The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-11-24
National Topics Interpreted

government, wherever they can con-
tact people, are counseling patience
more than they ever have since the
gloom of the depression settled over
us. 1t is undoubtedly true that the
great bulk of the American people
want to see a proper and final solu-
ton accomplished for the economic
troubles In which the nation, and the
world, too, finds itself. But it does
no good to hide ones head as an os-
trich does and insist that there are no
conflicting interests that are danger
Gus. They exist, and they are virile
and they may cause serious trouble.
Hence, the government policy Of ask
ing those who want to help to be pa
tient.
AS nearly as / have been able to
arrive at the base of the present crop
of conflicting interests, believe much
of the current trouble results from
lack of understanding of the basic
problems. 1t seems to be undeniably
true, also, that there are certain indi
viduals or groups of individuals who
do not want to understand the situa-
ton. They want to use the bad con-
ditions to further selfish ends Of their
own and they are of the type who will
deliberately and carefully plan to mis-
lead whatsoever they can enlist as fol-
lowers. Unfortunately, my research
discloses that there are many follow
ing such leadership who are doing so
blindly.
There seems to be scarcely a single
official Of the government but who holds
the view that such leadership will ac-
complish anything but self-destruction
of majority of the followers Of those
cure-all doctrines. That sort Of thing
never has accomplished anything In all
history, and there seems to be no
ground for believing there will be any
other result this time.
Unfortunately as it may be, In our
rush to get back to what we call pros
perity, some groups have become
jealous Of other groups and interests.
This jealousy has been translated In
to action In numerous instances. I
do not say that jealousy Is the cause
Of all Of the troubles, but inbred sell
fishness Of one kind or another to-
gether with personal motives of an Ill
terror character can surely be said to
be the general foundation for all of
them.
But the natural question is: why
should the situation be one permitting
existence of such difficulties as the
farm strike and labor troubles? The
answer seems to me to lie in a law
with which none of US had anything to
do, namely, the age-old law of supply
and demand. Just as none of us had
anything to do with framing that law,
none of us is going to be able to amend
1t or change 1t. Farm strikes, labor
strikes, capital Sinking, boarding of
money, none of these things can ac-
complish the purpose. Indeed, the
only way that we can get back to
something like normal conditions is by
pulling together. That is why the
government is urging everyone to be
IL.
am indebted to Secretary Wallace,
Of the Department Of Agriculture, for
an expression that
Must Pull seems to fit the pic
Tooefber ture better than any
have heard. He de-
scribed the condition as one requiring
a two-horse team to pull us forward.
By that phrase, he meant that pro-
Queer and laborer must pull together.
II one of them balks or is unhitched,
the load simply stops. That is all
there is to 1t.
Let US analyZe the necessity for
pulling together which the government
so strongly urges upon us. If all of
the cobwebs are swept off of the pic
ture, 1t seems to me to be fairly clear,
and surely there is no point In becom-
Ing more confused as to what the need
Is or what may be done about it or
why things move slowly.
After some research into the field
Of figures, ! cannot escape the con-
clusion that there Is an absolute and
positive relationship existing between
the money paid to labor and the money
received by the farmers. There Is,
therefore, a necessity for the farmer
and laboring man keeping in step. If
one gets step ahead, the team is not
pulling and conditions grow worse.
1t really does not matter whether 1t
Is the labor-horse or the farmer-horse
that moves too fast; the result all
through the history of modern econom-
les has been precisely the same, and,
thus, too much selfishness on either
side causes trouble
The government has collected stat
istics that provide a most interesting
proof of the statement l made above
that there must be absolute team
work. For example, those figures show
that gross income of agriculture and
pay rolls of factories have been rising
together or falling together as condi-
tons are good or poor. And In the
last ten years, it happens, they have
been in just about the same amount.
The records reveal that farmers gross
income in 1923 was just above eleven
billion dollars. Labor's wage, as
shown or measured by factory pay
rolls, was slightly under that figure.
Both of these totals shriveled a little
bit during the succeeding years until
each was between nine and ten billions
in 1880. There was a further decline
in each in 1881 and the totals were
about seven billions. Last year, as
nearly as accurate records can be OBJ
tanned, gross farm income was about
five billions and labor's wage through
factory pay rolls was just about the
same.
From these statistics, compiled year
after year, the government has deveI-