The twice-a-week Twin Falls times. (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1916-1918, 1917-08-28

ment contributing 100000 per year,
and the county commissioners con-
tributing S22O0.00 per year, the bal
ance being made up of a membership
fee of S1.O0 per member. In other
words this farm organization is fl
nanced and under the control of poll
tics. So much for the story in Idaho.
For several weeks past 1 have been
in correspondence with the president
of the state farm bureau, Mr.. ID. ID
Mckay, of Utah, in regard to the SUI
gar beet proposition. l have tried to
arrange for a joint meeting of the
various farm bureaus of Utah and Ida
no. 1t met with the approval of Mr.
Mckay and l thought that a meeting
would be brought about but for some
reason or other time has slipped on
and nothing has been done but learn
| ing last week by accident that there
was to be a meeting at the state house
in Utah | wired Mr.. Mckay and asked
| him about this meeting. He wired
I back that it did not meet with the ap-
prevail of the farm bureaus of the
state and advised against my coming.
1t seemed so out of joint with the let
tiers that ! had received from him
that ! became suspicious and decided
to attend that meeting. Several of the
Utah papers had called attention to
the fact that the meeting was not
farm bureau measure, so putting it
all together we could not help but be
suspicious, so suspicious, so Saturday
night | took the train for Utah, for
/ Salt Lake City, and as | passed
through Rupert, Mr.. Frank Shearer, of
A Tr,1 Al
sen, vice president of the Farm Blu
/ reau at Rupert, got on the train. We
| happened to come together and we
found that we had all had about the
( same suspicion and that we had decid-
ed to go down and investigate the sit
uation. In the state house no one
seemed to know about the meeting.
Everyone tried to be belittling it, stat
ing it was not Farm Bureau meet
ing, but at o'clock in the house of
representatives the farmers began to
assemble and by o'clock the hall and
| gallery were packed with farmers.
Beet farmers, those vitality interested
in the beet industry. AS an individual
delegate from Idaho they asked me to
give a talk at that meeting. For an
hour l had the floor and [ opened
everything up to broad daylight as l
saw it from the State of Idaho. That
started the ball rolling. Other dele
gates from other counties in the State
of Utah followed and they did the
same thing with their problems in
Utah. The press bureau were pres
ent at that meeting but you will see
very little in the paper in regard to
it. to sentiments expressed and things
exposed in that meeting. The broad
statement was made repeatedly by
men prominent in their church, that
the sugar company were trying to
strangle this farm bureau move not
only in the State of Utah but in the
State of Idaho. They are trying TO
strangle it by controlling the very fl
nances of their existence.
We all know that the general i'm
preston is that the sugar industry in
the two states was originally started
as a church movement. In the early
day the pioneer Mormons of the State
of Utah took up a collection and start
ed the beet sugar industry. At that
1 time they were a little band of pio
neers. They held very closely to-
gether and they fostered the industry
but as it became apparent that it was
good industry and the markings of a
big thing several men crept into it's
management. The original stockhold-
ers were quietly bought out and the
sugar industry has passed into the
hands of a few men.
The situation was thoroughly dis
cussed at the meeting last Saturday
and l wish to say that the majority
at that meeting belonged to the Nor
mon faith. | was perhaps one of tho
few who happened to be an outsider
And the good Mormon people who as
sembled at that time denied in a most
emphatic way the statement that the
sugar company was the church. AS
one bishop stated they wanted the
public at large to thoroughly under
stand that this beet controversy is
not a fight against the church. He
stated that it was damnable for these
men to fly to the cover of the church
any time anyone started an opposi-
ton to the sugar company. Well, af-
ter the thing had been very well
thrashed over the intermountain asso-
citation of beet growers was perfected
, Some twenty-five directors being chos-
en- by the assembly. l being selected
1 ! 10 represent lWlu rails COUNTY Allel
the general meeting the board of di-
rectors met and organized and they
chose me vice president. Realizing
that funds were the sinews of war tn,
constitution provides that each mem
Der shall pay a fee of $500 into thii
/ organization to carry on the organi
cation work and each man who raise.
, sugar beets signs and agrees to Civ
as high as twenty cents a ton for eacl
I ton of beets he raises if it is neces
l sary to carry on the organization
i Many beet growers signed such an af
= fidavit and I believe we have the be
i ginning of an organization that will
r handle the sugar company when tn
time comes, but it seems too bad t
let these extra organizations be form
. ed when all such vital problems coul
y be handled through the Farm Bureau
il proper. 1t was felt in Utah and W
+ feel it the same here that our govern
i ment is trying to reach out and hel