The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 28, 1915, Page 7

THE NONPARTISAN LEADER PAGE samm Farming in North Dakota vs. Land Speculatton e By H P, chhards H. W. Rupp was born in Austria 54/ the products of the farm into food.| years ago and came to America in: ‘only $1,000:00 fer the same period -of |acquired by speculation 8 quarter ‘He soon began a career of land!|farming. sections ‘of land and yet having only » 1881, and in 1884 began hommefldmg,wpacfixhon, selling a bull For §80.00 | This, he made clear, was in spitc |$1000 to show for 31 years of active i in Minnesota. ||und making a payment on 80 acres{of the fact that he hired no outside |farm work? “Certainly not,” he -y 1 - He soon saw that farming 310"31 ‘bought ©n payment another 80 acres’ labor, and that he .and his sens had rep_li‘ec‘l, “if T were to sell my re-. . |8t $15.00 per acre. done all ‘the work theraselves, muining 5 quarters now st the ad- - || Fifteen years ago he sold his 340| Aaked %o explain why Tarming in/|venced gprice of land the farmer to | acres of land in 'Minnesota and came |itself :is 8o lacking in profit te the: whom I sold would have to . carty the to Baldwin, Burleigh county, North |farmer, Mr. Rupp amewered that it; burden of high priced land and yet | Kota. 5 {|was due to the fact that the farm-; ::nt?;’ ;mt‘;‘“huf the sa:ne lp;::‘“t' ‘ om which as an actua mer | A cerrespondent of the Nonpart-: ;:ng(t)n:: s :::e .:)::::r :::Wd bk flm‘[ ‘have suffered For ‘31 -years. - isan Leader wstho dmterviewed Mir. porbing, frame-) " " | Rupp todey, msked him if the lamd)Lorming into food, and marketing the| “Are you in favor of makm’g he hemesteaded in Minnesota, which products of their labor, nor do they, speculatllr‘m i ,1,8 o an xml.ossfl‘:)r}'lty?’ cost him nothing was 20 times more | €Ontrol the granting of credit mor ;Iasked T am,” he answered. “Why?” Hroduciiee, 1o e Fomi o w4 he| the rates at which ccreffits ‘are given. /| Because .our «chiléren ‘and children’s sold it at $40.00 per acre. Mr. Rupp: ‘(;;What ;s the remzfiz"” I asked. cfll:;ldren \.vxll eac‘h su:m;flw year f::; - ization,” was -emphatie re-; €ever andreasing ‘burden which 3 | laughed good-natuvedly and made 30 plygam .Jend -in outright lundlordnm a‘nd “But, Mr. Rupp,” 1 interrupted, |Practical slavery.” ‘ “what is to become of all these mid-| -Mr. Rupp is an active and en- N |dlemen?” “Let them put on overalls | thusiastic member of the 4 ar- and go to ‘wark,” he continued. 4 tisan Political Orgamization. League, “Would mot that owerstock thei| “Mr. Rupp,” I said, “ 1 am fre- market?” I asked. Overstock . the, quently. teld -that the farmers will market! Nonzense. It-would sharten|not stick together; how about that?” the hours of farm work. Tt would| . “That has been largely trie in the put the farmer’s boys und girls past" ‘he answered. “But ‘on every | through tigh 'school :and 1in te wolicges|hand .I. observe that. at demst the where they bslong, wnd 'where . fiew|aWwakening is here. ‘They ha.ve ‘been reading too many lying ne\‘spapers and magazine that are owned and run by ‘the pirates that rob them” He -added, ”But organized right, I know they will stick.” Arrived at Baldswin, North Da.kota,. |in. 1901, he invested the procecds of | | ks Minnezo*a land speculation which, |after paying his debts was ’$10,000,‘ ]in seven quarter sections of North Daketa land. Mr., Rupp and his four' {| sons have farmed these sewen .gmar-. j|ters: and .another subs.quently bought, for the last fourteen years. g 0 m:{;.a x'fiffiéfi,fizfifi&filfl? povf _ “How much have you made farm-! in farming farms. 1ing these eight quarter sectxons‘ for (reach. It wonld gwe the fmersm of land at $10.00 per avre, and soon| fourteen years?” he was asked. : One | their wives .and children tire for ¥ : || thowsand dollars sveuld cover it,” he’ recreation and travel and -culture, ] D jreplied. Centinuing, he explained to|that now is utterly impossible save | would ruin him, because of the rob—z his incredulons listenmer, that after|to those who live oF tie Hbor of R bery practi;:ed upon the farmers of | giving three qualtet-sectums to his |othess” ! Then Mr. Rupp turned to dxg Fo- ¥ that time in transportation and in-|sons;, he had left five quarter sec- “Then, Mr. Rupp, yow mre .ot |tatoes, for which he will mot realize L | terest rates and the private owner-' tions of land to show for his thirty- proud of your achievement in having | enough to .allow for ordma:ry wnges ship“of the facilities of converting|ome years of land speculation and cquireda’ by speculation uqBarters|for digging. 1 Dothe Farmers Get Justice?|F armers Must Get Together By David Labin U. S. Delegate, ‘International Insti-| tion, state, county-and township. I tute of. Agriculture, Rome. mean that all the wnits shou_ld be New York, Oct. 18—If you “farm-|organized under a government ‘char- “ A State Daily nev&spapel recently, : ; had an editorial in- which -it m:;kedi A the fol‘lowmg questions: ! R\ ‘M any farmers in North Da- A kota have been grafted we want toll How many farmers ‘have wheat in i know it. |their dins? In some vcoumties less _2.. Arve there any of the 90,000 than one-fourth of the thmeshing is farmers in North Dakota who cannet] | done. What is threshed is licked up, get capital at a reasonable rate? to pay current bills and millions of! 3. Are amy of the farmers exploi-|dollars cannot be paid. ATl this will & ed? - If so, where, when and how? . !|'be renewedl and increased with. benus-! : 4.. Arve any farmers refused credit|es throwm in, if possible. on grain in bins or elevators at rea-| But, at least, it got n report that/ bl sonable rates? a Russian settlement had been graft-| f This editorial winds up by admit-|ed, “in the past” by elevator men. i ting, that— It is to laugh! B “‘ It has been reperted that settle-| For thirby years it ‘has been the ! ments of Russians have been victims{mule of old-line «elevator companies %o E - of elevator men in the past and thej|make emough profit on one houmse to : - would like to get some of the{build another, over and above run- i} facts.” ning expenses, in one year. One hun- | "In the first place there are so few' dred per cent! This can be verified farmers in the State that read the by countless elevator men who are ——sthat any answers that may{mow in ether lines of business. come to the foregoing questions| It #s fresh in the memery of memy) would not and could not be repre-ihow that at .one time._it was impossi- sentative of the .actual conditions.|ble for an independent buyer to get No doubt the few farmers who canjan elevator site ‘along ‘the” Great “ afford to read the State Daily can|Northern railroad. This graft would | : also get capital when they want it:{have been going on yet had not the| But the great mass of North Dakotal law forced it ‘to grant sites to all. . farmers—tillers of the soil will never| It has always been the custom for ' ; know that tHe State Daily asked care to be short at «competing points. | questions. 1 This has .caused the elevators "But such questions are an insultito fill rapidly and forced the’ . to ‘the intelligent of the averagelfarmers to sell at any iprice, grade | - Northwest farmer. Every thinking|and weight that they could get. Is: ;B » man knows they have been and are ‘e a North Daketa farmer who o being grafted. Are there any ‘trustsidoes not know this? And yet after 4 - or corporations whxc'h do not bleed |30 years of .it the State Daily has b the farmers? - : * -~ “'heard of a Russian settlement tha‘t - e The farmer pays $165 for. ainnéer"w grafted “in the past.? = | 2 that icests $80 to dmild. Is ‘that af “Bh! ‘wonderful guardien of the graft? He pays $90 for a $20 wagen.| farmers’ ‘rights and liberties] Is that graft? He pays $4,200 to $6,-: A Banker, o : 000 for a threshing machine which A T R e : does not cost $1,000 ‘to manufacture. 5 e x Is that graft or just theft? He pays wé‘tm:urm::g ghil;)ho(:' l'f;:;el;efig rell:;: crushed the mud-house of the small “‘because there was. no market for B 6% per cent for hatl insurance ‘which! 4 fan}r'\er fGo He‘wa rits ‘the same |l2nd-owning farmer. "She made his|it.” would mnot have been ‘there if e the Saskatchewan farmer gets for 1 SR it | mBvkets peor and his capital hard]|We'd had this mavketing orga‘nimtxon R per cent If that is not-graft, please ;|to get.: The same thing is irappen-| in operation. name lt ling dn - the 'United States teday.| In other words, every farmer ln' Therefore a real market and a rural | the United States, instead of looke | credit plan is vital to the Tife of' ing at a1l his problems through né lthe natlon eyes but his own, ‘would be looking : &t them, efficiently ‘and imellig?e'ntly : { ‘throngh ‘the eyes of #4/000,000 or 55 -~ -~ 000,000 of his fellow farmers, AL % of the Cursency Williams’ report,| charged more than the legal rate of ten per cent? Was that graft or| was it highway robbery" i ers don’t soon orgamize yeur nabional|ter. This gives it st#nding and pres- products’ distribution, -onganizstion ‘tige witheut the danger of its be- under Government charter, with eo~ ‘toming. | simister political wrganiza- i operative State, County and Tewn-|tion, or split into dozens -of hetero- ship unit bodies modeled after the geneous ineffective organizatiems. German landwirtschaftsrat, you are| There would be “the national .com- going down to financial ruin. ‘mission of 29; 13 able representative Cold ‘Gevernment. figuves ghow. thsat | farmers and 14 other men from vari- this nation of farm owners is rapid-|.ous ‘walks of life; a carrier, a_finan- ly becoming a nation -of -farm ten- 'eier, :an exspostmaster-general, ete. 1 ants. There are now tenants on 37 would meet a few days twice -or A per cent of our farm land: That is| three times a year to .draft necessmy 4| because each farmer tries o borrow |'measures for the operation of the for himself and market for himself| working:-bureau, ‘somposed of the 'sec- instead of doing it through an ‘organ-|retary general .and: his ‘staff.” This’ i ization of the kind outlined, such ss|bureau would work the year avound, g, is in operation in the countries of | - In each state there would be a » ‘continental Europe. state commission with its working You, the farmers, have to plead bureau similarly organized and work- and pray-on bended knees. for money | ing the - -year -around. Next there to finance your crops. You, pay big|| would bea- county commission with & interest on short-time loans., If you | working -bureau for..each county in i happen not to be .able to pay it back the country; and finally a township promptly, you are apt to be sold out.| commission for every township. with Then you become a tenart. |its working bureau. " Farmer Is Helpless, - These collective organizabions would ‘ When you take your crop to mar- | constitute the national marketing wor- e ket, you have to take ‘the market|®anization. They would be the farm- price or leave it, even if weor know)| ers’ chamber of commerce, - board . of it is less than your crop cost you tof jcrade, mercant‘xle agency and clear-. produce. Debts have been piling up ;l“g house, which ‘now he does nok ave. ;":u’;’;’l’l‘fhs' B e s Nebr., tmdl Next year it may be a little bet-|an idea for a new tomato basket, tter, or a great deal worse. At best|he’d give it to the township bureau it is haphazard. What I can not|2nd it would, if practicable, go up understand is why you submit te this|through tl_'fe organization and be state of affairs. You don’t have to|2dopted natxofla}ly.' : do it one instant longer than you| The township unit vyould kegg) the |.choose to o it. Why mot build up county, state -anfl national 'hcdl‘e?: ni the proposed organization? hourly touch, ‘with ex.act conditions Rome died in the .pom;i and gran-| everywhere. The. fruit I saw rote ideur of her marble halls because she | ting on the ground in New England, e = d ’ awflemhlfmmhwoanltb mflmwmfla, T Gnmptrolle: v:rest m bankrnptcy 5 A