Show A The dl TA Joum aw R Rin in WASHINGTON By Walter Shead Correspondent Washington Bureau 1616 1618 Eye Ere St St. N. N W. W Continued Strikes Raise Farmers' Farmers Ire LEADERS L of farm organizations here in Washington are not a little disturbed by reports of threat threat- threatened threatened threatened ened farm strikes in Nebraska and Oklahoma and the outspoken sen sen- sentiments sentiments sentiments of farmers in other sections as a result r sult of the unsettled condi condi- conditions conditions conditions in the management labor-management field While some farm leaders here declare that it is traditional that farmers and the rural population in inthe inthe inthe the smaller towns are antagonistic to labor the fact is that your Home HomeTown HomeTown Town Reporter finds fords a wide diver diver- divergence divergence divergence gence of opinion here among the i leadership of the farm far organizations The consensus is that the threat threat- threatened threatened threatened ened strike of the vigilante group of farmers in Nebraska is confined to a small locale and likely was engendered by influences outside the state Nevertheless farmers everywhere are of the opinion that the continued lack of production due to the management labor-management difficulties is working a hardship on the rural population in hi more ways than one The difference of opinion lies in hi I whether the blame should be on Management Labor or Govern Govern- ment One leader here expressed the belief that at the present moment the rank and file of the farm population population lation was more sympathetic to the laboring man than to business with a general feeling of a plague on both your houses But the yardstick by which this sentiment for or against Labor and Management can best be measured in the opinion of this writer is by bythe bythe bythe the position taken by the three large farm organizations with reference to the Case bill which passed the house by a vote of to and which is now in senate committee on education and labor where it likely will stay Grange Favors F Case C Ze Bill The Farm Bureau federation headed by its president Edward A A. A ONeal took the lead in favoring passage of the bill which even its proponents say is a tough bill on Labor The Farm bureau was backed by the National Grange and anda a statement from the latter organ organ- organization organization organization declared The National Grange considers the Case bill a sound measure de de- deserving deserving de- de deserving serving the full support of all fair- fair minded people We believe the bill offers a practical approach for pro pro- protecting protecting protecting the public interest without penalizing either labor or industry or in hi any way interfering with the orderly settlement of industrial dis dis- But the National Farmers Union bitterly opposes the Case bill and says that insofar as their group is concerned they art ar receiving no complaints with reference to labor strikes As a matter of fact a Farmers Union spokesman said quite the reverse is true Many Farmers Unions near strike areas have con contributed con on contributed contributed supplies to feed the families families families lies of strikers and we have backed labor pretty thoroughly Insofar as any general farm strike is concerned there will be none Farmers are too practical in their thinking to withhold from market food for million people just because a million are on strike And it may very well be true that the anger of the farmers is direct direct- directed ed more at the long indecision of government in hi settling the labor dis dis- disputes disputes dis- dis disputes than at either labor or man man- management management management on the theory that it is patently unfair for the thc government to hold the line on farm prices and at the same time break brcak the line on wages to workers and prices to management Farmer Is 16 Squeezed It is certain that the action of the President and his advisers in break break- breaking breaking breaking ing the wage line and offering increased in in- increased increased creased prices to management to offset labor wage increases will be be- become become become come a part of the pattern when revision of parity prices for farmers comes up for action For to raise wages 18 per cent and to boost prices for manufacturers comparatively most certainly will boost the prices of the supplies and equipment the farmer must buy such as farm ma ma- machinery machinery machinery chinery and fertilizer All of this must be added to his cost of pro pro- Besides the things he and his family consume will also be bemore bemore more expensive In the meantime the unrest in hi the rural areas grows The farmer fears inflation more probably than labor certainly more than indus indus- try Thousands of farmers felt the force of inflation when they lost ost their farms following World War I. I They saw the value of their dollar toboggan and the price of every every- everything everything everything thing they bought spiral high And they suffered as a result They fear a repetition of inflation and then bust or depression They know that farm farm prices go down fast and far and stay slay there a long time when the starts |