The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 19, 1919, Page 10

ADVERTISEMENTS e Farm Truck Do you know how you can: save 15 cents on every bushel of grain you haul ? \ Do you know how you can own a farm truck and make it pay its own cost? Do you know why the Hawkeye is the cheap- est truck in America? Do you want to know what the experience of other farmers has been in hauling grain and live stock with Hawkeye Trucks? Just send a postal card with your name and ad- dress, and we shall send you this information. It places you under no obligation .whatever. We want to hear from farmers. ] Hawkeye Truck Co., .. Sioux City, Iowa It’s time you had a HAWKEYE They Do Cut Out the Tire Profiteer They Are Fully Guaranteed for Material and Workmanship . C.0.D.ON APPROVAL And Remember Who You Are Dealing With YOU KNOW THE EQUITY Plain Skid Tubes Size Plain Skid Tubes $ 8.80 $ 9.60 $2.00 83x4 $18.50 $20.00 $3.30 11.50 12.50 2.50 .95 20.40 38.45 18.46 14.50 2.65 . 17.35 18.70 8.16 35x415 25.85 " 28.05 17.60 19.00 3.25 87x5 30.80 33.66 INNER TUBES FULLY GUARANTEED EQUITY TIRE COMPANY 1208 Hennepin Ave. Minneapolis, Minn. Equity Service is the Best Service. Size 80x3 80x3 82x3 81x4 82x4 NO MORE FAILURES LATEST A l f a l f a Stop taking chances—plant INVENTION alfalfa the “Sherwin Way” ALFALFA PRESS DRILLS—1 styles, viz; 1, 2, and 6-shoe for Corn Field Seeding, 7-foot, 12-ghoe for nurse crop or summer fallow seeding. Insure a perfect stand with 40 per cent less seed than other methods. Postal brings Catalog. A. SHERWIN MFG. CO., Brookings, S. D. TRIPLE . N0 HDORS WALL /J lQ\ TO SILOSZ=E=TIGHTEN Increase Your Profits Keep double the stock on same acreage. Investigate the TRIPLE WALL SILO ilo Compan; bost leather e in our own Bridles %- This harness is made of the vel that money can buy. Custom m: shop, aranteed in every respect. inch, lin 20 feet long, traces 1%- inch by 6 feet long. = This harpess’ can not be bought for less, than $80 to $85 anywhere in the U. S. Guaranteed or money refunded, TWIN CITY HARNESS CO. OF MIDWAY" 1948 University Ave. St. Paul, Minn: Me.nfion the Leader When Writing Advertisers PN S SR e A A S e Questions concerning the League and economic matters will be answered in this column from time to time. Writers should make their questions explicit and . keep them as short as possible, preferably less than 200 words. .The Leader reserves the right to shorten queries when necessary. The editor can not undertake to give ad- vice in legal or other private matters, or to pass upon stocks or other securities offered for sale. THE GUARANTEED WHEAT PRICE Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Am writing you concerning the price of wheat. Can you tell us what the government is goirig to do and what we farmers are to do to get the government price? We can’t find out much here from the bankers. J. R. GOODGAME. EDITOR’S REPLY: In all prob- ability the method used in maintain- ing the government wheat. price will be the same as that used last year. The government guarantee is with- out any important limitations and, to make it workable, the government will buy through its grain corporation. If the local elevator refuses to pay the minimum price, the government will step in with its grain corporation Hamlin, Texas. . to take the wheat at the price set. If the world market price of wheat should fall below the price set and the government should think it neces- sary to have a lower price here, a new method will be devised by which the farmer will get the difference between the minimum price and the market price. STATE OWNERSHIP VS. MONOPOLY Harrison, Mont. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: Will the League program of government ownership kill the incentive to make money, or make lazy loafers, or will it hurt compe- tition? These are questions fired at us and I have not been able to answer them to my full satisfaction. lieve in government ownership, and that in certain lines the government can do better than private management. It seems that the very ones who say that we have the best government, turn right around and point out that the railroad administration is a fail- ure and declare that this proves the govern- ment can not do anything in the way of business. It seems to me that this does not prove anything at all except that the fellows who deal with the marked deck of cards have too much power in the railroads. CLARENCE CLAYTON. EDITOR’S REPLY: The League program calls for state ownership only in lines of business now thoroughly monopolized. Those who argue against it try to make people believe two very serious errors: 1. That the League proposes gov- ernment ownership of everything worth owning, and then they show the possible evils of this imaginary state of things. The League farmers are advocating state ownership only so far as it seems to be good business for themselves and the nation. The tree never grows to the sky; the young steer doesn’t continue to increase .in weight without limit. Why not trust the people to go as far with govern- ment ownership as good business sense demands and no further? 2. That our present monopolies promote business -incentive, increase industry and in some undefined way aid competition. How could govern- ‘ment ownership of packing plants, for instance, operated by and for the people, hurt industry and incentive when at present four or five men tell the producers what they can have for the livestock and the consumers what they must pay for meat? - The mo- nopoly of an essential industry kills off the profits of all who have to use it. 'This means that it kills off other business. For every one getting mo- nopoly profits there are thousands out in the cold. Remove the monopoly and all these will have a better chance. ‘Many persons also overlook the im- portant point that state ownership of the kind the League proposes is noth- " ANSWERS TO QUERIES people. It is especially adapted for monopolized services needed by all the people, such as railroads, market fa- cilities, a central state bank. - It is needed also to kill off those first-class business powers—the mo- nopolists—for only the state has suf- ficient power to equal them. THE MONEY QUESTION Ismay, Mont. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: At the end of last year the national banks of the United States all together had cash on hand of only $890,000,000 in round figures and over $8,300,000,000 in deposits. This means that the depositors were entitled to demand from the banks nearly 10 times as much money as the banks had with which to pay. Banking loans count as deposits. When a business man borrows $1,000 at his bank, he gives security for it and the ban aecount with a deposit of $1,000. He is not expected to draw currency out but to write checks. Those who receive his checks could draw out currency, but as a rule they do not. They merely deposit the checks in that or in another bank. Thus are payments effected by checks against bank credit in place of money. Over 90 per cent of the country’s business " is _thus transacted on credit. Now, Mr. Farmer, here is the chance for graft or squeezing tribute out of your toil. You go and deposit $1,000 with your banker and receive perhaps 4 per cent interest. Then Mr. Banker starts to lend on this money and before he is through he lends over $10,000 on it at much higher rates than what he pays you, If he lives in Montana, where they lend at 10 per cent, he receives $1,000 a year in- terest on this credit for the money back -of which he pays you $40. ‘With these figures can you not see that something is wrong with our banking system and that you are being systematically robbed not only by the banker’s money but by your own money? Now what is the remedy? Abolish usury or let the government take over -the banking and see that the money is distributed where it is needed to do the business of the country. D. 0. P. EDITOR’S REPLY: The above let- ter from a Montana farmer brings out the important point that present- day money is chiefly bank credit. The report of the comptroller of currency for 1917 states that in every $100 worth of our business the different circulating mediums are used in the following proportions: Gold-i i i ansssnss i 160 SIIVer: i vieiilshiviosinsr 240 Paper ..... cesasseess 490 Bank credit .......... 94.10 This fact again emphasizes the wis- dom of the North Dakota farmers in establishing a state bank to issue credit at cost and to generally super- vise the state banking system. The great margin between interest on bank credit loaned and interest on deposits paid, is offset somewhat by the undue multiplication of small banks in our Northwest states. In the whole country there is one bank for every 4,000 people. This fact makes the overhead expense of the banking business high. LEAGUE VIEWS IN CANADA Never since the grain growers first organized has there been greater need than at present to have their own representatives in the house of com- mons. The fiscal laws of Canada have been made chiefly by representatives of the manufacturing, banking and railway interests for the last 30 or 40 years. Little attention has been given to the burden which these laws have placed upon the farmers of Canada. Every possible concession has been given to the manufacturing interests. The protective tariff which they asked for at the beginning they have held and increased until the bur- den is almost breaking the backs of the farmeérs. The farmers of Canada can get square-deal legislation at Ottawa if they will but,use common sense. If they allow themselves to be divided and vote Grit or Tory, as they have been doing for the past 30 years, they will get nothing. The farmer who continues -to vote for his party all the time is doing nothing to help himself or anybody else to improve - conditions. — GRAIN GROWERS’ ing more than co-operation by all the GUIDE, WINNIPEG. _PAGE TEN : ; k credits his