The Dickinson press., 1915-09-04
WHAT f, A, MEYER SAID
ABOUT LOCAL CONDITION
Continued from page y

This statement has drawn two
answers. Both are reproduced in this
issue. One of them will be found on
an inside page. 1t is written by J.
w. Foley of Medora, father of the
we'll known North Dakota poet of that
name. The other is reproduced be-
low. 1t is written by John Orchard,
formerly secretary of the Fargo
| Young Mems Christian association,
now Secretary of the Dickinson Com
mercial Club. Read them both care
fully. Mr.. Orchard says:
GLOW are We blind
Ye treaders down of cities, we that
cast
Temples of Desolation, and lay waste
Tombs, the untrodden sanctuaries
where lie
The ancient dead, yoursel yes soon to
die"
So said "Poseiden" in vigorous, con-
vincing language to the traducers of
old, and in no less vigorous terms
would we denounce the SANDER of
that high minded, truth seeker ? in
his =" statement as reported in The
Forum Of Saturday, regarding the
scenes Of seeming desolation which
he managed to %conjure in his cob
webbed brain as to the pitiable cor
dition Of the counties in the western
part of North Dakota.
Because Stark county has been de-
famed, and the fair name Of Dickin-
| son slandered by this traducer, and
because Of the charge that this city
is an overbearing ~aristrocracy, fat
tening itself upon the down trodden
| condition of the poor farmers, upon
which they place the burden of "mak-
| ing bricks without straw" the writer,
who is the secretary of the Dickin-
son Commercial Club, begs to reply,
giving the city the "Queen of the
Prairies" it's proper place in the
eyes of the people of North Dakota,
and denouncing the writer in question,
his place as a truth seeker.
When Commissioner Henry of pub
lie lands held his public auction in
Stark county some two months since,
there were nearly 500 of the neighbor-
ing farmers on hand, and the result
will show whether these were down
trodden, hut dwelling, sod living til
lers of the soil or whether their in
dependence gives the lie to the cham
pion Of the Equity agitator.
Cash payments were demanded in
every sale, and whilst the would-be
money was at hand for any amount
for loans, yet there was scarce a
man who bought but that drew his
personal check, for lands selling as
high as $50 per acre and the conf.
missioner stated that this was the
most successful sale that he had held
It will be seen that these same
squalid, worn out, dilapidated bunch
of agriculturalists stood ready with
money in their jeans to make good
every purchase made.
Let this traducer take a fifty mile
trip by automobile east, west, north,
south from this city, and the whirl of
the binder, the splendid teams Of
horses and the beaming faces of these
same tillers of the soil, will shame
the slanderer, if shame is his.
Ask the three National banks Of
Dickinson who it is that comprise the
larger body of the depositors, and the
answer is that out of every four,
three are tillers of Stark county lands.
Go to the court house of this
county, examine the records, picking
out the mortgages Of five or ten
years ago, and the word Cancelled"
or "paid" is written against nearly
every one Of these.
Twenty years since the German,
Bohemian, Hungarian filed on their
homesteads; today the majority own
800 to GAO acres each.
Pass through the towns of Belfeld,
Zenith, South Heart, Dickinson, Glad
stone, Taylor, R~ichardton and Ante
lope on the N. P. railway, thcn count
the elevators and ask are these t n
signs of a sod living, down trodden
people,? |
Examine the books of these same
elevators for last years shipment OF
grain, and the average price Of $1.25
shows whether grain had to be sacrl-
feed because of poverty.
Pay a visit to the automobile deal
ers of Dickinson, ask them who are
their best customers for their road.
sters, and the reply is that they sell
two-thirds of their autos to the
farmers.
Oh yes it is easy to make state
ments but facts are truer than nc
ton, and the secretary of the Dickin-
son Commercial Club dares to con-
front these and a thousand other
facts to prove the contrary to the de
famer of the county Of Stark and the
city of Dickinson.
Col. J. w. Foley's Sound Reasoning
In dealing with the Meyers letter,
Col. James w. Foley Of Medora
brings out, among others, the follow
ing strong points:
It is a most difficult matter to com
mence at the top of the ladder. 1t ap-
pears to me the better way to COM
mence at the bottom and make the
ascent rung by rung. Those who CONF
mence at the top generally fall.
In the year 1890, according to the
U. S. census reports, there were, !. IN
what is now Billings, Golden Valley
and Slope counties, only ITO .inhabi-
tants. These three counties contain
4.I,, ooor1xy On mn norcons and IN