The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-02-23
CO=OPERATIVES
AMERICAN FARMS
Workers and Farmers
Must Unite Forces

KANSAS CITY, Kans., Feb. 12.-
cooperative farming comprises every
cooperative purchasing and when
activity of cooperative marketing and
groups OF these small industrial units,
the farms, are placed under scientific
management, then, and not till then,
shall we see the metamorphosis Of
the farm into the new and greater
power" declares DR.. William j. Hale
in The Scientific Monthly.
For a number of years the Bolshe-
viks have been pointing out this as
one of their great advances for the
peasants of Soviet Russia and it is
being rapidly put in practice there.
Single Farms Do No Pay.
DR.. Hale further says that: "The
single farm is entirely to small unit
upon which curtailment of overhead
and operating expenses can make an
appreciate effect. The operating OF
farms in groups, however, will adj
mirably serve this purpose. lndivi-
dualism will still remain, but it will
be typified in group of family role
and the process may be described as
merely step up from the present day
family of five to one of five hundred
The landlords under the car "en-
larged the farm family" and recent
news from the northwest would in
dictate that the bankers of Wall Street
have some such scheme in mind for
the abandoned farms, deserted by the
several million small farmers in the
past five years.
lndustriaIize Farms.
Whether the actual farmer benefits
or not depends largely upon his rela-
tionship to the land and his fellow
family" members. Ford, Rocker
Teller, Gary have very large fam
lies" but the members of the family
in the great industries have no say in
the ownership management or dis
posal of the institution, the product,
or wages.
The Soviet idea abolishes private
land ownership to begin with. This
would mean such a revolutionary step
in America that even DR.. Hale would
most likely get no hearing in the
scientific American" should he dare
go so far in his idea of the enlarged
family" He would be branded a
Bolshevik and dismissed from the
faculty.
Capitalist writer's have in mind cur
ailment in the price of labor power
on the farms just as they have in the
other industries. The old Russian
patriarchal family idea would just suit
the modern bankers association with
such changes in the religious opiates
as would fit the members of the
family into their exploiting schemes
which firstly implies speed and eff
cency and patriotism to the masters.
Just Like in Factories.
"Now that the farmers have been
drawn into the industrial whirl they
must readjust their operations accord
ingly." says DR.. Hale. and goes on to
say that, ut is just as necessary for
them to avoid over production as it
is to install proper storage and avoid
wastage. The farmer must enforce
lower cost of production, steady sale
and rapid delivery just as any modern
industrial institution, and yet how
many farmers realize their transfer
nation into industrialists. Let us dis
miss sentimentality and look upon
each other as we are parts of an
enormous industrial unit where there
is no independence or rest until the
day we retire"
He speaks the truth but the word
retire" is relative. One can retire
with fortune made by riding on the
backs of peasants or he can retire at
old age from the real and actual pro-
ducers alliance, still a part of the
family, and in this relationship he will
always have and retain the only in
dependence worthy the name.
For Labor Government.
AS to saving and avoiding overpro-
duction and waste, that can never be
done until the producers become the
controllers of the market and count
ing houses and have direct contact
with all the producing masses and the
institutions thru workers and farm
ers' republic. Every great private in
dustry of today has caused most
terrifying waste so far as humanity is
concerned-that is human labor pow
er. The large unemployment of mil
lions of men, willing to work, con-
dennis the whole system and shows
that until the social revolution comes,
on land and in factory. waste, where
It effects labor and the farmer will not
be eliminated