The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 16, 1921, Page 8

. product. At the same ‘time he wants i § i { | | { il I What Is the Matter With Agricultui‘e? _ Director of Markets of Wisconsin Shows Close Economic Relation Between Farmers and City Workers—What Can Be Done? A few weeks ago Secretary of Agriculture Henry C. Wallace set forth his views in the Leader on the subject of what is wrong with agriculture today. Mr. Nordman discusses the same subject from a somewhat different viewpoint. . Other students of the situation will contribute articles to future issues of the Leader. BY EDWARD NORDMAN Director of Markets, State of Wisconsin 7] ARKET problems can not be under- stood unless we consider the economic relations between the farmers and the city workers. And-by “city workers” I mean every one who furnishes or aids in furnishing any product or service, so under the term “city workers” I would include busi- ness and professional men. The situation of our country is un- satisfactory, and growing worse. We may as well look the facts in the face. The farmer is a producer of food- stuffs and wants good prices for his the hired help at low wages. But gen- eral low wages and a good price for farming products at the same time are impossible. Labor on the whole will gravitate to the places where the wages are the highest. The farmer should not worry too much when he finds hired help scarce and dear, for this means that his best customers, the city laborers, are well paid and prospercus. The city worker spends most of his wages for his current living expenses. And he is right in doing so, for he seldom earns more than enough to support himself and his family comfort- ably and to properly. educate his children. If he saves much under present conditions it is only at the expense of depriving his family of a proper liv- ing, and his children of a proper education. Many men selfishly or ignorantly are glorifying the virtue of saving, under conditions which mean making the wife a slave to the home, and stunting the education and development of the children. The bankers, the preachers and teachers fail to appre- ciate how literally the world does and must live from hand to mouth. " Edward Nordman. if, through our economic system he is allowed to retain only three pairs or their equivalent, he can purchase from the farmer only three-fourths of what the farmer produces. On the other hand, if four bushels of wheat or its equivalent represent the farmer’s products for a day’s work, and if through our economic system he is allowed to re- tain only three bushels he can purchase from the workman only three-fourths of his product. And this is not far from the true situation. When the farmer pays $2 for cloth for which the producer receives only $1; when the workman pays 30 cents a pound for meat for which the pro- ducer received only 15 cents; when this condition prevails generally in the mar- ket, in greater or less degree for differ- ent products, it medns, of course, that each is doing a full day’s work and liv- ing upon-the scale 'of three-fourths of a day’s pay, or less. It means that there are toll-takers in between who take part of a day’s wages out of each day’s pro- ductive work of both farmer and city workman. ; Now it must be remembered, of course, that there are large numbers of people who are not. producers of goods in the usual sense, but who are equally necessary to society. There are teach- ers and preachers, doctors and lawyers, bankers, merchants, public officers, clerks, stenographers,- accountants, in- surance agents, barbers, aétors, singers * and many others whg strictly belong to the working class. These give special services which are necessary or desirable, and for which people are willing to pay. There are others constituting a more doubtful class, such as salesmen of stocks, bonds and secur- ities, various kinds of speculators, promoters, gam- blers on the markets, and such. They produce noth- ing, and much of their service is of doubtful value to society. But they take toll from society to the extent at least of a living. In the merchandising - of products there are many middlemen who inter- vene and take more or less toll in one way or an- other, some of whom perform no necessary services. Again, much toll is taken from the people through transportation and public utility monopolies, often with bond flotations and watered stocks far beyond ™ their legitimate value, and upon which the public are compelled to pay exorbitant interest and divi- dends; and perhaps those should include such quasi- public and monopolized activities as the meat pack- ing business, the steel trust and others. i But above and beyond all of these as a successful toll-taker is the monopolization of natural re- sources. The land; the coal, iron, copper, lead and oil deposits; timber, waterpowers, dockage and wharfage facilities; choice business locations and so on. The mere ownership of thése permits the taking of toll to the extent of thousands of millions of dollars yearly, for which nothing is returned either in product or service. It is this unnecessary toll-taking that explains why the farmer and the city workman must each labor four days to obtain three days’ product of the other. And since the producers are chiefly the con- sumers, we can call it a toll levied on production, leaving the producer three-fourths or less of what he produces. ; “DISCOVER THE TOLL-TAKERS AND THEN ELIMINATE THEM” Did you ever see a farmer who was not pleased to see his farm advance in value? I do not mean the improvements, but the selling value of the land. And yet such-increase in value is an actual damage to the farming community. The farm will raise. no better crops because of the advance in prige. But it makes it more difficult for his children and grand- children to secure farms. It drives the young peo- ple into the cities to compete with city workmen for the overcrowded positions, tending further to drive down wages. The increased capitalization re- quires more rent from tenants and renders them less able to become owners, and compels*them to live upon a lower scale. In other words, increased price of farm lands is a part of the toll-taking which becomes a burden on the public. The real problem, then, is to discover the toll- takers and to eliminate them. The marketing di- vision is attempting to eliminate unneces- e o : ST 1 sary middlemen by reducing the number of - Hoarding money does not help the busi- - transfers between the producer and the ness of the country. I am not advocating THE BIG FREEZE UP consumer. This is a complex problem, in- extravagance, or foolish expenditure, but I am advocating a comfortable standard of living for hoth people in the city and in the country. While it is good for the farmer for the wage-wprkers to live well, it is also good for the city laborers that the farmer’s family is demanding better clothing, better furniture, more books and pictures, automobiles and labor-saving ma- chinery for himself and for his wife. The workers must suffer when the farmers can not buy. The two classes are bound to- gether in prosperity and adversity. ATTEMPT TO STIR UP PREJUDICE IS FOOLISH How foolish then are those who are con- tinually seeking to win cheap applause by stirring up prejudices between those whose interests are identical. / Factories are closing or running with . reduced help in all parts of the country. Can not the farmer see that this is under- mining the market for his products? If he hires help cheap this summer, it will be because men are out of work in the indus- trial centers, and this will mean that the market for his produce will be slow and prices low. ; Now as to the remedy. If our foreign markets appear to influence the farmer’s prosperity, this is primarily due to a de- ficient buying power of our own people. SR | We should rearrange our economic life so ,/ 2 ,c/ as to make our domestic markets the de- ////%fi termining factor in production. And the remedy for our disjointed state John Baer has pictured here what has happened with the “freeze-up” of affairs is to give each worker the full of the river .of credit. The railroads have been caught in the ice and- business and trade are limited. product of his toil. To illustrate: If the workman’s product for a day is the equivalent of four pairs of shoes, and out too quickly?” Baer asks. Will even the bridge be carried away in the spring freshet? PAGE EIGHT il e o b, FReov ‘ i volving packing, handling, grading, stand- ardization, guarantees of quality and quan- tity, transportation, commissions and fees, reliability of dealers, storage, hoarding, forestalling the market, dealing in futures and many other factors. i i The most fundamental and far-reaching remedy in this phase of-the work of the division, of markets will come through or- ganization. This should be the first line of attack. The secret of the unfavorable position which the farmers occupy in re- spect to the business men with whom they deal is that they are not sufficiently organ- ized. It is because of this that they are unable to keep watch and thus prevent the passage of laws unfair to them and it is because of a lack of concentrated organ- ized effort that they are unable to exer- cise the necessary pressure to have favor- able laws and decisions enforced. The second line of attack upon the prob- lem, which will be simpler and more effec- i 1l vantages that come from the monopoliza- tion of natural resources. The advancing value of these resources is not due to the owner, but to the growth and activity .of society; and therefore society should share more largely in this increase of value. This requires no radical change in our laws or procedure. The so-called Nolan bill now pending in congress is a step in the right direction. e : But our state legislatures are nearer to us and can be reached more readily. They are our first instruments for relief. Here - the answer to the problem is the same, to “But what will happen if the ice goes reduce the profits of monopoly. The ef- fective method of doing this is to remove the burden of governmental expense more tive, but less obvious, is to remove the ad- —