The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1913-03-27
THE producer CARRIES
HIS BURDEN ALONE
The Time az Arrived When the Pro.
ducers Must Cooperate on Right
Principles and Conuct the organi.
zation Themselves.

Senator Wallin's we'll written arti-
Gle in last weeks issue of the Inde-
pendent furnishes much food for
thought and the Independent apprcci-
ates his endorsement of some of the
ideas expressed in our issue of March
18th, as Well as his fairness in criti-
cising other parts of the article The
Independent is especially pleased that
| Mr.. Wallin by his contribution gave
us an opportunity to comment further
on the producers position in the So
cial and industrial worId-as we see
| it.
To begin with, we desire to have
our readers understand, that when in
! our review of the Equity movement.
| for the sake Of illustration, we said
the producers constitute the founda-
ton of society, we did not in the
| least mean to convey the idea that We
consider the producers an inferior
class compared with people in The
upper stories, because every intelli-
gent person knows that is not the
case. History teaches us, for in
stance that most of our great and H.
lustrious men were born and raiseu
on the farm--"great men and tall
men" who will live in history for all
time to come and stand before the
world as the most conclusive proof
that the producers have for years been
triEuted to our material welfare, but
to the moral and intellectual uplift of
mankind as we'll.
And for that reason we believe that
the producers deserve more Of this
worldly goods and more comfort and
enjoyment than they now receive in
return for their contribution to soci.
ety. The Independent is not "ca-
lamity howler" by any means; we
have yet the same strong faith in the
ultimate triumph of the American
people. But it can not be denied
that the producers have for ears been
carrying too heavy a burden; that
the upper stories" of the social struc.
ture have been overloaded with people
who, through unjust legislation, have
been able to live high on the products
Of those below, who in turn have had
to struggle too hard and have even
heen compelled to deny themselves
and their families some of the neces-
saries OF life in order tc provide for
the more favored classes above.
While the farmers have been busy
from morning till night to break up
more acres ard raise more wheat and
corn by which to meet interest on
land loans and machine notes and to
keep the wolf from the door in gen.
eral, the manufacturers have elecred
their own servants to go to Washing
ton and make laws for us. And thru
the operation of these laws the men
higher up have been enabled to bleed
the producers i'll placing a high tax
on all machinery, tools and clothing
that the producers have had to buy.
The manufacturer has placed the bur.
den on the jolber, the jobber has
shifted it down on to the wholesaler,
the wholesaler to the retailer and the
retailer to the producer. Being at the
bottom of the ladder the struggling
producer had no one to shift the heavy
burden on TO, but had to carry it all
alone.
And while the farmers have been
busy hauling their crops to market
so as to raise the coin by which to
meet interest on the mortgage before
it was turned over to the attorney,
the big fnanciers in the east have had
their wires out and picked out their
most faithful representatives to go to
Washington to see to it that our COM
pllcated and 1n1qu1tous financial sys-
tenn would be continued and to pre-
vent the people from getting their
own medium Of exchange cred.
it's, or whatever the term may be-
direct from the governent, by which
a burden Of hundreds Of millions oe
dollars could be removed from the
shoulders Of the American producers.
Breaking up more acres and raising
more and more grain will hardly
bring relief; because We can no more
set aside the law Of supply ana de.
mand than we can repeal the law OF
gravitation. We believe In better
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