The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-06-12
FARMER WANTS TO KNOW
ABOUT CERTAIN LAWS

III Cne game !! COmpeClCVe DuSlHcsS
belongs to the citizens, and not to the
government. There seems to be an
alluring enchantment about state or
akin to that Of getting Something
necessary to mack proposition feas-
IDLE and possible is to have govern
ment or state ownership attached to
the kite tail and then it goes sky
high. The league leaders have been
harping as to what the farmers want
in way Of legislative reform (?) and
ninety mine times out of on hundred
it is what A. C. Townley and Co. have
wanted. You see the socialistic nom
partisan press is muzzled by Townley
e. Co., and consequently thru this So
called farmers press they can make it !
appear that the farmers want all of
these things. Any little ten-year-old
school kid can see thru this smoke
screen. Then we are opposed to the
whole program because thru these So
cialist leaders the farmers are compel
led to assume the role of beggars and
imbeciles, and in so doing the North
Dakota farmers, as class, are adj
hitting to the world that they are in
competent to attend to their own bus
mess and therefore must call upon
the State to run it for them. In other
words they are put in the light Of
seeking to become wards of the state.
We consider this is downright in
suit to the farming class and here isl
one farmer who will resent it in langI
uage not to be mistaken. If the lead
ers of the nonpartisan league desire
to become wards of the state Of North
Dakota we see no reason why they
cannot be accommodated without put
ting the state to several millions Of
dollars of bonded Indebtedness, as. we
have a variety of state institutions
whereby they ought to be easily ac-
according to the North Dakota Blue
Book of 1918, (page 1917 a penitenti-
airy at Bismarck, reform school att
Mandan, an insane asylum at James
town (and another at Rugby was
shown in said Blue Book), a school
for the deaf at Devils Lake, blind
asylum at Bathgate. and an institu-I
ton for feeble minded at Grafton. We
will not select the respective institu-
ton to which the several league lead
ers might be consigned. We will leave
that to themselves, or to the proper
authorities. Of course, we know that
the prevailing question in deal oil
this kind is: "What would you do with
Townley?" We would show him
charity, or try to, of the "seventv
times seven" variety, and for starter
we might suggest a post graduate
course in farming, at the AGRICULTURAL
College at Fargo, under the exquisite
tutelage of that eminent connoiseur,
Professor Ladd, and, during this
course the good professor night, for
diversion, admit subtle Artie into his
private sanctum and put him next toI
the secret Of extracting as much pat
ent flour from bushel Of North Dalio-
ia D Feed wheat as "Big Biz" millers
can, will or do, from bushel CT No. |
Dakota Northern wheat. Then we are
opposed to building state-owned mills
and elevators because it looks very
suspicious to us in that the North Da-
kota mills might be used to frunishE
flour to feed I. w. WIS and strikers
of the wantonly unemployed variety.
We also feel skeptical in regard to
the proper investigation for misman-
ageemnt or scandal of any kind in the
management of such institutions. How
ed, any way? To our best knowledge
IL WOulu NC HCSCSSdly w r"oiC VII tiiS
legislature convened and take it up|
with that body. Then an investigat-i
ing committee might be appointed and
then said investigating committee
would investigate and report, and the
legislature would either accept or
reject, in whole or in part. such re-
port, and the outcome would undoubt
edly be whitewash. Then you would
be obliged to wait until the next ses-
sion Of the legislature and try it over
again. with possibly no better results.
So after carefully studying these
propositions from various angles, we
have come to the conclusion that, if
the farmers desire mills and elevators
they should build, own and operate
them themselves. They have per-
feet right to do this. Then why put
the responsibility onto the state? We
don't care what the socialists are do
ing in New ealand or Australia. We
have grand good government of our
own. and all we have to do is to obey
the laws an dsee to it that everybody
else does the same There is no COM
narison. ANYWAY, with the u. S. and
that little dinkey, sawed-off New Zea-
land A group Of islands way down
there in the southwest corner of the
Pacific ocean, with total area Of
104,O27 square miles: total area of the
United States 3,555,229 square miles.
New Zealand IN a fine CD criterion
for the U. S. A. Say, you socialist
chronics would better go away back
and sit down. .
Then we are opposed to building
state owned mills and elevators be-
cause it savors of class legislation and,
don't you know, fellow farmers, that
we have been fighting class legis'a-
ton for the past 40 years? But, right
now, when we have gained the first
sen'blance Of power, a bunch of class
legislation is sprung. We claim that
if class Nlegislation is wrong in one
instance it is wrong n all. eW don't
need and we don't want it.
Then we would like to know what
the state will do with surplus wheat
that is not ground into -four? Will
the state buy a seat on the floor Of the
Chamber of Commerce in Minneapolis
or Duluth? Or will. the state have a
r, cfoo1 rircor fo haflra fOrl