The Tomahawk. [volume] (White Earth, Becker County, Minn.) 1903-192?, 1918-03-07
BIG FARM OWNERS
WANT C00L|E HELP
Californian Says Absentee Land
lords Seek Chinese To Work
Land.

The great speculative landlords OF
this country are looking for Chinese
labor to run their farms, workers
weak in the head but strong in the
knees" according to Prof. Elwood
Mead, University of California, who
addressed the American association
on the condition Of the American
farmer. He urged the elimination Of
the landowner who does not work
his land but exploits those who do
work it for him.
What Prof. Mead said goes far to
explain why we have the I. w. w.,
why less than half the cultivated land
IN the United States is being used;
why opportunity ON the land is cut off
to all save the rich; why people
crowd together in cities and work for
whatever wages the employing cor
porations please to give them; why
there is an agitation on foot for tho
importation of Chinese coolies.
inflated Farm Values.
Prof. Mead's paper in part, follows:
Little or nothing has been done to
Lessen the hardships or risks of pto'
ncer life or to protect cultivators from
being exploited by speculative land
owners. Only a small fraction of the
public land was transferred directly
to cultivators. Nearly threefourths
was sold to spectators. or granted to
corporations and states which, in turn,
sold mainly to spectators. The re-
suit has been a costly, wasteful MI
gratory settlement. The nation has
been exploited rather than developed.
Great landed estates have been Great
ed and ruinously inflated land prices
now prevail.
The consequences Of this careless.
short-sighted, unsocial policy are COM
ing home to roost. We are beginning
ia realize that the fortunes made IN
land speculation come mainly from
the pockets Of the poor; that our land
policy is not creating an economic
democracy, but the reverse; that in.
flated prices of unimproved land are
like the watered stock of q corpora.
tion-not an evidence Of prosperity,
but an instrument for its taxation.
On an average, farming lands of the
United States sell for nearly three
times as much as they did in the open
ing year of. this century. In 1900
tho average price was SIS an acre.
In 1915 it was estimated, by the United
States department of agriculture to be
moro than SIS an acre. This increase
in the cost of land is accompanied by
q corresponding increase in the cost
of equipment and the expense Of oper.
alton.
Want Chinese Labor.
"The American farm laborer is dis.
appearing. In many sections he is
being Disseminated against because
he is too independent. Landowners
are seeking men with low standards
Of living but familiar with hard bodily
toll. what we want" declared re-
cent conference, lis farm labor weak
In the head but strong In the knees
and this want is being filed by re-
cruits from Asia or the Balkan PENN.
sula, who may be good laborers but
who do not contribute to the political
or social strength of the nation.
Immediate corrective action should
be taken to prevent the extension Of
this. American rural life can not re.
tain it's hopefulness and independence
II it is to become a great pool wherein
are dumped people VINO labor without
ambition, without any agreement as
to tho standards of life, or any inter.
est in our political institutions