The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-06
The San joaquin Valley
Gets the RED filters"

They carry their cards with them,
but feel no Orgsnizstionsl unity.
The winning Of the strike in thsif
particular area was all they wanted.
Nevertheless, the knowledge that
by organizing they could and did
achieve wage advances, spread
among them. BY their very wan
behring's the word spread Of the
union accomplishments. The result
was that during the year 1888 there
were nine spontaneous strikes
among agricultural workers, five Of
which we're won. But these groups,
too, disintegrated as soon as work in
the particular farm area affected
was finished
But the very fact that Commu-
mist unions won IT out Of % strikes
in agriculture during the past year,
the fact that the Communist union
stands out as the most aggressive
in Orgsnizational activities, has left
its effect upon other fields Of work
with the result that groups like
fishermen and longshoremen and
other A. F. Of L. bodies now view
Communist activities with q ia
vorable and sympathetic eye. To
the 10000 agricultural workers who
took out cards. we're added some
5000 workers in industries other
than agriculture.
In the total number Of strikers
and areas affected BY the Commu-
nists the Department Of Labor here
credits the Communists leadership
with more than they themselves
claim.
There are approximately $4,000
farmers including migratory work
ers and home guards" as they are
termed. The home guard is the
farmer who lives in or near the
land where he finds employment.
Seven per cent Of all these farm
ers own 80 per cent Of all farm
land in the state.
THIS high percentage Of land own
L ership should be borne in mind,
for in many instances the large
landowner dictates the price of
fruit. vegetables and cotton as well
as the price Of labor in the fields.
The small farmer has to tag along
or be ruined Hence this power to
control prices served as a powerful
weapon in the hands OF the large
landowners in lining up some Of the
small farmers TO combat agricul-
tural workers demands.
Fifty-eight per cent Of all sericul-
tural workers in this state own no
land whatever.
Of those farmers who still chung
to their 20 or more acres during
the past few years some 30 per cent,
Or about one out of every three,
cannot make living of their
heavily mortgaged farms, and have
to hire out to the large landowners
for an average period Of so DAYS a
year.
So bankrupt are almost an small
farmers that many Of them, having
lost their land to the local bank,
refuse to take it back when the
bank offers It to them for nothing!
There was an interesting case I
heard of which illustrates what has
happened to the farmer here in the
past few years.
One farmer whose Ranch. had sl-
ways been nortgaged Css the ma
jority of them were even before the
depression) figured out that during
the past % years he had paid in
mortgage interest and loan interest
four times what the farm was
worth. When he finally couldn't
meet the interest payments any
longer, the bank took over the prop
erty and hired him to work it. The
farmer found it great relief: he
got a regular wage, worked eight
hours day and had no worries
about depreciation, interest, etc.
Then the bank discovered It was
losing money on the proposition of
paying him a living wage to run
the place. The bank offered to give
the farm back 10 him
Nothing doing" the farmer re-
turned. Il lost money on It for
years, Nov it's your tlrnl"
Ito Re Continued