Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-02-11
Want FARMS
T.. Continued
a. r. > IL. ~.
Northwestern Section Opposes
the Abolition Of Experimental
Stations.
Northwestern Section Opposes

800" Stations.
Is Williston, N. D., Feb. 1O-Farmers
Of the Northwestern section Of the
state are thoroughly aroused as the
result of the reported movement on
foot among the state legislators a
Bismarck to abOlshi the sub-sxperi-
ment stations and demonstration
farms being conducted under the d.
~rectfon of the State Agricultural Col
lege:
That any attempt to end or curtaii
the work of the Williston SUBJ
experiment station would be a monu-
mental mistake on the part of the
state legislature is the opinion Of
more than 80 per cent of the farmers
of Williams and adjoining counties.
May Recommend Abandonment.
There have been several intima-
tons that the work of the ~sub-experi-
ment stations might be abolished but
the first definite movement to that
end vas started in Bismarck during
the adjournment last week when the
Lathrop committee investigating the
state educational institution practlc-
ally decided to recommend the
abandonment Of all extension work on
the part OF the state experiment sta
ton. Reasons assigned for this radl-
cal move are the alleged excessive
cost. together with the assertion that
the farms are doing no good and are
not wanted by the farmers whom they
are supposed to benefit.
That Overhead Charge
The dispatch further states that the
committee has discovered in overhead
charge of from $14 to SIG against
each acre on the demonstration farms.
The 1913 report of the demonstration
farm work, the latest report which
has been published, shows that an
average overhead charge of $S.47 IA
charged against the $50 acres includ-
ed in the demonstration farms of tina:
year. The gross income from these
farms was $11.5S per acre. leaving
a net profit Of 81 per acre. The
overhead charge included labor OF
men and horses, use Of machinery and
interest on the land investment.
1t is true that few farmers of the
state are charging overhead expense
against their farms, but it is also
true that such charge should be made
on every farm in the state, and the
sooner the farmers as a class begin
to conduct thelir farms on this bust
nesslike basis the sooner they too
will be eliminating their improbable
venture and instead of mere wages
or actual losses, be abba to figure a
net profit on each. acre after taking
cut all expenses including their own
labor and the interest on their
money.
One Argument .Refute6
Another argument used against the
experiment station amclg the legisla-
tors at Bismarck is that the work is
not, used and not wanted by the farm
ers themselves. To test this senti-
ment as regards the Williston station
q score of farmers selected at ran
dom we're interviewed. With a single
exception these farmers asserted the
Williston Experiment farm has been
of vast assistance in helping them
meet their problems and that it's loss
would be a hard blow at their pro.
gress and welfare. The opinion Of a
score Of representatives farmers are
quoted in another column.
In discussing the local station,
which is the only one of which they
could speak with conviction and &C
tual knowledge, practically every far
mer interviewed admitted that he had
made less use o. the experiment work
than he might have. In the last two
years, however, since the adoption Of
the better farming movement in the
county, the experiment farm has as
sumed a great deal more Importance.
Put Ideas Into Use
Sometime ago in discussing this
very point Thomas p. Cooper, director
of the State Experiment station liken-
ed the relation of the county agri-
cultural agent to the Experiment sta
ton to the relation existing between
statesmen and the factory. The Ex-
pertinent station is the factory where
better farming methods are tried out
and proved. The county agricultural
agent is the salesman who carries
these ideas out to the farmer and
helps to improve his work under his
own local conditions.
1t is also admittedly true that the
Experiment farm does not pay il
dollars and cents profit is considered.
But it is not expected nor intended
that the farm should pay. No farmer
could make his land pay him a profit
if he cut it. up into innumerable
small feds from one-tenth acre and
upward for experimental purposes.
But TIT very work of observing The
results Of so many different kinds OF
seed under pany different methods
Of cultivation is the work which is
VALUABLE r. ne farmers of the state
and h." rssi:ting them to a knowledge
of the most profitable method pays
its cost manv times over.
That the WillistOu sub-station is
on work OF beneht to every
farmer and carrying it on far cheaper
than to individual farmer could do
it, is the belief of more than 80 per
cent of thu farmer; of this section,
if the views CT those interviewed are
representative CT the farm population
as a whcle.
PIONEER ANSWERS CALL.
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