6 THE THIRD POWER 



who buy from him. Speculators and gamblers on 

 boards of trade tell him what he shall sell his pro- 

 duce for. And he sells at their figures. The board 

 of trade gamblers juggle with the price, and, though 

 the condition of the crops and production and con- 

 sumption should govern prices, they have very 

 little influence. The prices of the important farm 

 crops are made in organized markets by great ag- 

 gregations of corporate capital ruled by unscrupu- 

 lous human agencies, or by speculators who set 

 prices arbitrarily without any reference to supply, 

 demand or equity. This arbitrary fixing of prices 

 destroys the independence of the greatest class of 

 our citizens — the farmers — and is more tyrannical 

 than were the taxes imposed by George III. This 

 is because the farmers are unorganized, and usually 

 without a knowledge of the real conditions. Com- 

 mercial slavery of this degree is as bad as personal 

 slavery. Thus the greatest class in the production 

 of wealth, on which all others depend, is at the 

 mercy of a few. The farmers are unorganized, de- 

 moralized industrially, and without any influence on 

 the situation at all proportionate to their importance. 

 Comparatively speaking, they are powerless. They 

 grow all the stuff possible and sell it for what they 

 can get — and then wonder why the year's balance 

 sheet does not show a better result. 



The agricultural industry of the country is still 

 the victim of the most intensive competition sys- 

 tem ever established. Each farm is in constant war- 



