LABOUR AND THE FARMER.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 January 1914, Page 3

LABOUR AND THE FARMER.

"ft (To the Edito-). '.*E Sir,—lt is now some 15 years $$ since the.firm of Sly, Masterful, ;j:\ Squatter, Co., Ltd., started bus- .'* mess with printed pamphlets, - -J- cow-papers, speech aud pen agitaw <,' tors to set the fanner against the ,}' ') * town worker, making one appear £ , the acme of perfection, the other I £ a lazy degenerate, and so create a !*o(f division among producers on the r^| : principle of "divide and conquer." ¥&' While the producing farmer and V farm labourers know only the squatters' side of the question the garden will remain beautiful and <-... —for the squatter and his j^ r minor satellites. ■ But the strugi, gling farmer is going to have a :|ji ; peep at the other side of the pic- . • ture very soon, and the artificial $$'■■''. fog-making apparatus of the gens&'£ tie. squatter will be met by fogil" disDellers. From "Socialism and |§: ■ the" farmer," a powerful little p, booklet, I quote the following:— j^ ,; - : "One very old way in which this |j|A division is secured is by setting |^; : ; , the farmer against the city work|h Y er. l The farmer is made to belli: '.; '"■• : , lieve that the labourer who is |-"". seeking. to free himself from ex-Sf-r. "iploitation is trying to 'confiscate j ! the property' of the farmer, while |5-{ I ' the labourer is told that the far- : is in league with the capital- *£:,'■ ist to enslave labour. Both are '£■ ■■■:■'■' deceived, and while they are fight- ■}&■■ ing the capitalist gleefully picks the pockets of both. At bottom %'■-■ \, the trouble is the same for both, $>''-■ and unless they fight together ii%, '. against the common enemy they must continue to suffer together." W{. Again: 'Wage labourers and fars&■".■• mers must first unite in a politi||v ,cal party of the producing class to |B|'.' gain ! possession "of the powers of. P X '-: government now controlled by the IF cftpitalist."-r-Yours; etc., m*.,- H. LEGER. p|v Weraroa, Jan. 13, 1914.