FARMERS TO THE FRONT 3 



capital, and capital endeavors to force labor to work 

 for the lowest wages possible. Organized capital and 

 organized labor combine to beat down the price of 

 products from the land until workers on our farms 

 are the poorest paid of any class of laborers. In- 

 stead of cooperation, we see a struggle on the part 

 of each to get ahead of the others. Yet the intelli- 

 gent laboring man knows that the more capital there 

 is in the country, provided it be wisely and produc- 

 tively employed and carefully managed, the better it 

 is for him. And the intelligent employer under- 

 stands that in order for him to get the best results 

 he must pay his men enough to enable them to live 

 well and keep themselves in good mental and phys- 

 ical condition. Perhaps it is safe — at any rate it 

 seems to be necessary — to allow each of these classes 

 to carry on this guerrilla warfare for its own good, 

 even though success costs the rival something, trust- 

 ing that good may in the long run come out of the 

 conflict of interests. With land, however, we all 

 admit the necessity of keeping the farmers prosper- 

 ous to insure prosperity to others. 



Certain it is that the efficiency of labor and capi- 

 tal has vastly increased in our day, particularly in 

 our country. The freer use of the credit system, 

 the more intelligent management of money, the 

 rapid turning over of capital, the wonderful increase 

 in the use of machinery, and intelligent labor, have 

 all cooperated to enable capital to do things which 

 it did not even dream of a generation ago. We 



