Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-01-31

North Dakota is a doomed state. II
twenty years it will revert to the Indian
and the buffalo. We must be movifDl
! on 3
This was tho opinion Of one of the oil
| settlers of the Red River Valley, AM
| there was good reason for his pessimism
Two bad years had given him q fit OF thu
blues. but that was not his only cause
of lament, for the plains farmers have
learned to expect about two lean years
in every ten. The cold, hard fact stared
him in the face that since 1880, when
the Dakota prairies were first plowcd'
the average yield per acre Of wheat had
been steadily and ~undeniably decreasing
According to the official statistics, the
average yield Of wheat per acre In
North Dakota from 1856 to 1895 was 14.5
bushels; from 1896 to 1905, 1872 bushels;
from 1906 to 1910, 12 bushels. In 1911 1t
dropped TO about . bushels, and this in
q state that ought to he growing IS bu-
,shcls at the very least. The soil. at first
so rich and m~iraculonsly responsive, had
ptSoI1IS A"AN - =
fertility was giving out.
The year Of 1910 vas dry. In the sum-
mer Of 1911, when crops again looked
bad, Mr.. A.. Il. Rogers, a Minneapolis
man with large lumber interests through
out North Dakota, decided that some
thing must be done to improve farming
conditions and prevent a constant recur-
renee of bad years. and the consequent
impairment Of the value Of every invest
ment in the state.
MIR. Rogers, who had been, reading in
Seaman \. Knapp in teaching farmers
how to get over the ."one-crop" idea
low to- diversity their crops and improve
the yierd-saw the close parallel between
the grain country of North Dakota and
the cotton country Of the South. Both
were "one-crop'' communities. In spite
of its hundred million dollars worth Of
wheat M its huge crops Of oats, barley
and flax, North Dakota had only $4,000
people in it's whole 10000 square miles
of area. It's farmers were sticking to
the small-grain crops that require ire
mendous acreage to be profitable and
therefore means a sparse population and
meagre business. These crops also put
upon the soil a strain which even the
most fertile lands cannot endure.
Nj. Rogers and the Remedy
DR.. knapp's plan Of taking practical
information to the farmers on their own
land appealed to Mr.. Rogers as the rem
edy for the situation in North Dakota.
A ftov. ta1kirn ~ nv,or ,,,ikh Tho 1fRo;nlc
of the Northern Pacific and the $500
line he suggested 1T to Mr.. p. l.. Howe,
who also has large lumber and elevator
interests in the Northwest.
Mr.. Howe answered with one charac.
teristicayy American proposal. Lets
call a convention and talk it up," he said.
Mr.. Rogers responded with another,
How much money will. you give?' 4
conventions all right for talk, but II you
want to get anything lone the way to do
1t is to 60 ahead and dc. 1t.
That was the beginning Of the Better
Farming Association OF North Dakota"
Mr.. Rogers and Mr.. Howe called a meet
ing Of the bankers Of North Dakota. the
result Of which was q campaign to raise
money. under the leadership Of Mr.. f.
J. Weiser. president Of the First National
Bank Of Fargo.
Mr.. Weiser expressed the attitude of
these bankers when he said: r.
We now have deposits OF, So, 900, 900 in
this bank. OF late they have not been
growing. We need Is 1000, 900 to do bust
ness as we wishSto and. we shall never
get it if farming conditions don't i'm
prove. That's why I'm in this thing
Mr.. Rogers and Mr.. Howe called on
Mr.. James j., Hill and asked him what
he thought Of their idea. Mr.. Hill reach
cd Into pigeonhole in his desk and
pulled out q paper which he was to
read at 4 bankers convention in ILL.,
nois.
There is your proposition and the
Way that you want to do your work. he
said. You can be sure Of my support,
but o will find that this work will be
extremely expensive n that it will re-
quire 4 long time. You gentlemen with
the interest which you have are under
taking a responsibility larger thar YOU
imagine and one which, while in every
way worthy, you must recognize is more
than, as business men, you have a right
to assume" ~
He advised them to raise, as much
money as possible, and he headed the
list with u subscription for the Great
Northern railroad Of $1,000 a year for
three years.
The 800" line and the Northern Pa
cifc each duplicated the Great North
ern's subscription. All the big banks
in Minnesota contributed. Implement
dealers associations and jobbers whose
business interests are largely with the
farmers also helped So did the elevator
interests, the lumber dealers, and the
representatives Of the milling industry.
In a few weeks subscriptions Of $43, 900
q year for three years had been obtain
ed. Mr.. Weiser@was elected president
of the association. Mr.. Howe first Vice:
president. and Mr.. Rogers chairman OF
the executive committee. Then they,
went to the Minnesota State A%gricult,u-
raj college and demanded the name of
the very best man in the whole North
west to take over the active management
of the work.
Tom Cooper
The man you want is Tom Cooper
said Dean Woods. I'VE don't want to
lose him. but II! looks i;as though you
have a bigger job for him than we have 81
Mr.. Cooper had teen assistant agricur-
turist in::clarge Of farm management and
demonstration work for the, Agricultural
college and was n Of the experts on
cost Of production for the United States
Department OF Agriculture. He Is some