Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-04-18
CANADIAN FARMERS
HANDLE OWN BUSINESS
INV John r. Mcmahon, in the
c.'.utrv Gentleman. Reproduced by
onrtesy of Curtis Publishing Co..

with small capital and large hopes
o,d Hart trekked into the wilds of
.ostorn Canada. A golden sun shone
:, an endless prairie of black virgin
soil carpeted with luxuriant grasses.
ono Of the worlds garden spots,
.hara were enough fertile acres to
,oea millions of people. Twenty
.o,,es from a railroad Hart drew up
:, his home site, and with laborious
~, willing effort built himself sod
nouse Pioneer hardships did not
worry him. He saw the good times
coming, the better home, the mans
sise reward for a strong mans work.
wheat! Forty bushels to the acrt
vac the yield of that virgin soil. No
FERTILIZER needed Turn the ground
over sow the seed, let Nature do the
yest. A generous government gave
Hart his land for nothing. Bounti-
,nl Nature gave him 40 bushels to
the acre, and when he drove his first
load of wheat 20 miles to the rail-
road he had letter all written to his
girl back east, telling her they could
be married that fall. He did not
mail that letter. Wheat was 40
cents a bushel. Forty cents times 40
bushels.
Disasters Breed Progress
Back to the sod house for another
year of hardship and slowly reviving
hope. The price at the second har-
vest was 10 cents better, but the ele-
yator dockage and grading swal-
lowed up the increase. Sid married
in desperation. The girl wife was
pure grit; she made home out Of
nothing. Year after year Nature
went the limit and Sid Hart broke
his back to produce wheat-golden
wheat--nonpariel wheat that gave
Canada world fame and enriched in
dlviduals in far-off cities. Sid Hart
grubbed away on his prairie home
stead with nothing to show for his
toll except family barely fed and
clothed.
1t Ii urban theory that the coun-
tryman can be easily fooled, because
the fooling is done at headquarters
far beyond his sight. This theory
overlooks the fact that, however
clever the system of exploitation,
there must be some point where the
victim is grabbed by the neck and
made to shell out. Sid Hart knew
that he was held up precisely at the
place where he sold his wheat. He
knew that he was locked unfairly,
graded unfairly, and got a mere frac-
ton Of the price that his wheat COM
manded at the big markets. 1t did
not take him long to learn this. The
local elevator was part of a monop-
oily and gave him a take-it-or-leave-
1t price. He conceived the idea of
shipping Independently to Winnipeg.
the railroad had plenty of cars, but
none was available when Sid Hart
needed It.
There was splendid chance at
tnls time for missionary to start a
hiu-klux Khan in western Canada
me hardy English pioneers, with a
good sprinkling of Americans immi-
grated from the border states, cared
more for justice than for law and
order.
mere was talk of burning elevat-
Ofs ana OF destroying railroad prop
ef'y. Thousands of Sid Harris were
ieauy TO go on the warpath with
piscniorks and shotguns. Along came
aeiiow named Motherwell and said:
instead Of this rough stuff, which
VIII get us nowhere, suggest that
"e organize Farmers Union"
Give them fire and shotguns!"
!eiied Sid Hart, and host of embit-
'ered men echoed the cry.
A Farmers Union! Ha, ha! That's
',On' chortled some well-dressed
citizens in extensively furnished Of
ives lar from the prairie. Those
roOr ruoes don't know how to stick.
= asen't they tried 1t all over western
failed?
iney had their Society of Equity
~. sucn stuff when Noah was a foot
sn This new bunch will blow up
~ year or two"
OIL. i TINS happened around the be-
uing OF the twentieth century. To-
r. mat Farmers Union of western
b. aua is the biggest thing of its
n. Au on the American continent and
r., In the world. It has revo-
o.. 0nlzed conditions economically
:. pohtically in a domain as large
a ope' 1t has given Sid Hart