The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1949-09-08
Overflow Crowd
Hears brannan,
chas. MacGoWan

Chicago (LPA)-A coalition OF
toilers on the farm and in the fac
tories to fight reaction on every
front was called at a big farmer
labor unity" rally held here or
Labor Day, under auspices of Cook
County Labor's League for Poll
tical Education.
Appeals for such coalition were
made by President Charles j. Mac
Gowan of the Int'l Brotherhood Of
Boilermakers-AFL and by Agricul-
ture Secretary Charles F. Brannar
before an overflow crowd of 1900
attending the rally at the Hote
Sherman. Their talks were broad
cast over a coast-to-coast NBC net
work.
"Problems of the farmers anC
problems of the workers are basic
ally the same," MacGowan declar-
ed. Without sound agricultural
economy, the industrial workers
are deprived of their greatest mar
ket, and without that market, un-
employment and suffering occur.
"Also, with unemployment ram
pant among our industrial workers
the farmer in turn loses his market
for the things which he produces
Hence, to be prosperous, the ma
tion must have full employment al
good wages in the cities and full
employment with good prices for
the farmer"
MacGowan cited the fact that "a
combination of reactionary Repub-
licans and reactionary Democrats"
in Congress fought farmers and
workers alike, and served only
"predatory interests"
Legislation designed to assist
the farmer and place floor under
his products; legislation to increase
flood control; legislation to i'm
prove standards of education in
the city and rural areas; legislation
to make collective bargaining work
by repeating the iniquitous Taft
Hartley Act-all such types of leg
islation are fought by the reaction
AIRY combination in Congress, >
MacGowan said.
These legislative measures, he
said, are Branded as socialistic
and communistic," but "it is quite
a different story when Big Business
wants subsidies from the taxpay-
ers, or higher rates, or a host of
other special favors whereby they
can exploit the common people.
"With the issues clearly defined,
it becomes the sacred duty of both
the farmer and wage Garner to
ioin hands and make common cause
foF the elimination of those pliable
servants of corporate wealth"
MacGowan added. "In their stead,
we must elect men and women of
who understand the pro-
bems of the nations producers"
Unless that is done, he stressed,
"the exploitation by great corpora
tions of the farmer and wage earn
ers is bound to bring on the same
disastrous collapse as occurred
after 1929"
Brannan, in a stirring speech,
declared that "there is almost no
limit to what this nation can ac-
complish if all work together
farmers and laborers."
He punctured stories of' "pro
by farmers. The farm
ers' real income, just as that of
the workers, has declined sharply
below wartime levels, he pointed
out.
ut may surprise some of you to
learn that the farmer now receives
only AS cents out of the consumers
food dollar. The wheat in a 14-cent
loaf of bread brings the farmer
less than three cents"
Farmers and workers "have al
ways sold their products at bargain
rates." Brannan declared.
Labor and food are the two best
bargains in America Today" he
said. Corporate profits, af t e r
taxes, last year were Az times
the 1889 level. Total wages and
salaries before taxes were only
pa times as high as 1889 Qess, if
taxes are deducted). That's what
/ mean when call labor bar
gain"
Brannan charged that "the seeds
of conflict" between workers and
farmers "are constantly being
by an overemphasis in
press and radio on such things as
strikes and the cost Of supporting
the price of potatoes"
"The farmer should know" he
said, "that last year six times as
many days were lost by work in
juries as by strikes. And the labor
er should know that even if there
had been no support program last
year the decline in the cost of liv-
ing for the average worker would
have been almost negligible"