Union Labor Bulletin

WATCHING AND WAITING

"It's always calmest just before the storm," is an old adage which we commend to the reading of those politicians and "statesmen" who are passing their idle moments on Capitol Hill in talking about the bottom being out of the farm fight and their predicting that no favorable legislation will pass congress this session.

Some of these self-appointed custodians of public thought spend their time in drawing pictures of what we may expect at the hands of our law-makers but their prophecies are as valueless as mud would be with which to fill a fountain pen. They first consider their own desires in a matter and then proceed to build up a story to fit the occasion. They are manufacturers of "bunk" and make it so cheaply that they can well afford to give it away, as no customers care to pay anything for so useless an article.

If these "warts" on human society are so devoid of sense that they cannot read the political weather reports and prognostications, let them take the "storm" which is about to break over their heads. If they think they can "bullyrag" six million honest, hearted hard working redblooded American citizens into accepting a stone when they ask for bread, let them face the "deluge" which will be visited upon them as surely as the squeal is born in a hog.

It is true that the farm leaders have not thus far been on top of the Capitol Dome parading their plans of action but that doesn't by any manner of mean that these "two fisted" advocates of honest farm relief legislation are surrendering to the forces of greed. On the contrary, it shows that these thoughtful citizens are not wasting their ammunition on "birds" of the carrion variety but are watching and waiting for that moment when real work will produce the most beneficial results. If any one of these "bondservants" of plutocracy thinks that a Peek, or a Haugen, or a Donaghey, or a Hearst, or a Davis, or a Settle, or a Kilgore, or a score of other outstanding farm relief advocates are "asleep at the switch," they might as well bundle up their "rags" and depart for other climes for they certainly are not wise enough to foregather on Capitol Hill.

While we wait for the "big show," in order to keep these idle hands of big business busy and prevent them from falling into mischief, suppose we ask of them a full and fair report of the profits daily derived by middle men from the hard earnings of the men on the farms of America. These paid propagandists are always seeking some subject which will give cause for a scarehead in our daily subsidized press. Here is one that ought to furnish them with all the excitement that the average propagandist can possibly stand. Let them sit down and honestly tell the people of this country why it requires twice as much to deliver farm products to the consumers as it does to produce those same products out on the farm. Let them show who got the twenty billion dollars wasted on middlemen last year and by what process of reasoning the middlemen thus gouged the poor farmers and at the same time increased the cost of living for the millions of consumers. These are the things we of this country would like to read and not so much "bunk" handed out day by day through the agency of an "inspired" writer of untruths, concerning the farms and those who till them or reside on them. And while they are at it, it would be a bright thought if they would also locate some of this great prosperity which they have been hurrahing about for weeks past. If they will devote their idle moments to this sort of constructive work, it might be safe for self-respecting citizens to read their "dope." Meanwhile, the farm leaders and all those other citizens who are sincerely interested in the salvation of the American farm home and the proper and honest recognition of agriculture will watchfully wait for a brief period longer. After that, if those now in control fail to measure up to their public responsibilities, we will have a new deal at the ballot box and try to see if it isn't possible to place on Capitol Hill men and women who will give due heed to the needs of that one-third of our population which at present is apparently only serving as a doormat for the occupants of palatial offices in which the farmers' dollar is miserably emasculated before he has a chance to see it, much less have an opportunity to use it for the payment of his honest debts.

National Farm News.