The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-10-01
After Me, the DeIuge.
"The Little Window"
Aftermath of War.
What Must Be Done!
Pioneers Now Okies.

! Pioneers Now Okies.
Louis XIV of France is credited wit
saying to his "sweetie", Madame d
Pompadour, after viewing the risin
misery of the farmer and TIE worke
in his kingdom: after me, tie d,
luge." Yet his has been a reign {
comparative prosperity to all appear
ances. He had prophetic eye 70
the future, for in about 20 years til
angry farmers of France and tn
starving workers of Paris and tn
great cities, rose together and tor
down, almost with their bare hands
that great citadel of governmental
injustice, the Bastile. That was tn,
opening chapter of the deluge of bloot
which flooded all France in the Rev
olution.
1t is easily possible for the House
of Representatives to say to the U
S. Senate: after us, the delugel'
The record will show what the nature
of that deluge was, after the First
World war Farm families evicted
from their homes and set adrift as
nomads of the desert; la0oring men
and women in the cities starving in
the streets, just as they did in 1890
in France; the upper class ruined
and led at last to look out of 1.-THE
little window" beneath the slicing
blade of the financial guillotine. The
farmers of the years following the
First World war strove to stem the
tide of disaster with Holiday Asso-
Citations" bent on putting a stop to
the rising tide of homeless and farm
less farmers. Governors and legisla-
tors, sensing the calamity, proclaimed
moratoriums and saved a remnant
from the universal debacle.
Must this nation go through that
again, following the Second World
war? Not If the Farmers Union has
its way! That is the thought strongly
by M. W. Thatcher in his
broadcast on the Farm
& Home hour from Chicago on Satur-
day, Sept. 81. You must have heard
him-you should have heard him! He
ooks ahead as few but himself can,
20 the time when the sword will be
sheathed and he declares that unless
he farm family is protected against
he debt which it now carries stag
yeringly, that family will be crushed
by the aftermath of war. He sees
What can come because he has seen |
What once came. War cries out, even |
more terrifying than did Louis XIV: |
After me, the deluge." It is such |
leluge as this country and it's agricul- |
ure cannot peacefully endure a Sec
md time
Speaking for the Farmers Union,
What is Mr.. Thatcher asking for? He
SKIS for farmers National Defense.
1e asks that steps be taken now,
hat laws be enacted today = while
here is yet time-to prevent the re-
of that first disaster. What
oes he want done? This is what he
sked: "a sound land policy in this
alton, fair distribution of the acre
ge under the Triple A, and a mort
age system that will not throw hon
st farmers off the land" Listen to
is summary of the Farmers Union
urpose: 1--WE must be done with
bsentee landlords" they accom-
Iished the ruin of French peasantry
ack in the 18th century-'we must {
? done with insurance companies
Derating farms all over the country;
e must be done with people on Main q
Lreet operating farms as side line q
must be a national policy that the
I'm land of this country shall be in Q
e hands of those who live on the q
nd and make their home on the c
nd" Sounds like big order-but '
is the ONLY thing that can prevent
Q evil days from returning, after \
e guns have ceased to roar.
Half a century and more ago farm II
S were squeezed out of their farm II
tiiSo III IhC tdot anu III ILuIODG.
ley came west to the free lands and q
came our honored Pioneers. Today
cir descendants have been again "
ueezed out by the same intolerable n
nd laws and mortgage system until o
ey have to move-but where? To e.
3 Uncovered shacks of the Pacific
asst! What once were hailed as the D
ioneers" became in our time, the a
spised "Okies!" Don't think this is A
IS columns idea-M. w. Thatcher
We you that picture in his radio az
k September 81. If you failed to Ell
ar him-get copy of that historic 81
d prophetic speech and study it. OF
get home what must be done there in
Ist, he says, not only be intensive ty
m organization and activity but ST
less Main Street and Wall Street al
J to perish together-there must be 10
} help and cooperation of all citi- re
Is of this Republic. The congress,
ddling through, must be told what | pl
III be done-now and not tomorrow. tn
-------- ar