The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 15, 1918, Page 9

_tory. " THE TOWN GROWS " towns or to the mail order ' equal : the situation is clearly "-; Th:s sxtuatlon normally No ight Between Town an AR TR 2 0 e R E 2 eSO Upon the Prosperity and Welfare of the Farmer Depends Life of Small Cltles—Real Business Men Realize Common Interest With Producers 'y BY A. B. GILBERT HAT the business men in many small towns, especially in Minnesota, op- pose the farmer’s right to organize to better his con- dition, will be one *of the mysteries of the next generation. It will be a mystery because the peculiar: circum- stances which have led these business men into this foolish and unbusiness- like step will have passed away. Hardly less than the farmers them- selves the retailers, blacksmiths, bar- bers and all other local men who fur- nish real service to the farmers are dependent upon the prosperity of the farming of their neighborhood. They must find their business and live out of what the farmer gets for his crop,. or better, out of the profits the farmer is able to secure. Taken as a whole, the farmer now receives about 33 cents out of every dollar the consumer pays for food products. his farm costs if he can ‘and the business men in the town who live by serving the farmer, live out of it. If the farmers succeed by their organization in forcing a better system of marketing on the United : States: whereby the farmer can get 50 to 765 cents of every dollar on the average, these town business men will obviously share in the prosperity." WHAT THE SMALL TOWN LIVES BY How increasing farm prosperity affects the town is well shown by the effect of good or poor crops at. the present time. All of the big jobbers and manufacturers of the East watch the crop prospects more carefully than the people of the rural sections. . There are great organizations such as Bradstreet’s and Babson’s Statistical service that make crop re- ports one of ‘their important services to big busi- ness. - In sections where crop conditions are report- ed poor by these organizations, the manufacturers and wholesalers cut down the credits to-the local merchants or they may refuse to send goeds on any terms but cash. Most of the travelmg men are pulled-out of that territory, for the big firms know that the retailers -will ‘not have much business and that' many “of them will fail. With good crops, on the other hand, the big firms extend practlcally unlimited credit and throw in an army of drummers to crowd goods on the shelves of the small town merchant. What is it that keeps the towns up to 10,000 or more people in the Northwest, on the map and enables them to grow. or stops their growth? Ob- viously the particular town grows by its business compet- ing with other towns or, bet- ter, the whole outside world. They have too little manufac- turing to count. Their basic industry which competes with the outside world is the farm- ing of the .surrounding terri- interests, sharks. their enemy. ity depends. AS THIS FARMING GROWS or the town falls behind as it falls ‘behind.. The town busi- ness men may use such poor methods as to drive away many farmers in the natural ;territory of the town to other - house, but other things- being as stated 'above: the town flourishes - or languishes ‘in:_ proportion to the prosperity of the farmers ‘who go te it to market theu' produce and to - trade. ~ The village should be the center of rural life. long been the industrial or market center of the countryside, it has been tending to become the educational, church and recreational center. Improvement of roads and means of com- munication, together with the gradual increase of the control of the business side of agriculture by farmers, has drawn town "The village community in an agricultural section will serve itself better by working for the development and country closer. people and farmers. Out of this 33 cents he pays for ° of the farming industry surrounding it rather than by trying to exploit the farmers by price agreements and neglect to pro- vide for the comfort and convenience of its customers. story on this page tells of the common interests of the towns- Show it to your country merchant and let him see that the town prospers best which, instead of try- ‘ing to wring the most out of its terrltory, strives to ’ put the most into it. would result in very close co-operation between farmer and retailer. BOTH ARE OPPRESSED BY THE BIG BUSINESS ELEMENT, and their interest lies in combining forces to remove this domination. And they would long since have got- ten together were. it not for the fact that every town contains destructive elements working hand in glove with the big interests and against both small town merchants and the farmers. Among these we find: ) 1. LOCAL AGENTS OF THE SPECIAL IN- TERESTS. 2. LAND SPECULATORS. 3. OLD GANG POLITICIANS. 4, THE VICE ELEMENT. 5. THE LOCAL CREDIT OR LOAN SHARKS. METHODS OF p Ry CONTROLING TOWNS These elements are small in number and could not control the town except by working together. Even then they could not control except for the fact that many years of special privilege rule has built up for each a strong following while the rest of the people have been careless or deceived by the methods which these interests use to cover up their tracks. They aim, for instance, to get the offices of the commercial club; they try to control the SWEEPING OUT FOR TRADE Wise small town business men are clean- ing up for country customers. what the mutual interest of townspeople and farmers demands: influence of local agents of the special land speculators, politicians, the vice element and the loan These are the men who have .~deceived small merchants and told them that the organized farmer is Every small _town business man_ should read this article and learn who are his -true friends, and on whom his prosper- Here is Sweeping out the old gang . “PAGE. NINE Just as it has town offices and other government of- fices in the neighborhood; many of them give to the charities and become active in church work as a means of acquiring respectability which will be hard to question. More than this, these interests have acquired such business control over many of the small merchants that they do not dare to protest. Is it any wonder then that many small towns have shown hostility to such a movement as the Nonpartisan league, which cuts at the very roots ‘of the power of these special inter- ests? Is it any wonder either that these interests have started crying loyalty to the farmers and taken the lead in “stern duty” talk as-a new camouflage to protect their interests? The local agents of the gram combine, the potato buyers, the insurance men, have their orders from higher up to do anything to beat the farmers’ movement. TICK AND FLEA CITIZENS The local land speculators and the agents of ab- sentee owners are afraid the farm improvements will be exempted from taxation and they are afraid that the local business men will demand exemption of their improvements also. They know that when the actual users of the land, whether for farming or business, get this advantage, it will be a bad day for land speculators. The old gang politician who has long boasted that he carried the vote of The the town and the farmers in his pocket and on the - strength of that got the appointments from the state and the federal government and a finger in all the local contract work, will use any means 'to keep his power. The vice element needs protection, and it gets - it by throwing its strength with the other forces of special privilege. Many good. people probably wonder why it is so hard to clean up a town and keep it clean morally until perhaps some misstep by ‘the town ring shows the town politician and a rich banker or two secretly supporting the vice element. The loan sharks, of course, are afraid the farmers will secure some means of getting money on fair terms and that they will thus lose not only - the higher interest but the more important oppor-. tunity to pick bargains by jumping on unfortunate farmers and business men at the right time. Nearly every town has a few men of the kmd that Collier’s Weekly called recently “tick and flea” citizens because their whole activity consists of living on a community for the same reason that ticks like cattle and fleas seek out a dog. They are not the town loafers, but old men of no vision who have become wealthy from the fact that the growth of the town has increased the value of their real property and who have 'picked up more by.lending at usury and by fore- “closing at the time when the unfortunate man foreclosed can not quickly get other relief. By property ownership they have a strong .voice in town affairs and they sét themselves against all reforms or improvements, even thosg which would eventually bring a great deal of money to their own coffers. They are misers looking for prey, fighting both farmer and retailer and other classes which. render real service to the community. PEOPLE MUST LEARN: THEY ARE TRICKED How to-get rid of these.special interests fighting against progress and reform is, therefore, not a or of the. majority of the townspeople alone, but of both. . There is no relief for either until the forces that thrive on The fight is a FIGHT WITH- IN THE TOWN IN WHICH . HELPING THE PROGRES- SIVE FORCES 'OF THE TOWN can free the town and ized attack. . The hostility now emstmg * between town and country in problem of the farmers alone: the toil of others are beaten: ~ ORGANIZED. FARMERS BY. ° free themselves from organ- g i 5. |44 5. 24 i