PROCEEDINGS CORN BELT MEAT PRODUCERS' ASSN. 573 



would read the history of their own calling, because if they would, I think 

 they would discover what sort of inheritance they have. 



If you should go back to medieval times, you will find that all aristo- 

 cratic societies depended upon three things for their foundation and pres- 

 ervation — cheap manual labor, cheap farm labor, and cheap soldiers. 

 You will find that all aristocratic societies in days gone by have de- 

 pended upon food production at cost, manual labor at cost, and fighting 

 done at cost. The farmer, the manual laborer and the soldier were sup- 

 posed to work for their board and clothing — and not ask too much for 

 board and clothing. (Laughter.) That is the heart of the situation. 



Now, why was it, gentlemen, that at the end of the World war congress 

 became so solicitous of the welfare of and interested in providing 6 per 

 cent returns to the railroads on the then present replacement values of 

 the railroads of the country, when you could get out in this state of Iowa 

 all the land you wanted to rent at 3 per cent on the fair value of the 

 land? Now, why was it? It wasn't because of any desire to discrimi- 

 nate. No, it wasn't that. It was because of a habit of thought. I at- 

 tended a meeting up at the agricultural college at Ames the other day, 

 when Mr. C. W. Barron, editor of the Wall Street Journal, made an ad- 

 dress, and while he expressed a good many Wall street notions, he said 

 something that is mighty true. He said: "The reason that food produc- 

 tion is cheap in this country is because of the unpaid family labor of the 

 farm." Now, why have we got unpaid family labor on the farm? Why 

 has the farmer got in the habit of rendering that sort of service? And 

 why has he been content to render it? And why do we submit to a senti- 

 ment in Washington, and, I judge, the country over, in favor of taking 

 care of everybody else with 6 per cent or a higher per cent of return, 

 and nothing for the farmer? 



Now, a great deal has been done to aid the farmer by this congress, 

 as Secretary Wallace has told you. Who did it? It has been done by 

 the democratic representatives of the farmers, and by the republican 

 representatives of the farmers, and they have stood for the farmers' in- 

 terests against every body, and one of the most effective things for the 

 producer that this agricultural bloc did was \^hen they defeated the 

 attempt to shift a large part of the tax burden off of wealth onto pro- 

 duction. (Applause.) The attempt was made, and will again be made, 

 to shift the entire burden of paying for this war onto the shoulders of 

 labor and the farmer. 



Doctor Pearson has said something about wages of the railroad work- 

 ers and mine workers. The men outside of the four great railroad broth- 

 erhoods were almost without exception underpaid before this war. All 

 of the non-organized laboring men of the country before the war were 

 underpaid. I myself have very great sympathy for the worker, and I 

 believe today that wages would be at the starvation point if it hadn't 

 been for the great labor organizations. That country is most prosper- 

 ous that has a high wage scale and low taxes and low rents. Now, what 

 connection does that have with the farmer? It is the highly paid laborer 

 who buys the products of the farm. And without cooperation between 

 the two you will fail of results. In any event, there will not be any result 



