The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 23, 1926, Page 10

~ The Rolling Farmer By JOEL SHOMAKER. IXTEEN million persons. toured the United States, in private cars, during the summer of 1926. They used more than three million automobiles. They were classed as tourists, homeseekers or investors. The machines just went rolling along carrying passengers from somewhere to the land of nowhere. Some re- ‘turned to their homes. Others found tempo- rary employment. Many are roaming in strange lands. Where the money came from to finance the summer vacation for approximately one-sev- enth of the people of this nation is an open question. Some families used the savings of iyears to pay expenses. Others borrowed funds from interest collecting monet tae Many just fitted up for the occasion, with the least cash possible, and lived off the country. They saw the farms of the west and were dis- . Another caravan of mixed vehicles lined the’ highways of the northwest. It was the pro- ‘cession of -homeless farmers on the way to reputed tities of refuge. The farms ceased to ‘pay interest on investments, taxation for cost ‘of government and the demands of local mer-_ chants and transportation agencies. The fami-— lies were loaded into ancient wagons, dilapidat- ed trucks or carts and taken on a pilgrimage for life necessities. The highway travelege#ound that the stories about the western farmers rolling in wealth were mythical. They had their eyes opened to the false propaganda carried on by capital- istic politicians. They saw the marks of pov- erty. They counted the abandoned farms. They read the faces of dying women and ob- served the tottering. steps of starving children. They asked questions and learned why those conditions prevailed. Farmers and their families.were running’ away from'their homes. They gathered to-* gether a few personal belongings and set out for the cities where they expected to find work. They had to get employment in order to keep away the reaper of death. If the fathers and mothers could not make enough money to meet the daily obligations the children would have to be called and put im the harness of slavery. OU are on a rather busy street. At least the “pub- 4 lic,” that vague entity whose name is often taken in vain by politi¢ians, igs.passing by, curious perhaps at your writhtngs, but wholly uninterested as to whether you live or die> You are writhing fpr the good reason that a burly footpad has gotten you down. He has his foot on your neck and his business partner is keisurely going thru your pockets. Strangely enuf, you resent this sort of thing and in your writhing struggles conceive the bright, idea of upsetting the fellow who has his foot on your neck and kicking his partner in the face, UT just as you are on the point of carrying this idéa into action, a kindlyfaced old gentleman, who has for some time been gazing on the affair with an interest seemingly. purely objective, rushes over and holds up a warning hand. “My good man,” he says, using the term delightfully fitted to benignant superiors, “let us have peace! Above all, you must do no violence. I feel a deep sym- pathy for you. I share your suffering—at least I did once. But highway robbery has gone on thruout the ages. God has undoubtedly desired it to continue. So why struggle? Struggles between the robber and the robbed are a waste of social energy. Besides, you should consider the robber’s point of view. It would be much better for all concerned to sit down calmly to- gether at a table and come to an agreement ag to whether they should take everything or leave you & Httle. Then you could hurry back to work and get some more.” & eed agile-fingered gent who has gone thru your pock- ets meanwhile, also exhibits a philosophy. Turn- ing to his accomplice he says ecatatically: “My esteemed colleague, let me introduce you © a JUST MAN!” S$ 02%. 8 * LIAM B. WILSON is a JUST MAN. This is certified by no less an authority than Roger W. Babson. Mr. Babson, it must be remembered, is the gentleman who conducts a statistical bureau for the service of the capitalists of this country, tells them in advance whether business will be good or bad and gives them reliable advice as to whether labor will stand for greater exploitation or not, and in general serves as brains for tired business men who have none, or who are too busy inspecting the Follies. : ‘R. BABSON wrote a book, a whole book, a few A'4 years ago, to tell the capitalists of this country that Wijtidm, B, Wilson is.a JUST MAN. It is entitled—“w. B. Wilson and the Department of Labor,” and it has an introduction by John Hays Hammond, whom all wise coal diggers will remember advocated an open shop fight against the union in the anthracite strike last year. : John Hays Hammond also certifies that W. B. Wilson is a JUST MAN. This open shopper coyly remarks that it was his “privilege to be able to contribute gpme influence in securing the creation of the Department . Nature has not deserted the farmers. The et Labor, and with others interested in the movement soil remains fertile. ehine. The rains come with the seasons. This old earth is not a failure. The grass grows green. The fruits mature and are plentiful. -The fields yield good crops of corn, wheat and potatoes. The orchards show fine fruits. The gardens produce splendid crops of vegetables. The lawns and walks are still ornamented with flowers. What is the matter? Man ig the power that drives farmers from their homes. He is not one of the farmers. He is one of the many engaged in the work of farming the farmers. He lives and thrives on the profits made by handling the products of the farm. He may be a local.merchant, gen- eral buyer, money lender, transportation agent or professional man. He may be a town build- er or city booster. He because the farmers produce things on which he collects the profits. P The western farmers are face to face with real conditions. They are not dealing in the- ories. They have long ago cast aside the old proverbs about farming. They know that the long worn tales about the law of supply and demand are mere fables. They are not repeat- ing the-warning story about the rolling stone that catches no moss, to their children. They know that the farms do not pay for the rea- on that the bosses take too much toll. Farmers are rolling away from the clutches of enemies. They cannot stand against the increasing tide of sight drafts on their in- comes. They are tired of working twelve to fifteen hours a day, seven days in the week, for those who toil not neither do they spin but depend on the farmers for the necessities and luxuries of life. The present magvement of farmers from the land to the cities is merely a beginning. What of the future of agriculture in the United States? It is full of shadows. There are dark spots on the sun of, and visible wrinkles on the face of the moon of The sun continues fo, I believed that William B. Wilson was pre-eminently qualified to become the first secretary.” 5 event B. WILSON,” says Hammond, “had been an American wage earner from boyhood; he pos- sessed that knowledge of and sympathy with wage earn- ers which is an indispensible qualification for the head of a department of the government whose function is to safeguard the interests of the wage earners 6f the country. “He had other qualiiications—a judicial character of mind, a varied experience and a lifelong and intelli- gent interest in public affairs, and above all an unim- peachable reputation for sterling integrity. I believe that Secretary Wilson has fully justified the confidence reposed ig him by those who advocated his appoint- ment.” * * * * i wes ieading open shoppers and experts in the serv- ice of capitalist exploitation begin to go into rap- tures over a politician’s qualifications to safeguard the interests of wage earners, and take the trouble to cre- ate a government department for that alleged purpose ‘and place him in it, it may well be said that the wage earners concerned had best look with careful scrutiny at the-whole blooming fot. bes J But we are immeiiately concerned with William B. Wilson for the réa%on that he is asking the wage earn- ers of Pennsylvania to elect him to the senate of the United States on the democratic ticket this year. ON is profiting by the fact that the republi- licans have violated the eleventh commandment: they have been caught. The investigation of the re- publican primary elections in Pennsylvania has cov- ered both Vare and Pepper with the same slime, In Pennsylvania and thruout the nation the democrats, having pleaded the statute of limitations against their indictment for wallowing in graft during the war, are e ‘ - progress, The farmers cannot exist on the pro- ceeds of the land. The masses depending on the farmers for support must find other fields to explore and other people to exploit. In the meantime, the foundation of the nation—suc- cessful agriculture—is fast slipping into the dismal sea of oblivion. pointing at Pennsylvania republicans and crying out:) “Look at the crooks!” . 2 In such a situation a democrat who hag never been eaught in anything worse than murder és @ good bet for to win the election.. But when they put wp a man whose reputation for “sterling integrity”. is “unim- peachable,” he is as good as elected. HE ory for “clean government” following the slush fund exposures ts,taken up on every hand, The Mb- erals, “profoundly shocked” for the 9,99$th time at learning that capftalist democracy is dirty and far from demdvratic optimistically recover in-time to join the crusade for clean capitalism, repressing for the time their desire, born from petty-bourgeois defeatism, that capitalism get along without politics, “Old-fashioned honesty” ig brought forth, virtue and righteousness are extolled. In shining armor ‘“Upright- . hess” goes forth against “Corruption” and over the great state of Pennsylvania even the star of Bethlehem shines down upon William B, Wilson, a “good man”— a JUST MAN, « a s ee: Oo. @. paraphrase an old saying: Some men ere born “just,” some acquire it, and some have “fustness” thrust upon them. William B. Wilson had to acquire ft, apparently against all logic, against his interests aS a wage worker during the early part of his Hfe. He wasn’t bern that way. Babson tells of how in 1868, when William was six years old, the mother and children were evicted from their home at Haughhead, Scotland, one bitter winter morning. The father, a coal miner was on strike and the company had evicted the mother and children from the two-room hovel onto the snow covered street, ITTLE William had not yet learned the philosophy of class col- laboration which. like a fairy wand, was to make him a part of the capitalist government and the capitalist class fifty years later) He acted Ifke a miner's son . ought to act. He was filled with hatred for the law of capitalism in the form of the bailiff who came to put, his mother out of _ their... poor shelter. . He, the,; ¢ only six years old, grasped the elemental fact of struggle in his mind, and in his hand clutched a big knife which he intended for the bailiff. « Here was a picture of one little moment in the age-long tragedy of the women of the workers. O, the pity of the mothers and wives of the miners thru the age of steam! Lives of sodden toil and drudgery and in- articulate suffering. NY working class boy who has witnessed and felt the pain in his mother’s soul when her man and her brood is struck down by the brutality of capitalist exploitation, and whose class jatred is not seared into his soul forever by the picture, either lacks something elemental or has a genius for recovery that is mot to be proud of. William B. Wilson boasts that he got ever it. “It seems funny to me as I look pack on it today,” he told Roger Babson from his chair as secretary of the De- partment of Labor in the United States ‘government. “My understanding of the matter is that the action by” the coal company in this affair was entirely within its rights under the “law.” *-e* fet @ € “there were not the human opportunities existing there that we found here when we came.” This im reference to the family's migration to America where, none the less, they landed“in the coal camp at Arnot, Pennsylvania, to find that— “Everything was owned by the company, from the railroad station to the last house, Everything must be bought from the company, from the baby’s nursing bot- tle to thé aged man’s coffin.” A ee a . ' wuss B, WILSON recovered from the adversities ef life as a breaker boy, as a miner, of the perse- eution, including the blacklist. and injunctions he fought against as a union miner and official of the United Mine Workers of America. “He was most un justly boycotted by the mine owners,” says Babson, “Yet be was not in tho least bitter toward the em was not the human liberty,” “Wilson says, «4 Who Is William B. Wilson? 3 4 FAL EEE, ae othe run = 5 Wik wro' fact viey poli ders thes B | “y [ vice : WILLIAM B. WILS Drawing b “a FAGSGE DR EGS. > FP 88