Fletcher's State Rights Farming. (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, February 1, 1935 Page: 1 of 16
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FARMING MUST PAY OP THE NATION WILL PEPISH - Geo
FLETCHER DAVIS,
Editor and Publisher
Entered as second class matter June 24, 1922, at the Postoflice at Hondo,
Texas, under the Act of March 3, 18 79.
One Year, 50c; Three Years, $1.00
Single copies, 5c.
VOL. XIII.
HONDO. TEXAS, FEBRUARY 1, 1935.
No. 7.
OFF-HAND OBSERVATIONS THE LABOR-BASED DOLLAR
By R. R. Claridge.
Staff Contributor.
By Dr. P. A. Spain.
Staff Contributor.
The tendency in politics and other
things that turn out bad, is to let it
alone till it gets too blank bad, and
then go too far in the other direction.
When the old saloon got so bad, as a
hangout for drunken loafers1 and
gamblers, instead of a package law,
and no drinks over the bar, we got
the speakeasy, the hip-pocket flask
and the bootlegger. We managed to
keep the boys and girls out of the
saloon, but too many of them are up
to their necks in the other extreme,
and a lot of women and preachers,
too blessed good to know how bad it
is getting to be.
The Texas senate tax committee
recently reported the greatest state
in thes/e United, “in the hole" nearly
ten million dollars, with the budget
on the outside waiting to be balanc-
ed. And the only way the commit-
tee can see to balance the budget out
of the hole, is to put a tax on some-
thing. With agriculture on relief,
and not much relief as yet, a tax on
gas was suggested. Which would not
be so bad, if it would lower the speed
limit on the highways. If there was
only some way to tax the enormous
flow of gas, political and otherwise,
escaping into the atmosphere, it
would be better. And, if the lawyer
legislature, minus its bureaucratic
tendencies, turn Democratic and cut
down expenses by abolishing or con-
solidating a lot of bureaus and com-
missions, along with a cut in some
high salaries it would be still better.
In other words, some help of the tax-
payer to balance hisi individual bud-
get, might help to get the state out
of the hole.
If it should be the policy of the
new governor to play into the hands
of the city smart set and its kept
press, the re-election of Coke Steven-
son as speaker of the lower house,
may prove a serious set-back to in-
fluences seeking to keep Texas
bound, gagged and hog-tied to the
chariot-wheels of king credit. A lot
of the devilment done the people
back home has its culmination, if
not its inception, in committee rooms
ei our legsilaiive halls, national and
state; and the Stevenson committees
may not be so subservient to big busi-
ness desires as they might otherwise
have been. After all, most of the
committee cussedness is done higher
up, the same appointed by a presid-
ing officer subservient to a few big
lawyers with big business clients.
When Jim Ferguson was elected
Governor the first time, big business
started to fight him as soon as^ it
found out it couldn’t use him, which
it soon did. I knew less in those days
than I have come to know about how
iai big biz and its lobby and pander
press will go in fighting an official
who refuses to turn traitor to the
people who elect him. So, when the
yew-yow started, I thought where
there was smoke there must have
been some fire. In fact, I was a bd
shy of Jim for several years, with
the impression growing on me that
it was all smoke; and Mother Fergu-
son got my vote for her last elec-
tion. I did not know that, with the
legislature, the big town press and
the C. of C. smart set all against her,
she managed to cut state expenses
two million dollars during her first
term as Governor, and how, during
her last term, opposed by the same
influences, she managed, with the aid
o± her chief councellor, her husband,
to cut the state debt ten million dol-
lars, is an even greater mystery.
And you all may have observed
that, while the fight against the Fer-
gusons has lost none of its virulence,
it does not take the shape of criticism
of their administration. From some
press articles I have seen, and some
talks I have heard, it looks, with noth-
ing in the Ferguson administration
to criticise, the fight on them ap--
pears to be taking more the shape of
getting away from them what little
of world goods they have been able
We are now operating with a gold
base currency and a gold standard.
In one of my recent articles on the
World Dollar. I contend that service
is the best standard for the dollar.
The editor of Fletcher’s Farming in
Hondo, Texas, very naturally raises
the question as to whose labor should
be used in fixing the standard,
whether Brisbane’s or the lawnmow-
er’s.
Well, sure, under the present setup
labor is mercilessly exploited. All
sorts of prices are placed upon it.
Even the same kind of labor is up or
down according to the whims of the
purchaser.
This would be different if labor
were our standard, for then every-
thing would be priced according to
the labor put into its production and
this would be justice. Of course in
fixing the gold standard the kind and
quantity of gold had to be specified.
Anything set up as a standard would
have to be described. If w ork or ser-
vice be made the standard, then the
amount and kind must be defined.
Perhaps “two hours common labor
to th’e dollar’’ would be as good as we
could get it,—just like we say 25.8
grains of gold .9 fine to a dollar.
Now suppose Congress change
our standard and make it read “a
dollar shall be two hours service by
the average common day laborer”?
Then the U. S. could continue, if de-
sirable, to buy gold at whatever price
Congress might fix for it, but this
would not be necessary in interna-
tional exchange, because any nation
that wants to buy goods in the U. S.
would sell their own goods for U. S.
money to make the purchase.
Ninety percent of all work is done
by the common laborer, and 50 cents
an hour, or more, is a necessity for
the support of his family. The other
10 per cent of work which might re-
quire expensive training could be
graded accordingly.
The greatest constructive force ir
the world is the common laborer. All
things built or produced are the re-
sult of common labor, and under a
labor standard, the value of all thing*
would be estimated according to the
number of labor-hours used in con-
structing or producing them. Thf*
would practically stabalize the price*
of all constructions and commoditie*.
The common laborer would thue
be getting his just reward. His foot-
ing would be sure and he would
always know what his efforts would
bring to the support of his family,
and he iwould feel free from the
grasping whims of speculators.
In fact, the most important man
(Continued on last page.)
Continued on last page
New Legislature Convenes For Vital Session
Photographed above i. the f.mou. capitol building .t Auatin. ^ond onl:
size! Here the new Texa. Legislature convene, early thl. to hilt natural ga. wait-
Sn variety and importance than ever before. Action is anticipated p Railroad Committion re-
ago in the Panhandle. This wastage has grown so rapidly, that reports ^^consumption of the entiw
veal that each day it now equals the daily domestic co^ercial c demw»d early solution
United States. Taxation, liauor law*, relief, oil control and other vital subject* oeman
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Davis, Fletcher. Fletcher's State Rights Farming. (Hondo, Tex.), Vol. 13, No. 7, Ed. 1 Friday, February 1, 1935, newspaper, February 1, 1935; Hondo, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth555291/m1/1/: accessed July 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Hondo Public Library.