The producers news. [volume], November 10, 1933, COUNTY EDITION, Image 1

About The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937

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<ioA»VS° 0 / ei>
of
COUNTY EDITION
THE PRODUCERS NEWS
"VIrMERS second
fa conference
edition
TURN TO PAGE 3
FOR SPECIAL
CONFERENCE SONGS
NATL
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE UNITED FARMERS LEAGUE
PLENTYWOOD, SHERIDAN COUNTY, MONTANA, NOVEMBER 10, 1933
XVI. Nom* ,er ^
PnbliskW W«ddy
VOL.
T
EYES SET ON
ALL FARMERS'
CONFERENCE
i
What Is the Position of the United!
Farmers League in a United
Front Conference?
'
1
BY ALFRED TIALA
j B v jew of the fact that there
delegates present here
fjpjn other farm organizations
♦jsn from the United Farmers
io« erne, it is necessary, I^ think,
that the position of the United
UaKue shall be made
First of all, whatever we farm
en may want to do to better our
conditions we will need for that
purpose organized leadership. We
h*re had some very sad experience
in the past. The membership of
the different organizations were
aekiom co r suited when action was
taken. The leaders acted autoc
ratically without any ®ense of re
gponsibility toward the members.
We must do away with this. In
its place we must establish collec
ENDS AND FELLOW FARM
F
HRS:
gif more
Farmers
dar to all.
Collective Leadership
tive leadership
t# and controlled by the rank and
file of the farmers.
and
ers
see
For the Poorest Farmers
Secondly, the United Farmers
League is not interested in fight
ing in behalf of all farmers. We
fight only in behalf of the poor,
small and middle strata of farm
We do not fight in behalf of
the rich, gentleman, creditor farm
ers. Only actual dirt farmers or
agricultural wage workers are ad
mitted into our organizations. We
have no Welcome for the so-called j
tinners' friends—busted bankers,
lawyers without clients, and poli
ticians with or without office—•
who have wed the organizations
4 the farmers for the purpose of
feathering their own neats.
If. in some cases, professional
men or local business men want to
help oe, well and good, but their
place is not within the ranks of
our organization. If we were to
allow them to come in they would
aoon acquire leadership, as has
been shown in the past, and would
ivert the organization from its
tree purposes.
era.
Mass Action
Our third principle in the United
burners League is that we rely
ajwi mas® action. We do not be
lieve in lobbying, as many farm I
organizations do. Lobbying only
Wps the lobbyists. Instead of in<
floencing the politicians the lobby
ist who is supposed to be serving
the interests of the farmers, be
nnes influenced by the gentlemen
whom he has to deal, with
thr result that the interests of the
ingHwerished farmers are over
'ooked at the round table confer
Lobbying, therefore, is a
futile and costly pastime as far as
7* are concerned. *
IV same is true in regard to
*i«rtions. Time and again we have
to the polls and elected "good
^e r '' into office. Before election
*nne these "good men" promise us
everything and after elections they
•e^e the interests of the money
Give the "good men" in of
f* 0 « a chance, we are told, but the
•ly
ones to get help are the
ton* ard the banks. Give Roose
. "ere time, is the cry now, hut
Vhim only a few hours to
the banks a moratorium that
lcd
to
T" 18 of dollars of worker© and
I * n »rs deposits.
are learning to use
-,. It is "he ma^
m lean,^°r tUnatel y We have not
«* H can L Use * a s effectively
I ' But 1 am sure
" *°mgr t. learn. There
high time that we did some
for ourselves, relying only
ourselves, upon united ma®e
Bow have we stopped fore
r" rcs asd evictions? Not by
to lobby for us. Not
on the politicians in of
We have stopped! foreclo#
Actions by maes ac
but it is illegal, cry the
®»ditors—the banks
"*l®ce
Iha
and the in
companle©—in alarm.
r«h, at ,^ Who made the
2**'«»' We did pot. They
r 118 dass struggle that we
•rriW?!?' even h*ve to fight
f or lawg that were made
tin* . Panpose of binding us. The
want v C0Tn f w hen we, if we
man rî-iîT 6 ' have to raise hu
ahoTe ? Ur class ri 8hts
the* , e class-interest laws of
*
UP.
Farm Strike
farmers
Weapon.
_ . , j ,
Nummary of a speech deliv
ered at the Wausau Con* |
ference of the Wisconsin j
United Farmers League I
Qn 1933. !
j
• — ,
, fam strike proposed: but
the rank ard file of ue have not
been consulted either in regard to
the demands of the strike or in
re g ar d to the manner in which the
s t r ifce i s to be conducted. We are
me rely asked to await orders,
Later we'll be ordered to stop
: striking, again without consulting
j 0Ur wishes,
I am quite sure that one of the
reasons
being called is to forestall the na
tion-Wide rank and file movement
of farmers which is to convene in
Chicago on November 15 to the 18.
The second for thi® sort of
why this sort of strike is
unprepared and disjointed strike
movement is to bring confusion
a feeling of weakness into the
ranks of the farmers.
If this strike is going to be
called, it will become the <Duty of
every member of the United Farm
League to throw his energy
the strike. We will have to
to it that the strike becomes a
genuine one. Rank-anad-file strike
committees will have to be set up.
Picketing will have to be orga
nized. A very necessary thing, if
want to wiq our strike, is unity
With the city workers.
Unity With Workers
The boss class, through its con
trol of the press, the radio, the
movie® and other organs of propa
ganda, has kept the farmers and
the workers apart. By keeping us
divided they manage to keep us
weak and so they can rob both sec
tions of the working class. We
farmers are beginning to realize
that something must be done by
quickly or we all will soon be
migratory workers, homeless and
jobless. ^
The present so-called farm
lief plan® are designed and exe
cuted with the purpose of creating
rift between the farmers and
the city workers. When we go
out to fight for higher prices for
our products we must insist that
it is not to be at the expense of
the city workers but must come
eut of the profit© of the monopo
lies and profiteers. It is of the
utmost importance that we gain
the help of the city workers in our
struggles.
re
We have had examples already
that the city workers will help ua.
They have come out and helped us
stop foreclosures and evictions.
They have marched with us in our
demands for relief. The workers of
Chicago have promised that they
will look after the needs of the
thousand farmer delegates coming
to the Second National Confer
,
In turn, farmers throughout
the country have in many instances
provided city workers, who "were
on ©trike, with food to enable the
workers to fight for better pay
and better living conditions.
©Fee.
Unity of All Farmers
The United Farmers League
stands for the unity of all impov
erished, toiling farmers and I a»
convinced that the correctness of
principles will mean finally
that the United Fanners League
will become the leader, even if not
the only organization, of the farm
er®' movement in the country. We
do not claim that we are perfect.
But we are striving to do our best
and we are striving for unity with
other farm organizations.
. .
However, we dont believe in
fighting for useless issues. For
instance we cannot agree to uxut©
for a struggle for inflation. In
flatten i© a measure to help a dying
system revive temporarily» jost 33
strychnine i s injected into a dymg
to quicken the heart beat for
a little while. Inflation means
more profits for the profiteers ana
a lower standard of living for t
farmers and workers.
^ - rwcKfc
( ampliation Of 1
W. nf the United Farmers
League are proposing cancellation
r n j doKts
° f * SeC " red ^
Some wül object on the ground
1 that it is dishonest to repudiate
1 honestly ' contracted debts. Our.
answer is that in the first place
our
man
#1
the*e debts were not "honestly
contracted. These debts were
forced upon us because we could
^ get along at the time with
t mortgaging our future. In the
second place, is it more honest
than cancellation to cheapen the
money until it is 'worthless and
then "pay off" our debts with this
worthless paper? Is this form of :
cheating more honest than re-:
Pndmtion of debts when we know
0>f' we are not able to, pay these
det>ts . I believe not.
We could not agree on a strug
gle to remove Secretary of Agri
culture Wallace, because we be
lieve that replacing one politician
and master-class servant by an
other will do us no good.
We do not expect all the farm-1
ers a* yet to agree on the full
program of the United Farmers
League. Many farmers possibly
would not agree with u 3 that it is
actually i
to go out and help organize the
Agricultural Workers Industrial
Union.
But there are issues upon Which
we can agree. We can agree upon
a fight to save our homes; we can
agree to fight for higher prices .
for our products, and I think we j
can agree on a fight for the can-1
cellation of our debts. Let us get i
together into one solid fighting.
front on these issues upon whieh
we can agree.
When we enter the United Front
that doe® not mean that any orga
nization needs to lose its identity
or independent character, nor does
it mean that we should hide our
own particular program. In the
course of the united front strug
gles the programs can be brought
forward, analyzed and explained,
and undoubtedly the program that
best fulfills the requirements of
the farmer® will finally become
the program of all.
Organization for Results
When we organize it must be
for a purpose other than merely
to have something big to look at
and to admire. The purpose of
organization must be to get results
for the farmers—a better standard
of living and safety from the
worst features of the crisis.
A small organization that will
fight will accomplish more than
large organization that remains in
active. Aid organization that will
get out and! fight will grow and
become bigger and stronger as
time goes on. And we'll have to
get away from the idea that some
body must come and organize us.
The farmers themselves must
become the organizers. The push
must come from the rank and file,
) j t j a to the interest of the banker
| ^ass to keep us thinking that we
• can ' t do the trick ourselves. The
we get that kind of old
notions out of our heads the bet
ter it 'will be for us.
The boss class regards us
beasts of the field. But
\ are _
| i earn i n g
I are we
ceasing to be dumb. We are
to organize. Not only
thinking, but we are even
beginning to know how to talk,
how to express °nr thoughts. Dirt
farmers have been doing all
talking here this afternoon.
The Chicago Conference
every
very long.
highly important that every lo
cality of the country shall be well
by delegates,
And now ^ conclusion, so that
yQu may ^rive a correct idea of
how ^ united Farmers League
functions> j want to say that the
ideas I have expressed here
nQt my opinions. They
arg ^ co ^ ec u ve ideas of thou
sardg of f armers i n many states
i n th e United Farmers
u ea g tie These collective idea©
have been hammered out after
years of experience in struggles,
after years of threshing these
things out in mass meeting after
mass meeting. It merely happens
that I have been chosen as the
spokesman t. bring these cellee
tive experiences and the collective
thought to new sections of the
American farm masse® for their
consideration, here today.
Before I close I want to say one
more word on the Chicago Conf er -
No farmer can afford to
consider himself not interested in
this momentous Conference. The
décrions and plana that must be
and will be made in Chicago will
involve, in one Way or another,
farmer in America before
For that reason it is
ence.
are
SCRAM, YOU CROWS! By wm. g «>pp«
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The Fanners Second NaHbnal Conference will map a fight against the New Deal of Roosevelt—
the N. R. A n and the A.A.A. wUch mean destruction of farm products and lower standards of
living for farmers and workers.
W Increase Will Add
DoUar8 tQ Wl0rU .
ers' Income
STRIKING COTTON
TrwsfFRsra'T'ghten
P.C. WAGE RAISE
*
TULARE, Calif. — After four
weeks of heroic struggle against
vigilante terror, murder, starva
tion, and mass arrests of leaders,
the striking cotton pickers
within sight of victory.
The cotton ranchers and finance
offered
a hundred
corporations have
strikers 75 cent®
pounds. All locals of the Cannery
and Agricultural Workers Indus
trial Union in the cotton fields
have voted to accept this increase
if the following conditions are met:
75 cents per hundred pounds
be the minimum wage, that hiring
be done through the union,
armed force® be withdrawn from
the
Almost 100 growers have thus
far signed a contract to abide by
this agrtement, and their fields
are now picked by Workers sent
by the union.
The granting of 76 cents per
hundred pounds represent® a wage
increase of 25 percent. This will
add! one million dollars to the
wages of the strikers for the 1933
season, and one million dollars to
picker® not on strike.
The outstanding feature of the
strike is the extraordinary unity
of the Mexican, Negro, and white
American workers. Despite re
peated attempts of the ranchers to
divide the cotton pickers on the
basis of color and nationality, the
workers have refused to be divided.
OKve Pickers
Strike
LINDSAY, Calif.—One hundred
olive picker® have walked out
spontaneously against a cut in
wages at olive groves here.
289 Boys Killed, 20,379 Injured
Thus Far In Reforestation Camps
WASHINGTON, D. C-—la »
interview given a reporter of the
Washington bureau of the Dally
Weaker, an official at the head
quarters of the Civilian. Conserva
tion Corps (reforestation camps)
revealed that 289 boys have been
killed and 20,879 injured in the
first six months in these camps.
Col. Robert Fechner, director of
the C. C. C., has dropped plans
for a safety first campaign, and
has contented himself with send
ing out a letter to the camps call
ing for "greater vigilance."
"Eighty-nine of the young vic
tuals," reports the Daily Worker,
"died from disease©—tuberculosis,
typhoid fever, diptheria, gastric ul
cer, etc. The others were killed
'accidentally' — electrocuted hy
lightning, plunged off cliffs, or
crushed in auto and truck collis
sions, etc. The injured were cut
by axes in inexperienced comrade's
hands, or had their bone© crushed
by falling logs, or were burned by
forest fire, etc."
750
the
Farm Strike Rages as Pickets
Hold on Roads; Moves
o{ Reno M ^ ^
Iowa Farmers Stop Train and Release 8 Carloads of
Cattle; Wisconsin Farmers Blame Bombings on
Milk Trust Seeking to Provoke Violence
are
DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov.
-Despite Milo Reno's
ders to "suspend" the farm
strike, rank and file farmers
in several states went right
on picketing and stopping the ship
ments of farm products to market.
7.
the
to
that
Stop Train in Iowa
On Nov. 6 at Lawton, Iowa,
farm pickets succeeded in stopping
a train on the Chicago and North
western Railroad. Eight carloads
of cattle were turned loose. The
train was stopped by heaping a
large stack of ties on the tracks.
Governor Herring has declared
that if the local authorities cannot
prevent picketing, the state "would
step in," meaning that he will send
the militia against the farm pick- j
ets.
Another Picket Killed
Near Dakota City, Nebr., a car
driven by Harry Jackson dirove
into a truck which wa® being un
loaded by pickets. The truck was
overturned and a picket, Frank
Fletcher, was killed. Three other
pickets, John Pallas, William Win
get, and Jerry Fillip, were in>
jured.
The driver and his companion
are being held.
Threatening the picket line at
the Plattsmouth bridge over the
Missouri river, Sheriff W. A. De
Moss said at Gleriwood, Iowa: "A
lot of farmer® are going down to
that bridge who wonft come back."
At this same bridge on Nov. 3,
a 'Haw and order league" orga
nized by rich farmers battled the
pickets in attempts tq get through
scab trucks.
On Nov. 3, two scabs who r»
(Continued on page t, col. S)
-
Roosevelt to Set Up New
and the family is promptly taken
off the relief lists.
'That this practice will be con
Concentration Camps for
Homeless Unemployed
The death rate in the reforesta
tion camps is about six times the
rate reported last April by the
Department of Labor for all in
dustries. A prominent research
engineer ha© warned that "at least
100 more lives will be wasted in
the next six months if Fechner
doesn't do more than to write
letters."
Bnlistmest is now being pushed
by the federal government. The
boys are hired to work at $1 a day.
However, the practice of the fed
eral government has been to take
boys who©e families are on relief.
The boy's family is sent about $26
of the hoy's $30 wage per month,
i T>riri|Tnri rnnrvm II
or-|J(U*USt rtütKAL
FEED LOANS TO
RUSTED FARMERS
Ruling Is That if You Die
Not Pay Last One, You
Can't Get New One
PLENTYWOOD, Mont., Nov. 7.
—All applications for federal feed
loans this fall are being refused
here, if the farmer has not yet re
i
paid! his previous feed loan.
This will mean that about 98
percent of the farmers in this
county will be without feed for
their cattle this winter.
A farmer here came into the
Producers NeWs, showing a letter
from the federal Crop Loan Pro
duction Office in Minneapolis. This
letter flatly refused the farmer the
loan, and returned his application
without giving any reason for the
refusal.
The farmer approached a mem
ber of the county feed loan com
mittee and was informed that the
refusal was dtae to the fact that
the farmer had not repaid his pre
vious feed loan. Thi® is a ruling
in the Minneapolis office.
Again» the Roosevelt government
demonstrates that its policies are
directed against the impoverished
farmers. This refusal of feed
loans is a move to still further de
crease the amount of available
beef for market, thereby raising
the price for the benefit of the
big cattle ranchers and specula
tors.
taking.
tinued is indicated in a report that
"unemployment relief agencies
thru out the country have chosen
some 125,000 . . . officials stand
ready to turn fledglings over to
the Army for enrollment when the
corps commander says the word."
This report is published in an offi
cial C. C. C. paper.
In addition to the C. C. C., the
federal government is going to set
up transient campe for homeless
unemployed. Following the ex
ample set by the Fascist butcher,
Hitler, these camps will in fact
serve as concentration camps
where the unemployed will be
forced to work for mere subsist
This is one of the moves that
reveals clearly the Fascist trend
which the Rooeevelt government is
ence.
Any unemployed person who
ha©n't lived in one state for a
year cant be sent to these camps
by "police, the railroads, and sher
iffs."
Delegations Speed
on Way to Opening
Wednesday Nov.15
750 DELEGATES FROM EVERY PART OF UNITED
STATES EXPECTD TO ATTEND FARMERS
SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE
4» STATES WILL BE REPRESENTED
Militant Left-Wing Trade Union Center Endorses the
Conference and Calls on All Organized and
Unorganized Workers for Support
CHICAGO, Nov. 7.—As the trucks and cars carrying
delegates to the Farmers Second National Conference speed
on their way to this great mid-west industrial city where the
Conference will be held Nov. 15 to 18, dirt farmers over the
1 entire country are looking to the Conference to give an
answer to their problems which become more pressing every
day.
The fierce battles being waged by farm pickets in Wis
consin, Iowa, and Minnesota, make more imperative than
ever a united front of all small and middle farmers for
struggle to win immediate relief*"
starvation, foreclosure and
Ä w X e "" 18 of dis
750 Delegates Expected
îSSS
elected* It 1® expected that
delegates will be here when
Conference opens.
The Montana delegation left
morning. Twenty-four dele
gates, five of them women, took
in two cars and a huge truck.
The truck was built like a Souse,
with windo'ws and a stove inside.
Three other delegates from Mon
tana have left by other means.
Expect 50 From Iowa
Fifty delegate® are expected
from Iowa this year. Last year
there were none from Iowa. Or
ganizers have been in Kansas in
the last two weeks, and it is ex
pected that this state will also be
represented in Chicago.
From darkest dixie, where lynch
terror is riding rampant against
Negroes, there will be a delegation
30 Negro and white farmers.
Whereas only Alabama sent dele
gates last year, this year Tennes
see, Georgia, Louisiana and the
Carolina® will join Alabama in
sending delegates.
Last year, only the Philadelphia
milk shed was represented. The
Second Conference will see dairy
farmers from the New York, Chi
cago, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and
Sioux City milk sheds in addition
to Philadelphia.
Support From T. U. ü. L.
In the meantime, expression® of
solidarity from workers' organiza
tions continue to pour into the of
fice of the Farmers Second Na
tional Conference. The National
Executive Board of the Trade
Union Unity League, nation-wide
left-wing industrial union center,
has issued a statement endorsing
the Conference, a® well as the
farm strike.
"The National Executive Board
of the Trade Union Unity League"
says the statement, (printed In
full on page 3), "calls upon its en
tire membership, the members of
the American Federation of La
bor, and the unorganized Workers
to rally to the support of the
farmers who are fighting against
the robbery inflicted upon them by
the banker© and their Wall Street
government
"The Trade Union Unity League
endorses the Farmers Second Na
tional Conference and calls upon
all workers, organized and unor
ganized, and In the first place
upon its own affiliated organiza
tions, to give full support to the
successful carrying through of the
Farmer© Second National Confer
ence.
"We call upon all workers and
workers' organizations in cities
where the delegates will come
through to hold, meetings to greet
the delegates, to support them
with food and lodgings. We call
upon all workers' organizations to j
elect fraternal delegates from the
nearby center© as well as adopt !
resolutions of greetings to the !
Farmers Conference and send them
to the Conference hall, 2467 West
Chicago av., Chicago, HI."
The statement concludes:
"Forward to the solidarity and
common struggle of the industrial
workers, agricultural laborer©, and
poor and working farmers,
1
"National Executive Board,
"Trade Union Unity League,
"Wra. Z. Foster, Secretary."
p «< wn n ■ n II r n P
CALIF. farmers
STRIKE AGAINST
POWER COMPANY
Y
U. F. L, Leads Fight for
Cut in Rates; Delegates
Sent to Chi. Conf.
i '
B> <* Farmer Reporter
CHOWCHILLA, Calif.—For the
last month and a half, about 3H9
farmers in this section have been
carrying on a strike against the
electric company for a 50 percent
reduction in power rates.
After struggling for years to
pay their large power bills, these
farmers have decided, through
their militant organization, the
United Farmers League, that they
would declare their inability to pay
more than half their electric bilk
and have a showdbwn with the
power company.
When the electric company toms
off the power on a farmer's ranch,
I he goes to a United Farmers
League committee, elected by the
farmers, and obtains a permit to
turn his power back on, not as an
individual, but as the organization.
Should the power be cut off again,
a meeting is called and if wires
are cut or fisses pulled, they are
replaced by an experienced elec
trician hired by the U. P. L.
Such a meeting was held Oct, 2*
in Chowchilla on a farmer's ranch
and the power was turned on. An
impressive meeting wa© held with
speeches and a little ceremony in
which all present held a rope which
was tied to the switch on the
pump which was the only mean®
this farmer had of obtaining any
water. No representative of the
power company was present.
Should this farmer's electricity
be turned off again, the United
Farmers League will turn it en
again and piqjcet his ranch. Let
us back these farmers in the
struggle with similar strikes ha
other parts of the United States.
We are sending a delegate to
the Farmers Second National Con
ference.
STRIKING FARMERS
EXTEND RELIEF TO
STRIKING WORKERS
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—A truck
load of food has been donated by
member© of the Farm Holiday
Assn, of Minnesota to striking up
holstery workers here. The truck
was laden with potatoes, batter,
cream, chickens, turnips, carrots,
and other vegetables.
Wisconsin Program
and Principles In
Next Week's Issue
Next week's issue of the Pro
ducers News will contain the
full Program and Principles of
the Wisconsin United Farmers
Lea gué, as adopted at the Wa
sau conference on Oct. 11.
Order special bundle« imme
diately for special distribution.
For 106 copies or more, the
cost is one dent each. For less
than 100, two cents apiece.