THE WAR AND THE FARMER
Baer, Cong. John M.
The War and the Farmer Greater Political Freedom, Elimination of Grain.Gambling, Government Control of Transportation and Shipping To Come Out of the War By CONG. JOHN M. BAER. Representative in...
...First and foremost, greater political freedom...
...We shall strengthen all branches of industry, not only for the betterment of the> particular branch, but for the purpose of focusing all these great forces on the one great cause—winning the war...
...While we are passing through the clouds of war, may we not look into the sunshine of the fields beyond...
...It was made a "trench dinner" affair...
...I know better than that...
...This is the rankest injustice of our whole distributive system to producer and consumer alike...
...Them fellows are organized!' And so all the independent and progressive citizens- of the city and country are going to unite, first and chiefly, for the purpose of winning the war, and secondly so that they may retain the blessings of these new-found principles of democracy which have come through the war...
...The farmers believe that if this be necessary in war times it is also necessary in peace times...
...They know that our country_Js involved in the greatest crisis of all time, and our first duty is to wholeheartedly support our Nation in fighting the common foe, the junkers and militarists of Potsdam...
...This would help the consumers in the cities, giving them more money to invest in war activities...
...There is no partisanship in patriotism...
...I invite you to go with me on a trip with a bushel of wheat...
...In a State like mine where agriculture is the basis of nearly all the wealth, this fact comes home to us with greater force than it does to those who live in the congested cities of the East and are far remote from this vast source of national wealth...
...On arriving there, before the war, we would meet big business in the form of grain gamblers and speculators...
...Representative in Congress from N D. Recently there was held at Washington the annual conference of the National Popular Government League...
...Progressive men today are ashamed to give themselves in bondage to any party...
...It is shown that we must have a complete subordination of selfish private interest to a national purpose in every branch of war activity...
...When one stops to consider that out of our enormous exports, which have been the marvel of all the civilized world, the farmer produces 80 per cent, you can just begin to realize the tremendous benefit this will be to him, and we all know that when the farmer prospers the city people prosper...
...But Mr...
...Fourth, Government ownership of shipping...
...The farmers have never failed our nation and will not fail it now...
...Its flaws have become more pronounced...
...President Wilson has demonstrated his right to the title "The Spokesman of Democracy...
...He became very proficient in the art of snapping his whip...
...Things to be Gained...
...Why We Organise...
...In all the cities, and especially in the great industrial centres, the great masses of workers are receiving greater security in the means of living...
...The Government price fixing has stabilized wheat...
...is a better one—the great American spirit...
...Just as the selective draft through the physical examinations pointed out some weaknesses in our man power, so has the war magnified the inefficiency of our system of distribution...
...We are delighted to enjoy this newly won principle of economic democracy...
...Our idea is that governments exist for the people...
...The League is now organized in twelve states...
...Last year h.s paid $3.50, while in the previous fall he sold his wheat for an average of $1.20 a bushel...
...This is of wonderful but unseen benefit to the farmers way out on the prairies...
...Their idea is that people exist for the government...
...He could pick a cone off a pine tree and do other feats...
...It is contrary to all the efforts made by Congress to alleviate the present situation...
...In union there is strength and therefore it should be the prime purpose of every forward-looking people, whether they hail from the city, the factory, the mine, the forest, or the farm...
...It is only by the union of all these forward-looking forces that economic justice may be further established...
...The National Nonpartisan League has advocated the elimination of these unnecessary manipulators for the past three years...
...That we should enjoy the blessings that we have today hosts of our ancestors have toiled, suffered and died...
...To the contrary, after they dumped their grain into^the elevator and ran it out again, they met 'big business' again at the end of the spout in a railway car...
...Story of Wheat...
...He replied saying: 'Not for mine...
...Thus while we are making political democracy safe for the whole world, we are going to gain a greater degree of economic democracy at home...
...La Follettc's has secured a copy of Mr...
...It is to sustain this idea that our people, will go to any length of exertion or suffering...
...If he does not know this truth, then the people should seek a man who does...
...Likewise for reactionaries to say it is not time to modify and perfect economic legislation is equally absurd...
...M.litary men who are running the war now know that armies and navies are helpless without Nation-wide industrial and economic preparedness...
...We not only own them, but we are going to operate our own merchant marine...
...Every man who seeks political honors should be tested by his knowledge of the great advantages that are coming out of this war...
...The farmer welcomes this control of transportation...
...But now the Government has found it necessary to take over "this monopolistic octopus which has extended its trunklike tentacles into every community with economic selfishness and political corruption...
...We must pass laws to perfect our economic and industrial system so as not to delay the speediest prosecution of this war...
...that when the farmer has a good crop the business men in the cities have a greater amount of trade...
...The greater freedom that we desire to give to all the people of the world and bequeath to future generations can be made possible only by our taking up the burdens of self-sacrifice of former generations...
...Less than two years ago the country began to hear of a nonpartisan league formed by the farmers of North Dakota...
...THERE are superior advantages in a democracy, but great responsibilities go with them...
...Thus in an emergency we have found it necessary to mobilize all these great economic forces in our program for national preparedness...
...The farmer benefits at every turn in the road, from the time the seed is put into the ground until it reaches the world's markets at Liverpool...
...We must conserve our national resources for the people...
...We must better the conditions of transportation and distribution...
...AFTER the wheat is harvested we shall ride into the local elevator on a load...
...We shall not only do our bit, but we will do our "all" in pledging our lives, our fortunes, and sacred honor to our Nation in order to make safe those principles which are precious to all Americans...
...One day we came along the road to a tree in which hung a hornet's nest...
...It is for this idea that our soldiers and sailors are fighting...
...J. M. Baer...
...It will be another great benefit which the producers as well as the wageworkers and city people have gained through the war...
...It is not a party spirit, but it...
...Men are not standing for party today, but they are standing for America...
...We must unite to make the end of the war the beginning of an age of freedom and happiness for mankind undreamed by those whose minds comprehend only political and military events...
...Story of the Harvest...
...That League nominated and elected a candidate for governor and in the following year sent a member to Congress as Congressman at large, Mr...
...They thought they had eliminated all the iniquities in the transaction...
...Each guest was equipped with the utensils which the soldiers use and marched along in line to receive his "chow...
...Right at the end of the nest a big hornet was dangling...
...In doing so we will have richly earned the blessings of posterity, as those who struggled for us have tierited our undying gratitude...
...So you see all the advantages which are coming out->of the war...
...They will appreciate as much as the farmers do the elimination of any useless intermediaries between themselves and the manufacturers...
...We must mobilize all our man power for our armies and our industries...
...Inever use the word 'organize' but I think of a story of an old stage driver in Yellowstone Park...
...For some one to say it is not the time to remedy the physical defects of our manhood would be absurd...
...All are necessary and all should contribute and sacrifice no matter in what capacity, to putting down the malign forces that would crush liberty...
...He would like to see the prices fixed on steel, cotton, beef, clothing, shoes, sugar, and all other products of human consumption...
...Third, Government control of transportation...
...We are passing legislation every day in Congress to remedy the defects which have become emphasized under this tremendous strain...
...The strength of our fighters must be fully backed by the com-pletest strength of every citizen...
...SO TO restate the blessings which will come to us through the war, and with special reference to the towns and farming districts of the West, I say great things, gentlemen, wonderful things...
...The producer has made no protest, but he objects to a "halfway" price-fixing program...
...He drove three teams of mules and he could take his whip and clip a fly off the ear of one of the leaders...
...Congressman J. M. Baer of North Dakota delivered an address at this conference on "What is Coming Out of the War for the Farmer...
...Advantage of Democracy...
...The people of my district in the cities and in the country are striving, and will strive, in every way possible to win this war...
...IT IS unnecessary for me to assert that the farmers stand for popular government, for was it not the farmers who made a government so popular that it is now wanted by all the people of the world ? Since the Minute Men of Concord left their plows standing in the furrows the farmers have always been in the vanguard of every movemenv looking to the betterment of national conditions...
...Great times demand great men, and they are usually forthcoming...
...I said to him: 'Say, Bill, you're such an expert with that whip of yours, I would like to see you clip that hornet off the end of that nest...
...But here again our Government steps in in times of war and builds its own ships...
...Second, elimination of grain gambling...
...Raer's address at the Washiagton trench dinner for publication.—Editor's Note...
...The old ideas of partisanship have lost their virtue, have served their purpose, and should be relegated to the rear...
...The first thing necessary to produce wheat is seed...
...I have spoken for the farmer, but it is not only the farmers who will be benefited by the application of these principles of democracy to our economic life...
...In the olden days the primary market was the first place the farmer came in contact with "big business...
...All will be lost if the dark forces of autocracy are to prevail...
...Need Economic Democracy...
...OUR bushel of wheat either passes through the terminal elevator after a thorough mixing in which the millers gain exorbitant profits or it is carried on to seaboard...
...We are now on the car of grain moving toward the great terminal elevator...
...But to eliminate the injustice of grading, dockage, and weighing there the farmers formed cooperative elevators in many towns...
...The speculators said there was 'no demand' and the price always fell at the time the farmer had wheat to sell...
...Under the strain of this world, war our economic system has undergone a severe test...
...This spring the farmer is able to buy seed at $2.20 a bushel...
...The Secretary of War permitted the Commissary Department to serve the regular meal that is served to our soldiers "over there...
...Every sign points to the birth of a new day, and under his leadership it is our hope to write a new charter of liberty and economic justice for the world in the same spirit that our forefathers wrote the declaration of Independence...
...WHILE we are preparing to our utmost in a military way to make the world safe for democracy, we have found it necessary to mobilize all the business and industry of this Nation...
...Any American who does not respond to this inspiration will be guilty of faithlessness to all who have died for it in bygone years and of treason toward the many who are now suffering and dying so that popular government may be maintained...
...Hoover, the Food Administrator, has found it a wise policy to do away with these useless middlemen in war times...
...The smaller business men are as much subjected to the domination of big business and have been discriminated against by the systems of transportation as much as the farmers have...
...Prior to the war, when we lacked ships, millions of bushels of gram were congested at the seaports...
...Our heritage of religious, intellectual, and political liberty w\is,made possible only by their selfsacri-fice...
...United we stand, divided we fall...
...This is because the grain gamblers were able to "bear down" the price when the farmer had wheat to sell and then in the spring when the speculator sold he forced the price up...
Vol. 10 • June 1918 • No. 6
