The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 27, 1917, Page 5

= ° TABLE DOESN'T TAKE LEGS AND ROFITS 02 FARMERS IR BRI ~, UG AN\ The government has ordered the farmer to give up his profits on wheat’this year, and the farmer intends that the consumer shall benefit by this proceeding. But, Chaney, the cartoonist, pictures here what is liable to happen and which -must not be allowed to happen. He has pictured the miller and the baker walking away with the table, just as the consumer is about to enjoy the meal the farmer has served up. Can you blame the farmer and consumer for wanting to prevent this thing happening? ' Are they unpatriotic to insist that it shall not happen? THE PEOPLE SPEAK! Resolutions of Great Conference Ring With Loyalty and Patriotism---Com- mon People are Back of the Government to Obtain Justice and Fair Play at Home During the War---Wealth Must be Conscripted---War Profiteering Must be Stopped---Fair Prices to Consumers and Producers Must be Fixed BY A STAFF CORRESPONDENT * ARMERS from sixteen states of the Union and labor men from eleven states concluded their great three-day Pro- ducers’ and Consumers’ con- vention at St. Paul last Thursday night, - The meeting, which began with the singing of America as a pledge of the loyalty of workers from city and coun- _try, ended in like manner, with the adoption of resolutions, pledging the farmers and laboring men to stand behind their country through the great- est of the world’'s wars. The reso- lutions also indorse emphatically the government's statements of war aims. But. the resolutions go farther than that. Besides pledging gener- al support, as other organizations have done, the farmers and labor- ing men have done more by point- ing out to the government how democracy, both at home and abroad, can best be secured while the war is on. The resolutions point out better methods of financing the war than have been adopted yet; methods that will knit the whole people more firmly together behind their government. The resolutions sug- gest better methods of protecting this country’s soldiers abroad, and its workers, on farm and in fac- tory, at home. The resolutions are the result of two days’ study on the part of a resolu- tions committee made up of represent- atives of every farmers' organization and every labor organization represent- ed at the convention. It was a differ- ent kind of a’' resolutions committee from the usual one- which is hand- picked by the chairman of the meeting. This resolutions committee was pick- ed by the delegates themselves. Each brganization represented furnished its ‘own man and the members of the com- mittee all had their own ideas, HOW THE RESOLUTIONS WERE THRESHED OUT But the members of the resolutions committee had more than their own ideas to go upon. They had the ad- wvantage of hearing from some of the most learned men in the United States loyalty bandwagon. —sreat fighters for the rights of the people, like Senators Borah of Idaho and La Follette and A. C. Townley— students of agricultural problems like President Ladd of North Dakota Agri- cultural college and President Waters of Kansas Agricultural college, eco- nomic experts like Carl D. Thompson, Ray Vance and W. B. Colver. They had the advice of farmers from almost every western state and of men who the great St. Paul conferences. bakeries is urged. speedily. through brokers. ‘‘The workers of country and ecity always have been on the We invite Big Business to get on—but to . get on on the same terms that laborers and farmers have—with- out a cent war profits in their jeans.’’—Congressman John M. Baer of North Dakota. For Democracy and Justice ; Support is pledged to the government irt the world war for political and industrial democracy, in the resolutions adopted at The government is urged to fix prices on all necessities of life, and if this does not effectually reduce the price of flour and bread, government commandeering of elevators, flour mills and War profits should be used to pay the expenses of the war, the income tax should be stiffened and a tax should be placed on the value of unused land, say the resolutions. Public ownership of public utilities is indorsed. The govern- ment is urged to take over the operation of Montana copper mines and all other industries when labor troubles can not be settled Pay of $50 per month, protection from foreclosure of mort- gages and cheap life insurance are urged for soldiers. The government is asked to provide loans at low rates of in- terest for farmers in drouth stricken sections. 2 The government is asked to buy its grain direct, instead of The government is asked to establish the milling value of wheat as the basic test for grade and price. The government is thanked for announcing its war aims in response to the peace note of Pope Benedict, and is informed that all further efforts of this country and its allies along the lines in- dicated in the reply will be supported. have spent the best years of their life working in the labor movement. These expressions were the private views of the speakers. The producers and consumers on the resolutions com- mittee and in the main body of the convention did not accept all of them. For instance, *one speaker proposed paying for the war by issuing more greenbacks. This was not accepted by the resolutions committee. The ques- PAGE FIVE tion of whether the United States was justified: in entering the war was brought up by another speaker, who departed from the text of the speech he had promised to deliver. But these matters were only the personal views of the speakers. The resolutions committee took what was good, what every fair- minded man could agree upon, out of all these speeches. These ideas —the ones adopted by the conven- tion — represent the unanimous views of the producers and con- sumers. The resolutions commit- tee and the delegates were not re- sponsible for personal views ex- pressed by speakers. For two days members of the reso- lutions committee ironed these ideas out. Then they submitted to the mem- bers of the great convention, who also had the benefit of the advice of the experts, a finished program. This pro- gram the delegates received with cheers and adopted by unanimous vote. On this program producers and con- sumers intend to work. This program is based on a simple theory. This theory is just this: The people constitute the govs ernment. The government should be oper- ated for the benefit of the people. If the government is operated for the benefit of the people, there can be no question that the people will support it. That support is needed today, more than at any other time in the country’s history. So the convention proposed that government be operated for the benefit of the people, and pointed out: definite ways in which this could be done. This is the statement adopted by 2000 farmers and working men. They adopted this statement, be- lieving that it represented the thoughts and wishes of one hun- dred million residents of the Unit- ed States. ORGANIZATIONS THAT FRAMED RESOLUTIONS The organizations represente on the committee which drew theze resoly-, (Continted on page r5)