The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 28, 1916, Page 9

not take advantage of New Efigland‘,. N.. D. Mrs. M. M. Hollis, X ¢ My Dear Friend: > I will tell you of our North Dakota experience. .Ten years ago this fall the man I married. filed on a homestead in North Dakota. "At that time.he was an .engineer in Minnesota. The following -spring he moved on his homestead and batched until October, when we .were married and came to our ‘home. -Wwas. very homesick A NorthDakota Familyand Farm Home A Some Ideas of Country Women homestead of 160 acres and LastChance for Women Readers . the children WOMEN’S PAGE EDITED BY MRS. M. M. HOLLIS now we have bought the adjoining 160 acres. We have had fairly good crops since we came here till this year, when it was an almost entire failure. We have decided to buy more cows and sell cream., . I have said personally I would rather live in townm, as at times I miss close neighbors, but when I go to town and see on the streets T am thankful that I always know where mine are. and eggs. . of women are taking advantage of my offer to help in the organization of Cm“s’ Unions, by filling out and returning to me the coupon that I have had printed on the Woman’s Page for two issues. It is printed here again for t,he third and last time. We are now assured of having several live-wire Consumers’ Unions among farm women in the northwest, and I can help in the organization of a few more. However, we do not want to attempt tlge organization of too many Umon_s at once, 80 if you want to see one of these organizations in .your locality do not fail to fill out and send in the coupon at encc, unless you want to be disappointed. As I have explained, no financial obligation whatever is incurred. I will simply get your friends and neighbors together with you to organize the Union for your i ill be all kinds of interesting work and study, and we can do" L V'l;’?l:o:\:n are the family buyers. We are just as interested as the ' men in finding out the reasons for the soaring prices of clothing and other family a great supplies, as well as food. We know the farmer is getting only a small share of the in prices in the case of food. We want to study this middleman’s business . “and we want to outline the hest ssible buying methods for household providers. You will miss some vegiinterestmg and highly profitable work and study if you do Mrs. M. M. Hollis, - Care of Nonpartisan Leader, : -~ Fargo,N.D, - ' -in forming such 'an organization. L My mamedy e o My address i8 oo Coupon { - Tamin fayor of a Consumers’ Union in my neighborhood and’ would like- o be put in communication with other women near by who would join ‘with me - | Tthink & good place for & meeting to Organize WOuld be.....iwimee SRR % "(Give name of place) : ‘T think a good date for the ;meefingwould ) Vel i s (Note—Wri and address plaioly, ) muggshoggubenal?elm three: wgeks ahead... No financial obligation is - incurred -.flmncifint'@gvpgum) T el oA s last chance to send in the coupon printed herewith. B g A S v I e e (Give date) Your suggestion for date of ,-a farm woman has all her own A Short Cut Method S IT possible to market the products of the farms to the people of the towns directly? ' Under the present system we are wasting much time, money. and food by the round about way we have of handling it. Products from the farms of North Dakota are bought and shipped to Chicago, Minneapolis or Fargo, and handled by several men en route and then shipped back to the towns of North Dakota to the consumers. Pro- ducts of New York state must find market in the south, while the cities of New York state are supplied from the middle west in many cases. By this method the transpeortation charges multiply, and all the different buyers, shippers and sellers must get profits, till the price that the producer gets is shaven' down to a mere trifie and the price the consumer pays is bolstered up to the breaking point. If cream, eggs, butter, potatoes and such natural products of the farms of this section were sold directly to the consum- ers within a reasonable radius the price would be more satisfactory both to the producer and to the consumer. To do this successfully both parties must under- stand and live up to conditions agreed upon. One thing, the farmer needs the ready cash and the town man who is paid regularly has the cash, and he might as well pay for his products in advance or_on receipt of them. This method removes the. necessity of keeping books and the exepense of sending bills and running accounts. When accounts are kept an allowance must always be made for non-collectable bills, and this increases the price to the onés who pay. 3 It seems to me that the essential value of the Consumers’ Unions we want . to organize consists in having local organ- izations that may meet at stated times to study conditions, and experiment, if need be, with direct methods of marketing or buying, and to get the consumers and the producers on a basis of mutual under- inding ‘g0 they may' co-operate for the ay haul. ) wn and ‘sell' them to house. The - principal . -drawbacks of this method are the large amount of time consumed and the fact that it is only possible for a very small number to do this, on account of dis- tance from centers of need. g Another plan is where groups of people that live or work near to each other club together and send orders to clubs of farmers similarly situated, who fill the order and ship the supplies to one point where ' each member claims his share. Some one member of the town club should be responsible for the sending of the orders, the sending of the money and the receiving of the orders. In the country also some one person should be respon- sible for a stated time at least. To make this a success the orders must be shipped promptly and in good condition and the price must be clearly understood in . advance so the check or money may accompany . the order. A strictly cash basis is far the most simple and satisfactory. The food should be packed in attractive packages and in a condition to carry safely. Each_, week a slip could be included stating the price for the follow- ing week. ’ ~--Still another .plan which might help the farmers solve the problem is to have the clubs buy products in quantities at wholesale prices, just™as many farmers clubs have done in buying farm machin- ery, ‘twine, live stock and seed. They. haye saved thousands of dollars by this and I think it is just as practical for staple food products as for farm equip- ment. Perhaps your local storekeeper could give you consumers’ clubs 2 good .. offer on a large order, but if he is not agreeable and fair in the matter he may . be left out, but I would-advise you to work with the retail dealer if ‘possible. People in town even more than those in _ the country have the habit of buying in | very small amounts; and it does surely increase the cost. This is perhaps true because it is so easy and so handy to* get more when it is needed,. while in the country the supply may be several miles distant. N : Then too, we have the co-operative stores and the chains of stores which buy together, either -of which may simplify the matter and reduce the price to the consumer. I would be especially glad to hear from farm Women who have any opinions on or any experience with any improved methods of buying or selling food pro- ducts or clothing. SURE NEED IT . .Cooperstown, 'N. D. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Sure we need a daily newspaper and a weekly political’ paper. What would the railroad men do today without their magazine ? WILLIAM ROBINSON. To Clean Silverware DeSmet, N. D. Dear Mrs. Hollis: : I've been much interested in the “Farm Woman’s Page” and have been intending to send in the “best yet” method of clean- ing silver for farmers’ wives. If the silver is very badly tarnished.cover with buttermilk over night, remove in the morning and wash-in hot suds, rinse and dry thoroughly and-it will be like new. All carving and chasing will be bright and clean. If only slightly tarnished, cover it with buttermilk when you clear the table and by the time you have finished the other dishes you can remove and wash the silver, There is no excuse for tarnished silver if you have buttermilk, unless the men drink it up. Of course in that case it ‘would be different. The buttermilk used for cleaning silver is not entirely wasted as it does not seem to hurt. four legged pigs after serving as silver polish. MRS. LOUIS OVIK. T ! { 1 ] : | { PARALYSIS Bogk Free Yom Will Want It, Xf Paralyzed. Dr. Chape, 324 N. Tenth Street, Philadelphia, Pas - RHEUMATISM Acute and chronic treated at the Fargo Sanitarlum by the use of Radio Rem, and - Hydriatic treatments, ° Write for descriptive literature. FARGO SANITARIUM - Dr. J. E. 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