The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 18, 1921, Page 16

ADVERTISEMENTS He has the thresher that beats out the grain instead of waiting for it to drop out, as other makes do, The Big Cylinder, the.“Man Behind the Gun,’’ and the beating shakers save the Farmer's thresh bill. Write for Circalars Nichols & Shepard Co. (In Continuous Business Since 1848) Builders exclusively of Red River Special Threshers, Wind Btackers, Feeders, Steam and Oil-Gas Traction Engines. Battle Creek, Michigan s FREE &4n5c EASTMAN Premo Film Pack Camera, forselling 24 1 ) S GATES MFG. 0., DEPT. 509 CHICAGD ““The Crime of 1920”” and What It Cost A(Continued from page 5) States department of agriculture fig- ures, wheat, loaded into boats at New York for shipment to Liverpool, sold at from $2.50 to $2.89 per bushel in ‘August, 1920, an average of $2.69%. In September wheat loaded in boats at New York sold at from $2.53 to $2.94 per bushel, an average of $2.731%. On August i farmers were being paid only 37% cents less than the New York price for their wheat. On Sep- tember 1, with the new railroad rates in effect, they were being paid 65% cents less. On every bushel of wheat, therefore, farmers were paying 28 cents excess tribute to the railroads, and the same was true with cotton, potatoes, corn and every other prod- uct. ~'When it came to products that were sold to the farmers, of course, the freight rate was added to the price, instead of being deducted. that the Esch-Cummins bill has taken $100 from the pockets of every farmer in the United States in increased freight rates alone within the last year is therefore putting it very mildly. At the end of a year, as stated above, the new freight and passenger rates will have cost the people of the United States $2,000,000,000. This is what they have gotten from the people through increased freight rates. But this is not all. WHAT THE RAILROADS GOT FROM THE GOVERNMENT During the period of government control, as stated previously, the gov- ernment spent $1,100,000,000 on per- manent improvements, for which the railroads agreed to repay the govern- ment. In addition the government, in the Esch-Cummins bill, established a $300,000,000 fund to be loaned to the railroads at 6 per cent. The railroads have already borrowed $192,000,000 of this fund, making a total of $1,292,- To say . 000,000 that they owe the govern- ment. : Under the Esch-Cummins act the government agreed to pay the rail- roads what they lost in the first six months after the roads were returned to them. That amount turned out to be the enormous figure of $631,000,000, as stated above. But the government agreed, in the Esch-Cummins act, to pay this only when the railroads were ready to set- tle their final debt with the govern- ment. This would have meant that instead of paying cash, the govern- ment would have deducted this $631,- 000,000 that it owed the railroads, from the $1,292,000,000 that the rail- roads owed the government, thereby reducing the railroads’ debt to- $661,- 000,000, or about half what it was. RAILROADS PERMITTED TO BREAK AGREEMENT Instead of sticking to this agree- ment, however, the railroads came be- fore the last congress and collected substantially all of the $631,000,000 ;due it under the Esch-Cummins act, $275,000,000 at one time and $354,000,- 000 at another time, without paying the government one cent of the $1,- 292,000,000 that the railroads ~now owe. This debt of $1,292,000,000 will, . instead, be increased to $1,400,000,000 as soon as the railroads have used all of the special $300,000,000 loan fund provided in the Esch-Cummins bill. Therefore the total amount that the railroads have gotten from the peo- ple of the United States is as follows: Increased freight and passenger rates, year ending Aug. 26, 1921.$2,000,000,00 Permanent improve- ments by the govern- ment during the war. Payment of losses dur- ing six months’ guar- anty period ......... Loans to date $300,000,000 fund ... 1,100,000,000 631,000,000 192,000,000 u-c-o-o-c-c—o—c—c-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- M —an - O ;= o) ® 5 g & -and %qrtest Style The Style that Fastion Favors without Stint' YOU must see these beautiful anklets. Everybody wants a pair because they are fashion’s c;lew&st style telz‘nd we‘:"sdell them to you at real popular, money saving prices- Send no money with your order. Wh n i . tage. Selected quality.leather soles, real leather lining beautifully finished. Sizes3 - to 8. Onlor ool Be aire 6 stiie Nome. Addvess’ anid Sics: Today. Oscar Burns Co.Dept A 0 @D OGP O EHP O E5D O SEPO GES O TS OGP O €I Ol O 6D 0 €l 0 SO G O Gl O amn O 7 Mention the Leader When Writing Advertisers o ichest Value! | o Tle dearest, dainty little ANKLETS ~— Now seen in the very newest shade of Dark Brown Leather. Soft and smooth and ALL L T en the anklets arrive, pay $2.98 Write 307 Wesf Randolph St. Chicag o,"‘in | 0GR O GED O GED O GID O I O G 0 G O SID O @I O (D O D O G O ¢IED O Gl D & O &ld O @i O PAGE SIXTEEN Total taken by the rail- roads from the people under Esch-Cummins o e g $3,923,000,000 This is nearly $4,000,000,000. It will be more than $4,000,000,000 as soon as the railroads get all of the $300,000,- 000 loan fund. Four billion dollars means $40 from each person in the United States, $200 from each family of five. Half of this money is collected by the railroads directly in increased freight and passenger rates. But in addition every user of the railroads still pays war taxes—and the govern- ment, under the Esch-Cummins act, has been taking this money and turn- ing it back to the railroads also. And yet the railroads are before congress today, crying that this extra four billion dollars is all gone and beg- ging more. ; ‘What has become of the four billion dollars? k . We will try to answer this question in the next issue. WHEAT SHIPMENTS LESS Despite talk of “overproduction” United States department of agricul- ture figures show that American ship- ments of 1920 crop wheat, up to March 1, 1921, weré only 475,704 carloads, as compared with 492,474 carloads for the same period of the 1919 crop. PROFIT ON COTTON Ten yards of cotton cloth, selling at retail for $4.50, contain cotton for which the grower is paid 17 cents and have passed through the hands of at least seven middlemen. b Let’s Organize Montana Farmer Shows Trick Worked in His State DITOR Nonpartisan Lead- er: I have been keeping pretty close track of the good stuff you have been printing and I think I : have discovered another reason why the farmers haven’t gained by holding their grain in our locality. You see we are all poor on account of the drouth and some of us thought we could hold our grain and get a good price this spring. So we stored in the elevator and borrowed money, some getting as *much as they -could. Whether it was intentional or not, the prices were pounded down to the amount of the loan on the wheat and then we 'were promptly closed out or sold by the elevator company. The elevator men put on a long face and said they could not stand the loss if it went below the loan. Now you can form some idea of what could be done or maybe was actually done, if the bankers and grain men went together and worked this scheme to get grain to fight the farmers that held their grain in bins. Some of the best standpatters that had all the confidence in the old sys- tem are now ready to listen to our -way out of the present grafting busi- . ness methods since they have had their grain closed out for their loan that looked quite small last fall. I have made this letter quite long, but hope you know of some Sherlock Holmes who can make use of these facts and.guesses for an article that will help the enlistments under the banner that will carry the farmer and laborer to his right place among men, without hindering the business man that does not want to hog things too much. Big Biz puts me in mind of some- farm papers’ articles that say, “Give the pig a chance and he will make a hog of himself.” Business -doesn’t ask to be given a chance. They take it and everything else in sight. Now the quicker the farmer and laborer get in a position to take a few things that are theirs by rights and quit waiting for that which is given, the" quicker they will win the respect of employers and their financial backers. CLARENCE DONEY. Chinook, Mont. Mr. Doney hits the nail right on the head. As long as farmers are unor- ganized and grain men and bankers are organized and co-operating, indi- vidual grain holding will do no good. Organized the farmers can get the justice that is now denied them.—THE EDITOR. - % FRIENDS IN POLITICS Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Have just been reading the inclosed clipping from the pen of the well-known nov- elist and newspaper man, William Al- len White. I have been in Emporia only a month, and Mr. White has been out of town, so I have not had a chance to talk with him. But from reading his novels, “A Certain Rich Man,” and “In the Heart of a Fool,” it is easy enough to know what he - thinks of our “politics.” And now, this is mainly why I am writing, the “politician” in “In the Heart of a Fool” gets off this key to the whole quéstion when he says: “Politics is jobs; jobs is ‘friends and friends is politics. That’s why re- formers never get anywhere because they have no friends in politics.” That’s simply great and that’s what the Nonpartisan league is to do for the people—give them friends in pol- ities. CHESTER WOOD. Emporia, Kan,