The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 2, 1918, Page 4

I § { i { ! If there is anything you don’t understand about the food, fuel wheat, labor, draft or other or- ders, write to A. B. Gilbert, P. 0. Box 575, St. Paul, Minn. EASY TO KICK THE UNDER DOG MR. HOOVER, food administrator, recently made public a long tele- gram sent to the president of the Dairymen’s league of New York, which the big papers were glad to copy. , The telegram takes the presi- dent, R. D. Cooper, to task for tele- graphing to other milk producers’ as- sociations to demand a congressional investigation of the food administra- tion’s efforts in milk disputes. Hoover proudly declares: “I wish to state plainly that the food admin- istration is not intimidated by such tactics.” No, the food administration can not be intimidated by this or any other farmers’ organization, and our whole national government shows a remark- able amount of independence in the presence either of organized farmers or organized.labor. But this is not a fair test of independence and not the kind we can rejoice in as the kept press does. It is not hard to kick the under dog. Suppose this independent government had been able to keep a little handful of war profiteers from salting away millions while the rest of us were sacrificing for the war, or sup- pose the food administration could talk back to the packing trust and make it behave during war time. That would be real independence. It would show grit. Or to be more specific, New York City harbors the worfit milk trust in the country. "It is /vicious beyond measure in exploiting the poor farm- ers of New York state on the one hand and the poor of the great city that has millions of poor on the other. If Mr. Hoover would expose this trust for us in a news letter sent to all the press, if he would fearlessly suggest the obvious remedy, if he would de- mand in powerful, appealing language that this trust be stopped from kill- ing more babies in a year than the baby welfare work of the nation is able to save, if he could do all this, then we would have less doubt of Mr. Hoover’s bravery and independence. Shall we have the proof ? Until we get it or until we hear both sides of this matter fully, it is only fair play for the farmers of the West to believe that these organized farm- ers of the East are just as fair and hon- orable as they are and are trying to do the right thing. The fact that or- ganized farmers took a certain step is abundant reason for giving their act the benefit of the doubt. WOULD ABOLISH CANDY -+ . Bemidji, Minn. HY 'are the candy manufacturers al- lowed to put their cheap and sometimes very injurious product on the market at these times and thereby take from' real workers an-article which is such a vital food ' necessity ? . The candy manufacturers are allowed to con- tinue making candy, which means sugar, and candy is nothing short of a downright luxury. And this comes ahead of canning and pre- serving food. ; FRANK VOSS. :The government = has, of ' course, ' greatly limited the sugar allowance of the candy manufacturers.. Most of - them are probably using about 40 per cent of what they would use without government regulation. It is probably a mistake to regard candy merely as a luxury except where it is used to excess. The sugar eaten as candy probably satisfies a food de- mand as much as it does when used in other forms. Those who don’t use candy may find it easy to abolish it, but the government has tried to strike a balance. ENTERING THE NAVY Norcross, Minn. ILL you please send me information about entering the navy service? I am in class 1 and would like to get into the navy if I am not called to the army. IVER HAUGEN. Now that peace is on the way, the navy department is taking only men who ' have special trades such as mechanics, printers and office men. ‘Farming, although a skilled occupa- tion, would not be considered as val- uable in the navy because there is no way in which the sailor could use ability of that kind. There is a possibility, of course, that the navy would accept a man who had a smattering knowledge of a certain trade if he had unusual qualifications otherwise. The Leader would be glad to secure circulars for its readers giving in- formation on the navy, but the offi- cials advise that it would be better for those interested to write directly to the U. S. Navy Mobilization Sta- tion, 408 Second Avenue South, Min- neapolis, Minn., because the regula- tions are changing so often. WHEN BANKS FAIL . Hill Top, Col. AM .writing you on the chance that you may know where I could get a loan on my farm for five to ten years. It seems impossible to get a loan here for -that length of time. - I have 320 acres (in the rain belt of Colorado), considered to be worth easily $30 to $35 an acre. Would like to get at least $4,500, the larger part of which I need for livestock to make the farm do its best. I joined the League over a year ago and believe that in time we shall win out. Here is evidently another of those common cases in which John Reesel,i League booster of Clarkfield, Minn., and his l,ldo-ponnd vhog, ‘sfiidA to be the largest known hog in ‘the United States. private banking fails to serve the farming community. Their poor serv- ice is the reason why the Federal Farm Loan bank succeeds and why the League demands a state system of rural credit banks operated at cost to supplement poor banking service. Without credit, without good credit fa- cilities farm production must halt; yet our rural banks have never made more than a pretense of meeting the full credit needs of the farmer, not to mention exorbitant charges for their service. The Leader would advise the writer of the above and all other farmers similarly situated to get the neighbors together in a Federal Farm Loan Bank association. The members of this association could then secure long- time loans on land security on the best terms offered in the United States. Before starting the farmers should write to the Federal Farm Loan Board, Washington, D. C., for definite instructions as to how to proceed. If the farmer specially interested feels that he can not rally his neighbors successfully, he could turn the propo- sition over to another farmer recog- nized as a leader in the community. Two or 3 per cent saving a year on a loan is well worth going after, and the terms of repayment are superior to any that private money lenders of- fer. There are something over 3,000 farmer associations now in.the United ‘States; so farmers who start a new one are not taking some new and un- tried step. When we get state systems of rural R e credit banks, we shall have’ good short-term credit fa- cilities as well. DRAFT CALL STOPPED 'HE ending of the war naturally stops the calling of men in the draft and also suspends the Swede Prairie township, where the Reese brothers have their farm; is certainly worthy of mention in more ways-than one. It went over the top in every Liberty loan. With a population of 410, its_contribution to the second loan was $10,600, to the third $33,400, to the fourth $42,700. The War Savings stamp drive there netted over $15,390, the Red Cross has received over $2,000 and other relief societies - over $500 more. ‘But this is only half the story, Lindbergh, 13 for Burnquist ‘and 2 for Comstock. * League members have signed up again to 1921 and 12 new members . have been added. ‘This township is certainly in the fight = . for democracy at home and abroad. 2 Its primary vote was 98 for Fifty-four of the 55 old work or fight order which made it nec- essary for men of draft age to get in- to essential employment. The men in the training camps will also probably be released as soon as the practical de- tails can be arranged. Unless the troops in Europe gre called upon to do a large amount of police duty to main- tain what the reactionaries call order, they will be brought home at about the same rate in which they went across. PROMPT ACTION RELIEVES HAY SHORTAGE RECENT hay shortage in Wil- liams county, N. D., was handled successfully with the aid of the coun- ty farm bureau. Aware of the coun- ty’s need, the chairman of the sec- tion of the farm bureau on pastures and winter feeds called together the chairmen of the local committees and took up with them the needs of each section of the county. <~ These com- munity chairmen then made the rounds of their townships and in some cases called meetings where they se- cured estimates of the amount of hay that the farmers will need for next winter. A member of the bureau was delegated to visit northern Minnesota and other. sections to see where hay could be secured. He was accom- panied by the former county agent of Williams county. Through the co- operation of the farmers in securing information regarding the shortage and in locating hay, sufficient hay was— -= obtained at a reasonable price to carry Williams county over the winter.— DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. This step ‘may have been “social- istic,” as the anti-farmer gang in North Dakota would say, but to most people it would appear as simply good business sense. Some day it may be considered a regular thing for .the county agent to assist with marketing and buying problems. This day will come when farmers have more to say at the state capitols than middlemen. LABOR IN SHOES IS 36.8 CENTS RECENT bulletin of the United States bureau of labor. statistics states that the labor. cost in a pair of shoes in 1916 was 86.8 cents. This was the price the worker got for one hour and 25 minutes of work. This ‘wage cost would be a few cents higher now. Evidently Iabor doesn't get much out of a pair of shoes; yet the kept press tells the farmer that if it were not for the unfair demands of labor he could get cheap shoes and the c¢ity man that he would get them if the farmers would produce more hides and sell cheaper. How about the hide prices for the last 'tw years? : : DEVELOPING MOTOR TRUCK ROUTES RRANGEMENTS have been made . whereby rukal motor truck oper- ators: can co-operate with the bureau of markets in‘developing rural truck: routes for farm products.. Operators -of truck routes who comply with cer- tain requirements of the bureau will receive assistance in building up busi-’ ness in farm produce, and will be given a sign to display on their machines sta’ : Truck operators can plan by writin 5 stating that they are co-operating with the department of agncnltu&le ; v |l % - 46 e ot IS g“/) 7 v |5 o "l '% i