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Vol. 5. No. 43.
GASTONIA, N. C., OCTOBER 26, 1911
One Dollar a Year
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Faiimers SbiM 0r|
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Org
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I—To Protect and Promote Class Interests.
By J. Z. Green.
Theoretically, the idea of “the universal
brotherhood of man” sounds well. Sermon
after sermon has been preached describing
the beautiful characteristics of an “unselfish
people”—an imaginary part of the human
race that does not exist. Discourses upon
these imaginary ideals have an uplifting in
fluence upon mankind and are all right in
their places, but in this series of articles on
'‘IVhy Farmers Should Organise and Stay
Organised” it is the purpose of the writer to
deal with human nature and modern condi
tions as they are and not as we would prefer
to have them.
In the incentive to action behind nearly ev
ery human endeavor there is an element of
selfishness. It is a- part of human nature and
can not be eliminated. Without this element
of selfishness men would be indolent, indiffer
ent and inactive. Without it mankind would
be improvident and there could be no advanc
ing civilization, no material development.
In following out the impulse of his nature
to look out first for his own interests and the
interests of his family, man frequently disre
gards the interests of others in his business
relations with his fellow men. This is done
on the presumption that each individual ought
to be man enough and have intelligence enough
to protect his own personal interests, and that
nature has decreed that the individual or
class of individuals that do not protect them
selves must suffer for it.
In the relationship between the different
classes of the same vicinity there are some
times certain community interests that are
common to all and, therefore, when it comes
to providing means for the building of good
roads, for establishing educational institutions
and other public conveniences which enhance
the community value of property in a town or
vicinity, we frequently find doctors, lawyers,
merchants, manufacturers, farmers and wage
earners all lined up together, working for the
same end. But when it comes to the financial
interests that directly concern the different
professions and classes, there is a natural con
flict of personal interests, and each class or
profession works as individuals, and throug
its distinct class organization, to promote its
own interest in every legitimate manner pos
sible, regardless of the effect it may have upon
the interests of others. The merchants pros
perity depends upon the amount of pro ts
can get from others. The lawyers and doc
tors succeea nncini;iciiiy m —
amount of fees collected from others. The
wage worker’s prosperity depends upon the
amount of wages collected from others, and
the farmer’s success depends upon the price
he gets from others for his products. So,
when the direct interests of the different class
es are considered, there is a natural and un
avoidable conflict of personal interests run
ning through all our business relationship
with each other, and it can’t be dodged. If
we, as farmers, first realize that this conflict
of interests in our business transactions ex
ists and must continue to exist, we will then
be in better shape to deal with these conditions
intelligently and successfully.
It is folly to attempt to change natural con
ditions which can never be changed, uniess it
were possible to change human nature and hu
man environment. We must, therefore, deal
intelligently with human nature as it is and
with modern conditions as they exist, and not
waste any effort or energy in trying to change
them.
The natural conflict between class interests
has been greatly intensified during the past
quarter of a century by the combinations cap
ital in productive industrial enterprises and by
class organization and co-operation, through
which production is limited to actual demand
and distribution controFed. These class or
ganizations fix prices with an eye single to the
interests of the class that does the fixing, and
it is done at the expense of the class that does
not have the intelligence and good, business
sense to follow that method of promoting its
interests. Now, don’t be quick to condemn m
others the same part of human nature that is
in all the human race, and let us be s.ow o
condemn others for doing what we would do,
if placed in the same position. The pom we
make is that life itself is a fierce struggle
which is not ethical, but selfish to the core.
In its business dealings, if one class takes
advantage of another, that other class as
right to kick, if it lies within its power to pre
vent it.
You have heard it said that farmers have
not been getting “justice,” but .t is *
is hurting them. When a class of P“P'^
b!y and stupidly permit an ”
of commercialism to price everything they buy
aL a” o everything they sell, with no orpn-
zed effor to prevent it, justice comes i^ong
with considerable force and Reserved
between the eyes. It is this kind
justice that farmers have been getting, and
til we find a remedy and apply it.
Farmers must organise to promote and pro
tect their own class interests, because that is
the only way it can be done successfully. Act
ing as individuals, alone and single-handed,
we become an easy prey for the combined
forces of the classes who recognize the power
of organization and co-operation. Again,
farmers' must organize to protect ’ their own
interests, because there is nobody else that can,
or will, protect these interests for the farmers,
as a class. In the protection of our farming
interests we necessarily come in contact and
in conflict with the personal interests of those
who want to buy our products as cheaply as
possible, and everybody, except the farmer,
wants to do that. It’s an idle dream to ex
pect any help from them, even if they knew
how to help us. It s a stern battle of class in
terests that the world is engaged in, and each
class must make an intelligent and manly or
ganized fi^ht for its own interests, or be left
in the race—to suffer for its own folly and in
difference. .
With the Farmers’ Union in our midst, as
the “last call” to the farmers to unite perma
nently, as all other classes have done, intelli
gent and loyal farmers can t afford to remain
out of this organization, for the world hates
a “scab” and a quitter. In an article in a re
cent issue of the American Magazine, on the
success of labor unions, Mr. Clarence Darrow,
labor’s forefiiost defender in the courts, makes
this comment: “In this world men are cruci
fied not because they are bad, but because they
differ from their fellows. Trade unionists
have for centuries believed that they were up
holding the rights of men, protecting the wel
fare of their class, and promoting the inter
ests of their homes; that without the union
shop their liberty and their independence
would be gone. They have come to regard the
non-union men not only as the enemies of
their homes, the destroyers of their families,
but as traitors to their class; as men who seek
to undermine and destroy the organization
which protects them. This is not a fact in
trade unionism alone, but a deep abiding fact
in human life. In-lts last analysis it is the law
of self-defense.”
[Mr. Green’s next article on “Why Farmers
Should Organize and Stay Organized” will
appear next week. Subject:' “Neighborhood
Co-Operation on the Farm.”]