The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1930-12-19
Gamblers Prices

Gamblers Prices
Remember that these are prices
in the gambling pit long after the
harvest, not the prices farmers got
on the wagon, which in Kansas
ranged between go and 70 cents a
bushel for wheat. Corn was down
only 15c "a bushel, but what good
did that do drOught-stricken corn
growers?
Pre-War Level
Or look at the general average
of farm prices, 110.5 in November
against 100 in 1913. In the first
week of December farm prices
were but little more than before
the war although the general price
level for goods the farmer buys is
still a good $3.50 above pre-war.
Small wonder that Chairman Leg
ge of tn efarm board told the
American Bankers Assn. agricul-
tural commission that Gin many
. districts this distress situation has
progressed to a point where unless
: the banks get back of a program
) to bring about an improvement
you aren't going to have much de-
5 posts to fool with anywhere" Mr.
] Legge conceded that the farmer
is selling the result of his years
labor probably at not much more
S than half of what it cost him t.
e produce it."
Banks In Distress, Too
! "My friends" said Legge to thu
: bankers, unless there is a bette,
:, adjustment of production to poten
= tial demand a whole lot of yol
;, fellows are going to pass out o
= existence along with farmers yo1
: are financing" What Legge wa
!. asking was that the banker Gu
down on financing the farmer un
+ less he agrees to cut production
- suggestion which 10 years ag
- on the part of an I.W.W. organize
e talking to harvest hands or lumbe
jacks meant the penitentiary on
criminal syndicalism charge of So
70 botage.
IN Capitalism Fixes Farmers
RS Capitalism indeed has brougl
I'd the farmer to fine fix. Legg
the U. S. department of agricu
ture, the bankers and all tell hi
nj his only hope is to quit workin
ba part of the time. While the depar
= ment and the colleges tell him no
of to produce more by scientific m
al thods, he keeps piling up a surpl1
! of 6,500,O00 bales of cotton al
of 275, 100000 bushels of wheat viii,
an impoverished world needs b
can't afford to buy. The prophe
Dr. held out little hope for the farr
all er. They know that under chaot
' 'ar capitalism, no concerted effort C;
be made to try out their panac
of cutting down the supply of t
worlds foodstuffs, nor can Amer
1T can capitalism increase the pu
chasing power of its workers
'ay the face of low wage scales t
gs, world over.
Foreclosures Everywhere :.
emit A slow crowding out of the fan
re re er is seen by the experts. "a
or increased rate of forced sales
ice farm property and other kinds
ect related defaults" is forecast by
in North Carolina state farm expe
ing A glance at the sheriff's sales Ii
). ed IN almost any rural paper c:
tes ries out his contention. Farmt
the by the tens of thousands are bel
inn dispossessed this year, driven
tha one knows where to try to make
ing living. The big corporation farm
the sweeping through Kansas and ,
,,aa trans Mississippi states, elbowi
nds the individual farmer out of
way. Elsewhere he can hang
,eat selling for half of what it co
Ids: him to produce, in Legge's wor
until the sheriff gets him.
. yee Two Tragic Figures
in Two tragic figures stalk acr
lay; the map of America. They are
unemployed worker and the dish
sessed farmer. Together with
..n Is partly unemployed and the soon
Arm De dispossessed, they represent
lone army of, 80 million persons. w
Is the answer of Herbert Hoo,