The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, November 1, 1920, Page 3

IN THE INTEREST OF A SQUARE 2 ¥ v ]he : A 2 8 A MACAZINE THAT DARES TO DEAL FOR '{HE FARMERS Il ; PRINT THE TRUTH ; & tered as second-class matter at the postoffice at g 4 4 . En! t Minneapolis, Minn., under the act of Maj 3 3 'ublication address, 427 Sixth avenue 8,, ifi'}min}.ffig. n. - Address all remittances to The Nonpartisan Leader, Box 2075, Minneapolis, Minn, VOL. 11, NO. 11 : < Official Maguzine of the National Nonpartisan Leagune—Every Two Weeks B PP peciwith Special Foauiof Llren'ationk: OLIVER S. MORRIS, Editor. X P Chlcaso, 8¢, Louis. Kansas. City MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, NOVEMBER 1, 1920 S One year, in adyance, $2.50; six months, $1.50, Clas~ gified rates on classified page; other advertising rates plication. Member Audit Bu i ai tatives, New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City. " WHOLE NUMBER 258 Vote Against the Grain bGamblers November 2.’ J \ western farmer has the strongest possible reason for voting the League ticket November 2. Opposition candidates are full .of words of sympathy for the farmers BUT NOT ONE OF THEM HAS A SINGLE PROPOSAL TO OFFER -TO PREVENT THE TRAGEDY OF THIS YEAR BEING REPEATED NEXT YEAR. The lawyers, bankers and business men have been in control of our governments year after year. Year after year they have seen the FACED by a loss on every crop he has prqduced this year the League Has Remedy for Low Prices have always been strong with sympathy, but: they have failed to give practical aid. The farmer must aid himself. The League program proposes the construction of terminal ele- vators and warehouses, so that surplus crop production can be stored instead of being thrown on the market, and state loans to farmers, so that the crop can be fi- nanced. These are the only construc- tive proposals that have been made by any political group or organization. Q-NTI-LEAGUE politicians say the ° League programy won’t work. " As to that notice what the *Chamber of Commerce of the United States says in a recent bulletin about the slump in farm products: Every student of the situation rea- lizes that- much of the welfare: of the . country depends up- on the purchasing Admits Plan power of the farmer. And that this in turn Will Work hangs upon his re- ceiving weasonably reémunerative prices for his products. * * * So far'in ag- riculture more efficient and more econom- jcal methods of marketing are the only apparent solution. In Canada it seems- to ‘have been done very successfully in wheat and without placing any additional burden upon the consumer. ; What is it that Canada has done toward solving wheat marketing prob- lems? The government has construct- ed a “string of terminal elevators, stretching from Winnipeg to the Pa- cific coast. In addition Canada provides the cheapest state hail insurance on _ the continent and encourages home- seekers by providing them with ready-. made farms on easy payments. Exactly what tlge League is doing in North Dakota and what it proposes to do in every other western state. Big Business HAT are the causes of starva- : tion prices for wheat. and other farm products? The daily press says that Canadian imports have broken the market. It is true that Canadian wheat can be produced more cheaply because it is produced from cheap government land and it can be marketed more cheaply because it is mar- What Caused keted through government elevators. But recent . . Canadian imports were estimated at only about Drop in Price 14 000,000 bushels, or a little more than,l per cent of Grain? of the total crop of the United States. During this same period the price of wheat fell from approxi- mately $2.50 to $2, a drop of 20 per cent. It is apparent, therefore, that other influences were mainly responsible for the drop. What were these? ] K First of all, the refusal of banks to allow farmers loans for the purpose of holding their grain. They were directed 'to pursue this attitude by the federal reserve bank system. David F. Houston, secretary of the treasury, formerly secretary of agriculture, was 2 \ farmer ruined after bumper crop production. They . | ~ SEE THAT SHE VOTES! | —Drawn expressly for the Leader by W. C. Morris. Women in the cities may be depended upon to vote. Every- city family, of man and wife, will thus have two votes. If the farm woman does not vote, the farm family will only have half the vote of the city family. Every farmer must see that his wife votes. Otherwise he will lose all chance of fair representation in our government. 3 ; : PAGE THREE responsible for this action. Political action-can remove this reason for low prices. Next, farmers who wanted to sell their grain have been unable to do so because freight cars could not be obtained. Wheat is being dumped on the ground to rot because it can not be shipped. The railroads, guaranteed earningsrof 6 per cent no matter how much or how little business they do, have no particular afixiety to serve the farmers. Political action can repeal the Esch-Cummins law. hardships.that the farmers are facing this year, there are other reasons, not generally admitted, but which sometimes' leak out. At the recent session of the National Grain Dealers’ association in Minneapolis, for instance, speakers admitted that one reason why farmers could not get cars in which to ship their wheat, was that grain dealers and other business men IN .ADDITION to the reasons that the daily papers give for tae Grain Dealers bribing railroad . A train crews to Admit Crooked switch cars on their Manipulations tracks, instead of giving them to the farmer. Farmer legislators, if elected to office November 2, will make laws to state officials will enforce them. HE most important question con- " nected with the ruining of the farmers this year is whether the slump was deliberately planned by .fi- nancial interests. ; efore the slump occurred the big- gest wheat holding movement in years was under way. Farmiers had learn- ed_that their crop had cost them ap- proximately .$3 a \ bushel to produce and they were refusing to sell for $2.50. Then came the sudden crash in prices, that can not be explained wholly by the shutting off of credit, Canadian imports or:.car shortage. . Probably the biggest previous movement for, holding agricultural products by producers was the cotton holding movement started in Texds by the Farmers’ union in 1907. The price * was going up day by day until the panic of 1907—a panic made to order by Wall street interests if there ever was one— came along and smashed it. - : “*Were the panic of 1907 and the near panic of 1920 made to order to break the farmers of the idea that they might have something to say about fix- ing the price of cotton and whedt? Un- til farmers can get their own represen- tatives in office, with power to find out things hidden from them now, we can only guess. Was a Pan}c Planned to Ruin Farmers? “Qornrs to.get out the vote. If we fail to win now we will not have an- other chance for two years. Here are some suggestions: = - 1. Get to the polls early. Something might happen later. 2. See that your wife votes. : 3. Keep track of who is voting. Before the polls close see that all Leaguers you know have 4, See tharf nobody votes who isn’t entitled IT IS too late now to try to win new converts. The thing to do is . VYote—Your Last Chance for Two Years to vote., . ; v 5. Watch thé count. See that nothing is slipped over on us after the polls have closed. : 4 : were in the habit of stop such crookedness, and farmer.