The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-02-28

| monopoly. True cooperative as
sociations based upon each for all
and all for each are the real, truD
| basis Of economies of industry anC
will win out in the near future
AS an example of true cooperative
association I will refer you Il
Seattle Co operative association.
bars nobody from trading a
it's stores; If you are q member
which fee is fifty cents admission
and you take out two shares o.
| $500 each, total amount, $1,000
you receive full dividends from the
profits of the association. II not q
member you will receive only hall
| the dividends, but will be permitted
| to trade. How is that instead o.
leaguism, which has not a particle
of economic cooperation? The unioT
paper in Kansas puts the Kibost
| upon the chain store proposal as ar
| unsafe fake" and If accomplished
it will be of short life. The Kansas
man is right. Study cooperation
before you plunge into the Townley
scheme.
A. o. LATsHAN.
Brinsmade, N. D.
To the Editor of The Forum:
These are troublous times and idle
hands should find enough to do. Our
President warns those Of us who
have not been called to the front, to
keep the home-fires burning. And
each and every one Of us has signed
the covenant to conserve. Whether
bucket Of coal, a loaf of bread, a
scrap of paper or a bit Of wooden, we
are learning the inestimable value of
trifes.
The pressure Of the pending crisis,
the focusing Of attention on things
across the sea, have combined to
obscure duties nearer home. Our
friends, the birds, have been among
the first to suffer. The forced neg
lect, the passion now abroad to slay,
and public Indifference due to ignor-
ance have already destroyed some
varieties.
Omitting the higher motives as
ethics, beauty, companionship, the
neglect and destruction of our birds
can lead only to economic ruin. We
give too little thought to the matter.
The birds are the farmers best
friends and despite all prejudices do
more to conserve the food-supplies OF
the nation than any other one fac
tor. To eliminate the birds upsets
natures order and can produce only
disaster.
To take a few Of many illustrations.
In Salt Lake City a magnificent
monument has been erected to the
Franklin gulls whose timely arrival
saved the people from a second raw
aging of the fields by hordes Of black
crickets and consequent famine. The
spotted sandpiper is death to noxious
insects. Six specimens examined
yielded 233 insects from stomach and
craw, OF which 81 were locusts. Quail
and grouse devour loads Of insects
wood freuuented by birds is a war
rant of clean garden the following
summer. From the stomach of q
single dove were taken 4016 weed
seeds. and from the stomach of an
other 1900 seeds. The stomachs Of
twenty-one quail yielded twenty-fiv
locusts each, leaf beetles, clover
leaf beetles, worms, cornhin bugs
and other similar pests. The wan
ton destruction of birds in the Gulf
states was followed by a boll-weevll
scourge the following season that
nearly destroyed the cotton crop. In
Virginia and North Carolina bob
whites devour 1S41 tons of weed
seed and $40 tons of insects Even
of the hawks there are only two or
three varieties that bother the hem
yard, and these two or three more
than make up in the loads Of rats,
heId-mice, moles, ETC., that they pick
up. And for the occasional chicken
picked up, we may make excuse that
even a hawk makes an occasional
mistake. And only lack Of time pre-
vents extending this list to columns.
1t Is high time that we took thought
Of this form of war waste, that we
our energies and helped to
tide our little farmer friends over the
present crisis. When hunters seek
their lives-the law fofbids it-let
as Danish the hunter. When storms
threaten and snow and ice prevent
food getting, let US fasten to building
Or tree a piece of suet that the birds
may live. Let us even leave a few
bushes that low-nesting birds may
have a place to build a home.
In the present crisis, lest destruction
creep in while we forget, let every
loyal North Dakotan lay hold and
help. Where every spear Of grass
and every blade is so vital, let us do
what every one can dO-help to save
The birds.
To their fellow citizens of North
Dakota the members Of the Audubon
Club makes their appeal, now espe-
.iaIly urgent, Save the Birds!
The Audubon society issues an ur-
gent call and will send information to
any desiring.
MRS. WALLACE N. STEARNS,
Fargo, n. ID. /
Acting Secretary.