The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 30, 1921, Page 3

IN THE INTEREST OF A SQUARE DEAL FOR THE FARMERS Eatered as: second-class matter at the postoffice at Minneapolis, Minn,, under the act of March 3, 1879, Publication address, 427 Sixth avenue S., Minneapolis, Minn, ddress all remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box~2072, Minneapolis, Minn, Nonpartién Teader | A MAGAZINE THAT DARES TO - PRINT. THE TRUTH One year, $1.50. Classified rates on classified page; other advertising rates on application. Member Audit ureau of Circulati 8. C._ Beckwith Speeial atfons. . C. Agency, advertising representatives, New York, Chicago, 8t. Louls, Kansas City, VOL. 12, NO. 11 N THE issue of May 2 the Leader discussed the tariff situation at some length and offered the opinion that the temporary “farmers’ tariff”’ offered by the Harding administration as the - sovereign remedy for all the ills that agriculture is heir to, would do little good. In the meantime the temporary tariff bill has been pasae(‘ii (ll)y l&t)t‘l”l }Il\?uses '?f lfon(g)reii. (%{ovx;hm%cfi : good did it do? one at all. On the day the bi gi}(llmgstASk finally passed wheat dropped 2 cents on the Min- 10—xet a neapolis market. Six months ago, when imports Gold Brick - of Canadian wheat were at their height, a tempo- rary tariff might have done some good. Today it is absolutely useless. Probably that is why congress passed it. If congress wanted to give some real aid to agriculture it would first of all reduce burdensome freight rates, next give farmers pub- licly owned and operated warehouses and elevators, so they could be free of the combine of market gamblers, and loan money to farmers on the same terms that it is . loaned to Wall street banks. This at least would be a good start toward res- cuing from wreckage an industry that has been neglected for generations. HE 1920 census tells its own story of the decline of agricul- ture. In nearly every state thou- sands of men who were farm owners 10 years ago are now tenants. Only three farmers out of five are farm owners, Even these figures are deceptive. The pgrcentétge of i(rilclx;gas- ed mortgage indebted- ¥hatéhe ness on the part of ew Lensus ;on who nominally Indicates own their own farms * is discouraging. The professional optimists, of course, will say that it is a good thing for a farmer to have a mortgage, that the amount of the mortgage represents that much more money added to the investment on which he can earn an income. In the great majority of cases, however, the farmer does not earn as much on his investment as he pays his banker for interest. In thousands of cases the man who is listed in the census returns as a “farm owner” is merely his bank- er’s tenant. It is_useless to expect the politi- cians to do much for the farmers. If ' —._ , e the farmers want to better their condi- Tariff tonic is a re tion they must get together and do for themselves. »FIF,‘TEEN senators from farming states have formed an “agricul- tural bloc” at Washington, D. C., appointing committees to prepare bills to help agriculture out of the slough of despond. Senator Ladd was one of the leaders of this movement and is : chairman of one of the most important committees. This group of 15 is composed almost equally of Re- publicans and Democrats. They have a little less than one-sixth of the votes of the upper house and it is plain that at present they can do little more than help to crystallize public sentiment. - The organization of this group is an encouraging feature, however. It helps to show how little the party designation of. “Republican” and - “Democrat” mean. Here are 15 men, Repub- licans and Democrats, with a common purpose. They will be op- posed by three or four times as many men, both ‘Republicans and Democrats, who also.have a common purpose—to protect big. business. e There is very little difference between a Republican and a Democrat nowadays. The real difference is between the representa- tives of mankind and the representatives of the almighty dollar. Anything that helps to make the real distinction a clear one is a. good thing, whatever other results it brings, Party Lines Get Thinner and Thinnelj ‘MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, MAY 30, 1921 Current Events of Interest to Farmers SOOTHING SYRUP medy that has been- tried: regularly. hasn’t always brought the result that the “doctor” claimed it has at any rate often taken the patient’s mind away from his other troubles. Perhaps that is why congress is so ready to pass a new tariff and so slow to adopt other remedies. WHOLE NUMBER 273 was .the “cost plus” system of contracts. Instead of the contractor undertaking to do certain. work for a certain sum, the government undertook to pay him the cost of the work, plus a profit of 10 per cent or so. Naturally it was to the contrac- tor’s interest to make the work cost as much as ONE reason why so much money was wasted during the war A War Graft Possible. The war is over, but the greedy capital- that Should ists who forced the “cost plus” system are still B: Ended enjoying it. The provision of the Esch-Cummins bill, guaranteeing the railroads 5% per cent profits over and above all expenses, is the “cost plus” plan brought into the post-war period. It is because of this provision that the railroads are encouraged to have their locomotives repaired at private shops, at an average cost of $19,000 apiece, when the Same repairs, given the same locomotives under government control in the railroads’ own shops, cost $4,466. Leaders of the American Farm Bureau federation, who lobbied for the Esch-Cummins bill when that measure . was up in congress, are now out de- manding the repeal of this feature of the bill. Senator Capper of Kansas, who voted for the Esch-Cummins bill, and other politicians who, like him, claim to be friends of the farmers, now admit its failure. We are glad that these gentlemen at last admit their er- ror. But their help would have done a great deal more good if they had op- posed the Esch-Cummins bill, as we did, before congress passed it. - FORMER PRESIDENT WILSON was elected in 1916 in response to the plea, “He kept us out of war.” Within 82 days of his inauguration we were in war up to our necks. To end the war he went to Paris with his fa- mous 14 points. He came back with the peace of Versailles, in which not one of these 14 points could be discovered with a microscope. Republi- can campaign orators made much of these facts during the 1920 campaign. Mr. Harding promised that the Knox resolution, ending the state of war with Germany, would be passed immediately. This resolution is held up in the house of representatives by presidential order. Mr. Harding prom- ised he would disentangle us from Eu- ropean affairs. He has just sent Amer- ican representatives back to act indefi- nitely with the European nations on the reparations and other commissions. Mr. Harding promised American troops would be withdrawn from Germany. They are still on the Rhine. - Are the promises of the Republican president likely to be any better fulfilled than the promises made by the Democratic president s ELSEWHERE in this issue the refusal of Secfetary of Agricul- Promises— Are They to Be Trusted?" If it ture Wallace to amend the spring wheat grades is reported. Again farmers are-given an object ldésson in politics. They see that two Democratic secretaries of agriculture and the present Republican secretary of agriculture, confronted with a problem in- volving sharply the question of ruling with the grain gamblers or with the farmers, all rule the same way— with the grain gamblers. When are the farmers going to have a secretary of agriculture? The answer is— when they elect a president, instead of voting for a — man chosen by their enemies. It is not too early now, - in 1921, to begin to-'get ready for the presidential election of 1924. From the present administration the farmers evidently are going to get kind words a-plenty—and little else. Organization will win, There is no other way. ’ : Farmers Fooled Again PAGE THREE Fie