The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 20, 1920, Page 6

BY E. B. FUSSELL IVE pledges were made to the farmers of North Dakota in 1915, when organ- ization of the started. These, as we quoted them in the last issue, were: packing houses and cold storage plants; 2—State inspection of grain and grain dockage; 3—Exemp- tion of farm improvements from taxation; 4—State hail insurance; 5—Rural credit banks operated at cost. In the last issue of the Leader we cited the prog- ress that had been made in carrying out pledges 1 and 2. In the two weeks that have elapsed since that article was written further advances have been made along both lines., With a supply of cement on hand active work has been resumed at the Grand Forks terminal elevator. In the last two weeks, also, the grain inspection law has proved its useful- ness again. At the beginning of the present wheat buying season price cards were sent out by the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce to country elevators in North Dakota and elsewhere, basing the price of wheat on the December option price at Minneapolis. The December option, at the time, was 20 cents or more rer bushel below the price of cash wheat. Always previously the price of wheat at country points has - bheen based on the price of cash wheat at Minne- apolis. J. A. McGovern, chief deputy grain inspector and in charge of the state-owned mill at Drake, sent out warning throughout the state that . the price offered by the grain combine was 20 cents a bushel be- low the true price, and called upon farmers to hold their wheat until the practice was ended. At the same time the state‘owned mill at Drake, Mr. McGovern announc- ed, would purchase wheat on the basis of the price of cash wheat at Minneapolis. The Courier- " League Pledges Nonpartisan league 1—State owner- . ship of terminal elevators, flour mills, . Program in North Dakota his farm is likely to remain unimproved. If ever there were a provision designed to secure “better farming” it is this exemption. A constitutional amendment was necessary to exempt farm improvements from taxation. An at- tempt was made to adopt such a provision, -as-a. feature of the new constitution proposed in the famous “H. B. 44” at the 1917 session of the legis- lature. The holdover senators killed this bill. ‘At the 1918 election, therefore, the League initiated a . new constitutional amendment, giving ‘the legisla- ture the right to exempt property from taxation. This amendment carried by a tremendous majority. The people also elected Leaguers, in large majority, "to both houses of the legislature. HERE ARE TAX EXEMPTIONS UNDER NORTH DAKOTA LAWS Carrying out its pledges the 1919 legislature enacted into law senate bill No. 44 (the same num- ber as the house bill that had failed of passage two - years before). This bill provides specificaily that “all structures and improvements on agricultural lands” shall be exempt from taxation. Besides carrying out the specific language of the League pledge, moreover, - this law carries out its spirit by adding the follow- ing property that is exempted:. “The tools, implements or other equipment of a farmer, to the amount of $1,000. ) “Structures and improvements, used as a place of residence by the owner in village, town or city lots, to the amount of $1,000. ! MILESTONES OF PROGRESS l News and North Dakota Leader, at Fargo, spread McGovern’s warning broadcast. The result was that country buyers were un- able to get wheat. The farmers were aroused as they had been in 1916, when the chamber.of com- merce put over its “Feed D” steal. In the face of this inability to get wheat and the knowledge that their attempted steal, now ex- posed, was making thousands of votes for the League ticket, the chamber of commerce, on August 27, put out a new price card, bas- ing North' Dakota prices on “to arrive” prices, instead of on De- cember option prices. FARMERS SAVED FROM $7,000,000 TO $10,000,000 On the day the change was put into effect “to arrive” wheat was sold at Minneapolis from $2.46 to $2.51, while the December option closed at $2.36. Thus the change in the North Dakota wheat price, forced by the publicity of the state grain inspection service and the competition of the state-owned mill at Drake, saved the farmers of North Dakota between 10 and 15 cents a bushel on their wheat, or between $7,000,000 and $10,- 000,000 on the 1920 crop. Now let us see what has been done in the five years since 1915 in carrying out the remaining three planks of the League platform. Plank No. 8 is: “Exemption of farm improvements from taxa- tion.” : The object of this exemption is plain. So long as a farmer is penalized, by increased taxation, every time he improves his farm, Were They Fulfilled? Second Article Reviewing Progress Made in Carrying Out League “Household goods and furnishings to the amount of $300. “Clothing or other personal belongings of each individual subject to taxation to the amount of $300. “The tools of a workingman or mechanic to the amount of $300.” Plank No. 4 of the League platform is: hail insurance.” Before the League was organized North Dakota had a form of state hail insurance, adopted by leg- islators who wanted to see state hail insurance made a failure. The farmers knew state hail in- surance could be made successful: They elected Leaguers to the legislature to adopt a law that could be worked and they elected S. A. Olsness, League farmer, as state insurance ecommissioner, to work it. ‘What has been done under the North Dakota hail insurance law has been told by the Leader many times before. The provisions of the law are that a tax of 3 cents an acre is first levied on all tillable land in the state, so that the speculator who holds good land idle, waiting for his neighbors to develop the country and add to his land value, is compelled to pay part of the cost. ; Then the farmers who actually crop their lands have the option of deciding whether they want to stay under the law or be exempted. Those who fail to apply for ‘exemption stay under the law automatically. : Hail losses suffered by those who stay under the law are reported and adjusters sent out to learn the damage. At the end of the year the total amount of money needed to pay losses is figured and those who stay under the law are assessed an amount sufficient to pay these losses (but not to exceed 50 cents per acre). In the first year in which the law was in operation many farm- ers withdrew because League op- ponents told them the state hail insurance would be more expen- sive than with private companies. Others were virtually forced by “State | their bankers to withdraw, be- cause their bankers insisted on the - PAGE SIX P —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. From 1915, when the Nonpartisan league was first organized, until 1920, is just five years. Starting with five pledges, the League is carrying out every one of them. It is a record of achievement that no other organization can show in so short a time. This. cartoon comes to us just in time for the Leader’s fifth birthday issue, when we have just passed our fifth milestone. But while carrying out-its five original pledges, the Leaguers in North Dakota have-not been content with that. They have put into effect numer- ous other reforms demanded by the times, as future articles in the Leader will show. farmers taking out private hail in- surance so that the bankers could get- the rakeoff of the commis- sion. $5,400,000 SAVED ON HAIL INSURANCE b Y During the year there were some 12,800 losses suffered by farmers who had stayed under the law. But in spite of the consider- able withdrawals, an assessment of only 25 cents an acre was nec- cessary to pay all claims. With the 3-cent acreage tax ddded, this made a total payment of 28 cents an acre for $7 worth of protection.- The private hail insurance com- panies operating in North Dakota in 1919 charged a minimum of 70 cents an acre for the same amount of protection. On the 12,000,000 acres that came under the hail in- surance law in 1920, therefore, the saving to the farmers under this one law was $5,400,000. This year a much larger num- ber of acres are covered by state hail insurance than during 1919. Hail storms have been extraor- dinarily heavy and losses have been much greater than in 1919 also. It will'be another month be- fore it will be possible to figure up the cost of the 1920 state hail ° insurance per acre, as compared with the cost of insurance under private companies, but it is prob- ably safe to predict that-another $5,000,000 has been saved to the farmers. 4 : Pledge No. 5 of the Leaguc © 2 S