The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 13, 1917, Page 4

st . g, f PRICE : RE GULATING CumR: Uncle Sam, barber, has trimmed the farmer’s whiskers and hair in his price-regulating chair. ~ , = IN UNCLE SAM’S BARBER SHOP He has given him a pretty close clip—in fact taken all the farmers’ profits on wheat this year. And Uncle Sam is saying “next.” But the long-haired profiteers“in other lines are not going to get a price-regulating hair cut if they can help it. Chaney, the Leader cartoonist, has pictured them beating it out of the shop. fellows in the chair. Voice of People to Be Heard : It is now up to the farmer to help Uncle_Sam get these other Consumers’ and Producers’ Meetings Under Auspices of Nonpartisan League Promise to Make History in the United States. o > \ g XT week—the week beginning with Monday, September 17— is to see a series of gatherings without parallel in the history ) of the United States. Under the auspices and direction of the - * National Nonpartisan league a great producers’ and consum- ers’ convention is to be held in the city of St. Paul. This convention will last for three days, beginning Tuesday, September 18, at 10 a. m., and continuing until Thursday evening, September 20. The big St. Paul auditorium, one of the largest assembly halls in the country, has been secured for the convention. ~ Prior to the three-day convention at St. Paul a massmeet- ing of farmers from North Dakota and Montana, is to be held in Fargo. Thousands of farmers from these states will attend this Fargo meeting, which is to be addressed by Governor Lynn J. Frazier, Congressman John M. Baer, President Edwin F. Ladd of the North Dakota Agricultural college, and Presi- dent A. C. Townley of the National Nonpartisan league. ¥ It is fully expected that at least 10,000 persons will -attend the meetings in St. Paul, starting with Tuesday morning. Invitations have been sent to scores of organizations, ifeluding not only farmers’ organi- zations and commercial clubs in the wheat producing states, but to labor unions and organizations of consumers in the East and in the South as well as the West. TO CONSIDER PRICES S OF ALL PRODUCTS , / Besides representatives-of these organizations some of the most eminent men in the nation, men who have stood for the interests of the people against all forms of exploitation, will speak at the meetings. Letters and telegrams have been sent to these men ‘inviting them to come and speak, and in addition a persenal invitation has been carried to many of them. 4 * The object of the convention at St. Paul and the earlier mass- meeting in Fargo is the same. It is to consider not only the action of the government in establishing a fixed price for wheat which is 86 cents below the market price on the day the notice of the intention of the’ government was given out, but it is to consider also the government’s o o et e . price policy toward all commodities which ‘the working people of the nation as well as the farmers must buy in erder that they may live. The farmers have been assessed from 80 to 100 per cent or more of their profits in wheat in order that the consumers of the cities may get lower prices. The makers of war munitions, the steel magnates, the mine owners, the railroads, the millers, the Chamber of Commerce grain dealers—all have’ escaped .such drastic regulation. There appears to be grave danger that what the farmers have given up will not go to promote the - efficiency of the nation in war as it was intended, but that much of it will cling to the fingers of war profiteers and that .the working people of the nation will continue to stagger un- der an ever-growing load of excessive war Pprices. ... There appears to be as yet no guarantee that the price of flour will be reduced in proportion to the reduction in the cost of wheat. Elg_hfcy cents cut off from the price of wheat should mean $3.60 reduc- tion in the price of a'barrel of flour. No such reduction has taken place. There is fear that no such reduction will be made. If it is left to-the millers themselves it is highly improbable that it will be made. UNCLE SAM NEEDS : » ' SUPPORT OF PEOPLE ‘ ' The prices of shoes are almost prohibitive. Canned i‘oods and meat __products cling at unheard-of prices for which the war is given as an excuse. Farm implements, tools and lumber are outrageously high. . The government of the United States is a democracy. The admin-, istration can not issue autocratic orders such as could be given out by the mona\rclnes of El_lrope. A strong publie sentiment is necessary to pave the way for action by the federal government, and to support the action when it is taken. / : Ij: ig ev.ident that the government has not had the necessary sup- port in its intention to deal fairly with all who produce and sell the necessaries of life. The big manufacturers and the big middlemen are fighting desperately to prevent the government from reducing their profits. . They are resisting the taking of their profits and heavy taxa- tion of incomes to pay for the war. The farmer has been hit first of PAGE FOUR . ol id