The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 26, 1917, Page 10

Minnesota Farmers and Families North Dakota Crop is Poor Investigation by E. C. Rodgers Shows a Probable Crop of Wheat of Only From 50,000,000 to 60,000,000 Bushels : BY E. C. RODGERS HE wheat crop this year in North Dakota will be only half of an average year's yield. This banner spring wheat state of the nation will follow last year's fallure with another, not quite so severe. North Dakota may get 60,000,000 bushels this year. That's the best summary of the esti- mates of hundreds of farmers, grain dealers, bankers, and other crop ob- servers whom I met in various por- tions of the state. But to reach this 60,000,000 bushel mark favorable weather must continue during the rest of this month and un- til the wheat is cut. A'repetition of the hot winds and rust which came during the latter part of July, 1916, would bring the yield below that of 1916, which was a dittle over 39,000,000 bushels. The government's July estimate of 75,700,000 bushels for North Dakota was entirely too optimistic, North Da- kota farmers insist. T heard many good, conmservative grain men place the estimate at 50,- 000,000 bushels, They took into con- sideration probable hot winds, hail and other crop destroying conditions. HIGH PRICED SEED REDUCED ACREAGE The wheat acreage this year Is slightly less than last year's. This was due to high price of seed wheat and to the hanging over of winter weather during the early spring planting season, Along the Red river wheat is in bet- ter shape than anywhere else in North. Dakota. As one goes west it gets worse. Farly wheat usually is in worse shape than that planted late. This is due to the late spring, cold weather and lack of rain during the early growing season. At the time when rain was most needed and when it could have done the largest good it didn’t come. Later on practically the whole eastern half of the state was well drenched, but even there the rain was not general. Some localities were well moistened; others nearby were parched. All over the state they talk of a spotted crop, meaning that some fields blessed- wtih rain are looking fairly well, others around are dried up. Flax looks fine all through the state, It doesn't need as much rain as wheat. Oats, barley and rye will run about normal, with rye slightly to the bad. Much winter rye was frosted early in the spring, . CONDITION IS FAIR IN THE SOUTHEAST In the southeastern counties—Cass Sargent, Richland and Ransom—wheat is better this year than it was last, When it was flooded by excessive rain- falls. ‘Even there it will not average more than 13 bushels to the acre. It has headed short and the stalk is short, ‘What wheat there is will be better than last year's in grade, as the heads are well developed, though - shorter than normal. John Dalrymple, patt owner and manager of the famous Dalrymplo farms near Casselton, said he would be well satisfied with 13 bushels to the acre. Last year he got six bush- els. Mr. Dalrymple has the largest wheat acreage of any grower in the state—13,000 of his 25,000 acres are in wheat. At Valley City and Jamestown wheat is still shorter in straw and head, though-the grade is better than last year. This south central portion of the state will run from eight to 10 bushels to the acre, most farmers be- lieve. They have had some g0od rains since the last week of June. The extreme southwestern part re- ports fair wheat stand. Farmers in that section believe they will get a normal yield. But this applies to only a small section, covering parts of a few counties. POOR CROP WEST OF VALLEY CITY That portion of the state from Valley City to Minot, and from there west to the Montana line, has experienced the worst climatic conditions. Spring cold the moisture left in the wake of the hail. In this section there is one strip of £00d wheat, aboit 45 miles wide, ex- tending southwesterly from Towner and Rugby-to Washburn. There the yield may run from 10 to 14 bushels. FIELDS ARE BLOWN CLEAN BY WINDS Near Minot and north and west Wheat is poor. The stand is light, heads are short and there wonm't be much straw. This holds good for nearly all wheat to the Canadian line and to Montana. A cold, dry spring was re- sponsible, East of Minot many fields have been Dblown clean by winds. I saw one great wheat field as clean of wheat as though it had been freshly plowed. A * day and a night of wind tore that Wwheat out and blew it away. In the central and western por- tions pastures have dried up, and graz- ing for cattle is dependent on hoped- for rains. This likely will result in livestock being sent to the feeders earlier than ever this year. Minneapolis papers, evidently working in the interests of the grain gamblers of the chamber of commeree, for months have been. predicting a ‘‘bumper wheat crop” for North Dakota, when every farmer knew that the high price of seed and unfavorable weather conditions would prevent anything like a normal crop, to say nothing of a bumper crop. The effect of these false statements on the part of Minneapolis papers, as was evidently intended, was to reduce the price of wheat, this in the face of virtual crop fail- ures in Kansas, Nebraska and other winter wheat states, and in spite of a world-wide demand for more wheat. The federal department of agriculture has estimated a North Dakota wheat yield of 75,700,000 bushels, far below normal, but it is generally recognized that this estimate is too high. A special investigation of eroj been concluded by E. C. Rodgers, D conditions in the state has just , an experienced crop investigat- or. His unbiased report shows a probable erop of from 50,000,000 to. 60,000,000 bushels. Mr. Rodgers’ summary of conditions throughout the state is presented herewith, reprinted from the St. Paul Daily News. _— and late; seed laid in the ground too long; no rain for six weeks after plant- ing and now, though the stand is fair- 1y good, straw and heads are abnor- mally short. The last two weeks brought some rains here and there in this part and the heads are filling out in fine shape, promising a good' grade, Much of the wheat will be too short to cut and some of it has been turned under for summer fallow. This, too, is true of winter rye. It the Central and Western North Dakota wheat fields yield from five to eight bushels farmers say they will be satisfied. The stand isw't anywhere near what it was last year at this time, just before the hot winds and rust came, Some flelds have: been wiped clean by hail storms. At Sawyer one morning last weel the farmers were praying for rain, At 10 o'clock a terrific hail storm came along, covering_the ground with white mar- Dles” and by noon those same farmers had no wheat left standing to profit by PAGE TEN Coming east from Minot wheat con- ditions improve, slowly at first, until Devils Lake is reached. From there to the Red river wheat begins to look better, - ‘Wheat in the Devils Lalke section has: the appearance now of yielding an average of 10 bushels, but many flelds won't be above the five-bushel mark, Two years ago this same section re- turned 25 bushels to the acre, Oats and barley will be light, below. the average, 2 BEST FIELDS ARE NEAR LARIMORE The best wheat fields in the whole State are near Larimore.. Here' they had rains early enough to do consid- erable good at the right growing. sea~ son. Near Nordland the farmers say wheat is as fine this year as it was in the “bumper” year—1915. One grower showed me a field which he hopes. will run 85 bushels to the acre. But that, I believe, will be the only 85-bushel e— field in the whole state. In this sec- tion it is estimated that the average vield will be slightly above 15 bushels. North of this district, toward the Canadian border, the yield will run well, probably 20 bushels. This is particularly true of Cavalier county. One farmer near Pembina told me that While every other farmer near was get- ting good wheat, he would“have his first wheat failure of his 20 years' — wheat growing career. “Planted to early,” he explained. “I always did that, and always got good crops. But this year the fellows who got their cros in after mine are doing better.” In Grand Forks there is a decidedly. optimistic wheat tone. This year Wheat around Grand Forks looks fairly well. Last year there was hardly any, crop at all, rust and floods preventing. The normal wheat crop of the state is around 100,000,000 bushels, That means an average vield of about 13 bushels to the acre. HALF CROP YEAR BEST PREDICTION This year there will be few fields go< ing over 13 bushels, all up in the north- eastern section, and there will be many fields running down to five bushels an acre. In fact, it looks like there would be more five and eight bushel fields than there will be fields yielding over 13 bushels. : “It’s a half crop year,” farmer after farmer asserted, and their fields look it. A half crop year would mean 50,000,~ » 000 bushels, but allowing for the im= provement brought by the late June and early July rains, and the general tendency toward pessimistic forecasts in a bad weather year, it seems that an estimate of 60,000,000 bushels may be as ood a guess as one can make now. This estimate allows for good yields in the southeastern section, fair crops up the Red river valley and a still bet- ter yield in the northeastern section. 1t allows for a fair yield in a middle state strip and in a few counties near the southwestern point of the state, and for half crops in all the rest of the state, barring scattered localities which enjoyed the rainfalls which were not shared by their neighbors. It has been said that North Dakota “has a spotted wheat stand” this year, That's true, due to rain and the lack of rain. It is “spotted” with a few fine wheat fields, many fair to good, and thousands bad to fair, But the farmers of the state will Drofit nearly as much by a 60,000,000 bushel crop this year as they did from their bumper 151,000,000 bushel crop of 1915, for the price of their product will be fully twice as high. FOOD GAMBLERS' RIGHTS The government has the right to tell bankers how much they may chargo for the use of money. Why then has it not -the right to say how much food gamblers may charge for flour and i'wheat and corn arid meat, and fuel “privateers and steel and lumber and other big business chiefs who demand. treasonable protits out of the war? Chicago's board of trade has decided that $1.28 is to be the price for De- cember and May corn deliveries. By what right?—ABERDEEN - (S. D.), DAILY AMERICAN, s | Organize to Oust the Regents Farmers’ Club Sends Letters Throughout State—United Protest Expected, Making it Impossible for Ladd’s Enemies to Win HE Forde Farmers' club of Forde township, Nelson coun- ty, has started a statewide movement of protest against the admitted plans of the board of regents to oust President B. F. Ladd from his position as head of the North Dakota Agricultural college. The Forde club proposes a state mass meeting with representatives from every farmers’ club in North Dakota in attendance, “to lodge a protest just as strong as an outraged farmers’ meeting. can make it.” At a meeting held July 16 resolutions were adopted proposing this plan. ___Copies of these resolutions have since “been sent to state officers, to all mem- Ders of the legislature friendly to the farmers’ movement and the Agricultur- al college and to newspapers, In addi- tion, copies have been ®ent to all farmers’ clubs in Nelson county. Following, in full, are the resolu- tions adopted: Whereas, we have realized for years that the Agricultural college has been in danger and gradually undermined by Dolitical pirates who have sought and are still seeking to destroy the useful- ness of this our own institution; and PRIVILEGED INTERESTS FIGHT DR. LADD ‘Whereas, if the board of regents suc- ceeds in removing President Ladd from the Agricultural college, they have ac- complished their purpose and caused @ great detriment to this and the com- ing generations of North Dakota; and, ‘Whereas, the said board of regents in combination with the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce, the railroads and numerous other political powers out- side the state, seek to oust President Ladd for no other than political pur- Doses; and, Whereas, we know that this most important of all state institntions of North-Dakota has been made the foot- Dall of politics for the last. seven years, and that the whole scandal traces back to the time of the Better Farming as- sociation, when this same political gang unloaded a_debt of over $40,000 onto the state of North Dakota; Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Forde Farmers' club in general meet- ing assembled, that we express our sincere appreciation to President Ladd for his splendid, untiring and efficient service, for having had the courage and conviction to speak the truth, teach the truth, and practice the truth, and be it further HE HAS CARRIED TRUTH TO PEOPLE Resolved, that we appeal to every citizen of the state to lodge their pro- test against this monstrous political plot and to use all honorable means to retain the guiding hand of President Ladd, Professor ~Bolley, Professor ‘Waldron, the Agricultural college, and all the instructors of said college who have stood by and for the best in agri- culture and education. We are in fa- vor of calling a state wide mass meet- ing of farmers’ clubs to lodge a protest Just as strong as an outraged farmers’ meeting can make it. PRAISE COURSE OF FARMERS' GOVERNOR " Be it further resolved, that we com- mend Governor Lynn. J. Frazier for his fearless stand in protecting the best interests of the people of the state as a whole, and we pledge ourselves to stand by him to the last ditch in his efforts to give us a clean agricultural school, free from the political gang- sters that have in times past cast such a blighting influence over all our state institutions. Resolved also, that we send a copy of these resolutions to Governor Frazier, commissioner of agriculture and labor, secretary of state, and to all publica~ tions and legislators who are in sym- pathy with this cause, and to all the farmers’ clubs in Nelson county. PAUL MESSNER JR. P. K. HOLM L. 0. FREDRICKSON Committee. Milwaukee Finds Public Ownership Pays But the Legislature of Wisconsin Refuses to Let City Extend the Plan —Denies Right to Issue Any More Bonds for City Ownership ILWAUKEE for 40 years now. has had its municipal water system in successful opera- tion. It was started with $2,000,000 raised in bonds, but additions and extensions, paid for out of earnings, have made it worth $8,500,000 today. All the bonds but $240,000 have Deen retired out of earnings. Milwaukee has one of the -lowest water rates in the United States. The Bmall consumer gets exactly the same rates as the large consumer. Milwaukee is going ahead with fur- ther plans for municipal operation of its enterprises. It s preparing to take care of the lighting of its streets and public buildings, buying the power Wholesale from an electric company and distributing the current itself. It has found that this method will cut its public lighting expense in two. The city is thoroughly In favor of municipal ownership and would take over the city gas plant but for the fact that the state of Wisconsin will not allow the city to do this, limiting the city indebtedness to § per cent of its assessed valuation. An attempt to in- crease this limit and allow the city to take over the gas plant was defeated Dby representatives of Big Business in- terests at the recent sessiorl of the ‘Wisconsin legislature. They Are Sticking As forseen, J. M. Baer, the Nonparti- san candidate for congress In the First congressional _district easily outdis- tanced his nearest competitor and demonstrates that the farmers, as an ganization, are invincible, if they “stick” Which they seem to be do- ing at the present time—DUNSEITH (N. D.) MAGNET, Northpsint pumping stat water tower, 5 PAGE ELEVEN n of the Milwaukee municipal lighting plant. The building in the background at the left is the