FARMERS TO THE FRONT 43 



be more disastrous in its results. But what would 

 or could the government do? It could hardly con- 

 fiscate farm products, or compel the farmer to sell 

 them at prices unsatisfactory to himself. Surely it 

 could not compel those men who failed or refused 

 to put in crops lest there should be overproduction, 

 to cultivate their farms against their will. 



The arbitration question here presented, if it is 

 a question at all, would be one far more difficult 

 than that between the anthracite miners and oper- 

 ators which President Roosevelt arranged for, and 

 practically compelled. The government could not 

 destroy the farmers' organization and continue to 

 permit capitalists and workingmen to organize. 



The difficulty would in all probability be adjusted 

 either by fair compromise, or by a complete yield- 

 ing to the demands of the farmers. But the problem 

 would not be solved. On the contrary, the govern- 

 ment would have had such a warning as would 

 drive it into the adoption of a just policy. Theo- 

 retically we have the most just government in the 

 world. The preamble of the constitution reads 

 thus : 



"We, the people of the United States, in order to 

 form a more perfect union, establish justice, in- 

 sure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common 

 defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the 

 blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, 

 do ordain and establish this constitution for the 

 United States of America."' 



