Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-28
A FARMERS VIEW
,EuRLElGH COUNTY FARMER
TAKES "a FALL OUT MER-
CHANTS WHO
KICK BECAUSE THE FORMER
PATRoNizEs CATALOGUE
HOUSES.

HOUSES.
Editor Tribune: The newspapers
and merchants are making big
roar because the farmers and some
others are sending away for some
things they need.
wish to say a few words on the
subject looked at from a farmers
standpoint.
Let us see how the home merchant
treats the farmer. Here are a few
cases which are fair samples.
farmer took a lot Of eggs to a store
keeper in Bismarck and was offered
8 cents per dozen for them in trade.
The merchant would make so per cent
on his goods, SO he was really Civ
ing the farmer cents cash.
The same farmer took lot of
dressed poultry to a merchant and
was told that such truck was not
wanted, as he, the merchant, had just
thrown away a barrel Of them, and
this was in winter when they would
keep.
Again, the farmer offered another
merchant a lot of dressed geese. The
merchant stuck his nose up to the
ceiling and walked away.
Another merchant offered a farmer
$50 for a big, fat four-year-old steer.
The farmer, being in desperate need
of more money at the time, butch
cred the steer himself, sold the meat
cheaper than it could be bought for
anywhere else in town, and cleared
$40 on the deal
Not long ago butcher, being out
of mutton, drove into the country
and contracted with sheep raiser
for number Of sheep to be deliv-5
cred at once, and the sheep raiser
was to receive a good price for them.
The sheep were taken to town and
then Mr.. Butcher said he had more
mutton than he knew what to do
with, but as a favor he would take
them at a lower price.
Such things are common, and Of
course the home merchant is a great
blessing to the farmer. 1t makes the
farmer love him and entities the mer-
chant to more of the farmers money.
| When the farmer sells his grain
at home to the elevator he gets beat
on the grade and weight. He must
ship his cattle, sheep and wool away
or get half price at home. If he
sends his cream to the creamery he
gets beat on weight and test. If he
churns butter he must sell it at a
low price, because he is not a IA
nous buttermaker, even if his butt
ter is the best on earth.
So, in short, the home merchant
| does nothing but skin the farmer
when he buys from him, skins the
farmer when he sells to him, and
then wants law to help skin the far
mer some more. You never saw a
merchant turn farmer, but you often
see a farmer turn merchant and be-
gin skinning his former neighbors.
Look at the merchants wife and
look at the farmers wife and see
the difference. The merchants wife
Lives in comfort and l,lxuries, has par
ties of which we see glowing ac-
counts in the newspapers. She can
Ego to church three times a week, 60
to every show or. concert that comes
4 to town. "a,
The farmers wife works hard six
teen or eighteen hours per day, and
4 six days in the week. She sometimes
gets five or six hours rest on Sun
day, sometimes less. She gets to Sum
day school five or six times year.
She visits her nearest neighbor ten
or twelve times per year. The farm
merchants tell us we have it so
easy!
i We are told we should trade with
the home merchant because he builds
! up the country. Does he? Let us
see who has made this country what
it is. II the mechant has made it
SO then why not buy the Sahara des-
ert, fill it with merchants and see
4 them make it a Garden Of Eden?
No, 1T is the farmer and no one
i else that has made it what it is, and
j what did the first ones have to en-
|dure? They worked and shaved, suf-
fered shardship and privations
(Which il recorded would make Val
ley Forge seem like a picnic) and
with courage that makes the hero
ism Of battlefields look like fifteen
cents. And now the home merchant
i gets a at because the farmer tries to
save money (by sending for his
STUFF to build himself q decent
house and barn and not live Id q
4 dugout or sod shack all his life and