The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-01-14
(sy W. D. oRAvEs.)

Tn0 recent COnVlctlOn ana 1mprtSOn-
ment. for fraudulent use Of the mails,
Of man who has beens nationally
prominent in the organization OF farm
ers, while 1t in no way reflects upon
or counts against such organizations,
does serve to focus attention on one
Of their weak points. and will doubt
less help to correct 1t. 1t IL not al
ways the worst men who fall in the
clutches Of the law: nor are the bad
all bad. Men who PROFOUND great and
good ideas sometimes err in other
things; and the fact that a man has
committed a crime does not in any
way lessen the value of the good
ideas he has promulgated. Judge this
man. IL you viii. as you will; but it
would be distinctly unfair to hold any
farm organization responsible for his
crinajnality.
The ideas In regard to farm organ
ization which he has advocated Il do
not know in how far they are original
with him) have been tried and found
good. The manner Of man he is has
no bearing upon the case except in
so far as we may be able to learn
from his mistakes: but the possibility
occurs to some of us that he may
have devoted himself to work for farm
ers in good faith until starvation
| stared him in the face and drove him
to crime. 1t certainly seems quite
probable that he learned from his work
among farmers that an offer OF some
thing free" Is what will bring them
on the run. His free use of the word
free" seems to have been what got
him into trouble; and it is exactly
that. and not the basic. ideas. which
has ,been n weak feature in the or
ganization he fathered.
J Something for Nothing"
Farmers are learning better now;
but. in the early days of these or
CARNATIONS they were largely recruited
by organizers who represented that
they could be carried on without cost
The hope of getting something fol-
nothing brought recruits rapidly and
easily; men who let go their initiation
fees reluctantly, it is true, but appar-
emily with the idea that they would
without further effort or expense or
their part, draw a pension forever
after. These men, who relieved the
tedium of their waiting by an occa.
sional inquiry as to where their none,
went to, formed a large percentage OF
the membership: and the only pur.
pose they served was to weary those
who had joined in a truly cooperative
spirit. If this man was jailed for q
too free use Of the word "free," az
seems to be the case, then no more
just sentence was ever pronounced b,
any court. Men have been hung, ant
justly hung, for less serious offenses
l know little of this man, personally
and care less; but some of the idea.
that he advocated were good. Some OF
his ways and methods were good; and
II his conviction and Imprisonment
does just little bit toward the elimi
nation of the word free" and of Tho
something for nothing" idea .fron
farm organization work, his life will
have served a good purpose. 1t nigh,
be argued. with considerable justice
that the man who uses free as q
bait is no worse than the sucker who
rises to that bait; but that is neither
here nor there. Both kinds exist In
all classes of society; and no farmer.
Organization is without them. The
free" idea exists in all of us, while
hope springs eternal in the human
breast" that we will some day &c,
something for nothing: but we have
got to thrust that aside before we car
accomplish anything really worth
while, in cooperative way.
The Mail. Order Evil.
1t is this looking for something
free" that causes us to push aside tn,
neighbor who wants to change work!
with us as we rush to the mail box t,