The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1913-03-20
JOHN WALuN AND
THE MEN HIGHER Up
Prominent Farmer Believes There
) Should % q House Cleaning Not
Only IN Farmers soesty, But In
other Walks OF Life.


other Walks Of Life.
Editor independent:
read your article about the farln-
ing association and think your ad.
vice to farmers to organize or truth
and righteousness Is just right. Far.
mers' organizations built on those
foundations would be a blessing. not
only to farmers, but to society as a
whole. Your illustration in which
YOU likel the social structure to
building with the agricultural class
as a foundation, is good. note what
you say about no one thinking Of turn
ing the building over and placing the
foundation on TOP, and you quote
what happened in Sampso1's time
when the pillars which supported the
building were torn away. and the
building collapsed.
This suggests to me, however, tnat
q building can collapse for other iea
sons also. An architect in making
plans for building figures on the
foundation being able to carry Just
so much. No architect would place
a ten story building on a foundation
intended just for two story struc-
ture. II he did, he knows that the
foundation would crumble under the
burden and consequently the build
ing would collapse. I agree with you
that agriculture is the foundation OF
our social structure hut contend
that agriculture has been overloaded
with the rest Of society, not to the
extent that the building has collapsed
vet hut il the upper class which yo'
choose TO term the top Of the struc.
ture Keeps ON loading the farmer
dowa ~ the same ratio which has
been going on for the last Is years.
then there Is danger that the founda-
tioa will cralmble ana the building
collapse In the last 25 years. bill.
lionatses and milliona!res have been
growing up all over the country
Where have their billions come frcm
IL not from the producing class? In
this. I include all classes Of prodrc-
ers. The homesteader las been go
Ing ahead az civilization, even ahead
OF the railroads. He has broken up
the country, built homes aid raised
families. He has built the schools
ana the roads wherever there are any.
ana he has paid tha taxes to support
the institutions Of government. Fol
lowing IN the wake Of the homestead.
er have appeared what YOU choose to
term the upper structures Of the 90
cial fabric, all OF whom have como
with the cole object Of mailing money
easy and fast. Now let us be honest
and admit this because you know It
is true. TO say that they have sue
ceeded Z could point out men who
did not have dollar to their name
but today are rated as being worth
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Now let me say here that have 40
n out the situation. But what wealth
those mon have piled up must neces-
sarily have come from somewhere and
1t stands to reason that it has come
from those who have produced the
wealth. The fact Of the matter 10,
that some members Of the social
structure have been so busy in accam-
,tlating wealth, that they have en-
tirely forgotten the foundation. In
fact they have been greedy enough
to deyour the whole structure, founda-
tion and all. The cause Of our pres
ent social unrest can be traced to the
ono vice. named greed. A wise
builder who finds any weakness with
the foundation, will reinforce the
same. Our modern builders Of soct-
ETY. have paid too much attention to
the super structure Of the building
while the foundation has been over
looked. II you want to strengthen the
whole building, then reinforce foullda-
ton. We cannot expect that those on
top OF building will deliberately quit
overlooking u Of their own accord !.
They have good position and they
are going to stick a. long as we ali
low them to do so. For that reason,
IL has become matter Of necessity
for the farmers to organize to pro.
test themselves. But we must organ
ize on sane basis. We csnDot al
low Disbursements associations OF
boards Of trade to dictate to Us how
TO organize. Farmers 0rEanisaticns
must be Independent from other or
B ganixations. Let every farmer make
y s.r As. .nS~A - - ~ e. ~. ~N~,,.aa, -