128 FARMERS' UNION AND FEDERATION 



The farmers also are laborers. They should unionize to 

 share in this world-power equally with unionized labor. The 

 two classes should and could rule the world. We have seen 

 in the world-war the utter failure of other classes to rule the 

 world satisfactorily. Now these two great classes should be 

 given a try-out. 



How Farmers Can Escape the High Cost of Living. 



Instead of employers of labor fighting every demand for 

 higher wages, as they did formerly, they have devised a 

 better plan to escape paying it. They pay the price de- 

 manded, unionize themselves and add the increased wages 

 to the price of their products or service, thus passing it on 

 to the consumers. The consumers, excepting the farmers, 

 have unionized their various professions, and in turn add 

 this increased cost of living to their services or salaries. In 

 this way all classes that are organized become passive lo 

 the increased cost of living. They are not relatively affected 

 by it, except in most cases they add more than enough to 

 balance accounts and are that much better off. The farm- 

 ers, being the largest consuming class, are the ultimate pay- 

 masters of the many wage increases added to all articles 

 they buy as they come clown the line through many hands. 

 Take, for example, a hide the farmer sells for seven cents a 

 pound. It then goes through the hands of several dealers, 

 trusts, profiteerers, factories, jobbers, transportations and re- 

 tailer, with all union wages, costs and profits added to its 

 price, until it gets back to the same farmer in the form of 

 shoes, harness or leather at $1.50 a pound and up mostly 

 up. Now, the farmers, being unorganized, have no possible 

 chance of evading paying this high cost of union labor and 

 profiteering; but as soon as they unionize they can. The 

 cost of leather, shoes, harness, etc., will be estimated in the 

 overhead expenses and added to the cost of producing their 

 own products, including hides, and collected through the 

 minimum price system. 



