Honolulu Record, September 2, 1948, vol. 1 no. 5, p. 3
Washington (FP)—A call for closer cooperation between farmers and organized labor was issued by the CIO in a pamphlet released recently.
Such cooperation, the CIO said, "must become a real force in America" to improve the living standards of all Americans. Title of the pamphlet was: "To The Farmer—From His Customers."
Farm to Industry
The basic tie between farm and city workers was shown by the fact that most of industrial labor comes from families which originally worked on farms. In 1800, according to the report, nine out of ten Americans were still on the farm. Today, eight out of ten have moved to urban areas for jobs.
The pamphlet points out that there are false stories about high wages just as there are about exceptional profits for farmers. In both cases it is necessary to look at average figures. "Fair profits and good wages," says the pamphlet, "keep purchasing power flowing between farm and city."
Danger Signal
Sounding a note of warning, the pamphlet said: "When profits become exorbitant and wages so low that workers cannot buy essentials, it becomes dangerous to farmers, to labor and to America. If purchasing power drops beyond the safety point, we will find ourselves spinning dizzily in the depression spiral; then the farmers would burn corn again for fuel and hold penny foreclosure sales."
Little of the increase in cost of things farmers must buy can be attributed to high wages, the pamphlet says: "In the farm implement industry, a 2.2 per cent increase in prices would have covered the manufacturing wage increase, but farmers were charged 11.4 per cent more."
The House un-American activities committee was blamed for the death of Harry Dexter White, a leading New Dealer, who died of a heart attack ailment. White underwent a gruelling hour and a half grilling on "spy" charges made by committee witness Elizabeth Bentley.