The Daily Worker Newspaper, March 15, 1924, Page 10

N& since the country was torn by the class conflicts over the question of chattel slavery and its attendant problem of state rights versus national centralized govern- mental supremacy have we been con- fronted with a political situation so fraught with the likelihood of so many fundamental changes. The two-party system, supposedly based on the granite facts underly- ing Americanism, is in a far more serious danger of being thrown over- board than ever befdre. The divis- ions among the various layers of the employing class have not been as rife and as acute in the last three score years, Class Farmer-Labor Party. The chances for the organization of a national farmer-labor party along class lines; the probability of the launching of a third progressive -party supported by the small busi- ness elements, the large numbers of the poor farmers, the aristocratic, skilled, upper crust of the working class and even a great mass of the lower strata of the working and farming masses whuse discontent is still vague, unclear, tho steadily in- creasing; the serious deep-rooted dis- satisfaction with and lack of confi- dence in the government and all its subdivisions and ramifications arising from the experiences of the working class in its recent national railway, mine and textile strikes and the shocking revelations of the Teapot Dome explosion—these are only some of the outstanding manifestations of the storm that is now hovering over the political horizon in this country. Add to this veritable magazine the unstable economic and political con- ditions prevailing in Europe and the multiplying signs of a revival of dangerous colonial unrest and revolt against the world capitalist imperial- ists in Korea, in Japan, in Mexico, in the Philippines, in India and you will find that the American working masses are on the threshhold of a = of critical and decisive stgug- gles. Some may ask: Why draw Europe, the Far East, and Latin-America. into a consideration of our national po- litical problems? The matter of fact reply to this question is that: tho the class conflicts in the various countries may be fought very often’ along the limits of the respective national fronts and are colored by the immediate local conditions at hand, yet the class struggle every- where ig fandamentally and in es- sence international. economic and political situations are inextricably interlaced with the pre- vailing economic and political situa- tions in the other countries of the world. The Economic Situation. In order to comprehend the serious disintegration that has set in the Republican and Democratic parties, the rise of the insurgent bloc in con- gress, the spread of the Farmer- Labor movement, the problems con- fronting these groups amd the tactics employed by them, it is necessary to consider first the economic conditions out of which the impending political battles arise’ and under which they are to. be fought out. For some time there’ has been waged a ceaseless campaign to con- vince the country that we are now enjoying the blessings of prosperity. But beneath the surface of these hollow boasts one can detect a strong undereurrent of lack of confidence on the part of our financiers and industrialists in the economic situa- tion today. Financial observers ‘call it, in the language of their tech- nique, “the uneven tone of business,” “the strong spirit of caution.” Buy- ing today is on a hand to mouth basis, a “small order basis.” Short time orders are in vogue. Bradstreet’s in one of itg latest weekly trade reviews said anent the keel of busi- ness navigation that “something like a slackwater appearance is present- ed. ... Neither trade nor industry ‘ appears equal to a year ago at this time.’” Just now the car loading figures are impressively high. But so com- petent an authority as the New York Times Annalist finds the situation here “uncomfortably impressive.” There is mighty good reason for this feeling. The figures for car-load- ings are so much higher than the index of production that it is clear to the careful Our national | observer that the | vid freight-loadings reflect a shelf-clear- "with ing process rather than the approach of a revival of industry, We have today a much bigger freight traffic on a smaller base of production than last year. Such a condition cannot properly be counted as a sign of im- pending prosperity. Steel Production Wavering, Even the production of steel which is put forward as the bright spot of the present situation, is beginning to worry. many students of business, The last few months have seen a relapse from the steady fall in steel production thruout the summer and early winter months, largely because of the railway, construction and Japanese orders, Now steel is wave ering again. It is showing a posi- tive trend of decline. The Iron Age finds that the orders for May and June delivery are far below the nor- mal volume at this time of the year. Some manufacturers of steel are thinking of lowering the price of steel in order to stimulate buying, because the advance orders are pe- tering out, ‘ The January figures of the Federal Reserve Board, it is true, do show an increase over the December. pro- duction. But this must not be taken as the herald of prosperity. The trend of economic development: can be judged with scientific accuracy only by basing conclusions on condi- tions prevailing over a long repre- sentative period and not over a brief period of a month. This is essential in order to allow for fluctuations in the economic development. Thus, the Annalist sums up the situation by saying that “taken as a whole, production is not extremely active, and the generaltone of business is far from resembling that of a pro- gressive boom.” Fear Repetition of 1920. Some financial experts, like Ar- thur D. Welton in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, even display fear of a repetition of the 1920 disaster de- spite the highly advertised boasts that the mistakes of the last great depression have been learned by the capitalist class of this country and will never be permitted to recur, How childish these claims are when they are made in good faith and how help- less the employing class is before The Farmer’s 1924, by C. ; million are tenants and 1% million }warnings and bad omens. The Farmer-Laborites at Crossroads superior economic forces inherent in the capitalist system of production and exchange can be seen frem the following confession of Mr. Welton writing from Chicago two weeks ago: “The shadows of coming events as they fall across the path of Mel- vin A, Traylor, president of the First Trust and Savings Bank, are Overex- pansion of business is one of his fears. The building industry and railroad development are evidences of it.... The railroads have been buying equipment and the tonnage of a million cars a week have been incentive to the purchases, but bor- rowing .money on assumption that the tonnage will be further in- creased may lead to trouble and per- haps disaster.” An analysis of the records kept by the free employment offices in Mew York, Pennsylvania, Massachu- setts, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin shows that the number of jobs avail- able for each hundred applicants “has fallen nearly three-fifths of the way back to the lowest point of the de- pression of 1921.” Unemployment Increase in Wisconsin In Wisconsin for instance, the an- alysis of the payroll records made by the Industrial Commission shows a steady decline in average weekly earnings and the total payroll since October, 1928, The total of employ- es has been falling continuously since August, 1923, on For the first half of February the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry has found “that the common labor market in the majority of the cities remains glutted. In the Philadelphia building trades, ac- cording to this report, the “field con- tinues to be heavily flooded with mechanics in nearly every trade.” And the latest findings of the Bu- reau of Labor Statistics of the De- partment of. Labor on the employ- ment in selected industries in the United States show a decrease “in employment of 1.5 per cent in De- cember over the previous month and a decrease of 1.7 per cent in the total payrolls and of 0.2 per cent in average weekly earnings.” One phase of our present economic conditions cannot be overestimated, Real Problem (Agricultural Depression: Quarterly Journal of Economics, Feb. F. Warren of Corneil University.) : I* IS not generally known, declares C, F. Warren—that is the capitalist press does not let it be known—that we are in the midst of the “most | | Serious agricultural crisis ever experienced in the U. S.” One million farm- ers have lost their entire life-time savings and a still greater number have debts larger than their resources. There are 6 million farm owners; 2 are mortgaged owners. The latter groups are those chiefly affected by\the present agricultural depression. Those farmers who are in comparatively comfortable circumstances | By JAY LOVESTONE The writer refers to the economie crisis amongst the agricultural mass- es. Just as in 1860 the country could not avoid a crash while its economic structure was divided against itself— half chattel-slave. production against half capitalist commodity production —so today the country cannot avo1a being overwhelmed by a depression far more serious than the 1921 eco- nomic collapse, because the agricul- tural industry—our largest single in- dustry, an industry having about 49 per cent of the country’s total pop- ulation dependent on it—is hopeless- ly immersed in the slough of a fun- damental economic crisis. Basil, Manly’s Views. This situation was well expressed to the writer the other day by Basil Manly, the noted economist, when he said: “The country cannot avoid “an economic depression ox the most se- rious proportions, as long as agri- culture continues in its present state of bankruptcy. A wave of acute economic depression is sweeping East to the manufacturing centers. It will hit the industrial areas sooner than most people think it will.” A strikingly similar view is taken by the conservative observer of the Annalist in his last weekly review of the business outlook. Said the An. nalist: “Unless all economic theory is wrong, however, there is in sight a new readjustment of American business to world conditions, and one which may be accompanied with some internal business friction, The day is apparently not tomorrow, but it may well enough be the day after tomorrow.” It is under these extremely unset- tled and basically disturbed economic conditions beclouded by the menace of an oncoming dangerous crash that the next political struggles are to be fought out in this country. It is out of these very conditions which are part of the general fundamentally unsound economic -millieu inherited by all the countries of the world, in some form or other, from the imper- ialist war that our present class di- visions and class conflicts have aris- en. As we analyze the rift in the various sections of our employing class and as we examine the growing political consciousness of the working and farming masses, each particular case will appear in its true light as , having taken root in these world | economic conditions, . | Unemployment In Montreal. | MONTREAL, March 14,—Unem- ‘ployment has become so serious in \this city that a special organization |has been formed to deal with it, in | addition to the provincial employment bureau and a number of commercial are looking towards price fixation as a means of getting a greater income j sanlermant agents, It is estimated from their farms. not so much interested in the price they can get for their products as in|avail the farmer nothing. Mr. Capi- the amount of taxes, interest and | debts they must pay. For it is these! items which are the chief cause of; their present troubles.~ Taxes have) incgeased an average of 122% from’ 1914 to 1922. The total average, value of crops per farm in the U. S.;an improvement in the range of agri-' is $1075 of which an average of $400) is axpended in taxes, interest and the that this adjustment will take a de-| repayment of debts. The poorer; farmers desire relief in the form of; But the farmers that are now in financial difficulty are talist Anarchy of Production is ob- viously breaking the back of the armer. Mr. Warren agrees that the movement of the farmers towards the cities will create a greater demand for farm products, leading towards cultural prices. But he emphasizes cade. The author does not even men- ticn diversified farming as a possible a reduction in these main items of telief, nor does he urge further de- their yearly expenses. Danger of Inflated Prices. Mr. Warren explodes several pana- flation of labor by capital as an aid to the deflated farmer. ; Depression to Continue. The writer is not optimistic about ecas peddled out by ‘farm politicians ;a quick return to agricultural pros- to help the farmers. The farmers | have been blamed for not having, saved money during the war period, | with which they might now stave off disaster, The author explains this ;matter thrordly and concludes that| |many men would now be better off | financially if they had not saved ;money and thus would not have | ‘bought or added. to their farm hold- |ings at inflated prices. In a disgres- sion he warns young families inst a similar loss in their savings they the farm planks of insist on buying homes at the in-|Party and the Federated Farmer- flated prices now vailing. As to|Labor Party, namely the land to the Gai alvlen, that the: dueinwr anes users and @ 4 production, he states that w drop in prices the farmer must “work up more units of his product to meet expenses”; “It is true”, ‘he tinues, “that the status of ers might be better if were reduced, but the farmer is marily concerned with his ual status”. Besides, a small individual & perity—“the depression is likely to continue for many years”, the infer- ence is 10 or 15 years. If this analy- sis is true it means that forma- tion of a strong third or farmer-labor party is practically inevitable. He enumerates the economic conditions that must prevail before a renewal of good times can be hoped for, but he offers no way out for the millions of emery tomo in agen His re se ana wever, proof the Workers that 50 per cent of the skilled work- ,ers of the city are out of work. The Rebel Miner None can be found who envy him Of his work underground. He is even little thought of, Except when winter comes around. Few of life’s joys are his to share But of burden’s he has plenty. Each year seems like a double decade Een tho that means twenty. There’s scarcely a thing he can call Ws own Except his labor power. But with each day he sells to the sons of greed His life’s blood ebbs lower. Yet when he asks for the things That are his by right, He finds he is always forced to face The power of might. ’Tis then he resolves to better his lot And escape the bitter Are those who gave him the l¢s- son. Each battle he enters with increased always with gains, Until d that’ there's Se@hlag to lose But misery plus the chains. 4g {Submitted by one of the Progres-