WAKE UP, FARMERS

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 9, Issue 525, 23 April 1920, Page 4

WAKE UP, FARMERS

Under the above caption the Rangitikei Advocate has the following editorial, which we report because it bears out our own recently expressed opinions:— So far as apolitical and economic interests are concerned the people of this country may be divided into two great classes- the producers and the allied industries in the one, and those who depend on them in the other. The former include not only the workers on the land, but those on- j gaged in the work of transport, and | in the industries connected with the preparation and marketing of the products of the land. The latter include some of the commercial and -ill the industrial who are employed in "protected" occupations. Both ciasses should work together harmoniously to ensure the best results, for the interests of each are really identical, though they have become opposed to each other because large numbers of industrialists have been misled by false theories propounded f.nd elaborated by designing people, who have had in view only their own interests. The agitators are greatly assisted by the fact that the people on whose feelings they work can easily be assembled together and united, and they thus constitute a political as well as a social fo:re. The primary producers, on the contrary live far apart, have few opportunities for consultation with each other and are by no means united, even in politics; in fact, they are frequently adroitly used by political adepts to further their own personal ambitions. They are exposed to grave dangers because of their isolation and lack of unity and organisation, and their position has also caused them to develop indifference to matters that really vitally concern them. The first essential to their protection seems to be thorough organisation, which involves hard work and considerable cost. The laboui unionist realises that he cannot expect his interests to be promoted if he does not maintain his union, and he therefore cheerfully subscribes his shilling a week or more for the support of organisers. So far the unionists have gained most of their aims. Among other things they have placed most of the burden of taxation on the shoulders o! the producer, and are even claiming the right to regulate his operations and fix the price of his products. Their designs can only be frustrated by complete union among the producers, and it is regrettable to notice how disinclined these are to contribute to a common fund to enable then' interests to be safeguarded. The other day on this coast, at a fanners' union meeting, a member was complaining of the difficulty of getting in subscriptions. These did not amount to the i;2 12s per annum subscribed by the worker to his union, but only to the miserable amount ol three shillings (.'is) we give the amount in both word and ligures lest leaders may think it a mispunt, as lepresenting the dole of men who have many thousands at stake. a:*[ whose interests loudly demand pro-' tection and safeguard. In the same locality a branch passed a resolui tion dispensing with the services of a thoroughly capable organiser be cause though the benefit would be great the cost would be about Kl'.'a), and that was nearly the amount of the reserve fund of the branch. Men with any sense of the necessity for union ami protection would, under the circumstances, have at once r< - solved to subscribe larger amounts every year. We strongly urge our farmers to awake to a sense of the dangers that are threatening their :n----terests. They are real, and the attacks of their opponents are insidious. Already the producing" interests are bearing most of the burden < t taxation, and the tendency is to cast si ill more on them. They are taxed by land tax, by income tax. and by customs duties, and the levy the State makes on them, directly and indirectly, amounts every year to a thousand times more than the an - omit of the subscriptions paid to even the most flourishing bran-h i f the union. The farmers must organise if they wish to be safe; they must pay the cost of organisati" n, and pay good men liberally, and they must unite with a platfo, in of genuine farmers' politics, as the Canucl an farmers have done, and they must not be misled by any mere personal party politics. If they do not attend to these things soon, they will indeed wake ui>. but it will th'Mi be too late.