The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 29, 1917, Page 3

In the interest of a square deal for the farmer Tonnartidan Tader A magazine that dares ¢» print the truth Official Magazine of the National Nonpartisan League VOL. 4, NO. 13 FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA, T HURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1917 ‘WHOLE NUMBER 80 A PLAIN LESSON IN BETTER FARMING METHODS THIS SHALLOW SEED BED | CAUSES CRAMPED ROOTS AND DWARFED PLANTS. \ . This shows how farm profits grow in the shallow | i l\»\\ y Here is the Nonpartisan Cultivator at work 3 U ~. -t /////////////////4 :// w{/ ' 3’ ? o : SN —With apologies to a farm implement ad. Here is the result, the effect of the Nonpartisan soil of private ownership of marketing facilities. digging a little deeper to get down to the funda- Cultivator on the crop. Here the showers of golden Notice the stunted plants due to the fact that they mentals, opening up the way for the plant of farm * dollars are conserved and absorbed by the roots of are not properly rooted. profits to draw out the sustenance belonging to it. the plant, to make farm life broader and better. Plow a Little Deeper, Mr. Farmer ter farming.”’ In order to make it plain to all, the cartoonist has drawn a picture—three pictures, in fact, which ought to show just what we are getting at. We have an idea that the farm im- plement advertisement after which this cartoon was patterned shows a true and correct principle in farming. However that may be, we know that with the slight changes made it represents a far greater truth. First you see the shallow plowing. The roots of the plant go down a little way and then strike hard, packed soil that turns them back. They can’t get any sustenance there, nor any moisture. All they get they must take out of the few inches of plowed soil in the top layer. The result, you see, is a poor stand of corn and a light yield. Even the crow is disgusted. ; S Next you see the farmer at work with a new machine. It goes well down into the ground, overturns the old arrangement of soil layers, stirs things up and loosens the soil. The seed is sown, the crop comes up and as the summer wears along you see the result; a fine sturdy growth of corn stalks, with big fat ears of corn and mature grains that mean many times the profit for the farmer he got from last year’s crop. N OW that planting time is near, let’s have a little lesson in ‘‘bet- '..\ WHERE THE MISTAKE HAS BEEN OW the application: The fact is you haven’t been plowing N half deep enough. We know you have been using' all the modern methods—ON YOUR FARM. You have been keeping up to date with machinery—ON YOUR FARM. You have been taking advantage of the discoveries of science, so far as they were practical and sensible—ON YOUR FARM. In general you hayve been a good farmer, raising thumping big crops of fine corn and wheat and pota- toes, growing fat stock and always working like a slave from day- light to dark—hours that would drive a wage workman to riot. But THREE the trouble with you is, you have been doing all your farming ON THE FARM. : You have been getting some good advice ABOUT FARMING ON THE FARM. Lots of people were willing to tell you how to raise bigger crops. The bigger the crop the more there ‘was on which to speculate. But mighty few people had anything to say about THE OTHER PART OF THE GAME. * % » : WHAT ROCKEFELLER DID HE OTHER PART OF THE GAME is where you have been los- ing. Farming the farm is only HALF of the farming business. ‘When John D. Rockefeller started in the oil business was he content with PRODUCING THE OIL and letting 0il exchanges and boards of trade and chambers of commerce and middlemen and jobbers and railroads squeeze all the PROFIT out of it? Not so you could notice it. John had too long a head for thatt HE KNEW THAT IT DIDN'T MATTER MUCH HOW OIL WAS PRODUCED IF HE COULD CONTROL THE MARKETING OF IT. That’s what he set out to do. That’s what he did. -That’s why he’s king of oil and a good many other things beside today. He knew what you have been a long time in finding out—THAT THE MONEY IS IN CONTROLLING THE MARKET. = : *® % B WHERE THE TROUBLE IS O,:-you’ll never get rich by farming the top layer. You’ll N never get rich by farming ON THE FARM ONLY. The farmers have been doing mighty well with that end of the game. American agricultural methods are excellent. They are well adapted to our conditions. They are well adapted to getting the most product out of the labor of one man. That is efficiency. THE FARM IS EFFICIENT, BUT THE-MAREKET IS NOT. The market system we have now is a system of robbery and waste. D —