The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, August 26, 1918, Page 7

7 business knew this—it knew that what the farmers and their or- ganizations and publications said, could be PROVED, as it has been proved now by the federal trade commission. Hence they wanted to cripple or destroy an organization that couldn’t be controlled and that insisted on a showdown with big business. THEY DIDN’T - WANT TO TAKE A CHANCE ON THE LEAGUE CONTINUING TO FUNCTION AND ULTIMATELY GETTING THE TRUTH BEFORE ALL THE PEOPLE. The farmers will get much satisfaction from [TAMN DOSE the federal trade commission report. The big | YANKS business press, which has briefly mentioned it, A will be full of “explanations” and will find addi- ,,:'. tional incentive in the report to continue the fight against the organized farmers, who long ago learned the truth and demanded an accounting. PACKERS’ REPORT AS A “SERIAL” F ] VHE federal trade commission report recom- > 3 mending to the president of the United States that the government take over the big packing plants will be a historic document. For this reason the Nonpartisan Leader proposes to publish it in full, in installments, beginning in this issue. No other publication in America has so “far undertaken to publish the report in full, and you will not get all the details of the world monopoly of the “Big Five” packers unless you read the report in serial form in the Leader. If you have no time to read this epoch-making report now, preserve your copies of the Leader beginning with this issue, and when the report is complete you can read it at your leisure. The story of the big packers as told by this offiicial government agency is intensely interesting as a history of modern big business. If you have been a reader of the Leader, many of the facts and con- clusions will not be new to you, but the government, through its great authority in forcing witnesses to testify and in seizing letters and documents from the packers’ files, and in being able to employ hundreds of trained investigators, has been able to get details that it was impossible for the Leader to get during the three years that - we have been on the trail of this vicious monopoly. Do not fail to read the federal trade commission report and pre- serve-the various chapters as they are published in the Leader. A ures on the rewards various classes of citizens get for their services. The income tax returns were used as a basis for the figures. The statistician has figured out what percentage of : persons in different occupations have an income of more than $3,000 per year. The year 1916 was used as the basis. Now, $3,000 certainly is not an ex- travagant income. On this amount, a family, if it lived in a modest neighborhood and econ- omized strictly, could afford to own and keep up a Ford. The family members could be well clothed and could eat good food. But there could be no so-called extravagances, such as boxes at the opera, vacation trips to the seaside or lakes, or balls or en- tertainments. It would be mere- ly a reasonably fair living. TR How many people have an in- come of $3,000 a year, and what occupations have the highest per- " . centage of incomes over this figure? The statistician tells us, and here are the figures: : ; Stock, bond and other brokers lead the list. More of them than any other class have incomes over $3,000. Twenty per cent of them - have incomes over $3,000 a year. ; , PRODUCERS AT SMALL END STATISTICIAN has recently compiled some interesting fig- Lawyers and judges come next. Nineteen per cent of them - have incomes over $3,000. : : Figures for other occupations follow, in each instance the figure showing the per cent of persons in the occupation who have incomes of over $3,000 a year: Engineers, civil, mining, etec., 11.24 per cent; manufacturers, 10; architects, 8.5; insurance agents, 8.20; army - and navy officers, 7; doctors, 7; real estate men, 4.8; commercial travelers, 4.5; merchants and dealers, 4.3; theatrical owners and .managers, 2.5; saloonkeepers, 1.9; clergymen, 1.4; actors and musi- ‘' cians, .b5; teachers and professors, .47 ; farmers, .24. : : : + These figures are mighty interesting. Not even 1 per cent of farmers—one in 100—have an income of $3,000 a year. In fact, only one farmer in 400 has such an income, while 20 brokers in ~every hundred, or 80 in every 400, have incomes of $3,000 or over! . “Has something remarkable about these figures struck you? “The MOST USELESS OCCUPATION LEADS THE LIST AND ONE . OF THE MOST USEFUIL OCCUPATIONS, IF NOT THE MOST - USEFUL, IS AT THE BOTTOM! Farmers feed the world. They per- - form a task that under no circumstances could be dispensed with. ' Yet they are the poorest paid: Brokers, who could step out of the .~ economi¢ system without any loss to any one except themselves, I v+ o AT, PARIS. ‘ ‘PAGE - are the best paid of all employments. One in every 400 men who raise food makes as much as $3,000 a year, yet 80 in every 400 whoe MERELY HANDLE AND SPECULATE AND DEAL IN FOOD make $3,000 or better a year! Even saloon men make more than farmers! What do you think of an economic system that is upside-down, as these figures indicate? In the opinion of the . 0 Leader, 80 out of 400 farmers should be making ‘\‘_\‘\:\\.fi\\\\\\\\\\ $3,000 or better a year, and one out of 400 brokers £ ‘;&“\ making that sum would be a fair proportion. BUT fi' S| THE FACTS ARE JUST THE OPPOSITE! (o) £ = WHAT THE WORLD OWES THE WORKERS THE armies of freedom and democracy in q < ) =< N France have turned the tide against autoc- racy and militarism. They have seized the offensive and the kaiser’s hosts are on the run. by #NW\| The news that comes from France will inspire -uufl[{ ) every American with a feeling of pride. America &G commenced to throw the weight of its vast man .power and economic resources into the world struggle for democracy and justice only a little over a year ago. Since then the American people have done wonders in marshaling men, ships and food to the aid of hard-pressed France, Great Britain and Italy. And the weight of American fighting men, money, ships and resources has only just BEGUN to be felt in the struggle—BUT IT HAS ALREADY TURNED THE TIDE. What we want is peace—a peace that will make humanity se- cure in its enjoyment of freedom and happiness, whether in big or little countries. We want a peace that will forever lay low the menace of militarism—a peace that will not be temporary but per- manent. And there is only one way to get it—BY A COMPLETE AND SWEEPING MILITARY VICTORY IN FRANCE. We are full of pride in what we have accomplished and our hearts do not fear for the future—WE KNOW WHAT THE RESULT WILL ULTIMATELY BE ON THE BATTLEFIELD—VICTORY! But we must not slacken. We must not let the turning of the tide in our favor slow up or stop our efforts. THE WAR WILL BE SHORTENED IN DIRECT PROPORTION TO THE EFFORTS MADE FROM NOW ON BY AMERICA TO WIN IT. And here is the great satisfaction to most of us who are work- .ing on the firing line and at home to secure victory—it is being ac- complished by the splendid co-operation of those who toil and work. Farmers and workingmen constitute the backbone of the army. Farmers and workingmen are producing the food, the ships, the munitions in ever-increasing quantities, necessary to win the war. This is not to disparage the efforts of other classes. All classes in America have been knit together in a new brotherhood and patriot- ism and hereic effort to win the war have not been confined to workingmen and farmers. But it is a grand and splendid thing to see the workers and producers, individually and through their leaders and organizations —the progressive, democratic and liberal forces of the world—doing their part to crush the monsters of political autocracy and militar- ism. We could not have won the war without the full co-operation of labor, or without the full.co-operation of farmers. America has both, and has them despite the contemptible insinuations that work- ers and farmers were not patriotic, that were prevalent up to a few months ago in connection with the damnable propaganda of the reactionary interests, in their efforts to use the war to discredit liberal and democratic men and tendencies at home. S Paul big business press have published the articles of the renegade Maxwell. We want to know the name of every newspaper in the United States . so far lacking in decency and common sense as to give circu- lation to the ravings of a man who had a price and who desired - to satisfy an unreasoning bitter- - ness’ against the League. Our readers can help us by letting us know where the Maxwell articles have appeared. - We know they have appeared in the Butte Miner, owned by W. A. Clark, multi-millionaire copper baron of Montana ; in the Milwaukee Jour- nal, an enemy of the organized farmers from the start, and in .the Detroit Free Press, which published them in a feeble at- BHBFaet= tempt to offset the effect of a : . series of articles telling the truth about the League which appeared - in the Detroit News. - The Free Press, which fears the League will = - spread to Michigan, now has a man in North Dakota assigned to the dirty task of 'digging up everything possible to discredit the farm-" TELL US THE PAPERS ; O FAR as the Leader knows, only three papers besides the St. E“g’%flcé AND OBEy S OF OUR = AD E STA \‘\3395 OF THE ENE MssE= - ers’ administration there. The Free Press is-working hand in hand ! with the bankers’ association of Michigan, which recently condemn- v ‘ed‘ the League and. declared it must be kept out of Michigan.