ly with organized capital. But farmers do not recognize the right of labor or ganizations to conspire and tie up rail
 road traffic. Farmers have no sympathy with the sort of lawlessness which we had during the railroad strike. There !, are no words strong enough to condemn ? murder of men, intimidation of women and children and wanton destruction of , property. The right to work is just as
 sacred as the right to quit work, and
 must be upheld by all the force Of organ ! ized society
 Interference with transportation is A
 direct attack upon the farmer and his
 family Many growers of perishable Il stuff have gone bankrupt because they could not move their crops. Grain grow CTS and livestock producers have lost t millions upon millions of dollars during l the past six mopths because railroad owners and railroad workmen could not 5 agree The farmer is sick and tired
 of this sort of business. He can not
 stand it any longer.
 ''There can be no dispute between
 railroad owners and railroad workmer . which can not be settled in an orderly 5 way. with full justice to both, without
 interference with traffic and Mnnoat I'm.
 periling the business and lives of inno. cent people. The rejection of Iawfu q means of settlement and the appeal te
 lawlessness, whether by capital or by la,
 bor, must stop. If it does not stop, ther r in self-defense the farmer will Se driver n to adopt similar methods, If that sfiould
 happen people in the cities would starve
 and we would have anarchy instead o1 v government The farmer can take care 0 of himself, and he will if he must Ht
 can live on his own farm. But if clas:
 is to be arrayed against class, if every c group is to organize and fight everS r other group, our great republic vii 2 break down and with it will go the mos
 advanced civilization the world has evel
 seen. We tan not permit that to happen
 we need less selfshness and more CO
 operation between the various group ' which make up our national life N e group can afford to exercise it's powe
 to the injury of other groups. There mus
 be better understanding and a mucl s greater degree of cooperation between t the farmer, the laboring man. the nier -- chant, the manufacturer, the banker, an,
 business men in general Without losin
 our individual initiative and effieiene, l-l which grows out of 1t, we must gradual $ ly work ourselves over from natiol Id of extreme individualists to nation 0 e cooperators. Agriculture, industry, com
 nerce and finance are partners in tn
 great national enterprise. They mus fl work in harmony and good understand 70 ing, realizing that they will rise and fal
 together. The national spirit which wa
 of manifest during the war will be ure v ently needed in the years to come if W I- are to build up and maintain well
 rounded national lfe.'