Morris tribune., 1917-09-14
Senator Nelson and the Farmer


At the Non-Partisan League pow
WOW at Alexandria last week Mon
day, Senator Knute Nelson was
roundly abused for not being friend
of the farmer, and strange to say,
the crowd cheered to the echo the
untruthful charges made against the
Nestor of Minnesota public men.
The-farmers of Minnesota have al
ways voted almost solidly for Knute
Nelson and will next year again re-
turn him to the United States sem
ate if he so desires, and even those
who cheered the speakers last Mon
day would vote for him tomorrow if
opportunity offered. The farmers
have faith in Knute Nelson because
they know he stands high in the
councils Of the nation, because he
has been their staunch friend and
understands their problems. In a
speech which he made on the floor
of the senate in July, he said
II will disabuse the Senator's mind
on that point We hear much said
about how the farmers are making
money. There is not a farmer who
within the last two years has made
a profit on farming, if you figure it
as the manufacturers do. l will tell
you how the farmer gets along.
Take the average farmer with $50
to 200 acres of land in our country.
How does he get along? He has
family. His daughters help to do the
kitchen work. In many instances,
among our farmers, they help to do
the milking and to feed the calves.
The boys work in the field. Neither
the farmers daughters nor the farm
er's sons get any wages. They get
their boarding and clothing, and it
may be little extra change for
Fourth of July celebration or some
thing of that kind. So, at the end of
the year, because he has been re-
lieved of the Onus of paying for that
labor, the labor of his daughters and
the labor of his sons, and has had
nothing but board and clothing to
furnish them, his account shows
little on the credit side But if you
should figure it in the way the manu-
facturers do, overhead charges, de-
probation, interest, and all that, all
those extra touches that we heard
of when a tariff bill is up, there is
not farmer in this broad land who
ever makes a penny profit.
Ordinarily there is no profit to
the farmer. The only profit is in a
new part of the country where he
takes wild land or partly improved
land which he gets at a low price
and by" the efforts of himself and
family makes of it a good tillabIe
farm, when, of course, it's price goes
up. The land only cost him SIS to
$40 an acre, and in the course of rs
or 80 years by the hard work of him
self, his wife, and his children that
land may be worth $50 or 500 an
acre. But he can show no bank &C
count, though he may have more
stock on his farm; he may have
more grain in the granary; he may
have few more cattle, few more
horses, and a few better buildings.
He probably started with a mere
lumber or log shack. He has a little
better buildings, a better barn, and
all that, and his farm has increased
in value; but so far as any profit is
concerned, profit in the way manu-
facturers and commercial men count
it, the farmer has not anything of the
kind. I speak now from dear, per-
sonal experience.
speaking about the price of
wheat, to my mind under present
conditions the farmer can not afford
to sell sound, good wheat, No. 1
wheat, at less than 50 a bushel And
why? Because of the wages he has
to pay, the machinery, the agricul-
tural implements, and the Irvine he
has to buy. The prices he has to pay
have more than doubled within the
last 8 or 10 years A few years ago
he could hire a boy on a farm for
five or six months for some $40 to
SIS and board and washing. He has
to pay now from $50 to $50 month
and board and washing.
THAT, however, is not ALL The
price Of agricultural implements has
gone up immensely within the last
two or three years. You talk about
depreciation. The manufacturers
have technical system. Whether
their plant depreciates or not in fact,
they figure out so much depreciation
every year. AS a matter Of fact, the