The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1946-04-05
Farmers and
Continued from Page One)

movement against wage cuts.
Thousands of workers are now on
strike as a last resort in fighting
against lower living standards. Factor
les that should be turning out the
many articles you farmers have long
been waiting for and need badly stand
idle. We know you are disguised when
you go to the implement dealers only
to hear the same story 1--WE can't get
EN-" Workers don't like this situation
any better than farmers because it
means loss of pay and hunger when
strikes last very long. Industry has
in most cases refused to negotiate
and sits tight. Here is the reason they
can do it.
They have a government guarantee
of profits whether they reconvert or
not, whether they keep their plants
at full production or not, whether they
deliberately cause unemployment or
not. According to the Department Of
Commerce estimate, American corpora
tions, in So months of the war have
accumulated $50 billions in profits,
after payment of taxes. On top of that
business has accumulated another $50
billion in carry-back credits in taxes.
This simply means that if bust
ness enterprise fails to make as much
profit as it made before the war it
can ask the United States treasury
for a check to make up the difference.
This carry-back is not fully understood
by people not in business. 1t is a gov
fan 10 hKfCf <xr
their profits. Then there is the little
matter of SO billion in reduced cor
poration and income tax just handed
to the rich. Yes, this is why labor has
been forced to walk out. 1t is really
industry that is striking and not la
bor
The newspapers try to make people
think that if an increase in wage rates
is granted it would mean that prices
to the consumers would have to be
raised. This is bunk. Big Business
wants to bust ceiling prices for real
cleanup of farmers and others who /
have saved a little during the war.
Busting ceiling prices so living costs |
soar would also give labor an indirect |
wage cut. Let's take look at corpora
ton profit figures. This comes from
the Department of Commerce.
Figures Tell of Swollen Riches
This report gives figures on corpo-
ration profits from 1929 to the pres
ent time 1t shows that the average
annual profit of all corporations, after |
taxes, during the pre-war years of |
1886 to 1889 was 1914 billion. During
the war years 1871 to 1914 these cor
porations gathered the huge sum of
$S7 billion every year. This was a
jump of 1876 per cent! These gigantic
profits coupled with the fact that the
productivity of labor has increased so
that now four workers can produce
the same amount of goods that re-
quired the work of five before the war
prove who is getting the money No
wonder the Office of War Mobiliza-
ton can make the statement that in
dustry could increase wages "a per
cent and still maintain profits 100 per
cent greater than before the war. Just
what are profits anyway?
The educational leaders of the [
Farmers Union and of the labor move
ment belong to the school of thought
which holds that all wealth, all value
is created by doing work, by labor :
Therefore, it is impossible for coupon
clippers who perform no productive
labor to produce any wealth. Now we
know it is possible for labor to pro-
duce far more than is necessary for it's
own keep All over and above this the
coupon clippers grab because they own
the factories This is their profit The
late Sen. Richard Pett1grew of South
Dakota used to say that profits are
stolen labor, and their only function
is to steal more labor"
Weapons in Our Hands /
Labor's trade unions and the farm
9r Co-operatives are sharp weapons
n the hands of the common people
lsed to fight to keep as much of the /
of their labor as possible !
rom being stolen. 1t is as simple as J
his.
Now let us take a look at some of 1
he labor costs and manufacturers
rofits of the articles farmers use.
| study made of 35 articles by the
ONSl ulu6nI SHOWS IUdb the average 4
abor cost was only 8 per cent of the
cling price while the manufacturers
rofits were nearly 16 per cent. l
What labor actually is fighting for 4
oday is enough wages to enable them
buy back greater part of the prod
cts labor produces. The big capital
SITS can't possibly consume all of these
roducts they take as profits from the
Torkers and farmers. So these arti- !
les begin to pile up on the shelves
nsold. Workers are then discharged |
nd the farm market soon sinks below /
ne point where it is possible to get !
ost of production. Foreclosures and
yictions follow. We saw such times 1
the 1905. Small Business goes I'M
err too, and is swallowed by Big :
usiness. This is the situation against ]
hich labor is fighting. 1t leads to-
ard another war.
The real aim of the big corpora !
ms is to smash the labor movement !
ter this, it would be easy to break e.