644 
AGRICULTURAL RELIEF 
The Equity cooperative exchange, the Farmers Union Terminal Association, 
and the Missouri Farm Association. 
William Hirth, editor of the Missouri Farmer, is chairman of this federation, 
A. W. Ricker, St. Paul, is secretary, and C. B. Stewart of Lincoln, Nebr., is 
treasurer. F. W. Murphy, of Wheaton, Minn., is chairman of the legislative 
committee which has charge of the Mc¢Narv-Haugen bill at Washington. 
This blank is being circulated by. a 
and will be accounted for to_ 
~ We, the undersigned, hergby suscribe and pay to the Corn Belt Federation of 
Farm Organizations the amounts set opposite our names to defray the cost of 
conducting the McNarv-Haugen bill through the present session of Congress. 
The subscription blanks contain 765 names and the amount paid 
$524.10, also letters from 27 local organizations contributing $218.45, 
making a grand total of $742.55, which indicates the people’s interest 
in farm-relief legislation and their confidence in the Corn Belt Feder- 
ation of Farm Organizations. 
The CuatrMAN. Mr. Wallace, we will be glad to hear you. 
STATEMENT OF EDGAR WALLACE, REPRESENTING AMERICAN 
FEDERATION OF LABOR. WASHINGTON, D. C. 
Mr. WaLLace. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, 
my name is Edgar Wallace, representing the American Federation 
of Labor. 
When I appeared here a year and a half ago and on previous occa- 
sions, I stated that it was our apprehension that we were afraid that 
unless the farmers were placed in a position where they could be 
paying consumers, we, the industrial workers, would be thrown out 
of employment. I pointed out that there was partial unemployment, 
just a small proportion of our people who were unemployed at that 
time, and I stated then that, recognizing that this country can not 
continue to run with a great portion of our people unable to buy, 
that we, as workers, were willing, if necessary to pay a little more for 
our food products in order that our customers, the farmers, might 
be placed in a position to employ us in turn. 
I am sorry to say, Mr. Chairman, that what I apprehended a 
year and a half ago is now a fact, that is, as we are sitting here to-day 
40 per cent of the workers of this country are idle because no man has 
hired them—oh, I do not mean that 40 per cent are totally unem- 
ployed, but between part-time employment and total unemployment, 
out of every 10 potential workers 4 are idle to-day and every day, 
and this is growing, because, after all, when a man is idle, a working- 
man, industrial worker, he ceases to remain a paying consumer. 
So we are heading for the dump. I said that we can not hope to 
continue in a state of prosperity while such a large proportion of our 
people are unable to consume commensurate with their efforts, with 
their value to the country. 
Now, Mr. Chairman, I am a city dweller. The people I represent 
dwell in industrial communities. We feel that the surplus raised 
by the farmer is our margin of safety, that there may come a time 
when weather conditions or because of the farmer’s despair, might 
cause a scarcity of the things that we need. If the farmer’s surplus 
is our margin of safety, I, for one, and the people I represent, are