The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-08-07

ship" but the rapid growth of de
mask of ownership from off the
face of the farmers. The west
ern farmers are landless peas
ants masquerading in the role
Of a propertied employer of
labor.
This rapid pauperization Of the
farmer is due, to large degree, to
the increasing gulf between the pric-
es of industrial and agricultural prod
ucts. Thus we find that the prices
Of what the farmer buys have in
creased about one hundred and TWEEN
I.y per cent in ten years, whilst the
prices of farm products have actually
been reduced. 1t requires no great
knowledge Of economics to realize
that the farmers are yearly becom-
ing poorer.
Increasing Mortgages.
The pauperization process takes
the form of mortgages and debts. The
enforcement from ownership is con-
cealed in this manner from the eyes
Of the tillers of the soil. He is only
dimly aware Of the developments pro-
ceeding under his very eyes.
In the three prairie provinces the
farm debts total in excess of one bill
lion dollars. The average indebted
ness is about five thousand dollars
per half-section of land, And it must
/ 10 hof nj, ~
cent of the farms carry mortgage.
These debts and mortgages are on
the increase. Last year the Cana
dian farmers" enjoyed the largest
crop in the history of the country
But the total net proceeds of that
crop fell seventy million dollars in
comparison with the proceeds of the
much smaller crop of the previous
year. Moreover, the average price
received for the wheat crop was six
ty-seven cents per bushel-or thirty
three cents below the minimum costs
Of production.
Small wonder that thousands OF
farmers are forced to leave the farms
Ito swell the ranks of the unem-
ployed in the cities! Small wonder
that tens of thousands Of farmers are
face to face with bankruptcy right at
| this moment.
An Acute Crisis.
The writer has just completed a
tour of the three prairie provinces.
He knows that tens of thousands of
farmers are faced with utter desti-
tuition. They are menaced with fore
closures, with seizures of crops. The
sheriff of the implement and mort
gage corporations looms large and
ugly.
The situation is rendered more
acute by the prolonged drought which
has prevailed over large tracts Of
wheat lands. The crop yield has not
only been greatly reduced in many
districts but has been completely
wiped out over huge tracts of land
The drought stricken farmer, al
ready heavily mortgaged and indebt
ed has no money, no crops, no feed
for his stoek-is confronted with ut
ter restitution.
Nor should we forget that the in
dustrial crisis which the banking ba-
rons have tried to forestall, is hitting
the productive machinery of the
cities and towns. Steel, iron, textiles,
coal, lumber and a host of other in
dustries report reduced production.
The ranks of the bread line" are in
creasing daily. In some towns "the
city fathers" have been forced to in
crease the number of families on I'M
employed relief-in the month Of July
mark you!
The international prospect is by no
| means rosy-despite the frantic ef-
forts of Morgan ct al to rehabitulate
European capitalism. 1t is becoming
increasingly apparent that an acute
agrarian and industrial crisis on a
world scale is upon us.
Destitute Farmers.
The dependence of the farmers OF
the Northwest on the wheat market