The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-02
Oklahoma Farmers Defy the Fish
Committee

testing against present-da conditions which all
of us know are deplorable"
Oklahoma has produced many things, but I'M
til this internal liar Congressman Johnson came
off that hillside farm, nothing has appeared to
challenge the supremacy of Congressman Fish
in falsehood. We wish to state; l. That Wash
ington has not yet seen demonstration of the
United Farmers League (when it does, however,
they will be called Russians" by such liars);
2. That nc signs such as described by Congress-
man johnson have been carried by any Com
rpunists either in Washington or anywhere else
even in Moscow; g. That johnson is a liar and
knows it; 4. That he lies to induce the farmers
to obey laws for the benefit of big capitalists
and against the poor farmers which he, as a
lickspittle of big capital, makes in Congress.
To crown all this demagogy, misrepresenta-
ton and falsehood with cheap effort to in
gratiate, Congressman Johnsoa closes with the
following bit of unconscious irony, to a poverty
stricken farmer whose family lives always in
want and semi-starvation:
81 am sending Mrs. Mcdonald little cook
book called Aunt Sammys Radio Receipts
trust that she will find this little booklet inter
Sincerely, Jed Johnson"
To the above, Farmer Mcdonald replied, in
part, as follows, on Feb. 10:
my dear Congressman:-After reading your
letter of Feb f. also the Congressional Records
which you sent and studying it over-I mean
seriously, have decided to write you another
letter in regard to our farm organization.
Nov, Mr. johnson, I want to say to you
frankly that we don't object for having your
or other peoples sympathy, but we know that
won't do us any good
Mr. johnson, we have an out and out dc
tatorship in this country and it all comes from
organized capital. There is someone to set the
price on our products that we sell and another
bunch of the same stripe that sets the price on
what we consume, hence you see what that
produces-a bunch of millionaires and billion
aires at one end of the string and bunch of
mortgaged farmers, hoboes buns and soup kit
chens at the other end"
Mcdonald is roughly correct on the main line
Only it's the same bunch, finance capital which
works both games. Also there are economic
laws which limit their ability to "set" prices.
Which does not deny that by monopoly they
increase their robbery. But they would still be
robbing farmers as capitalists even if they were
not monopoly capitalists. because capitalism is
system of robbery. The farmer continues:
"Now you know sympathy is not worth any
thing in the fight. The United Farmers League
proposes to look into these things and if I
haven't missed my guess we intend to have some
thing to say about it and it's going to be serious.
Nov, Mr.. Johnson, in regard to the Com
munist (CQ) Party and the movement Now
1 don't know about those Russian people. nor
/ don't doubt that they carry such banners
you say they do. I certainly don't approve of
such sayings that doesn't do any good, besides
it sounds bad. My honest opinion is, the treat
ment they have had in this country is the thing
hot hos hat ind IF hal
Der they have worked for those great corpora
tions-such as the steel mill you talked about
in your debate on the tariff. You know how
you state the corporations lobby and defraud
the government Of just dues and taxes My
opinion is that they treat those downtrodden
Russians a great deal worse"
Mcdonald mistakenly believed the capitalist
congressman's lie about the signs. But he sur
vived it and came back with the simple logic of
one who tolls. Let all who think that the
American farmer, or worker either will be for
ever bamboozled by national prejudice, beware
And Mcdonald makes clear he is an American
''If have been rightly informed am one of
the sons of the revolution of this country. My
people came here in the colony DAYS NV father
was a Southern soldier We sent two sons to
France to make the world safe for democracy
rrorce claim to be fairly good American
citizen"
Nevertheless. Mcdonald, if you ioin the FIGHT
against capitalism, c----o~t to be called
Russian--and many other things
mfr. johnson, / think less of p r,an that wants
to deprive the people of this country the right
to sneak and organize than did of the Kaiser
"Being over to the city few DAYS ago, de-
cided I would look over some of those SOUP
kitchens and I run onto bunch cf soldier bows
the first place went wish you could have
heard those boys talk. I believe they could
make those Russians you speak Of ashamed of
| themselves cursing this country. One of them
who seems to be the spokesman said he was
pretty fsir brcklaver and an expert plasterer
He was in the Goth Division and went into Ger
many. Now, Mr.. johnson, he made the remark
very distinct to me, that he had been In the
soup kitchen six weeks, and he asked me-'What