Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1905-01-25

the country DdTTei VI uOuT, 20 DuSuclS
Of corn, 200 eggs, 40 quarts of milk,
70 pounds of cotton, pounds Of wool
and leather enough for two pairs Of
shoes. No other country can show
such a record.
There are three spreads which the
beef producer must needs watch close
~. There is the spread between the
price of the corn which he feeds and
the price he is likely to get for his fin
ished cattle, there is the spread be-
tween the price which he pays for his
feeders and what they will bring him
when sold, and then there is the spread
between what he can get for them
and the top Of the market.
A lot Of scholars in Michigan coun-
try school to whom the rat was one Of
the most familiar animals to be seen
on the farms all had the notion that
there were hairs on the rats tail. At
the request Of their teacher they un-
dertook to find out how this was by
catching the rats and were greatly
chagrined to find out that there were
none. Children are being well educat-
ed when they are being taught the why
and the wherefore of the things around
them with which they are familiar,
and the best Of it is that they will al
ways take a delighted interest in this
sort Of instruction.
II weeds are simply q useful plant
out Of place there is all too much mis-
at and disorder in the vegetable king
dom on most farms. Weeds rob the
soil and lessen the crop; they intensity
the effects Of drought by absorbing
moisture needed by the crop; they are
always and ever interlopers, parasites,
freebooters and pirates; that they grow
rank and luxuriant may be evidence
Of the richness Of the soil, but they
are none the less to the farm what the
woman Of the street is to the mu-
nicipality. 1t is mighty good Job for
the winter evening on the farm, both
for the young folks and the old man,
to take up iptelligently study Of the
weeds which plague his life out all
summer long. It Is worth something
to know each weed, its name, its
habits, its longevity, its method of seed
distribution and propagation. the best
method of holding them in check, for
on most farms weeds are the biggest
tax imposed upon the farmer-a tax for
which he receives absolutely nothing In
return.
While we are all busy cussing the
trusts and combines 1t is well enough
to stop and think for a moment what
this country would or could do without
the organized markets OF today. Old
settlers tell US how they hauled loads
Of dressed hogs and grain forty or fifty
miles to some river point and had to
take just what the local storekeeper
would pay in trade, which often COM
PEELED them to sleep out under the wag-
on going home II they would have any
thing to take back. The glutted mar
ket and the absolutely unstable farm
product were very common things
those days. Kick and kick hard as we
do over what we call the tyranny Of
the combines, there is this to be said
that no matter how great the volume Of
stuff offered 1t is all readily taken and
absorbed by the finely organized mar
kets of today, and lowered price be-
cause Of the plethora il the only cause
Of complaint. The organized market In
the long run secures for the producer
very much better prices than would be
possible without such organization
when competition got In all its merci-
less work. Organization equalizes
prices and the distribution Of commOd-
tiles, and while the middleman who en-
gineers this process sometimes levies
too heavy a toll for his services 1t
would be. after all, a return to the dark
ages to substitute for the present or
ganized market the happy go lucky and
hit and 20 miss commercial methods Of
fifty years ago.
Animals In some ways are possessed
Of lots more sense than are men. For
instance, neither birds nor animals ever
fight with others of their kind for pos
session Of given territory or for a
supply of food. On the contrary, let
buzzard. a crow, a sparrow, a black
bird or, for that matter, any sort Of bird
or wild animal find q supply Of food,
and by some mysterious system Of
telspathy others are quickly Informed
Of the fact and always extended a
cordial welcome to the feast. Men
won't do this. Individually and col
lectively they will fight each other to
finish to retain selfish possession Of
their discovery. and this with their own
kind. Then, again, birds and animals
will never get so starved that they will
deliberately eat each other-they will
die first-but men are cannibals In such
q condition. II there were as much
brutal and useless strife and warfare
among birds and beasts as among the
human race, there would be no birds
or beasts. Again, the instinct OF wild
life is vastly superior in many ways
to mans best intelligence. A pigeon
will fly a thousand miles over an I'M
n. hA.. N