The Dickinson press., 1915-09-11

SNCIy ySNH W NuD oIUAtIdTy m6-
of the market prices?
Then how can sensible men. many Of
whom suffer loss by reason of this
robbery of the farmer, try to blind
and others by specioris
argument and glittering generaliza-
ton.
Mr.. Cryne of Gladstone and the
others cite certain conspicuous ex-
amples of big farmers, who have big
capital to operate with and yet as a
general thing If these same big farm
ers had to come up to the corporation
tests as to resources and Liabilities,
many Of them would be found to be
insolvent. A mighty small percent
age of the farmers Of the state would
be able to run the gauntlet of the SOL
vency test Of the ordinary corporation.
The records will bear out this state
ment. A shamefully small percentage
of the men who homesteaded land in
this state during the past ten years
now own their homesteads. The
title to the greater part Of it has been
transferred to the mortgage. The
average county in the west half of
the state can only boast Of a percent
age of farmers who actually own the
land they operate, ranging from 20
per cent to SO per cent. That is. that
from so per cent to rs per cent of the
land in the average county in this
section of the state is owned by resi-
dent and nonresident capitalists:
Take the Red River Valley, world
famed as the great bread basket of
America, probably one of the most
productive sections in the known
world. Look at the title records and
what will you find? You will find
that in a majority of cases the big
bonanza farms and the small farms
are mortgaged to the hilt because in
spite of good crops the farms have
not returned a profit to their owners.
You will have to go over the state
with a fine tooth comb to find a farm
er who has made a profit from the
actual operation of his land, over a
period of say ten years. Many have
made money and some few have be-
come comparatively well off but from
the increase in the land values in
stead of the operation of the farms.
Is the fertility of the land to blame
for this? Most ~assuredly not. Are
the men to blame? No, as a class
they are the most Industrious and
economical Of any other class in the
state.
Is it wise to gloss over facts and,
like the ostrich, hide u head in the
sand so we cannot see the facts? /
say the only man who is entitled to
be called a booster for his state to-
day is the man who looks these facts
in the face and has the courage to
try to bring about economic condi-
tons which will speedily wipe out
those hideous facts. The so-calied
boosters who shut their eyes to actual
conditions and "holler" are usually
boosters on a commission basis. /
will voluntarily absolve my old friend,
Foley of Medora, from any suspicion
of commission basis optimism. He
simply has not taken the facts into
consideration in forming his conclus-
ions. The spectacle, however, of
Messrs. Foley and Orchard coming to
the defense of the slope as a farming
country is mi I am most pleased to
note. It is not so very long ago that
their eulogy of the Slope as a farm
ing country would have brought down
on their heads swift condemnation
from their neighbors and friends. /
remember that in the last county CAM
paign in which I figured in Billings
county as the editor of the Billings
County Herald at Medora I was pun
ished by the stockmen with almost
complete o~stracism for the crime OF
asking for a square deal as between
the old-timers and the newcomers
It may seem somewhat in the nature
of a joke now but it was no joke tc
me at that time, for I had lived there
long enough to discover the big heart
edness under the rough exterior 81
those fellows and I had learned Il
have a sincere regard for many o.
them.
Very respectfully,
GEORGE L. NELSON
~
E. A. Meyer in Co-Operator's Herald
Editors note-Comment on tn.
following reply will be found in tn
editorial columns"
It seems as if my pen picture o.
rural conditions in the western par
of the state as printed in last week.
Herald has got under the hide Of Thu
Forums editor, to the extent that h
copied it in part in an editorial. III
This a True Picture? ?" Why shoult
I pen a picture that is a lie? VIVA
would be my motive, what point woult
be gained for the cause by telling
a lie, that hundreds, yes Thousands
would nail as false? No Mr.. Forum
man. There is no movement on t.
array class against class. Farmel
against city man Is you infer. Blu
there is a big movement on to elimi
nate the needless class of exploiter'
between the farmer and useful cit!
men who render service to the farmer
who feeds all the people, even the edi
tor of a gang paper like The Forum