Farmers' Week in AgruiiJhiral (UilUge. 99 



who ought to be the most independent people on the earth, are the slaves 

 to all other classes. Imagine, if you will, two great balls rolling slowly 

 down the planes of time, and a single file of farmers passing between 

 those two gigantic balls, one man coming out witli eyebrows seared, 

 one with a finger broken, one with a toe oK — that is today the condi- 

 tion of the farmers of America. Upon one side you have the trusts and 

 upon the other you have the labor organizations, and you who produce 

 the food and raiment for these classes are the slaves and the servants of 

 these other two. And why is it ? It is simply because you pass between 

 these two great forces single file. Were you organized, as is every other 

 calling, were you banded together, were you marching like an army in 

 solid phalanx, you would not be ground, as you aue, between these op- 

 posing classes. It is because you are disbanded, attempting to combat 

 all sorts of organizations single-handed. 



There is just simply oue method whereby the farmer is going to be 

 lifted out of his present condition, and that is through co-operation. 

 You see combination on every hand. Let us suppose the combined forces 

 of several foreign nations were to declare war against the United States, 

 and our president should issue a call for a million men and he should 

 say to them, "Take your arms and go out and battle against the enemy." 

 •What would be the result? You would be annihilated.' In a business 

 sense the farmer is annihilated today. Like a beggar he takes his wares 

 to tlie market and asks, "What will you give?" And like a beggar he 

 goes to buy and asks, "What will you take?" You who produce the 

 breadstuff of the world, wdiy don 't you produce it, why don 't you sell it, 

 as does the man who sells you a keg of nails or a roll of wire, or as does 

 any manufacturer ? They consider the interest on the investment— the in- 

 surance, the taxes, the labor, the salaries, the losses, and then fix a price. 

 When you produce a bushel of wheat, a bushel of corn, a pound of beef 

 or pork, do you go about it in an intelligent way and say, my land is 

 of such a value, I must have interest on my investment, my labor is worth 

 so much a day, there are taxes, wear and tear on machinery and use 

 of horses to be considered, and then do you put a price upon that wheat 

 or that beef as you should, and get it ? No ; you allow a lot of specula- 

 tors to fix a price on these commodities. You could stop them speculat- 

 ing as well as fixing the price if you would. But you do not hang 

 together; you don't vote together or you would fill your legislative halls 

 with farmers. Why don't you have a Parcels Post, Bank Guarantee 

 Law, Postal Savings Banks and Free Trade? Because you think it is 

 better to be independent and a slave rather than to fight for your own 

 personal interests and vote for them. All these things you can have. 



