The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-08-15

| uNdA WdyS dS As WdS UOuuu U CULnc.
 We now need in agriculture more or Sanizatioh, cooperation, and diversifi- cation. The. farmer should have the benefit of legislation, providing for food control and development if inland waterways, better navigation east and south from the Great Lakes, ;reclama- tion, and especially relief for those who can not meet their payments on irriga- | tion effort, reorganization of the freight-rate structure, good business, and good wages in manufacturing, and the settlement of European affairs will all help to provide better market con ditions.
 The republican platform recognizes that agriculture should be on a basis of economic equality with other indus tries. This is easy to say, but the farm CTS themselves and their advisers have never been able to agree on plan to provide it by law. Now that nature and economic law have given some tenn porary relief, propose, therefore, to appoint committee to investigate and report measures to the Congress in De- cember that may help secure this result which we all desire. want profitable agriculture established permanently. I want to see the dollar of the farmer all ways purchase as much as any other dollar.
 Need Skilled Leadership
 A wise, skilled, and unselfish leader ! ship can do more than any thing else to rescue agriculture. The farmer needs leaders who will stay with .him, who have 4the tact and the courage necessary for management, and who have the fidelity to refuse political pre- | ferment and business opportunity. There are such leaders. In the sacrifices they make to serve the farmer lies the greatest hope for his salvation, Those who toll have always profited from republican control of government. Under the policy of protection and re- strictive immigration no deflation of wages has occurred. While the cost of living has gone down, wages have ad- yanced. The 12-hour day and the 7-iay week have practically been abolished. l The uninterrupted operation of public utilities with mutually satisfactory and legally established methods of adjust ing labor questions have been sought. | Collective bargaining and voluntary arbitration have been encouraged. Re publican rule has raised the wage-earn- CT to a higher standard than he ever occupied before anywhere in the world. The war left us with many evils. One result was the tremendous wastage of wealth. The people of this. country were required to re-create very nearly one7fifth of our national resources. All of this stupendous sum has to be earned When so large part of the work of 300 years is swept away, it is not easily recovered. It takes all the tremendous energy of men, of enterprise, of the vast properties represented by invested capi- tai, and of material, working through years, to repair the damage and replace the values destroyed by war.
 The only method by which we can make up. this loss is by saying a part of what we produce each day. It will make little Ndifference how much we raise on the farm, or how much we turn out in the mill, if it is all used up or all the proceeds are expended. We can only be relieved of our present private and public burdens by refraining from private and public extravagances-.xWe must resist private and public outlays for which there is no, commensurate return. This is economy. Whatever anybody may claim or say, there is no other method by which the people can rid themseIyes of their tremendous financial burdens.
 Cutting Down Expenses
 It is for that reason that the present administration has made every possible effort to cut down the expenses of gov ernment. The county needs every ounce of its energy, to restore itself. The of .lT I on the people. This means that the farmer is doomed to provide q certain amount of money out of the sale of his produce, no matter how low the price, to pay his taxes. The manufacturer. the professional man, and the clerk must do tine same for their income. The wage earner, often at higher rate when compared with his earnings, makes his contribution, perhaps not di- rectiy, but indirectly, in the advanced cost of everything he buys. The ex- penses of the government reach every body, Taxesstake from everyone a part of his earnings, and force everyone to work for a certain part of his time for the govefnnent.
 When we come to realize that the yearly expenses of all the governments in this country have reached the stupendous sum of about S7, 800, ,O00, ,OOO, we get some idea of what this means. Of this amount about $3, 300, 900 ,0OO is needed by the national government, and the remainder by local governments. Such sum is difficult to comprehend. It represents all the pay of 5000, GOO wage earners receiving 50 a day, work ing 300 days in the year. If the gov ernment should add on $100, ,OOO, 900 of expense, it would represent four days more work of these wage earners. These are some of the reasons why want to cut down public expense.
 want the people of America to
 be able to work less for the govern
 ment and moro for themselves. I
 want them to have the rewards of
 their own industry. That is the
 chief meaning of freedom. Until
 VIC can re-establish condition un.
 der which the earnings of tho peO-
 pie can be kept by the people, we
 are bound to suffer Q very distinct
 curtailment of our liberty.
 These results are not fanciful, they are not imaginary; they are grimly actual and real, reaching into every household in the land. They take from each home annually an average of $500. And taxes must be paid. They are not a voluntary contribution to be met out of surplus earnings. They are a st@n necessity. They come first. It is only out of what is left after they are paid that the necessities of food, cloth ing, and shelter can be provided, the comforts of home secured, or the yearn- ings of the soul for broader and more abundant life gratified. When the gov ernment effects new economy, it grants everybody a life pension with which to raise the standard of existence. It increases the value of everybody s property and raises the scale of every