Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-05-13
CONGRESSMAN HLGES0N WAS ACCORDED HONOR
Of OPENING BATTLE FOR REPUBLICANS in AN
ATTACK ON THE DEMOCRATIC TARIFF MEASURE

gress he makes the following significant
statement on this subject:
"Only one-half the land in private
ownership is now titled. Tha tillage
does not produce one half what the land
might be made to yield without losing
an atom of its fertility.
In p:ollt we are satisfied with n small
yield at the expense of the most rapid
soil deterioration. We are satisfied with
a national annual average product of
$l1 IS per ere at the cost Of 4 diminished
annual return from the same fields when
times that sum.
An Industrious. fairly intelligent. and
exceedingly comfortable agricultural com
munity can raise from the soil food
enough for the needs of 49O persons to
the square mile. Adopting that ratio,
the Az, i9S, 1877 acres of improved farm
lands in the United States on the date
of the last official report-an area ma
terially enlarged by the present time
would support in comfort $780, 05 pr"-
pie, enabling them 1t the same time I"
raise considerable food for export and
to engage in necessary manufacturing
cmploynltnts. Applying the same ratio
to the entire acreage OF farm lands with.
in the United States. both improved and
u%nimprOved, which was at the same
date 3S.I?l,17 the population lndicat-
ed as able to live with comfort and pros
perily on the actually existing agrictl-
lurnl area Of this country, under an in
telligcnt system and Il fairly competent
but by no means highly scientific method
of agriculture rises to G42, ol6, S23.
If this statement that our farmers can
and eventually will support Il popula-
ton Of about 60. 900. 900 people, is cor
rect-and TO intelligent man who has
given the subject careful and serious
study will deny that it is at least APP
proXimately rorrect-and if it Is, then
the statement that our farmers cannot
now abundantly support our present p"p-
seem as if it could only be made by
drivelinE idiots or by men who would
rather venture Il guess on any subject
than to give it careful and serious study.
Next to Mr.. Hill, our greatest expert
on agricultural products and poSSihili-
ties, is another big railroad man. Mr..
l.. +. Yoakum. In an address before
the Farm Credits Conference in Chicago,
on April 8, ON 'ltrlati0nS OF the Govern
mrnl. Agriculture and the railroads and
! I '''i MS WI WV wa W Nv
said:
agriculture and transportation have
laid the foundation which has made
this the greatest and most powerful ma
ton in the world. They are the biggest
factors in Americas growth.
"There are now not more than 1000
miles of new railroad under construction.
1t would require the construction of 1G3,-
600 miles of additional railroad to furn-
ish the same transportation facilities
vas nf tho NtSCiScinnj 1jInI nc fhpTtl
are east Of it, on the basis of area. The
great area Of rich country cannot grow
as it should N 1000 miles per mum of
newly built railroads.
Mr.. YOakum said that he believed in
the reimbursement Of the tariff but de-
clared that If Congress Shouid wipe out
the entire tariff on every article that is
brought into this country on last years
collections it would only amount to $685.
600, 900, while the waste which falls up
OF the farmers of the nation means an
annual los Of over five times the amount
collected by our revenue collectors. In
other words, the annual waste on our
farms, caused by insufficient transport
products, and by our present absurd sys-
TEN of distribution, is greater than the
amount paid by all our people yearly
for potatoes. flour, boots and shoes. and
wooden goods of all kinds. If the farm
crS and the consumers of their products
could divide this loss between them, it
would go Il long way TOWARD solving the
cost of living for both. but to make
this possible would require the highest
kind of craftsmanship plus patient and
ducts of any great industry and throw
them into the free list requires neither
Now, let us Examine the other con-
%tcnti"n, namely, that the farmer and
sDonsiblc for the high cost of living
1t matters little where we begin to let
us take potatoes first. You have put
potatoes on the free list. why" You
say because the poor. people have to pay
from S1.oO to $50 per bushcl for this
necessity, n that is more than they
can afford. grant you that this is true.
but do you know that there are en0rm-
Gus quantities of potatoes rotting in the
fields almost every year because they
are so cheap that they will not pay the
cost of getting them to the consumer?
Do you know that the farmers of North
Dakota alone would be delighted to con-
tract with the government or n other
responsible party to supply all the pota-
tees that can be, consumed by the whole
the farm? And the finest potatoes in
the world at that. Now, is not that
cheap enough? admit that the consum-
err has to pay from 400 to 600 per cent
for them, but why should you punish
the farmer for that? He is not to blame.
And if you are so ignorant that you can
not determine the cause of the enormous
and unjustifiable increase in the price
of farm products between the farmer
n the consumer, or If you are so in
that you cannot remedy the
wrong. you ought at least to ave dec
ency and manhood enough not to try,
convict and sentence our farmers with
out a hearing and without investigation
Just to furnish politicar capital for some
or the democratic statesmen who came
from the cities and congested centers of
our country and whose constituents, if
this bill becomes a law, will soon be-
come co-suffcrers with the farmers.
have Just visited the markets of this
CITY for the purpose of finding out what
the consumer has to pay for farm pro-
ducts and how much prices are increased
over what the farmers receive. l will
mere insert a table in the record giving
the facts IND figures in detail: