Leader of Farmers for Socialization
Leader of Farmers for Socialization James A. Simpson Tells His Organisation That Capitalism Has Failed—Farmers Are' in Virtual Rebellion Against System That Enslaves. A LL over the world farmeri...
...They do not want more than their part of all the things on the table...
...But how do we lehave at the national table at the close of the year...
...Two Systems "There are two systems of running the affairs of government and business...
...There are very few businesses today that yield a return on common stock as high as tt...
...The government licensed all buyers, such as mills and elevators, and then required of them thst they pay not less then the minimum price to farmers...
...it creates in man the desire to become a selfish, greedy, inhuman creature that even ceases to be sn imsge of his Creator...
...Simpson to the annual convention of his organization in Des Moines In November, 1931...
...Your gold and silver is cankered: and the nut of thorn shall bo a witness against you, and shall tat your flesh as it wore fire...
...In closing I want to give you an illustration, showing the difference between the cooperative and the capitalistic system...
...Our attention has been called to the address made by Mr...
...Nothing less than a guaranteed cost price will give farmers the purchasing power needed to bring prosperity back to this nation...
...It plants a little seed in the human heart that makes such a person want more than his share of the good things of life...
...His plans .may mean hungry women, starving children, but ha cares no more about them than ants in the dust His whole ambition is to become a billionaire...
...Wheat and cotton are the only farm products that have an appreciable surplus, and when thirty million now eating in the bread lines of the country have a purchasing power through employment, there will be such an increase in consumption of these two farm products as will reduce the surplus to a minimum...
...C—aimsrwtly...
...the** dividends smasniid hi terms of 1929 baying newer are re-By between 11W.OO0 00O and $119,000,000 It is esjtfageesjs that investor* to nub-he utility securities should have had their reel roc onus increased at a time when total wagea have been rat in half...
...Capitalism in the Pillory In the excerpts from that address we print below our readers will observe that the speaker had arrived at a half-way station between capitalism and cooperative control of the powers of production and distribution...
...It is also a fact that virtually evsry state has a utilities commission through which action can bs taken similar to that taken by the Socialists of New York, at least in opening ths subject...
...In the spring of 1919 heads of the Farmers' Union ovsr the United State* went to Washington and promoted a bill through Congress that provided a guaranteed minimum price of $2.20 per bushel, Chicago basis, for wheat of the 1919 crop...
...Gas rates with few minor exceptions have been maintained...
...Our marketing program stands as the only one being offered thst really means prosperity to ths farmer...
...it leads to theft, robbery, murder, suicide and war...
...When he reaches that point he desires a billion tea times snore, than ha ever wanted one hundred million, and he cares not how he gets it...
...Our plan for marketing all of the major farm products' such as wheat, cotton, wool, pork, beef and dairy and poultry products is to do for that part needed for home consumption exactly what the government did for wheat in 1919...
...I also just as emphatically say no man has a right to want less for himself and family than the average can have...
...Congress also appropriated one billion dollars to enforce the minimum guaranteed price...
...This sum will b increased another $10,000,000 when companies omitted from the study are included...
...Fat Profits Are Extorted Even in Depression Time Socialist Party Shows How Utilities Squeeze Increasing Profits Regardless of Distress of the Masses...
...It is our job to see that there is a more equitable distribution of the net income of the people of this nation at the close of each yr.r...
...It is an interesting document...
...In fact, if someone at that table should become capitalistic in his methods and reach out and say: 'I will take all the goodies, the rest of you can have the soup and greens,' he vould start a riot The others gathered around that table would not stand for such greed and avarice...
...In encourages everything that is evil...
...May 1, 1920, wheat was over $3.00 per bushel at Chicago...
...I'ssblicly aad Privately Owned The exceesiveness of New York electric rates is readily seen when comparison is made with rates charged by publicly owned and operated plants...
...It operates for profit in order thst it may feed the craving for MORE, that all its victims have...
...Marketing "The Farmers' Union plan for marketing is simple but effective...
...One Is known as the capitalistic system, and the other is the cooperative system...
...This trend is pronounced in some sections of Canada but it has also appeared in the United States...
...Increase in purchasing power due to decline in the cost of livcresJTto^eal Viisaea[ » the WWT_*total dividends paid by the umpaaies In i to as i to the table escept the fs-siBistrl Gee to avoid the on^ricsrtiea at dividends ssud to it by its New York City electric light ssjboisssrtoe m $•*> 000*00...
...We submit that this return is excessive at the present time fo...
...The government does not owe them a living, but does owe every citizen the chance to make a living...
...this nation...
...A business which is so safe that in the bitterest depression of our economic history it can continue to maintain as high a rate of return as these public service corporations can get all the money it needs on a common stock basis at 6...
...Thv request is backed up with figures compiled by Henry J. Rosner, Research Secretary of the party, showing that despite the disastrous depression the utilities are making huge profits...
...A determined Public Servica Commission could cut the rate r* half to 3 cent* within a short period of time...
...Germany—a minimum of $1.50 per bushel...
...In an order dated June 30, 1932, it compelled a 12H% reduction in telephone rates...
...These facts are cited to indicate that a 6% return on their own valte^lnshcTtf tihf'-water" were 'tlm'wTmiiils P*hik Service Commission recently oat abb* bed a ynrilssst fee isitaitim predicated «a thee* principle...
...The Hydro-Electric System of Ontario which distributes through the municipalities, does enjoy these economies end is able to provide electricity for less than 2 cento per killowat hour-one third the average rate in New York...
...Italy guaranteed a minimum of $1.60 per bushel in our money...
...The capitalistic system is of the devil's making...
...In its fundamental principle it says, that just like the government owes to every laborer an opportunity to make a living, the...
...Louis Waldman, acting as State Chairman of the Social-,ist Party of New York, addressed a communication to the Publio Service Commission calling for an immediate reduction of rates charged by utilities to the people...
...As an illustration of the cooperative system I take the family table, where father, mother, sons and daughters, and a few friends, seat themselves to eat...
...The address, in part, follows: •The Farmers' Union plan recognizes the fact that this government owes to every male citizen the opportunity of making a living for himself and family...
...Every one of these companies despite the depression is main,--—-— taining a return on the book value of its common stock from %% to 60%, depending upon the extent to which its capital aerations are financed by the sale of low fixed divirVnd preferred stock or fixed interest bonds...
...It is the lower layers whose prospective stake in capitalism has vanished that turn to the Socialist movement...
...Jamestown, New York, with a municipal' plant en-Joying none of the economies of large scale generation and distribution which the private companies enjoy, sells electricity to the consumer at 3V» cents per killowat hour, whereas the private companies generally charge in excess of 6 cento...
...It Is our Job to carry to victory the emblem that stands for Equity, Justice and the prinerplee of the Golden Rule to the end that there shall be established in this nation a real Brotherhood of Man...
...A LL over the world farmeri are late coming into a So-list movement...
...Brooklyn Union increased rates in July 1931 for the average consumer...
...The Consolidated Gas Company and its subsidiaries in Manhattan, I'ronx and Queens are still charging $1.15 per 1,000 cubic feet—a rate which was set in 1927...
...The Bible is clear on this 'question, in the 5th chapter of James, there is a fearful Warning against the ambition to be rich...
...Under this fundamental principle we demand that the government, through public works, furnish every unemployed man a job...
...The New York Telephone Company likewise increased the average rate 7% in June 1930...
...The first three verses of thst chapter read: Go to, now ye rich men, weep and howl for the miterit* that shall come upon you...
...They cMrged that the Consolidated Go* system and- its electric light and power affiliate* were overcapitalized to the extent of $150,-000,00 to $200,000,000.' They urged that the Public Service Commission be given sufficient funds to make a complete valuation of all public utility properties in New York State preliminary to combing their books of all inflated capitalization...
...On this table we find soup and greens, also the delicacies and goodies...
...France for the 1930 wheat crop guaranteed to her farmers a minimum of $1.71 per bushel, as measured in United States money...
...The New York State Commission would do well to consult this opinion...
...Part of Waldman's letter follows...
...The analysis of the situation in New York gives an idea of the workings Of capitalist business everywhere...
...Bread did not go up In price, so there was no increase of cost to the consumers, and the price of wheat played well above the $2.26 minimum the whole year through...
...It is of Christian origin instead of evil I say to you that no man who is a Christian has a right to want more than the average could have...
...Besides, there Will be further increased consumption of cotton when all substitutes for cotton are barred from the country...
...The old capitalistic system is absolutely bankrupt," said Simpson, who proceeded to review the futile and deceitful federal program of the Republicans over a number of years, the continued decline of agriculture and the reduction of the farmers to extreme poverty...
...Decisions from Supreme Court utility ease* were cited to show thst these principles of rate regulation are in accord with the fundamental law of the land...
...There is no reason why our government should not do us much for tl ¦ farmers of this nation...
...Under the capitalistic system 4 per cent of the people around that national table reach out with hoggish, greedy hands and say: 'We will take 80 per cent of these net profits and you—96 per cent—can have 20 per cent to divide among you, and the pity of the thing is, that the 96 per cent do not rise up in righteous indignation and refuse to let the 4 per cent do it Our Jobs "Members of the Farmers' Union, and delegates to this convention, the job for our organization is to do its part in ridding the one hundred twenty million common people of this country of the twenty thousand leeches, who through the interest and profit system bleed white, each year, the producers of...
...The cooperative system is based on service instead of profit It has as its attributes unselfishness snd the brotherhood of man...
...One hundred twenty million people surround the table on which lie the net profits of the year, ninety billion dollars...
...He wants to become a millionaire, and when he has reached that point he wants ten million, and when he is worth ten million his craving is greater than ever and he wants one hundred million...
...analysis of the 1931 and 1932 profits of representative public utility corporations in New York State made by Henry Rosner, research secretary of the Socialist Party, shows that excessive dividends paid by those companies make large rate reductions practicable...
...There can be no prosperity in this country so long as seven million are out of employment and twenty-three million dependent on the seven million esting at the table of charity instead of at the table of a free, self-sustaining American...
...The new rate schedule was set at • level which would yield * •% return...
...No time is to be lost We present these facts to you in the urgent hope that yon will move at one to lift a $40,000,000 burden from the backs of the consumers of the corporations studied...
...It has as its foundation principle, selfishness, greed, avarice...
...I* Me accompanying opinion it argued that the increase in the purchasing power of the dividend dollar aad the exestsatveaess of an 8*4 common stock return in a period of demoralized business justified this redaction...
...A return of «'i should be more than adequate in the present low state of business activity...
...John A. Simpson represents s trend of opinion more advanced than any other responsible representative of the organized farmers...
...government also owes it to farmers to see that they get cost of production for that part of their production, needed for home consul: .ition...
...When wool and its substitutes are barred from this country, the flocks of sheep will have to be doubled to produce enough to satisfy the demands of the home people...
...If these companies exclusive of Consolidated Gas were compelled to reduce rates to a point at which a 6% return would be realized, the total saving to their consumers would be $40,000,-000 a year...
...Every member of that group is cooperative in spirit They are Christians...
...Watered Stock This computation takes no account of the "water" in their common stock...
...Production of pork, beef and dairy products will have to be increased when farmers and laboring people are once more in the market as a prosperous group of sixty million people...
...It is our job t see that those who live by clipping coupons shall have their swollen fortunes clipped through income and inheritance taxes...
...In all these countries the price played above the minimum guarantee throughout the year, When I was In these countries In March and April, this year, I found farmers in France getting |1.85 per bushel for wheat, in Italy $1.80 per bushel, and In Germany $1.88 per bushel "Such a plan is not new in this eountry...
...The relief ia needed now—not several years hence...
...Four riches are corrupt and your garments are moth-eaten...
...It is our Job to make the other fellow take his hands out of the farmers' pockets and keep them out...
...Commissioners Walsh, Bonbrigbt and Adie in their report to the 1930 Legislature, after an exhaustive investigation stated that the public service corporations of New York State were highly overcapitalized in order to conceal the actual return and thus furnish a Justification for excessive rates...
...The details of such profit-taking differ from state to state, but in virtually every part of the country the same general situation exists...
...two major reasons...
...European governments are doing this for their farmers...
...We care not what plan i; used to get us cost of production, but we do lay on the next ses ion c' Congre.s the burden of seeing that the farmers of this nation do get cost of production for that part of their products, needed for home consumption...
...This was never done...
...The religious trend of the address, the denunciation of the capitalist system and the contrast presented between capitalism and cooperation are characteristic of the agricultural producer being driven into rebellion against capitalism...
...The facts are the government never had to spend a dime of the billion dollars...
Vol. 15 • January 1933 • No. 3
