The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, January 24, 1921, Page 4

Gossip and Comment on Current Affairs to expect from the senate resolution reviving the War Finance corporation in the form in which it finally passed congress, mu- tilated by both house and senate. Since that was written events have shown that our prediction was correct. On January 3 the amended resolution was vetoed by President Wilson and on the same day was passed over the veto by the senate. Yet neither the veto nor the passage of the bill over the veto affected the. grain markets, at Chicago or Minneapolis, by as much as a cent. The spec- ulators knew that the resolution, in the form in which it was passed, would extend no additional credit to farmers, that a new foreign marketing campaign could not be opened for weeks or perhaps months, and that this campaign then would not be devoted to selling farmers’ products, but rather to the sale of the products of the eastern manufacturers. d This does not mean that we agree with President Wilson’s ac- tion in vetoing the resolution. President Wilson adopted through- out the attitude of Secretary of the Treasury Houston (it is, indeed, likely that Mr. Houston prepared the veto message) and Houston, arch enemy of the farmers, is the man responsible for the deflation policy that has ruined farmers and left profiteers practically un- touched. He has sihce opposed every effort to relieve farmers from the consequences of his discredited policy. Now that the finance corporation has been revived it will be un- der the jurisdiction of Houston and he has made it clear that farmers will get no direct help from it and the least possible in- direct help. The farmers are = - 2 left holding the sack again. 1820 The only other relief meas- ure now pending in congress, with a serious chance of passage, is the emergency tariff bill. As the Leader explained last week - this might give the farmer some temporary relief, but is intended merely as an entering wedge for a general revision upward of the tariff on manufactured articles and such a general revision would cost farmers, in increased prices, many times more than they will gain Ly a tariff on ag- ricultural products. ‘ N TE WOULD be at fault if we criticized what" congre ;s is doing with- out telling wiat we believe should be done. We have urged’ our plan many times before and we are going to keep at it until it is adopted. The only permanent plan to IN THE last issue of the Leader-we stated that farmers had little Speculators Have No Fear of Congress A CENTURY OF “PROGRESS” - | ber accused an opponent of being a liar. The speaker rapped for order. ‘“No member of this house,” he declared, “can charge another member with being a liar.” “Very well, Mr. Speaker,” re- turned the legislator, “then I will merely say that my opponent is handling the truth carelessly.” ] : The most important question confronting the IN A recent session of the legislature of a western state one mem- 3 American people today is how federal taxes are to be gan%lmfil paid. Big business months ago laid plans to transfer e more than one billion dollars’ worth of excess and in- . Carelessly come taxes to the consumers. One billion dollars ad- _ ditional taxes for consumers means $50 a year for each family in the United States. : g In November the Leader pointed out that representatives of the American Farm Bureau federation were meeting with the repre- sentatives of big business and that the Federation had sent out a report boosting the proposed new taxes upon consumers. Publica- tion of this article in the Leader was followed by a statement })y President Howard of the Federation that big business had been in- duced to give up its plans to throw the entire burden of war debt on the common people. "~ Now the leader of the big business plan says this plan has not been given up, but that the Federation representative, after first speaking against some portions of the plan, has finally agreed to it. It looks to us as if some one were handling the truth care- ; lessly., Read the article orn page 8 of this issue of the Leader and see what YOU think. ECENTLY the Leader R called attention to the ri- diculous claim put forth by George H. Johnston, an anti- League banker of Wales, N. D., in which he cited figures to “prove” that farmers could make money by all All Out of dumping tlfilir Step but My, ¢rops on the market at once Johnston in the fall, im- mediately after harvest. Henry C. Wallace, edi- tor of Wallace’s Farmer and likely to be our next secretary of agriculture, exposed the fraudulent character of John- ston’s figures, which were alto- gether different from the statis- tics gathered by the department of agriculture, which show that wheat normally reaches its low point in ‘August and its highest point the following May. Mr. Johnston has come back help the American farmer is to give him public elevator and warehouse systems, free from the control of the market gam- blers, and to lend him sufficient In 1820, a century ago, 87.1 per cent of our people were engaged in agriculture. The percentage engaged in agriculture in 1910 had sunk to 32.9 per cent and -experts estimate that final returns of the 1920 census, not yet available, will show not more than 30 per cent of our population on the farms. Nothing shows in more striking manner the fact that farming must be made a more profitable undertaking if our nation is to progress. with a two-column wail in the Minneapolis Journal (whose se- curities are held by members of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce). According to Mr. Johnston the Nonpartisan Lead- money on his crops so that they can be held in these elevators and warehouses until there is a mar- ket for them. : _ The farmers’ enemies call public elevator systems “socialism.” If so the states of New York and Louisiana are What Congress socialistic in providing elevators for their grain Should Do to speculators. ¢ g The farmers’ enemies say the government Help Farmers should not loan money to private interests. But they voted, in congress, to lend $300,000,000 to American railroad owners at 6 per cent interest, leaving farmers to get such money as they could from private bankers at 8, 10 and 12 per cent. Are the nation’s farms any more private business than the nation’s railroads or any less important ? ; Bills have been presented in congress to prohibit futures gam- bling on the grain exchanges and to provide a government commis- sion to market wheat. These are good bills, but have no chance of passage. However, if the farmers had public elevators and ware- houses there would be no need of legislating the gamblers out of existence; they wouldn’t have any business left. Furthermore, if the farmers had their own marketing machinery they could compete successfully with the government buying agencies of England and other European countries, which are now using their power to beat down the price of the farmers’ product in a disorganized market. When the farmers elect enough of their own men to congress they will get therelief they are seeking. PAGE FOUR er, Mr. Wallace and the depart- ment of agriculture are all wrong. It reminds one of the woman who watched a company of soldiers swinging past and declared, “They’re all out of step but my son John.” We are not going to waste time citing again the statistics that show wheat normally increases in price after it is harvested. Every farmer knows that is the case. . If, as Mr. Johnston tries to “prove,” wheat is high in the fall, think of the millions the line elevators have lost by buying in the fall and selling the next spring! Isn’t it strange that they haven’t all gone “broke” by following this plan? But instead of going’ “broke” they have made millions. - 3 SAVE THE DIRECT PRIMARY! Nel.(t to the increased taxes on the common people, which big business is . trying to put over in congress, the most threatening legislation in sight t?day is the effort of corrupt politicians, in varicus states, to kill the direct primary and reinstate the corrupt convention system. If the pri- mary laws are killed the last chance of the people to elect honest repre- sentatives will be gone. The Leader can not protect the primary alone. The fight needs the support of every League member. Write your sena- tors and represcntatives in your state legislature; tell them you will not stand for any tampering with the state primary law, no matter . whether they call it “reforming” the primary or re- pealing it. Act quickly or it will be too late. ; 2 1 2 { o 13 &4 & § & wl e ko 7 T8 + 8 ¢ 12 B sht -« § & a Ir # ¢ R | i @ Lse f ¥