The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, November 4, 1915, Page 11

How the Farmers Fought for Their Rights This is a story ¢f a placid pool; a peaceful, calm, ccifected country. town. No ripple c¢n its surface that might-tell of mighty forces, met and locked in battle. But just serene in- difference to the world, its face lit with a satisfied and self-indulgent smile. Yet, underneath. its quiet tranquil surface, beneath the sham veneer up- on its face, there is a struggle that “for long duration, for bitterness, for secrecy and stealth, remains without an equal in its magnitude for guile. Out of charity’s sake we will speak Farmers® Elevator at Oriska. N. Dak. of this town as Viilage. However, that is not its true name. Nor is it our intention tc divulge and heap the odium of a state upon the few who kept their skirts free from the tangle. : : ; Farmers Have Vision Some years agc the men who are the backbone of this village, and for that matter the backbone, fourdation and stability upor. which. every town is built. came ir from. their country homes, in from the work of the fields and among their -cattle, and gather- ing to gether i Village talked of many things. The conference held Jong into the night and out of the tangled trheads of = conversation, loomed clear and br:ght the one topic dear to the hearts of them all, a ce- operative marketing organization. They. -had: long vealized that this was necessary "if they were ever to get a fair and eauitable grade and dockage on thei: giains. Living in a land that produced the finest wheat of a nation, a wheat that was as the life-blood-to-the milling industry, and alter-months of toil and worry in its production; to haul it to a market upon which it wa< under graded, keavily dotked, (scmetimes as much a3 eighteen pounds to the bushel), ;21;;_,~_Singul:ar Document on A singular © docurnent has . been is- sued by the: Il : Equal Suffrage Association. .Its singularity consists in that, while it is a political docu- ment, issuéd- by a pelitical body, it contains no ringtail scieamer plati- tudes, but is chock full of cold hard facts. If women -are to 2o on indulging in this kind of pamphleteering they will surely gun: u;» the great game of péfitics, and - the ~gioricus days of Tom Taggart, Rcize Penrose and Bill Bryvan are over. g Their opponents: up: and -asked of the women of Iilinois ‘the question, “What bave you done since you got the franchise?” Whereupon Mrs. Ed- ~ward L. Stewart, the secretary of the association, told them. Her answer - is packed “full of hard shot.. Here, saystshe, are same of the things wom- en of Illinois. have accomplished. The list includes the following items: _ An Imposing Record THE NONPART ISAN LEADER By Aug. Wolversen and about which they had nothing to say as: to price, was rather disheart- ening. . Dream is Realized Before the meeting closed this dream crystallized and took shape in what was colled a Farmers’ Co-opera- tive Elevator Company. This was to be a stock company composed of the members present, each agreeing to take a certain’amount of the capital stock. Present at this meeting were sev- eral of Village’s business men, friends of these farmers and their backers in a time of need, frequently extending credit to them at usurious rates, when credit. was sorely needed. Just to show their good will and to Boost along anything that would be of ben- efit to the tillers of the soil, these men offered to take a block of this stock. No, just a little, enough to show that their interests were allied. 1 And to this end their names were en- rolled among the stockholders in this Farmers’ Organization, The organization was completed, directors elected »and upon the board were two of Village’s leading busi- ness men as against five of the farm- 4 ers. Quick Work Follows Soon a building was erected and the farmer company began the buying of grain. As returns came in from ship- ments made, they discovered the grade could be raised still more and the dockage lowered -and yet leave a reasonable margin of profit. This was done and the little company soon be- came the principal buyer of grain, the old line houses continuing, how- ever to get a fair amount of busi- ness. Now, as frequently happens; Farm- er Elevator stock often paying as high as 133 per cent dividends, the company found at the close of the year's business, a neat little sum to be divided among the stockholders, Altogether the concern was a thriving Erosperous little business, a success- ful going enterprise, that was a ben- efit to stockholders and community alike.” - Slipping One Over At the annual meeting held to elect oflicers for the coming year, not so many of the farmer stockholders were present in person, but their proxies were held and voted by one of Vil- lage’s leading men of business. The returns from the balloting = showed that three of the farmers had been dropped from, the board, and in their places were three of the little ham- let’s business men. The company having now passed clothes, bad "dance halls and pool- rooms exposed, ‘municipal dance halls and poolrooms, moving picture cen- sorship, community houses, streets and- elleys cleaned, spot map showing housing: conditions, poorly paved streets and alleys, neglected and for- gotten roads repaired and oiled, fly swatters and anti-mosquito cam- 7nigns organized, children work for civic betterment, saintary food and stores, sanitary milk and water sug- ply, improved parks and shrub plan:- ing and floral decoration around fac- tories, depots and public buildings, unsightly railway stations repla-ed by new ones, municipal groves, at first exercise of ballot one :thousand saloons ‘driven from state, municipal | employment -~ bureau, tramps put to work, segregated district abolished, saloons closed on. Sunday in many ~i{ towns where' formerly open in viola- n of the state law; policewomen; ajority of towns committee: of men.present at every council meet- Women Voting supply needy’ school children with from the control of those who brought it into-being, it started to do business along business lines and in- cidently the farmer. No longer was there a square deal for the man who hauled his grain to the Farmers’ Elevator in Village. In- stead came the heavy dockage, and the low grade, member and non- member alike, to the end that divi- dends should be paid. Slowly but surely the stock once held by the farmers passed into the hands of Vil- lage’s business men, either through sale or in satisfaction of debt con- tracted in the years when wheat had not made as much to the acre as it might. Farmers Desert Enterprise The farmers realizing they had been bilked, gradually withheld their patronage from the concern that once had been the child of their hearts, and the business that had promised in the beginning to fulfill an economic want fell away until each day found it getting deeper in the financial mire. Villages’ business men, seeing the last straw had been heaped upon the camel’s back with a blare of trum- pets and plenty of bunk and bunckom proceeded to re-organize the com- rany and place the majority of the stock back in the hands of the grain growers. This resulted in a.revival of the company’s old time business and for a while its affairs ran smoothly. But the greed of thse mn must be satisfied and it was not long until, through influence that was brought.- to bear on stockholders and directors alike, the old order of “dividends at any price” was re-established. Get Up Fighting Blood Many of the farmers in this little country town of Village; seeing clear- ly that the philanthropy of th grain brokers was but for the furthering of their own ends and the wrecking of the new exchange, thereby sending the grain of the Northwest back through the old channels of market- ing, insisted that grain shipped from their elevator should go to their own marketing agency. Right there Village’s business “men and farmers locked horns. “Business is business, and we are not in this thing for our health,” was the sum and substance of the business men's reply. And to prove their contention, at the next meeting of the stock- holders to elect officers, ousted from the board the ‘only remaining men who were fightin g for an open mar- ket. : : Farmers Try Again Out of the wreck of their blasted hopes a few strong hearts came to- PAGE ELEVEN Commmr gether,.and one more effort was-mede to establish a Farmers’ elevator that should be purely co-operative and owned only by the men who were ac- tual producers of grain. From the experience of the past they- had at least profited. this much: Realization had come to them that any.other plan would meet with failure. All of the farmer. stockholders who had been in the original: and. parent company came together. None of Village’s men of business attended this meeting. They weren't- wanted and they knew it. Out of this gath- ering came full and streng:a.farmers’ elevator company, established: on a stock and patronage dividend: basis. Six per cent to be paid on.the capi- tal stock, the balance of ‘the surplus at the end of the year’s- business to be divided among member and- non- member alike, according to the mum- ber of bushels he had hauled. to the Copany’s elevator. Success Crowns Efforts A deal was put through whereby they. took over one of ‘the. élevators then operating in Village and they commenced the "buying of. grain at once. During the first ten of operation they handled over 000 bushels of grain and the thweshing had barely commenced. ©One ol line elevator during the same time and operating right alongside of them re- ceived but two wagon lomds. But the end was not yet. Sudden- . ly out of a clear sky came the bolt that to a fainter hearted group might have meant the abandoning ef the fight. After a fortnight’s: operation their elevator suddenly and myster- iously caught fire, burning te the ground and that at a time when the heavy hauling of the grain. crop was on. Accusations flew thick and fast, but no real proof remained-to estab- lish the incendiary origin-of: the blaze. New Building Arises As you are reading this story, a newer, bigger building is being com- Fleted, and though the. amount of this year’s business will nee be what it might have been, still: the fight will have been won in Village for an open market and the right of- the far- mers to come together in their own. organizations without interference from the so-called: business men. That “there are serrions-in stones and books in babbling - breoks,” of- times is true, could we:but see ttem there. Rushed with the .duties and the labor which is ours, we pass un- noticed many ‘a placid pool, which did we linger, stop and watch its sur- face, come ripple there might tell us of the deep and silent struggle un- derneath. - ing; in some towns women’s vote larger than the men’s. In Bushnell, with eight hundred women eligible to vote, 768 voted; many towns.adopt commission government. Furthermore, it was' asserted that women would not vote if they had | the chance, ' that twenty thousand | women would not register .in Chicago|: for the first election.. Answer: Nearly two hundred t¥ousand woman voted at the first spring elegtion, and six good aldermen were elected by women’s * votes; and at the second election 254,000 women voted, and only 1 per cent more registered men voted than women. The : women certainly mean busi- ness. Those who ‘think their intec- est in civic affairs is a temporary and sentimental fad had better think again. R ’ As ‘a specimen of plitical litern- ture that goes straight to the matk, and is. clear, intelligent- and unan-| ‘swerable, Mrs. ‘Stewart’s report is a humdinger.—Chicago Tribune, ] [ ] Chiropractic : (KI-RO-PRAK-TIK) The Science that Makes People Well “‘and-Happy- You Need-Not Be-Sick Chiropractic ADJUSTS the * CAUSE of Disexse : INVESTIGATE E GEO. AT NEwsALT Fargo's Pioneer irepracter 77 Savings and Loan Bailding : Phone 1235 LADY ATTENDANT i_l—llw = D] S p— & I VALLEY HOTEL i, Valley City, N. Dak. § The only first class European i Hotel in the City. & ROOMS 50c to $1.50 a NIGHT ! We endeavor to give special service to the farmer, the state. L Depot. : Our restaurant is the best in | ~_ On Main St. South of N. P §