The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 22, 1920, Page 4

PR A s SN S e S BT SR R cents. Everything apparently was all arranged to go through the same old performance. I hoped that someone else would take the initiative and expose the whole business. Self-preservation compelled me to act. I saw to it that meetings of cheese factory patrons were called at the different fac- tories to protest against these methods. I also wrote an article 'chargmg the dealers with arbi- trarily fixing the board prices irrespective of sup- ply and demand. I charged them with stifling com- petition by rejecting applications for membership on the board, etc. I sent this article to 150 news- papers in Wisconsin with the request that it be published in order that all should know that cheese was worth more than 12 cents. Some papers feel- ing, no doubt, that my charges were libelous, did not publish them. Tnstead of answering my charges the local organ of the cheese combination resorted to personal abuse of myself. He intimat- ed that I was getting crazy, said that I was a town-kill- ing octopus. He tried to make out that if those $400,- 000 had gone into the pockets of the farmers of the country instead. of going into the pockets of the packers and a few dealers it would injure the towns. It was intimated that 27 lawsuits would be started against me for libel. For a time I will admit that they had me scared.' I knew that the charges I had made were true, but I did not have direct evidence for all of them, but I got busy and got affidavits to confirm the charges . which I had made and then I defied them to sue me. I received encouragement . from the farmers from the beginning. The demand for me to speak to the patrons of different factories be:came so great that I could not possibly comply with the requests. I therefore called a meeting for June 22, 1912, on the fair grounds at Plymouth and distributed handbills on which was printed the following announcement: “FARMERS, WAKE UP! “Come to the Plymouth fair grounds on June 22 and be convinced that there is a cheese trust, and that if there had beéh no such trust you would have gotten from $10 to $20 more for the milk from each cow during 1911. The more of you who come to this meeting, the sooner the trust will be ‘bust- ed.” Cheese dealers invited to be present to de- - P fend thelr position. They will have a respectful hearing.” Farmers were in the mldst of haymg Only two days’ notice was given. Yet over 1,000 farmers came to the meeting. Not a single dealer showed up. . % As a result of these protests, and also perhaps because the dealers feared proceedings for viola- tion of the anti-trust laws, the board price inside of two weeks went up again to 15 cents. And this at a time of the year when they had always before dropped it! Had the farmers not become thoroughly aroused no doubt we should have fared no better in 1912 than we did in 1911. Then I called the attentlon of members of the state board of public affairs to the methods of the cheese combination. This board invited.cheese deal- ers, cheese buyers, cold storage owners, as well , - Warehouse and cold‘ storage plant of Wisconsin Cheese Producers’ federation at- Plymouth, Wis. as farmers, to appear before it. I was asked to state our grievances. The dealers were allowed to make their statements. They' were questioned by members of the board with the result that practi- cally every charge made was admitted to be true. It was_admitted that the dealers had a secret meetmg before the Plymouth board met to agree on the price to be paid on the board, and that the cheese from _the vdrious factorles was allotted among the various dealers. It was also admitted by a promment dealer that it was their practice to pay the cheesemiker, who acted as the farmers’ agent in selling their cheese, a.bonus above board price, sometimes in cash and; sometimes in the shape of an extra check. . It was also admitted that the Plymouth cold storage (where more cheese is stored than in any other cold storage in the Northwest) had a rule that only dealers could store cheese there, and that if others wished to store any they had to do so through a dealer. This agitation brought good results, but agita- tion can not be kept up forever. To insure perma- nent good there must be organized, constructive and continuous effort. For the purpose of,getting the farmers to organize I called a massmeeting of farmers to be held in Plymouth February 7, 1918. Fifteen hundred farmers crowded into the opera ‘house and side rooms, many were unable to gain admission. _Strong resolutions were adopted at this meeting, urging the farmers to organize a co-operative as- sociation to sell their own ‘cheese. A ‘committee was appointed to work out a plan of organization. This committee had a num- ber of meetings, at which it had the assistance of experts from the economics depart- ment of the University of Wisconsin and others.: The plan agreed on was simple. It provided that the patrons of each cheese factory form an association and incorpo- rate under the state co-oper- ative law, these various asso- ciations form a federation, the federation to employ a competent salesman and sell the cheese for the farmers. Violent opposition to our plan came from those who in the past had taken advan- tage of us. Many cheese- makers, who themselves had a county and state organiza- tion, bifterly opposed wus. Some even threatened to close their factories if the farmers organized. In spite of the opposition we perfected our or- ganization. The patrons of 43 factories organized and joined the federation. We selected our selling agent and were ready for business August 1, 1913, ‘but we were unalkle to procure a warebouse Al- though’ there were cheese warehouses empty and owned by the cold storage company the cheese com- bination and its friends were powerful enough to prevent us from gettmg one. We were, therefore, obliged to biiild in order to do our business. ‘(Next week we will print the rest of Mr. Krum- rey’s story, telling how the farmers met their prob- lems and the results of their organization.) Busmess Interests Try to Pit Grange Agalnst the League - et “Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader. HE February 27 issue of the Manufae- urer, official publication of the Man- ufacturers’ club of Philadelphia, re- ports a project of the new officers of the National Grange to solicit funds from eastern business interests to® build up- the Grange organization in the West to fight the National Nonpartisan league. The Man- ufacturers’ club journal suggests to its constituency that when approached by collectors for the Nation- al Grange they subscribe liberally. “It is -understood,” says this business organ, “that the new officers of the National Grange in- tend to extend the Grange as much as possible dur- ing the next two or three years, and particularly in the so-called weak Grange states, which are those bordering on the Dakotas, and mcludmg' North and South Dakota. That section-has be- come the stamping ground for the National Non- partisan league, an organization whose leaders are socialistic, and whose tendencies are radical. Some of these leaders have been convicted, under the espionage act, of trying to interfere with the ac- tivities of the United States during the war. The Nonpartisan league is insidious socialism, and it has already thoroughly disturbed the state of North Dakota and .made great strides in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Other neighboring states are also ma- terially infected. “It will not be possible, of course, for the Na- tional Grange to go into these states and in a few months offset the work which has been going on for years by the Nonpartisan league or wean the farm- ers from this radical organization to such a con- - i servative and patnotlc body as the National Grange. Nevertheless, the time to begin the work of ex- tending the Grange is right now, and such plans should have the support, not merely of the con-_ servative farmers,-but of manufacturers, business men and all other citizens who woud like to see American principles substituted- for socialism in this country, wherever such socialism has obtamed headway. “In order to ecarry out its work the Natlonal Grange is creating what it calls the National Grange extension fund, and is appealing to farmers and subordinate Granges for contributions. It is probable also that it will appeal to the business in- terests of the country, submitting. very plainly its policy, and showing clearly where it stands. SHOULD PROVIDE MONEY TO FIGHT THE LEAGUE “There have been many occasions recently, includ- ing the convention at Grand Rapids, when the Grange has taken a strong position against class government, class domination and the usurpation of legislative power by special organizations. and classes. Whoever receives an appeal from the Na- tional Grange should study the question very se- riously before deciding to reject any request for support. “It represents a healthy, old-fashioned conserv- atism, and it is the proper organization to offset the mischief being done by the Nonpartisan league, and to counteract the insidious movement toward the substitution of class domination for the true representative democracy. «“The National Grange, in its present campalgn, should have unqualified support.” This document was handed to Congressman PAGE FOUR Baer by one of the labor" members ot the house, with the remark that the Manufacturers’ club of Philadelphia is one of the most vindictive foes of the organized wage-workers in America. The legislative representative of the National Grange in ‘Washington is T. C. Atkeson, who signed the recent manifesto of seven anti-labor spokes- men of conservative farm organizations, urging the immediate return of the railroads to private control. When questioned by the Leader correspondent as to the plans of the National Grange as described in the Manufacturer, Mr. Atkeson states that such a membership campaign is about to be announced in their official journal, and that every one who is friendly to the Grange and its policies-will be in- mefi to contribute to the fund for this organization wor “We are an old and’ conservative body and we have a great many friends,” he explained. “We ° can not be described as radical in any sense. It id true that we are going to try to build up our membership in the West, ‘and that we will offer a force which will tend to modify the views of the farmers who have followed the radical program of the Nonpartisan league.. We shall probably have help from business men who favor our policy.” Mr. Atkeson is particularly proud of his part in the recent statement of a group of officers of farm organizations that the farmers have nothing in common with the organized labor movement which can lead them to co-operate on the political or eco- nomic field. ' This 'declaration, approved by the National Grange leaders, has led to the formation of the new alliance of progressive farmer organ- izations of western states, outlined at a conference held February 16 at Des Moines. ;