Semi-weekly herald. [volume] (Durango, Colo.) 1907-1917, 1910-06-16
MINUTES OF DISTRICT UNION


ton Army hall at 1870 p. m. on Sat.
urday, June Sd.
President j. W. McDermo,t was alb
sent and c. F. De La Mater was
chosen to preside. Delegates from
cniy seven of the sixteen local unions
v ere present. The minutes OF the pre-
ceeding meeting were read and APP
proved
The committee on schools reported
that no more complaints about the
extra tax at the high school had been
| filed with it, and the committee ask
ed instructions about what to do about
recovering the $3.50 which it had
raid the school board TO have Lloyd
Locke reinstated in the high school,
after he had been excluded for non
payment of the extra tax.
The matter was discussed by the
delegates, but no instructions were
given the committee. Some of the
delegates thought the committee had
done all ii could do in the matter until
some other order is made by the school
board from which an appeal can be
taken, as more than thirty days had
expired sine the board excluded Lloyd
Locke
the secretary expressed the opinion
| That the board would not make an
other such order, as in all probability
| it would be reversed by the higher
school authorities, and therefore, that
| there is little danger that the board
will ever again try to collect the extra
tax from members of the farmers un.
| ion. Upon motion, however, the COM
mittee was retained with full power to
act, so 1t is still on guard, and deter.
mined to bring suit to recover the ST.
400 which the board unlawfully col
lected from farmers, as soon as one
of the victims of the extortion files
a proper complaint.
| The committee on cooperation then
reported that ii had not heard any
more from Mr.. James Duce, the gen
| tleman from Denver who at the last
meeting had made the proposition that
we do business through his chain OF
stores in cooperation with the Farm
ers' Cooperative and Education un
ion, and the Grange. The committee
reported that il had not yet had time
to go over in the Grand and Arkansas
valley to investigate the various or.
o,,t t,x,,
vited to cooperate, and on motion the
committee was ordered TO report at
the next regular meeting, and at the
same time to submit the draft of a set
of bylaws.
The secretary then read a letter
from Prof. Fl. NJ. Cottrell in which it
was stated that there is law on our
statute books that requires the coun
ty assessor to list all the crops every
year with the state board OF agricul
ture, but that the law had never been
carried out, for the reason that nc
provision had been made to pay the
assessor and other officers for doing the
work. The professor said that If this
law could be made operative, it would
By giving the farmers needed informa
ton about their markets, enable them
TO get fair prices, and in that and
other ways do them more good than
amy other one thing The secretary
hen offered a resolution calling upon
our legislators TO make this law effec
tive. But 1t was opposed by several
delegates, and after long discussion
it was withdrawn.
In discussing the resolution Dele,
gate McGuigan, as usual, led off with
long argument that a knowledge oi
supply and demand in the home mar
ket would do the farmers no good
and therefore he opposed both the en-
actment of such law and the reso
luton favoring 1t. On the other hand
Delegates Lee and De La Mater be
lieved that anything that would heir
the farmers to find out about sunni,
and demand would be a great aid te
them in marketing their crops, but to
| w VI diy icdi ust IL SHOulu collect
ed In secret and kept from the knowl
edge of spectators, and therefore they
did not believe crop statistics should
be secured through state agency.
Delegate Kristensen thought that
the reports given to the assessor b,
tho farmers would not be reliable be
cause under our present system agri
cul'tlal land is valued for taya.ion al
$lb an acre, while unimproved land
is assessed at only s125 an acre. and
therefore the farmers would have an
interest in listing as small an acre
age of crops as possible. He said they
would have the same kind OF an inter
est In listing their horses, cattle and
lother things, and therefore to make
the reports reliable we must first have