FARMERS TO THE FRONT 9 



When trusts lift prices simply because they have the 

 power to do so, this increase also is largely made 

 out of the farmers who are the greatest consumers. 

 It must be so. The strife between organizations is 

 bound to hurt the unorganized. When Mr. Mitchell 

 and Mr. Baer agree on an increased scale of wages, 

 Mr. Baer at once shoves up the price of coal. And 

 the closer the unions and the trusts get together the 

 more certain it is that the unorganized mob of con- 

 sumers, of which the farmers constitute by far the 

 largest element, will have to pay for whatever 

 gain either wins, because they are not in a position 

 to pass it along. 



From every point of view, therefore, it is im- 

 perative that the farmers should organize, not for 

 political, but for business reasons. Surely the man 

 who raises the crops ought to have something to 

 say about the price he gets for them. He should 

 also know how much wheat, for instance, is being 

 raised, so he may know what it is, in equity, worth ; 

 and, let me say, a needful commodity is always 

 worth, in equity, what it cost to produce it, with a 

 fair margin for profit added. This margin should 

 be rated the same as others have set on their goods. 

 The cost should be found on a basis that allows the 

 producer a wage equal to what others get, interest 

 on investment, a sum that will repair waste or over- 

 come depreciation of the plant, with profit added. 

 Then we have an equitable value. If his market is 

 in danger of being glutted it should be as easy as it 



