Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1913-07-25
FARMER REBUKES
ONE WHO ESPOUSED
RANCHERS' CAUSE
Ross Chilson Lampoons Edwin A.
Henderson About Fact
Story"
TAKES FIGURES TO TASK
Recalls the Farms and Ranches of
Other Sections to Define
Terms.

There is a farmer living just outside
Oiympia-not rancher but real
farmer, he claims to be-who disa-
grees very strongly with some of the
statements contained in an article from
The pen of Edwin A. Henderson which
appeared in THE WASHINGTON STAND
ARD recently, discussing the question
raised by this paper: Are we farmers
or ranchers here in Thurston county?"
So this farmer-Ross Chilson by
name, man whom every farmer in
the county knows because of his long
residence in this section and his prom
inence in Grange work-sat down the
other day and wrote the editor of the
STANDARD just what he thought about
this farming and ranching business.
He lampoons Mr.. Henderson pretty
hard, as the appended letter will show,
and he brings out some new ideas on
local conditions, dropping a hint that
there is more he could tell If he wanted
tC
Perhaps he will one of these days. es.
pecially II some of you who read this
take time either to endorse what he
says or to dispute with him little as
the STANDARD would like for you to
do. for the STANDARD believes there is
room for a good deal of argument on
all sides of this question and that
much good would come from a gen.
.eral discussion Of it by the farmers
themselves. Here are Mr.. Chilson's
sentiments:
Editor Washington Standard:
Dear Sir: Not long ago my atten
tiOn was called to an article in your
paper from the pen of Edwin A. Hen
derson. Said article it seems was a
dictatiOn from another party whose
names does not appear in connection
with it.
This article proceeds to illustrate
that farmers are failure while ranch.
ers are success. For myself, l am not
"A native of Missouri, still there remain
many things that ! must be shown,
and this article of Mr.. Henderson's
from start to finish is quite revela-
ton to me in the art of farming or
ranching.
In my home in the Middle States the
term rancher was never used-they
were all farmers and many of them
were considered successful ones. My
idea was the term ranch was some
q {r} IN rop n o. nv
for grazing purposes, something on a
large scale, such as the horse and
cattle ranches of the West, the ranch
house, the ranch hands, round ups, !"
chuck wagons, cow boys, saddles, spurs
and all that sort of junk, while the
plain farmer was tiller of the soil.
However, our story has to deal with
the Thurston county farmer, rancher.
truck gardener, berry grower, milk
man, or whatever he cares to call him.
self, the man who occupies or culti-
Yates anywhere from five to 40 acres
of land adjacent to Olympia, the man
who resides somewhere between the
corner of Main and Fourth streets and
the Lord knows where-the man who
Is converting this wilderness of fir
stumps into garden of Eden and put
ting money in the bank; the man who
raises strawberries as large as hens
eggs and delivers them with the dew
fresh upon them," while his neighbors
are required to pick their berries all
day long in the boiling sun and sell
them to the association or the cannery
and take what they can get for them.
Mr.. Henderson, please tell US, who
Is this man? Who Is the man who Is
profiting by the market that the berry
association and the cannery Is Great.
ing for him by sending the surplus
fruit out of the country? Get stats
tics from these people as to the amount
OF crates shipped east and consumed
by the cannery for this season. 1t will
probably total something like 1900
crates. Imagine If you can man get
ting 50 per crate for his berries in
Olympia were this amount Of berries
dumped on the local market!
In Mr.. Hendersons article is this
statement: II lost two horses this
spring but have made the loss good
and more too on the difference l have
received already for my early berries
NOW right here let us do little more
Eguring. We assume that an up tc
cate "rancher" as this man styles him
SER would hardly own a team worth
less than $500 and since he says, "Ive
PUT my boy through high school, here
IS little problem for him. This diff
ference which he claims to have made
on his berries Is so cents per crate
HOW many crates of berries would he
De required to sell at profit of sc
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