TWO SIDES TO THE QUESTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 September 1920, Page 8

TWO SIDES TO THE QUESTION.

WHAT IF THE FARMERS STRUCK. The American Farmer publishes tha i following article,: i "The furmers keep their heads when ' all others fly off the track. We ask city I workers to ponder a moment w.'iat might happen' if the farmers should do what the workers are doing—demand'ng ' shorter hours and higher pay. Th". farmers are their own bosses, |SO they would not have to quarrel with anybody. They ' would hold out on strike until they got ' good and ready, for they can feed the°ra- - stive,". : ' i "You working city fellows, suppose for a moment that the farmers 'adopted the cght-hour day. It would cut down production at least half. Suppose they also set a price on their labor anl their products ba.i'ed on an eight-hou* basic scale. Where would, you get your food? Only the ricli could buy it at all, for the price would be prohibitive to men on strike. If the cost 1 of living is high now, how will lessened production affect It ? flow will increased co-t of production bring prices down? You live now because the farmers work nearer sixteen hours a day than eight hours. You can buy food because the farmers havo not cornered the market and said: "We demand so much for our products or we won't work.' "If you city workers expect the farmers to go on feeding you at the old price I you have got to get back to work at the old wage and make it possible for the farmer to buy cheaper so he can produce cheaper. This is not a one-sided game. It takes two to play it, and if you city fellows quit, don't get sore if you go hungry soon. Either the farmers must do as you are doing, shorten the hours and demand higher pay, or else you must lengthen the hours and produce more without more pay. "The farmers have been patient with you. When they lose their patience, look out. What city workers have in common with farmers is not so much political as economic. What are you going to do about It?"