The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-01-07

farmers, IeAdlng precarlOuS eX1St-
ence; 100000 of mortgaged farm
ers, on the brink of becoming ten
ants, with only 100000 so-called
"well-to-do" farmers, the American
Kulak. Yet it is this American
Kulak section, constituting one
tenth of the farm population, that
has almost entirely dominated the
thinking and the actions of the re-
naming nine-tenths.
But that condition is changing,
the farming masses are becoming
restless, and farm relief becomes
one of the dominant issues before
congress.
Mr.. Lowden is not inconsistent in
his attitude toward the wage work
ers at the Pullman plant in Chicago,
and his remedy for the farm prob
lem," which sets forth his attitude
toward land workers. The Pullman
corporation, thru years of bitter war
against labor, has kept wages down
to the bitter level of merely pnovid-
ing the absolute necessaries to salts
fly the requirements of the workers.
The historic strike of 1893 was ruth
lessly suppressed. The recent strug-
gle in the Pullman plant, against a
reduction in wages, was also de-
feated. Company houses and
company stores" with every other
method practiced by the exploiter,
has been brought into play in Pull
man." the company town." named
after the first George M. Pullman,
one of Chicago's first great capital
lists. The wages of the Pullman
worker have truly been the min
imum required to reproduce his La
Dor power.
Lowden, the capitalist "friend" Of
the farmer, applies the same theory
to the land workers that the Pull
man corporation applies to wage Ia
Dor, ito stabilize prices of farm
products at a point near the
cost of production"
For the 100000 farm workers
this means just enough in wages,
food and shelter to prevent too
many Of them going off to the city
and hunting jobs in industry.
For the 100000 tenant farmers
it means just enough to keep these
workers, with their families, con-
tinually hunting some landlord, beg
ging the privilege to raise corn, cot
ton, wheat or some other product as
means of fighting off starvation.
1t will be noticed that these 7,000,-
900 of "gainfully employed" ON the
land possess no land of their own,
nor any of the means of cultivatdng
the land. This is provided by the
employer. Yet these constitute
seven-tenths of the farm working
| population.
The 100000 mortgaged farmers
are only a step removed from the
100000 actually 'landless." For
them the estimated three per cent
iarm income does not meet the six
per cent mortgage interest that
bangles like a hangman's moose
above their heads.
1t is of these 5000, 900 that George
w. Norris, republican United States
senator from Nebraska, declares:
"The farmer works harder, lives
more economically and has fewer
Of the ordinary pleasures of life
than any other class OF our citizen
ship. An honest civilization
should demand that those who toll
the most and the longest hours to
supply the world with the neces-
stiles of human existence should
have at least fair return for their
labors."
But capitalism is a dishonest
civilization, robbing the many in or
der to gorge the treasure chests of
the few.
The farm relief legislation of the
capitalist political parties, with it's
Lowden theory of meeting "the cost
of production" constitutes merely a
ball and chain to keep the 9.000,0 900
enslaved to the 100000 well-to-do
farmers, most of them absentee
landlords, to the bankers, the food
mergers, the farm implement com.
bines, the railroads and other mon
opoly interests in the means Of
production.
| Against that condition the ex
plotted farmers must rally with the
wage workers In industry for the
working class struggle against the
capitalist overlords.