The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1931-11-20
THE WHY OF THINGS
By TOM AYRES

such a surplus" of wheat people were made
TO believe. The wheat was many times multiplied
by counting storage tickets at the local elevators,
then again on the same wheat at Minneapolis and
again on the identical wheat at Chicago. Count
ing bushels of wheat in that way was not hard.
1t helped to maintain the Surplus" 1t gave the
insiders chance to deal at the right time and
they are dealing, sure enough.
***%**
Farmers were told to feed wheat to hogs.
They did. Now the price of hogs is so low that
the farmer has lost his feed He might as well
have sold his wheat in the first place, so far as
money returns are concerned. TIE farmer gets it,
coming and going. Up in this country he has little
wheat In some places at all. So the game
goes on.
I notice that you have allowed the Controller
of the Currency to permit the national banks to
count their Debated assets-stOcks and bOnds-at
face value when they make their statements to the
government. If bond was bought by a bank at
say $1,000 and its present market value has de-
preciated to $500 you permit them to count it at
$1,000. The banks depostors have therefore got
not $1,000 security for their money, but $400
That looks like clean swindle practiced on the
depositor in the bank. Do you call that square
business? l do not. The insurance commission
in national convention permitted the insurance
companies to count their frozen deprecated assets
at face value. How does that protect policy hold
ers? Is that not the last ditch in high finance?
Do you wonder people lose confidence in banks and
hide their money? Do you wonder people who
hold policies in the insurance companies are won
dering whether their beneficiaries will ever get
the money when dad dies? We are getting back
to normal with rush. Some more crooked "nor-
malcy."
One trouble in this country is that there has
been no planning. We just go ahead hog wild,
every fellow for himself, the devil take the hind
most. Production and distribution are a gamble,
when both might be made exact science within
a few points Our industrial lords make up their
own minds what they should produce, not knowing
what the demand is going to be- They guess.
Each one does the same thing. There is no coop
Grafton no coordination of effort and if the whole
industrial system were to be placed in the hands
of fit yOf the leaders, they would not agree, and
! if they did agree they would double-crOss and
cheat each other in the hope they might make ad-
ditional profits by cheating and violating their
agreements.
*%****
Take the case of the farmer. He is an indi
4
Ing to put in less wheat than usual he puts il
MORE. If he thinks hogs are going to be higher
because there has been cholera in his district, HI
raises MORE HOGS. TIE county agent tells hin
it is a good time to get more sheep Sheep arr
low The farmer gets more sheep. Everybod!
rushes into sheep. 1t is not so long ago that tn
agricultural preachers told the women they shoult
raise more chickens. They did. Now chickens ar
low. The old cow has been worked to death AM
the price of milk and cream is down. Every dam
fool thinks he can beat the other fellow and tn
result is they all get beat.
That is the trouble with the capitalist syste1
of production and distribution. There is no PLAN
MING. No forecast. We get experience AFTE1
we act. 1t is different in Russia under their pal
They map out how much food they need to SUI
ply their own folks and leave a little to sc
abroad, so they buy more machinery to prt
mote their industries. They plan everything year
in advance, and then work to the plan. They ca
&c that because they are not working for prof
There is competition between individuals
groups. There is no interest to pay. There al
no mortgages or stocks or bonds. All they wal
is PLENTY of food, plenty of clothing, plenty
everything that people need. If they have mo-
than they need this year they will sell it to Il
outside world to get something they want Wi
which to promote their program. They have
motive for SELLING except to get somethi1
they NEED
That is the reason everybody in Russia is
work. They have no unemployment and they ne
will have for there is no end to the possibiliti
of development in that vast country. 1t may ia
them fifty years to organize their industries
well we have ours organized, but when they a
organized and they can produce what they wa
easily we produce what we want, tn
: viii work shorter hours, enjoy more of life a
have SECURITY against want That is what o
people want, but they cannot get it, for the RI
: sian system cannot be made success under de-
? Ocracy. It takes dictatorship 10 do that Y
shall have the dictatorship some of these da
D 1t will be dictatorship of the capitalists such
they have in Italy a dictatorship of the VOL
ers such as they have in Russia We shall
e forced to choose, eventually which we will ia
0 Our democracy has fallen flat. It wont functi
T any longer, hard as we NAV try tn mako n vun