The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, April 5, 1917, Page 31

ey » | i ADVERTISEMENTS NORTH DAKOTA’S VENTURE (Editorial in The Delineator) ‘When North Dakota selected Liynn J. Frazier to be its new governor, it committed itself to an experiment, political and busi- ness, that should be watched with interest by all American eciti- zens. For, if the experiment is a success, a vital step will be taken in the lowering of high prices to the consumer and in raising to the farmer the prices of his farm produce. > It was a party only two years old that elected Mr. Frazier, the Farmers’ Nonpartisan Political League. It stands for state elevators, state flour mills, state packing houses, state hail insur- ance and a state rural credit system. Ten months before his election Governor Frazier was un- known. He had farmed ever since he was graduated from the University of North Dakota. The Farmers’ Nonpartisan Political League captured every elective office in the state save one. .It.came into being as a pro- test against the juggling of grain prices and the speculation in food prices by chambers of commerce. It proposes to put the speculative markets out of business through the co-operation of Challenge to A. F. Teigen of Montevideo You as Chairman of the Grain Investi- the state and the farmer in distributing land produets. It is a great program; one that every plain American eciti- zen will greet with enthusiasm and will wish Godspeed on its diffi- cult undertaking. Who Gets the Dollar? Shrewd Farmer Shows Why the Farmers Need Organization. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Is there a way to bring the consumer and producer together, raising prices to producer and reducing prices to the consumer? Don’t you think that state or federal markets for farm products would ac- complish this? What is the meaning of this Jekyl and Hyde business on everything I raise to sell, and everything I buy to eat? Where is the leak? What hap- pens to the dollars? 'Who gets it for our work as farmers? How comes it that in the cities the people are shriek- ing their heads off about the high price they pay for everything that goes on the table; and the very same time country people are declaring openly they can not make enough at prices paid for farm products in general? Is the cost of Migh living the leak? Or does an invisible hand dip in and plunder our profits as our products are on their way to markets? If so, whose is the invisible hand in the grab bag? It is a hand a great deal more danger- ous than a blackjack in the fist of a burglar, when you consider that men, women, boys and girls refuse to stay on the farms, because they say they can make more money as clerks, book- keepers and porters at eight hours a day in the city than they can on the farm twelve or sixteen hours a day. Some years ago the agricultural de- partment set out to try to learn why boys and girls will not stay on the farm. They came and told us: educate farmers for farmers and they will stay; s0 we built some fifty agricultural col- leges all over the country and count- less consolidated schools and the boys and girls flocked to these new institu- tions. 3 ‘We thought the trick was turned, and began patting ourselves on the back. Then what happened? Along came the last census, what did it show? I don't like to quote the figures, they may shock you, but you can look them up. They showed there were more unoc- cupied farms in the country then ever before in our history. In spite of all the back-to-the-land talk, they showed that many of the back-to-the-landers had gone back to the city. It wasn't because they did not like the farm game. They did like it. They could raise crops but they could not market them with profit. “ In spite of all our agricultural educa- tion we are raising crops of agricul- turists not farmers, the difference be- ing ‘that the agriculturist is a man who goes out and sinks money in land. The farmer is a man who goes out and raises money from land and who sometimes raises money on land in the form of a mortgage. ‘We can remember that under Presi- dent Roosevelt’s administration there was a committee appointed to investi- gate farm life. The finding of the committee among the. young people was something like this: We._are moneyless. We have no pocket money. We have no funds. We never see a dollar. I have worn the game hat for four years. Our income never keeps pace with the outgo. We are hired girls and housekeepers with- out any wages. More money is what we need the most, not advice. Boys and girls receive larger wages in a city than grown men and women in the country. : This was the general answer to the question asked of the young people and housewives. ' If we talk to some of the business people about this, they are ready to jump through the roof and explain, it is the freight rates. That may have some to do with it but we know it is not all, but when we come to the commission men the wholesale jobbers and retailers they can not be dismissed as blameless. Some of them perform a very useful service; but each takes toll of about twenty per cent, in all sixty per cent, leaving the producer about forty per cent for profit, pay and cost. Do you see what happens where the dollar goes, and who gets the dollar? And that is not the end of the trou- ble wrought by the machine, the flour mills have moved away to four or five big milling centers, like Minne- apolis, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Kansas City and Winnipeg. The meat indus- try has centered in St. Paul, Chicago, Omaha and Kansas City. You can’t turn the hands of the clock backward, for good or ill. The machine is here to stay with all its violent, al- most destructive, reaction on the farm. ‘What is to be done about it? Is the farmer to continue the poverty game, taking only about forty per cent of the market price, and permitting other men to name and force a price? There is only -one answer and that answer has been given by the Non- partisan League, and the- American Society of Equity. The answer is state and co-operative marketing. The farmer must get his fair price and the state see to it that the consumer gets the products at a fair price. Give the farmer a real farm credit —not imitation like they now have— and direct access to markets, which they have not had for forty years, and there will be a boom of farm pros- perity all over the country. If six and a half million farm voters demand this .they are going to get it. Yours for state and co-operative mar- keting, 0. J. KOFPERDAHL, Maddock, N. D. LOVE: AT FIRST 8IGHT Editor Nonpartisan Leader: An incident of more than pass- ing interest occurred on the after- noon of February 27 at one of Mr. N. S. Randall’s meetings, and | be- lieve it will be of interest to our Minnesota membership as well as others. By some mishap our meeting, which was scheduled to be held at Moranbrook, was not well adver- tised, but a meeting to organize a co-operative creamery was adver- tised for that date at that place and 85 farmers met at the store for that purpose. Mr. Randall inquired | if there were-any League members present and no one present had ever heard of the League, $o he asked permission to address them on the League, which was granted. Mr. Randall gave a short talk and complimented the farmers upon seeing the necessity of organiza- tion and then pointed out the ne- cessity of organizing politically to protect their economic organiza- tion. At the close of his address he called for membership and out of 35 farmers present, 23 signed up and paid their money. Too much can not be said in praise of such men who are building a League in Minnesota that will give our North .Dakota brothers a close race. H. C. SCHUMACHER. SEVENTEEN gating Committee of the Minnesota Leg- islature have been so manifestly unfair to the Equity Co-Operative Exchange that we hereby challenge you to meet a representative of the Exchange in joint debate in your home city of Montevideo, you to pick the time and place except that the debate must take place before you make your committee report to the legislature. Mr. Teigen, have you the courage to come before your farmer friends and de- fend your unfair attacks against their organization? We hope so. The Equity Co-operative Fxchange St. Paul, Minnesota RANGE HEREFORDS KING CATTLE CO. wainofiice So. St. Paul, Minn. e e e HEIFERS AND BULLS Here is an opportunity to get to raising HEREFORD cattle. We have these cattle for sale at different points in both North and South Da- kota. ‘Will give responsible parties all the time they need at a reasonable rate of interest. . Write or wire for any information to the ALFALFA — CLOVER — BROMUS NORTHERN GROWN SEED CORN MILLET—-TIMOTHY—-SWEET CLOVER N.J.OLSEN CO. Write for 1917 Moorhead, Minn. Price List NQUALITY SEEDS ‘Write for Special Farmers ‘Wholesale Catalogue Everette R. Peacock Co., 4019 Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, lll. Mr. Livestock Grower! YOU ARE SURELY ENTITLED TO THE FULL MARKET VALUE FOR THE LIVE- STOCK YOU RAISE IF YOU DO NOT GET IT, Somebody else gets the benefit you should have. The day is passed when business is done on senti- ment, and only results in dollars and cents count. ‘We want you to compare the results in dollars and cents we get for you with those received elsewhere. A comparison will convince you that ‘‘KIRK SERVICE’’ gets you the most money for your livestock. J. R. Kirk Commission Co., Inc. SOUTH ST. PAUL, MINN. AUTHORIZED SALES AGENCY OF THE AMERICAN SOCIE- TY OF EQUITY FOR SALE Mention Leader when writing advertisers 7