The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1894-08-04
His Views.
Communicated

EDITOR BoTTlNEAU PIONEER:
Dear Sir: If you will allow me space
in your paper to have a social and bust
ness chat with your readers. l will appre-
ciate the favor very much. In this, the
time CT our financial trouble we need all
the encouragement we can get. do not
suppose we are worse of as a people than
any other place. for the whole country is
going through a very trying ordeal. A
great many of the interior states are liter
ally burnt up while some of the western
states are almost ruined by floods. The
commonweal army and the greet strike of
the A. r. U. surely go to prove that labor
is not getting a just share Of the proceeds
Of combined capital and labor. Capital
and labor MUST 60 together, elsa neither
can succeed. Capital has now organized
and is grinding down the laborer. Until in
many places starvation is staring them in
the face and the laws of the United States
Tor pretended laws) are saying that labor
must not organize to demand a just share
of the profits. We people of North Da-
kota are a different kind of slave. They
allow us TO be our wi boss in regard to
the amount of work we do, but we have to
yield to capital just the same and give it
all the profits, scarcely being able to keep
enough of our earnings to give us the
necessaries Of life At the present price
of wheat, it takes 200 bushels to pay for
the hauling Of a car Of 600 bushels to
Minneapolis or Duluth. a distance of
about 500 miles, almost one third OF the
amount, leaving the farmer only the re-
naming two-thirds of his crop to pay for
threshing and all other necessary expen-
ses. 1t also takes one and a half bushels
TO buy one pound of tea and only medium
grade at that. If we want a barrel of flour
we have to sell 10 bushels and 16 lbs. of
wheat to pay for it. These are things
which ought not to be. Capital ought to
share a little O. hard times as we'll as lab
or. Our aim here has been always to
raise the greatest amount of wheat we
could. which, l think. is a very wrong
idea. Our aim ought to be the greatest
number of bushels on the smallest num-
Der of acres possible. Wheat has been
the one aim Of most of the Dakota farm
ers. but the past4two years has laugh, ms
that it is not to be depended upon. We
must give up the idea of getting rich in a
few years and settle down to the fact that
we must raise more of what we want and
consequently have to buy less. If we had
the herd law repealed in those northwest
ern counties of the state, it would be of
immense value to stock-raisers. In this
county at the present time, there are hun
dreds, yes thousands. of acres of splendid
grass going to waste, and as many cattle
and horses starving in bare, brown fields.
These facts only go to show that stock
ought to be our main object, and grain
only secondary. The subject of stock
fairs has been spoken of several times but
always been let drop. There is no ques-
ton in my mind but that we ought to have
monthly stock fairs. which would bring
the buyer and seller into communication
with each other and, therefore, make buy.
ing of stock less laborious than it now is
under the present method of going from
place to place. l would suggest Saturday
as a good day to hold our fair for The rea
son that buyers living at a distance coulc
come in on Fridays train and then ship
their purchases by Mondays train, ane
there is no reason why towns down thu
line would not follow in suit. say Omemee
on Monday, Willow City on Tuesday
Barton on Wednesday, &c. Say we sug
gest the first Saturday of each month a:
our monthly fair, and let every farmer
who has stock to sell bring it that day a
II a. m. If any other mas a better plan
let US hear from you. Anything to helE
out these hard times. Yours.
ROBERT BRANDER,
Bottineau, August and.