Morris tribune., 1909-10-09
THE FARMER FARMED..
They Should Cooperate for
Their Own Protection.

A prosperous old farmer, anxious
for the welfare of his neighbors and
| desirous that they should profit by
the methods which brought him snc-
1 cess found, at he said, that getting
them to adopt them was sslike drag
/ ging a cat by the tail over the carpet
! to her milk. Every claw was out to
prevent progress, even if the cat
drank the milk after she got there's"
/ Writing to the editor of his farm pa
per about his failure to interest his
neighbors in the improvements he
adopted, he says: '
s'I have often wondered why this
strange conservatism existed among
farmers, and / have concluded that it
is because, as class, they are prone
to be very jealous of each other. They
do not like it when a fellow farmer
gets ahead of them, does better and
makes more money than they do in
the same line of farming. For this
treason they are prejudiced against
following his methods.
ssI have known q successful farmer
to adopt certain line of action that
brought him greatly increased profit,
while his neighbors stubbornly held
off for ten years before they followed
his example. Those that were the
most friendly with him were the first
to be Influenced by his example. What
do you think of such things? 1t is
not a reproach to us as class that
we act SO like children in these
Ithings?" ~
i Evidently the editor, who had also
his experiences, had noted the same
thing as his comment will show:
/ "There is plenty of food for reflec-
ton in this old mans remarks. It is
hard to get farmers to cooperate with
one another; hard for them to stand
together in matters of legislation;
hard to get them to do what the trusts
and corporations are mighty glad to
do in the way of working together for
their own protection. Have the men
who run the trusts and corporations a
different human nature from the farm
ers, or it is because they are more
shrewd and intelligent in working to-
gether to common end?"
Those who farm the farmers don't
go about their business that way, as
one may readily learn by observation
here in Minnesota. Although numer-
ically absurdly inferior, corporations
and others to whose advantage it is,
have by making common cause secur-
ed practical control of the States
Ipolitical machinery. They dictate
nominations, capture legislatures and
Econtrol the administration while farm
4 ers and those whose interest is identi-
cal with and bound up in the welfare
and progress of the agricultural popu-
lation, failing to act in concert, are
| deprived of their proper representa-
tion and permit their proper powers
and authority to be usurped. The re-
suit is seen in national and State Leg
islation designed to benefit the few at
the expense of the many, and the fall
ure of measures which would benefit
the State at large. The plain people
of the State will never get what's
! coming to them until they learn the
necessity of intelligent cooperation.
IF the rural population worked togeth-
er to advance their own interests the
/ country towns would soon in the mat
ter of transportation be ON an equal
footing with the large cities; foreign
corporations would not be permitted
to divest the State of its natural heri-
tage without making any adequate
| return; the vast accumulations of
| wealth at the centers of population
would not long be practically untaxed;
rural developments would be encour-
aged, and Jaws enacted which would
enable the country to protect itself
against the crime, debauchery, power
| ty and misery which follow in the
wake of traffic promulgated and en-
couraged solely for the profit of the
most conscienceless of the corpora
tions in the combine. The people need
to realize that they are the real source
of power and learn that they can only
exercise it by cooperating intelli-
gently to that end d-Northfield News.
More Exclusive In Philadelphia.
The story is told Of an elderly wo-
man rnanlhor of the .sinnor circla,,