The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 21, 1915, Page 6

PAGE SIX . THE NONPARTISAN LEADER et inial San e b The Passmg of the Independent Farmer By Otto T Monroe _ 2 X ! TR Ly i BRI S b e But times have changed. HERE was a time twhen the farmer was truly independent. He is not an isolated atom any But things have changed. .In the first place there is no more e free 1and——no more unoe- . " on the “battling block”. T more but is an integral part of society. He is an insepa- cupied stretches of fertile valley, The so-called free lands of rable unit of an indissoluble mass; is as much a part of a closely today are owned by speculators and railroads which also specu- knit social body as is the hand or foot a part of the physical|late on them. No longer can a man settle down in the wild and body. Like the bricks or stones of a building with each unit| yntamed forest, that abounded with game, fruits and. nuts, for resting upon others and in turn being rested upon by others so| there are none. ; < : .is the individual farmer in his relations to society. Farming has become an industry—a. highly developed in-- Fifty years ago there weré plenty of independent farmers.|dustry. It has become modernized. It has passed the early stage Then a farmer could take his ox téam, a linchpin wagon, a bull- of crude individualism and becomes a complex social industry. tongue plow, a cow and calf, a sow and pig, a hen and chickens, The farmer no longer produces for his own immediate use. ° an old muzzle loading rifle, some powder and lead, and a pair of He produces for market. He produces on a large scale. Highly bullet moulds. He would also take along an ax, a frow, a corn developed ‘and efficient machmery must be used. Modern con- * hoe and a few other crude and simple tools. veniences must surround him. 3 With this formidable array he would move out to the fron- He must be equipped with complicated farm implements. - He ¢ tier, pick him a patch of fertile land and settle down by a g00d| 1\t have the latest and most convenient farm improvements. cold spring on the bank of a creek. He must have telephones, daily newspapers, and automobiles - «{ If he needed fresh meat he would take his friendly rifle and that will enable him to keep in communication with the markets. He must utilize, directly or indirectly, the great factory, for there go out and shoot a deer or a turkey or maybe a wild hog. He could also go out in the woods and cut a beetree filled with real is where machinery. comes from:: He must utilize-the geat mills. the great elevators and terminals and the great railroads. honey in real honey-comb. - The ‘“./oodsf\\t/}elre_ fi“ei w1th1 dwll‘l;i 1,)’err1fes, frultls ::nd nutz. Fifty years ago the frontier farmer was not” affected by I e apale o ol R SRE oW Tiaple fresh.an ailroad rates, by marketing facilities and dockage and grading. He was not affected by machinery trusts, grain combines and make up a supply of real maple syrup and real maple sugar. L Paseafras and eplcewesd. suppliedhif table hegerar Linsvondsof elevator steals. There were none. - He did not need the elevator - and the terminal: He was not interested in‘hail insurance and Postum and cocoa. Grandmother knew all the herbs of the field and forest and e in a half day with the grub hoe could lay in enough medicines to uralcredits. : cure all the fevers and colics and whooping cough that might af-| But today he is vitally affected and interested in all these . flict the family for a year. Appendicitis and other modern and | things. They all “touch” him in a vital spot—the pocketbook. popular ailments were then unknown. They appeared like the|He is an inseparable part of them and cannot av01d contac» mother of invention when the doctors needed money. with them. This independent farmer would take his yoke of oxen and All these moden conveniences are expensive but the. farmer - break up a little patch along the fertile bottoms of the little | cannot wet along without them and he must help maintain them. creek which he would plant to corn and cotton. He did not feed | They are necessary to our modern life, to our modern method of the corn to hogs for they fatted on acorns and other mast. He|doing busiiess. There is nothing wrong with the use of these raised the corn for bread. If there was not an old fashioned water | things. The trouble arises from the abuse of them. They are mill near enough to the edge of the settlement he ground his|used to abuse the farmer. They are outside of his controf and corn in a burnt-out stump by means of a swinging maul And | he has no voice in their operation. He must depend upon thein ; there was no loss due to dockage and grading. because there is no other place to which he may go. i He did not raise the cotton for market, but for family use. Not only is the farmer victimized by these things but also 20D The wife and children picked it, “ginned it” by hand while| is the consumer and user of the farmer’s products. The men who mother and grandmother spun it into thread and wove it into| control these great necessities of our modern life dig both the cloth. A few sheep furnished the wool which was utilized' in| farmer and the consumer. They dig them entirely too hard. the same way. They do not stop at reasonable profits but form' combin_ations His houses were made of logs and the cracks closed with|and trusts that they may force the last pound of flesh. “chinks” of wood and daubed with clay. The floors were punch- Relief from unjust abuses will come only through the farmer _ eons hewn with an ax and the roofs were clapboards riven with| getting better control of the things that so vitally concern him: - the frow. Grandmother made the soap with lye from the ash-| These great social necessities must be utilized for the common hopper and the remnants of the swine at hog killing time. They good and not for the purpose of extracting great fortunes from: laundry work was. done on the clean, flat rocks down by -the|the earnings of the producer. : spring where Johnny made the forest ring with a “battling stick” Thus, the farmer having become a social being he must h-a;\'e Mother did the churning down at the|a stronger voice in social affairs. He must have a hand in the . spriag house where great crocks of milk and butter sat weighted | affairs that stand between him and a'larger share of his earn- down on white pebbles, and craw-dads scuttled over clean sand. ings. ; i : ’ In the winter this independent farmer devoted his time to The farmer is independent -no more.. He is a vpart‘of the catching skunks, coons and possums for their furs. In the spring | great social structure and he cannot avoid his respons‘ibility 1o the boys and girls dug ginseng and seneca, which together with | society and should not be denied his share’in the fruits of mod—fl the furs were marketed by exchanging them for powder, lead,|ern development and progress. . Bemg compelled to utilize the coffee (for Sunday and company only), and in some cases a little | instruments of ‘modern advancement he must not be made the calico and a few other necessities that could not: be produced | victim of theni. ‘ : : - on the farm. He can do this only when, by constituting his class a well » And thus we had the mdependent farmer in all the glory o[ organlzed force in society, he makes his power and mfluence felt ¢ his independence. in all the afl'alrs of government S ~ Ay o Y vt = O s a3 nesslike in the points made and their: conciseness.. Mrs: M. 'A. Hildreth of Fargo, gave the report.on industrial’ . and social conditions. -She ‘empha- = Some Sidelights on Farm Credits in Germany Hard Sesszon of Federatzon (Contmued from Page 4.) Minot, N. D Oct. 14. ——MISS Min- To increase production and .not in- crease the receipts of the prcducer simply piles a heavier burden upon the producer without adequate com- rensation. The Raiffeisen 'sy:tem en ablrs the farmer to obtain money at b5 ‘per cent' or less, instead of the much higher rates which obtain in 'this country. And it was the opinion of the ‘commission that ‘cooperation as now practiced in Germany would en- ‘able the farmer to . dispose of his produce without “fear of hindrance from railroads, middlemen, cold stor- age people, wholesale'r"or retailer.” The Raiffeisen system - has the “Farmers’ Council,” whose duty it s to look- after the interest of every farmer in the country. It examines every, law bearmg on agriculture, and none can be passed by the Reich- stag unless favorably reported upon by it. Not only so but this Councll teachea practical coore ratlon by dl valuable mfmmntlon to its members It prevents anythmg llke a £ood trustv or an attempt to corner:the marl\et i by pl:eventmg overproductlon in one' nbutmg_ nie Neilson, the president, is to be congratulated as a presiding. officer over the long, hard session of the {federation. The ' program alwaya ‘starts with' enthusiasm which does not lag throughout the long day. : Department Reports. Thursday ‘morning the reports of the de}.m‘tment chalrman were - bem- part of the country and scurcxty in ‘another part. Tl-ns is.a great obJect 1e°son that better hxs cond{tlo sized the importance: of standing by . the mothers 'pension law passed last winter or else seeing to it that we got- one ‘which would not be gaxbled untxl it:could' be thrown out for un- * “ I'constitutionality. ~Mrs. Boderstab cf . Bismarek, told of some of the legis;-__‘_ lation which has been. spoiled in‘the . « . ‘tassage at the last legislature of the smothering of = the through political trickery. She d | clared that the suffrage blll ‘Was- ‘the umque position of neither bemg assed‘ or defeated.- Just held u; suffrage - bill ~ *