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SER3MBER; 1920
IB"
position;, to .prohibition disappears party Hncs
We must , have a dry congress so that no wot
hili will.be sent to a President for his signaturo
m0T J&S hatS e should have a congress
two-thirds dry in both branches so. that any ad
ditional? dry legislation needed can be passed
over the veto of ji wet President and also bo that
a wet,;pre8ident can be impeached and removed
if, by croefusal to enforce the prohibition law. ho
violates his oath of offlce.
BuMvliydo. the wets fail to announce the
alcohplijcTpjtt cent which they favor? Js it be
cause 'thoy cannot agree? Or are they confused
in purpoge by the fact that they desire a larger
per cent Hi the afternoon than in the morning?
They "falK" about wine and beer, but it is not
wine -and -beer that they aro interested in it
is alc'ohgl. They can have all the wine and beer
they want.&pw if- they will be content with not
more.than.one-half of one per cent of alcohol.
TheynotTonly conceal the facts about their
own position but' they misrepresent ours. They
complain as. if they wore not permitted to have
any alcohol at all while, as a matter of fact,
the federal law does not attempt to put any limi
tation upon the amount of alcohol that they
can buy or drink. It simply prescribes the, per
centage or water' that muat be taken with' the
alcotiol, Viz., Ojae hundred and ninety pints of
water with each pint of alcohol, But why not?
That- is phly ninty-nine and a half quarts, about
twenty-five gallons, not quite a barrel. We have
the highest scientifjc authorities for the state
ment1 that K,mari cannot acquire the alcoholic
hahjt if he .will becareful to take nearly a barrel
of wa(;er wftheach pint of alcohol he will get
the water, habtt ' f
It-is5 the. alcoholic hqtbit that we aro fighting
against. In. former times .brewers, distillers
and. liquor dealers. nvere. allowed to make money
growrtriphffastening, the alcoholic habit up
on theirfeliow men, And every one knows the
effect c6f.4Jtf at habit. A young man might be
the bestsptf in. the state but. when be became
the victim- of v the .alcoholic habit he would curse
the mother, who brought him Into the world;
he mightb.e the-best husband in the-state Jbut
when- the' 'alcoholic appetite became his master,
he would -s break very vow he made aJUtho
marriage altar; ho might be the best father
in the state but when the tasto for alcohol
grippecU him. he would steal "his children's
clothes, at -night and pawn them for drink he
would let the Httle ones grow up in ignorance
upon the street while he made a brute oiit of
himself- with the money to which they were"
entitled But that day has passed never to re
turn.. The people have risen in their wrath and(
made itlie nation saloonless forevermore; with
God's helpjhey will be restrained so that they
cannot fasten that alcoholic appetite upon another-
American citizen while our flag floats
theyshail .never tuni back the hands on the
clock olFtime.
Instead vot permitting tho return of intoxicat
ing liquors,'1 we shall go forward to the aid of
other nations. -JVe have travelled so fast and
gone ubvpr .that I expect to live to see the day
when, there will not be an open saloon under the
bannerf-any" civilized "nation iti the world.
To thefcglory of leading the world away from
war wejfhall add the glory of leading the world
in driving"' intoxicating beverages from the
globe, ljv.
And. now lot me appeal to you to search your
hearts .,arida,answer, no.t to me but to your own
conscience;, ' tyhat estimate do you place upon
the education- that you have received from the
past ari"i .from, .the environment into which you
were born,?' H What estimate do you place upon
the religion that dominates your life? What
estimate,-do- you place upon th.e form of govern
ment under which you live? Add together the
value.'f these gifts and let the sum measure
your acknowledged obligation to your fellows;
then let, the consciousness of this obligation in
spire .Qto. highly resolVe to repay the debt
as opportunity offers.
We, live in. a goodly land; no king can shape
this country's, destiny; not even a president
can speate'the final -word as to what this nation
is to$Mtf?T.Each. citizen, however humble, can
haveVftpart.1 Xet us do our-part; joining to
getherlet.us solve the problems of each day,
and, .hyjfco doing -bjesa our own country and ail
othorsJj&'et us join together and raise the light
of our- civilization, sj) high that its: ws, illumin
ing overland, may. lead tho world to those
botteiifgTTf of which all hearts are praying.
The Commoner
a
A Den of Thieves in the $lieat Pit
andBreele61"' ' KanSaS Farmcr and MaU
nrLmr finJamous Pacy has been attempted
nU nPetlated on thIfr much victimized nation
than the present bear raid in tho Chicago grain
Pit. Its purpose is to rob the American farmer
hi tnQn ,X"oa"lod cent of Prm thero may
nSnnll I8 u?0 WhGat CrP 0VGn t0 th0 Plnt
penalizing him with a heavy loss for growing
it. And once the crop is out his hands, to run
the price up and make tho world's consumers
pay these gamblers tho highest price ever ox
acted for wheat since the Civil war.
The world needs every bushel of this wheat.
Z m , no Blut in tho world supply. Dr. A.
k. Taylor, leading authority on food conditions,
says Europe will need 15 million tons -of breads
stuffs this year from the outside. There is no
economic reason for a great slump in prices.
It simply is a grain-gambler conspiracy to bilk
tho people and the grain growers out of several
hundred millions of dollars, and its success de
pends solely on how long the gamblers can pro
long thcraid and manipulate the market.
In this particular the much deplored car
shortage may yet prove a blessing in disguise.
It prevents any great effort by tho growers to
save what they can from the possibility of
wreck by a panic rush to ship all their wheat
at once, thereby "breaking the market" and giv
ing the grain gamblers their chance "to buy
wheat for nothing." That virtually is what it
amounts to. In the meantime the prospect of
another general war in Europe, or tho natural
demand, may to some extent, wrench the mar
1 ket away from these conscienceless pirates.
Only this can save the grain producers.
This wicked business is an immediate se
quence of the restoration of option trading sus
pended during the war. Tho ban was taken off
July 15 and in scarcely more than 2 weoks the
price of wheat was depressed from 42 to 54
cents a bushel. Good, red wheat dropped 50
cents in a single weok. Some of tho "bears"
predicted a break of $1.50 a bushel.
Previous to the resumption of grain gam
bling, prices had been going along on a steady
and satisfactory basis, with no material fluctu
ation from day to day. It remained for tho
grain gamblers in effect to take 259 million
dollars from the country's growers of winter
wheat in -a single week and to rob the north-
western spring wheat raisers of a prospective
145 million, a total of 404 million dollars from
wheat growers alone with bread 6 per cent
higher than a year ago and flour prices rising!
Economic justification for this raid is lack
ing. We now know there can bo no wheat for
another year at least from Russia, the world's
great exporter of wheat. Argentina, our rival
in the world's grain markets, has oversold its
output and is now buying wheat to supply its .
own needs. ... -,
'" A decrease of 30 million bushels since June
1 in this year's wheat prospect in the Unlted
States, is shown by the Government's July crop
report, Kansas being the only state to report an
improved condition. The country as a whole
will this year fair short of the five-year average
to wheat production by 12,640,000 bushels.
These are the Government's estimates.
Our domestic needs, however, will be greater
than ever. Foreign demand must continue
fltrontr In facC there is almost certain to bey
n. demand for more wheat than can reach the
market. That "the railroads will be able to
. handle as much wheat a's last year is doubtful
as the great falling off in shipments compared
with a year ago indicates a reduction of about
6 APKansas' fanner, A. Ennlow of Macksville
Kan., who has spent 51 years on the farm and
has made a reasonable success, not at farming
mt hv investing in farm land, writes me:
bU"l am writing to ask you to stop fatureop
n tradine on the Board of Trade. Why
Should a se"g0f gamblers profit by depressing the
trm MoductB if our country? I believe even
Seople will insist on a just and honest mar
rt for our farm products."
The People will insist once they understand
h,a nffcuation. The remedy lies In more organ
Pi i nnftration by farmers and. in' more gov-
5L3S Vork in Washington for wisely;
fostering and protecting the nation's mout vltfct
industry.
The following appeal tologrAphed to me by
Congressman TJmborlako of Colorado, indlonU
his serious view of tho altuatlon:
"The alarming condition that now threaten
tho whoat growora of tho United fllatca ha he
como so acute as to demand In my Judgment
eomo action by tho Government that win look
to tho protection of the producers. If obliged
to Bell their wheat at tho prices now offered,
as many of them will bo, It will moan not only
tho loss of overy cent of their profit but an
actual and hoavy loss over cost of production.
"Is there no agoncy of tho Government to
whom tho urgency of this condition can bo pre
sented with any prospect of early action to r
liove tho situation? During tho war theno farm
ers heeded tho cry of their Govornmont for In
creased production. They woro extremely patrf
otic in responding to allca1Ig of tholr Govern
ment. Shall they now bo made to suffer mot?
"I shnll appreciate any suggestions you mAy
offer and assure you of my doslro -to, co-operate
in every way ln.rollovlng tho nlannlng situa
tion existing.
"CHAULES B. TIMBRItLAKEI,
"Sterling, Colo."
I doubt whether anything can bo done now
to stop this piracy in tho whoa pit. When
congress moots in December Its first businaga
should be to put an end Co this ruinous form
of gambling and to provide a system for ad
vancing money to whoat farmers on olevator
certificates aftor tho .manner that cotton fann
ers arojinanced In tho south through loanLp
warehouse rccolpts.
When food speculators notoriously comer or
exploit supplies for a rise, borrowing 'funi
from banks to carry on th's speculative busi
ness, producers aro entitled to credit accommo
dation to hold their products a reasonable time
to avoid congestion of markets and frustrate
systematic food gambllrlg.
The speculators both. In wheat and In cotton
know when fanners must sell and they take
advantage of it to rob them annually of their
juBt and hard-earned dues by running down
prices beforo tho markot gets tho crop; then
running them up on tho' consumer. Thoao two
groat world staples are made the football -of
tho speculators and the whole country i vic
timized. x
Tho war has proved to us wo do not require
an option market in order to handle cash grain.
We. also know that the hay crop, beef products
and other lines of as great magnitude as the
grain business, are handled without any trad
ing in futures. I believe the time has come to
enact legislation to eliminate option trading and
put an end to this enormous and systematize!
robbery of producer and consumer. It has don$
almost as much damage to national prosperity,
as the saloon and It has done much more than
the-saloon to retard our agricultural progress
and well-being. The steady exodus of men and
women from farms should convince us that we
cannot go on victimizing and penalizing the
farmer and expect h?m to till high-priced land
with high-priced labor and feed tho nation.
Farming is too hazardous a business as It is.
We can no longer havo it made the sport of
the grain gambler.
In self protection American farmers are or
ganizing to take over the marketing of their
products co-operatively in order to free them
selves as well as the consumer from tho. machi
nations of the horde of profiteering and specu
lative parasites that have fastened and fattened
upon the country's necessities for years and
almost made farming unprofitable. This move
ment has been given great impetus this year
by the American Farm Bureau Federation, the
National Wheat Growers' association, tho Fam
es' National Grain Dealers association, tho Na
tional Board of Farm Organizations, the Farm
ers' National Council, the Grange, tho Farmer
Union, the Society of Equity, the Gleaners and
kindred organizations, soon probably to be af
filiated in a nation-wfde marketing company of
farmers. The best interests of National welfare
will be served In speeding this movement. This
is in fact, the purpose of the Capper-Iferfiiaan
and ' the "VTolstead-Capper bills, one of whiclfi
tiridoubtedly will pass the next congress.
ry
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