lWR PHlW!W T
The Commoner
. 1TO&il'8, NO. 2
i
President's Message to Farmers
On January 31, President Wilson sent to tho
farmers of the country a messago which was de
livered by President James, of tho University
of Illinois, to tho farmers' conference In session
at Urbana, III. Secretary of Agriculture Hous
ton was to have represented the President at
tho conference, when the President's Indisposi
tion mado It Impossible for him to attend In
porson, but was provented from participating by
the tie-up In transportation, facilities. Official
Bulletin.
THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Tho message reads as follows:
I am very sorry indeed that I can not be pres
ent in person at tho Urbana conference. I
should like to enjoy the benefit of the inspira
tion and exchange of counsel which I know I
should obtain, but in tho circumstances it has
soemod impossible for mo to bo present, and
thoroforo I can only send you a very earnest
moBsago expressing ray interest and the
thoughts which such a conference must bring
prominently into every mind.
I need not tell you, for I am sure you realize
as keenly as I do, that wo are as a nation in
tho prosenco of a great task which demands
supremo sacriflco and endeavor of every one of
us. Wo can give everything that is needed with
tho greater willingness, and oven satisfac
tion, becauBO tho object of tho war in which
wo aro ongaged is the greatest that free men
havo over undertaken. Jt is to prevent the life
of tho world from being determined and tho
fortimos of men everywhere affected by small
groups of military masters, who seek their own
intorost and tho selfish dominion throughout
tho world of the governments they unhappily
for tho moment control. You will not need to
bo convlncod that it was necessary for us as a
freo people to take part in this war. It had
raised its evil hand against us. Tho rulers of
Gormany had sought to oxorcise their power in
such a way as to shut off our economic life so
far as our intercourse with Europe was con
corned, and to confine our people within tho
western hemisphere while they accomplished
purposes which would havo permanently im
paired and impeded every process of our na
tional life and have put tho fortunes of America
at tho mercy, of tho Imperial government of
Gormany.
REALITY, NOT MERELY A THREAT
This was no throat. It had become a reality
Thoir hand of violence had been laid upon our
own peoplo and our own property in flagrant
violation not only of justice but of the well
rcoognizod and long-standing covenants of in
ternational law and treaty. Wo aro fighting
thoroforo, as truly for tho liberty and self-gov-ernmont
of tho United States as if the war of
our own Revolution had to be fought over
S"i 5?c 0very man in evcry business in the
United States must know by this time that his
whole future fortune lies in the balance Our
national life and our whole, economic develon-
ZLnm Pf88, Ui?der UlG singer influences of
foreign control if wo do not win. We must
win, therefore, and wo shall win. I need not
Kn Jf i PldEV y?nr llves an(1 'optunes wh
those of the rost of the nation to the accom
plishment of that great end. accom-
oi iYou T1 realIzo' ns think statesmen on both
sides of the. water realize, that the culminate
crisis of the struggle has come and Ct' ho
achievements of this year on the one side or the
other must determine the issno Tf i,, ,
out that the forces that figh ' i :or freedn'n d
freedom of men all over the world a ell as
our own, depond upon us in an extrnnS
and unexpected degree for sustenance for So
supply of tho materials by whirl, in
live and light, and it will o J SoCtl l
war is over that we have sunnip,wi,
terials and supplied Uiem SundSuy and tt
will be all the more glory becaZ 5, Li .
GREAT AGENCIES AT WORK
ganization in tho world. Its total annual budget
of, 4 G, 000, 000 has been increased during the
last four years more than 72 per cent. It has
a staff of 18,000, including a large number of
highly trained experts, and alongside of it
stand the unique land-grant colleges, which are
without example elsewhere, and the 69 state
and federal experiment stations. These colleges
and experiment stations have a total endow
ment of plant and equipment of $172,000,000
and an income of more than $35,000,000, with
10,271 teachers, a resident student body of
125,000, and a vast additional number receiv
ing instruction at their homes. County agents,
joint officers of the department of agriculture
and of the colleges, are everywhere co-operating
with the farmers and assisting them. The num
ber of extension workers under the Smith-Lever
act and under the recent emergency legislation
has grown to 5,500 men and women working
regularly in the various communities and taking
to the farmer the latest scientific and practical
information.
Alongside these great public agencies stand
the very effective voluntary organizations
among the farmers themselves which are more
and more learning the best methods of co-operation
and the best methods of putting to prac
tical use the assistance derived from govern
mental sources. The banking legislation of the
last two or three years has given the farmers
access to the great lendable capital of the coun
try, and it has become the duty both of the men
in charge of the federal reserve banking system
and of the farm loan banking system to see to
it that the farmers obtain the credit, both short
term and long term, to which they are not only
entitled but which it is imperatively necessary
should be extended to them if the present tasks
of the country are to be adequately performed.
Both by direct purchase of nitrates and by the
establishment of plants to produce nitrates the,
government is doing its utmost to assist in the
problem of fertilization. The department of
agriculture and other agencies are actively as
sisting the farmers to locate, safeguard, and se
cure at cost an adequate supply of sound seed.
The department has $2,500,000 available for
this purpose now and has asked congress for
$6,000,000 more.
FARM LABOR AND THE DRAFT.
The labor problem is one of great difficulty
and some of the best agencies of the nation are
addressing themselves to the task of solving it
so far as it is possible to solve it. Farmers
have not been exempted from the draft. I know
that they would not wish to be. I take it for
granted they would not wish to be put" in a
class by themselves in this respect. But the at
tention of the war department has been very
seriously centered upon the task of interfering
with the labor of the farms as little as possible
and under the new draft regulations I believe
that the farmers of the country will And that
their supply of labor is very much less seriously
drawn upon than it was under the first and in
itial draft, made before we had our present full
experience in these perplexing matters i
supply of labor in all 'industries taa matter we
must look to and are looking to with diligent
RESPONSE OF THE FARMERS.
And let me say that the stimulation nf n,Q
agencies I have enumerated has been responded
than the farmers in Euronp Tf ia
sary that they should do so I? JnJV T68"
bo bad economy for "them io attlmpt if?
they do produce by two or three of ml But
more per man ner ,,nitf T? our times
than the tamer? of invWlab0P and capital
their response to the demands n? Mf And
emergency has been in eTery way remaK?,
Last spring their planting exceed bTia onl6'
000 aares the largest niw Dy 120Q0r
year, and the yelds from n!ig f any Weylous
breaking yillllnTo fa iTTVf
acreage of 42,170 000 wot i , 17 a wheat
1.000.000 WelX To? ,?MS
3,000,000 greater ihan theriext largest, and
'7,000,000 greaterjjthan thepreceding five-year
average.
But I ought toaay to you-that it is not only
necessary that thege achievements should bo
repeated, but that they should be exceeded, i
know what this advice Involves. It involves not
only labor but sacrifice, the1 painstaking appii.
cation of every bit of scientific k'nowledge and
every tested practice that is available, it
means the utmost economy, evtfn to the point
where the pinch comes. It means the Icincl of
concentration and self-sacrifice which is in
volved in the field of battle itself, where the
object always looms greater than, the individ
ual. And yet the government will help and
help in every way that is possible. The im
pression which prevails in some quarters that
while the government has sought to fix the
prices of foodstuffs, it has not sought to fix
other prices which determine the expenses of
the farmer is a mistaken" one. As a matter of
fact, the government has actively and success
fully regulated the prices of many fundamental
materials underlying all 'the industries of the
country, and has regulated them, not only for
the purchases of the government, but also for
the purchases of the general public, and I have
every reason to believe that the congress will
extend the powers of the government in this
important and even essential matter, so that
the tendency to profiteering, which is showing
itself in too many quarters, ma,y be effectively
checked. In fixing, the prices of, foodstuffs the
government has sincerely tried to keep the in
terests of the farmer as much in mind as the
interests of the communities which are to bo
served, but it is serving mankind aS well as the
farmer, and everything in these times of war
takes on the rigid aspect of duty.
AMERICA'S GREATEST OPPORTUNITY
I will not appeal to you to continue and re
new and increase' your efforts... I do not be
lieve that it is necessary to .dp so. I believe
that you will do it without any word or appeal
from me, because you understand as well as I
do the needs and opportunities of this great
hour when the fortunes of mankind everywhere
seem about to be determined and wli'en America
has the greatest opportunity she has ever had
to make good her own freedom and in making
it good to lend -a helping hand to men strug
gling for their freedom everywhere. You re
member that it was farmers from whom came
the first shots at Lexington, that set aflame the
revolution that made America free. I hope
and believe that the farmers of America will
willingly and conspicuously stand by to win this
war also.
GLAD WE ARE AMERICANS.
The toil, the intelligence, uie ' energy, the
foresight, the self-sacrifice, and devotion of tho
farmers of America will, I believe, bring to a
triumphant conclusion this great last war for
the emancipation of men from the control of
arbitrary government and the selfishness of
class legislation and control, and then, when
the end has come, we may look each other in
the face and be glad that we are Americans
and have had the privilege to play such a part.
DRY VOTE ANALYZED
The other day by an overwhelming majority
the northern and southern members of- congress,
adopted the .resolution submitting the amend
ment to the federal constitution providing for a
'bone-dry" nation, whereupon a northern sago
pouts in this fashion in a communication in to
The New York World:
i,Y,0Ur, fditorJal o' today, 'Prussianized Pro
hibition, is a masterpiece and should be spread
over the whole of our beloved cduntry. Bryan
has again appointed himself" a lea'der (after re
jection by the people all the time) with the aid
of a lot of his southern followers, and again
raised the question of the south' dictating to the
north.
"I hope and trust that we northerners can find
somebody who will arise to the danger of these
conditions and give Bryanites and dictators their
just rewards." .
fl?UW4.hen we come t0 analyze the record we
SSL m,re northem congressmen voted to
S2 ?gi .n the south tha southern con-
SS5S i70tedJ:.0 lOTCe U onihQ north- And'
whifr 'Jhe SroWWtlcm caliban is a northerner,
BtSfi rtrai Sycorax whse habitat was in the
N SJfeS: Savo!n Raleigh, N. C
. -g. trfe Hj