davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

much as in 1900. Forced sales Of
bankrupt farms totale6 more than
S4,O00,000 in 1922.
During recent years big farms
have swallowed up little farms. Tn
one county 10000 small farms have
been taken over since 1900 bv Inn
Der companies. The mechanizing Of
farms owned by big landlords or the
lumber companies is another import
ant factor. $4,000 big farmers own
total of nearly 100000 acres
6 poraacIlcally as much as the entire
$4,000 small farmers.
Besides the small farmers there
are 100000 farm laborers in the conn
Try. Wages of farm laborers are
ABOUT 30 a week, and for contract
workers $500 to $3.50 a year plus al
lowances of milk, potatoes. corn and
bed or cottage which brings The
total wage to $500 or S4OO a year r
IS not long since a gross working
Jay Oh IA hours and more was not
uncommon among cattlemen. with
II or Is hours for ordinary farm la
porers. The 8-hOur day was won in
1913 for workers in sawnaills mines
and metal workers, but farm workers
sailors and railroad workers were NOT
included. In 1919, however, a nation
al agreement limited the hours in
agriculture to 10 hours, or under no.
circumstances more than II hours
not counting meal times and stable
chores. Farmworkers' houses are
generally less comfortable than those
OF city workers and there is much
overcrowding.
With farm conditions as they are.
many farmers sons migrate to the
cues. But there are 100000 unem-
p,loyed In Sweden, nearly $4,000 of
them trade union members. Trade
unions report one-fifth of their mem
bers out of work.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
WORKERS MAY OWN STOCK BUT
GARY HOLDS VOTES

Power such as old time kings would have en-
Wed was embodied in Judge Gary when he OPEN
ed the U. S. Steel corporation annual meeting
winch ratified the decision of J. P. Morgan and
his pals to cut a $26O,OOOOOO melon. According
to The Wall Street Journal, before the meeting
was called to order the Gary management had in
Its hands more than the 2-3 vote of the common
and preferred stock required under New JERSEY
law to put the 40 per cent stock dividend over.
This reveals the joker in all the propaganda
about the wide distribution of stock ownership.
u >. Steel boasts upward of 10000 individual
stockholders but the annual meetings have become
nothing more than formalities at which the de-
clslons Of the dominant financers are recorded.
AT this meeting the Morgan-Gary autocracy had
o''9Ol30 votes IN contrast with 3,74O votes pres
ent Independent of the management
The concentration of ownership of steel trust
common stock In the hands of New York finan-
GERS appears in the following list of 12 large
holdings:
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
BOOT AND SHOE LABOR AVER
AGES SIS A WEEK

Wages paid in the boot and shoe industry in
1926 averaged S25.67 a week, according to a re-
port of the U. S. bureau of labor statistics COW
erlng 154 establishments in IA states This marks
gain of about IL % over 1924 and of SO go over
the average weekly wage paid in the industry in
1913. Shoe workers wages are still about Az %
below their peak level of 1920.
The average full-time weekly earnings for male
workers in the industry increased from S29.44 in
1924 to S30.48 in 1926. The weekly earnings of
female workers remained practically stationary
at $3.50, due to light reduction in working
hours
Average hourly earnings of 526c in the indus
try represent a gain of 1880 compared with
1913. The wide difference between the gains in
hourly and weekly earnings is accounted for bv
reduction IN the average full-time week from 55
hours IN 1913 to 488 hours in 1926.
The largest single group of male workers are
the hand cutters, who averaged 8O8c an hour and
@395l week. The largest single group of fe
male workers are the fancy stitchers, who aver
aged 452c an hour and S22.33 a week.
Male hand cutters hourly wages range from
oo.6c IN Maine to 97.5c in Ohio while weekly earn
ings range from $274O in Minnesota to S48.65 in
OHIO. Female top stitchers range from 35.7c an
hour In Michigan to 6O.3 in Massachusetts and
from $17.65 in Maryland and Virginia to S2968 in
Ohio.
Inc average weekly earnings of male hand cut
Vers and female top stitchers in 1926 were:
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
STEEL WILL STEAL SOME MORE


Inc millionaire owners of U. S. Steel can a1,nao+
@I4'z92'468 more spending money per wear with
Che announcement that the regular quarterly di,i-
uend OF @I15 share will be paid on both the ONT
standing common stock and the 2O,3321O addi-
Conal share issued as a stock dividend The to+a1
cash dividends on common stock will amount -
@49'oI8644. Including the $25219,667 preferred
dividends the corporation will be paving its stool
hoIoers an annual return of S75O33.311
inns means lot of extra SPENDING no,vo. 60,
'he pig boys at the top. George F. Baker cbair-
man FIRST National Bank of New York will bo
geCtlng $493,l5O year from this one cornora+io,,
instead Of the 1888, $50 he received before H. 1o
percent stock dividend. This additional s1ao aeo
Is equivalent to the average annual waoe If Inn
factory workers. Thomas F. MCGOWAN nrobohl,,
noloing the stock for some powerful fnancier lie
rockefeller or Morgan, will get S49O.OOO > voa~
instead OF S35O,OOO The little capitalist Calvin
oooldge' will receive dividend checks for s4oO ~
pau year more than in the past.
mere Is the way the annual dividend cbool,u &c
number of big U. S. Steel Stockholders viii ~
compared with those received before tbe s+oo1,
dividend: 'le Stock
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

with the American public. However,
the press has not been told that
Hoover might, after all, be as eligible
to the office of secretary of state as
any lame duck senator or trust law
yer.
John Van Antwerp Murray, the
state department announces, is Amer
lean minister to China. AS such, he
is accredited to the Pekin govern
ment and not to marshal Chang Tso-
lin who is the sole political and mill
tary authority in Pel1in. Since the
actual cabinet at Pekin disappeared
some time ago, and its minister at
Washington has had to maintain him
self without funds from home for a
year or more past, the United States
is now in diplomatic relations with an
invisible government.
The case is somewhat like that of
the Kerensky ambassador, Boris
Bakhmetiev, who continued in pos
session Of the Russian embassy in
Washington for five years after his
government ceased to exist. He was
recognized as Russian ambassador
nevertheless.
X
Matthew Vol, vice president Am
erican Federation of Labor and act
ing president of the Natl. Civic fed
Grafton, has been named by Coolidge
as one of the nine American dele
gates to the Pan-American CONNER
cial conference, to be held in Wash
ington, May to 5.
1t was to this meeting that the
chamber of commerce of Buenos
Aires and Rosario, Argentina, refus-
ed to send delegates, because they
disapproved the aggressive imperial
ism Of the United States in Latin
America.
The other American delegates are
big business men.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
WASHINGTON GOSSIP
By LAURENCE TODD. Federated Press

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. out
frankly while other anti-administra-
Ilon leaders have whispered and hint
eu' Sen. Norris of Nebraska has e.
clared that the Coolidge third term
movement is "a long step toward a
inonarchlal form of government"
In lengthy statement in the Balti-
more Sun, Norris ignores the inter
est ana ambition of any candidate,
ana points to the significance of this
aCCenpt to keep one man in power
Tor a long period of years.
ms strikes at the very fundamen-
Tai principal of our form of govern
menu he states. ALREADY, in the
souChern states, the republican ma
chlIle' winch IS virtually admitted to
De corrupt, IS preparing to send Cool
ldge delegates to the next republican
convention. They are doing this as
payment for the federal offices which
they now hold and control. The same
influence can be extended to every
town and hamlet in the United States
When you add to this influence
Che nelp OF big corporations and mon
opohstlc combinations that always
unite with the faction in power, YOU
nave an influence that is, for prac-
VlcaI purposes, insurmountable. And
no particle of this influence anywhere
comes from people who are unset
fish, i'0
Although Coolidge has conveyed to
the press through his mythical
spokesman that he considers Herbert
Hoover man of great abilities-fit
Tor any cabinet post-he has failed to
make amends for the slap he admin
lstered to his secretary of commerce
April Is.
The press conference has been told
that Hoover's abilities are so we'll
known that Coolidge could not. if he
would, upset the Hoover reputation
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
FACTORY WORKERS our OF IORs

FACTORY employment in Massachusetts continues
Oh Ihe do"ngrade according to the monthly re-
porC OF the state department of labor decline
% l per cent from February to March brought
'Ne level OF employment to a point 6.2 per cent
Oeio" March, 1926 Employment in Massacbu-
Se''S mas now reached level Is per cent below
Une average number on factory payrolls in the
years 1919-1923. - 'iie
Inc employment situation in Is leading Massa-
cnuSerts industries is reflected in the FOLLOWING
percentage figures showing the ratio of enoplov.
menu IN these industries in March, 1926 and 1927
70 the average numbers employed in the wears
l9l9-1923 taken as 100 per cent
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

The small farmers and tenant
organizing with new a purpose 9 : are
organizations have been welJo5 omall
a union for the whole country w !. INTO
as the Farm Peoples Union T GSaOwn
preparation of company farms ne ns ex-
landlord properties, and of - ~ u olg
herited farms of the nobiIitu W N
manded. - de-
The movement is not blind ~.
ing, but q studied effort r. s apils-
more scientific and social use oS'ure
land. The demand is for divis;o, me
part of the big farms into small ALL, Il Of
and operation of others, where ,, OilsS
production would prove advances
on cooperative basis. Some f s0UuS
are now worked comparatively aI Jus
gether. "l'o-
To achieve this program close
lations with the trade unions arc r.
manded by the small farmers toro1 ue-
and farm workers. '''i''S
All power to the workers and a.
farmers" has been proclaimed as H tie
new battle cry. 80 'ne
CNext Week: Italy,
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06


mere are 10 individuals whose combined cash
income from this corporation has increased fron,
@z'oO4028 to $S,475,745 as result of the 40 nar
cent stock dividend Pc
Inc figures would be even more striking # VIC
included the brokers holding large blocks of steel
s'o1A undoubtedly as the agents of fnanciers who
o ~isn 70 nide their power from the public. U. s
1seei uividends flowing to J. S. Bache & Co. in
creased from s4652sS to s651 1896 vaar IT,.
gong to Hallgarten & Co. increase from sa1r Sor
70 SoSl,679 For other large HOLDINGS II +b;s
group the increase will be ]. w. Davis & 70
S8Sl l36 to $55a,59O; Newborg & Co., 1888 55o to
406. 49, P1AO'zSV TO SSOS'-
me directors announce that the corporation
-oo profit Of S455S4725 the first months Of
lSz'. This compares with S45,O61 ,285 the first
quarter OF 1926. For the full year 1926 U. 8
0'eel made profit of s199,O58,S6s.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
u. S. Steel
-N-nV-I-TI-

Inc wall Street Journal lists PIP individual
nOiilngs OF more than 1000 shares of common
each' combined, these holdings total 1,314,8O5
shares.
MANY OF the names on the list are masks. This
- especially true OF the private banking houses
Gnu 81 brokers' 1t IS well known that j. P. Morgan
& Co., Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and the RockefeIler in
'ereSUS hlde their colossal power by such agents.
neSe hlhts suggest that under cover of a large
iiUiloer Oh PAID agents, there exists concentra-
lion OF control which would startle the country
if it could be uncovered
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
Average --.----..S39.51

These two groups require considerable skill ona
training. The fact that their wages vary SO wide
~ from one locality to another shows the absurd
lty OF the capitalist contention that the nresent
wage system rewards wage earners ACCORDING 70
merit 1t would be hard to explain paving critters
$22 week less in Maine than in Ohio Tlo.o =
also considerable variation in the fulltino wool
Only strong national union can bring uniforn,-
~ good conditions out of this hodge-nodoo r,ro
duced by unrestrained private initiative
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

In Sweden the last 25 years have
meant progress for the cooperative
/ movement and retrogression for the
farmer. 'ii'
Inc cooperative marketing of farm
produce has become general. and the
central organization of the agricul-
Iufal cooperative movement has en-
Cered INTO real estate, shipping. whole
sale grocery, banking and other acti-
VlCles. In Stockholm rs per cent of
the milk goes through a central co-
operative. - y . ~
More than $4,000 farmers arc NOM
oers OF the Swedish Cooperative I'm
ION of Consumer Cooperatives = +bo
hooperativa Forbundet. This central
organization, founded in 1899. was
Immediately challenged by retail mer-
chants, who tried to restrict its han1-
credit. Then the margarine t,.uet
started a boycott. The Koonerativs
smashed the trust by 1911. The co.
operative bank today has $4,000 600
on deposit. O0'0OO
In 1928 the Kooperativa smashed
the flour trust. It now nrod11 -,l,,'-' 9e
per cent of Sweden's foulr. enouob
TO control the market price. The rub
Der monopoly was successfully chaI-
lenged by the movement. Members
OF Cne cooperatives last year bouob+
nearly S7,OO0,000 of small bonds To
finance the fight. A week after tb;S
snow OF strength, prices of rubbers
cropped 25 per cent.
One fourth of the entire trade =,
1 3 IS through cooperatives
fetal merchants are trying to force
through an 8 per cent tax on sales
turnover, regardless of profit. honino
Chus to tax the cooperatives ont IF
existence. The question is now he
fore parliament.
Recently, the small farmers have
charged that some cooperatives ara
IN the control of the big land owners
SO that small farmers are forced ~
sen thelr crops Immediately after
harvest to get money till work in the
lumber camps starts, while the bio
farmers hold out for better market
Inc small farmers demand that the
state provide credit so that thev con
secure part pay at harvest time ana
hold the crops till the market is good
as the wealthy farmers do.
The farmer, however. knows +bo+
Che cooperatives have helped him to
ward OIL the threatening hand of fin
anclal domination. How the banks
are sucking up control of the farms
can can be graphically illustrated In
lSOO there was bank loans of less
Than S3OO,OOO,O0O on farms. Yet TODAY
'he fewer farmers are carrvinc loans
OF about $1,135,OOO,OOO or 4 times as
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
BERGER BROADCASTINC CJT OFF

victor Berger, Socialist Congressman from Nil
waukee' protests that at banquet given bv the
JewlSn Forward Of New York for Ramsay Mac
Donald former labor premier of England the nj
crophone was removed in the midst of his snooob
speeches at the banquet were broadcast over sta
uon VIZ. Congressman Berger was attackinc
leacuonary control of public schools, press. ana
iauio When ne was cut off. The excuse given that
MS Time was up is only pretext, he saws.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

ne important electrical supply industry shows
d tremendous slump compared with wear ao,
dropping from $780, above normal to 1927 undor
normal TINS means that about e7aS of the work
ers EN- DYED year ago have been laid off rla
ruOOer footwear industry shows decline Of TX
per cent also falling below normal. The boot oro
Snoe industry, seemingly close to the bottom fell
sun farther to level S71z per cent under tbo
lSlS-l92o average. Similarly the cotton oooda
industry declined to the point where # was o.,
pioying less than rs per cent of the workers 4
furnished jobs for in the earlier years.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
BloOdthirsty Preacher
Asks Electrocution Of
Condemned Radical,
Bv Harvey O,Cnnno.

Boston - (FP)- "Hano a,-o,.
damned red we can Law our ban5Ss
on, and hang them on generai
principles" d
This is the climax of one fren
zied appeal to Gov. Fuller -
send Nicola Sacco and Bartolo
: nfeo Vanzetti to the electric cbair
: July 10. N''''ii
Scores of similar screeds. from,
agitated super-patriots. businesa
men, small-town lawyers. noliti
clans, bond statesmen and nreaoI
ers, lie in the governors fiIas
eloquent testimony to the cbarac'
ter OF the forces that would send
the two Italian workers 10 tba;,
graves for the crime of radical
ism.
The wops trample the prass
OF Boston Common" continues
the letter quoted from. "Send eT
cry last one of them back to Rms
sla where they came from"
The author has discovered that .
Sacco and Vanzetti also assass
mated Pres. Mckinley. and A.
tempted to kill Roosevelt IN Mi !
waukee. Unfortunately he forgot
TO add his name to his appeal ,
A member of the Boston Citv
Club declares that if Sacco and
Nanzetti had been electrocuted ( !
years ago, there wouldn't have !
been all this agitation. 'Everv-
body would have been better off, ,
The Braintree board of trade
representing business elements Of !
the community where the frame
up originated in a payroll mur- 4
der, demands blood for blood
not caring about innocence or
guilt. "
The pastor of Old South church
IN Boston declares the entire
agitation for the freedom of the
innocent men is impertinent and
advises Fuller to stand bv thu
courts. On the other hand tbe .
pastor of Old North church has
prayed for commission to re- 3
view the case. The South church 3
preacher berates the Episcopal
bishop of Massachusetts for in :
terfering in the case.
Against these bitter and en-
venomed letters from a score Of
individuals are appeals on the
same DAY from nearly a million j
workers, including the entire Bel
glan labor movement, students. !
lawyers, cooperatives, prim Back 4
Bay ladies, farmers in Montana
and newspapers.
x X X = 81 d
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
ELEMENTS OF POLITICAL FIJI
CATION
CONTINUED from last weekl

CONTINUED from last weekl
.. WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES. AMI An
VANTAGES OF CAPITALIST STOCK COW
PANIES AS CONTRASTED WITH TNnTTTrn
UAL ENTREPRENEURS?
The stockholders, l. e.. the owners Of the stool,
or papers giving them the right 70 an ;Doo,,,
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

Washington announces we have now rooo,,oroJ
from the war-but fails to mention what we have
recovered.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

An Army aviator says man can do everything
a bird can How about laying an egg?
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

!hose who have the best qualifications for NO.
Si'lon and place are often the last to seek #
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

Anaconda-Washoe smelter will
build new waiting station and watch
mems quarters.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

= Wlnnett-The Amalgamated Sugar
company will investigate sugar re-
1nery possibilities here.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06
Small Farmers in Sweden
Turn to Trade Unions

EDITORS NOTE-This is the
third Of six articles on European
agriculture written for The Fed
Grated Press by John B. ChappIe.
managing editor Ashland Daily
Fress, who recently studied the
situation of the farmer across the
Atlantic.)
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

the profits of the company are the owners of
the corporate (stock companvsD enterprise In
other words the owners of corporate enterprises,
unlike individual entrepreneurs. are only the own
ers of the stock of the enterprise and not entire
preneurs, and are not responsible with their own
property for the actions of these enterprises Thus
in corporate enterprises, the capitalst-entrepre-
neur is eliminated and there remains only the
capitalist stakeholder who appears in the capacity
OF money capitalist having a right to an income
from the enterprise This income bound up with
less risk than that taken by the individual CAPT
tast-entrepreneur, IS less than the profit on his
capital received by the Individual entrepreneur
and this the stock company is at an advantage in
competition with the individual being able to sell
its commodities at lower prices
On the other hand, the cornorato enternrise has
at its disposal greater capital than the individ
ual enterprise, it enjoys greater credit Of tho
banks and has the ability of enlarpin its capital
by means of issuing new shares Of stock. As
consequence the corporate enterprise is GENERAL
ly better equipped technically and therefore pen-
orally gains the victory in the STRUGGLE with the
individual capitalist enterprises
However, the development Of canitalisn, and tbe
concentration Oh capital do not stop with the Gre
d'lon Oh STOCK companies, even though of extra
ordinary SIZE AS capitalism develops further
that concentration which found its expression IN
The stock companies shows itself To he insufficient
and along with the stock companies there devAlon
anu gro" sun mlghuer capitalist unions. These
are the capitalist combines, syndcates and trusts
.. WHAT is A CAPITALIST COMBINE?
ms is combination of two or three different
Didi'cheS OF INDUSTRY Of which one produces the
raw material or fuel for the others.
An example of the combine would be the nnion
IN one enterprise of rolling mill, blast furnace
and coal mines in the metalurgical industry. or |
The union of spinning factory weaving factory.
ana chlntz printing factory in the textile industry
Inc advantage of the combine lies in the fact
That higher and more constant profit on the in
vested capital can be obtained since first with;
'ne union OF enterprises trading is eliminated and
'Cher expenses of production are decreased. seq
'nd during competition and crises the notification
u the enterprises enables all of them 70 stand
much flrmer than when they were disunited in t
iividual enterprises
FINALLY, thanks to the unification of several on
,erprlses within the frame of one comnlex nro-
iuctlve enterprise it becomes possible to carr,,
through better division of labor and TO introd,co
'arlous technical improvements.
Still more powerful formations are reacbe3 with
ne rise of capitalist cartels, svndicates and
trusts. anu
. WHAT APE CADTrA ron, :, 49,
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

great Falls-W. H. George will
9ulid a $4,000 garage at 415 First
Avenue North.
The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-06

he'd Lodge-Growers expect to
raise 100 car loads of head lettuce
and cauliflower this year.