The sun., 1919-10-12
FARMERS PICNIC ATTENDED, By 5000
PEOPLE TO HEAR THEIR CANDIDATES.

terests. There is no doubt that they
had just cause for anger, though
agitators subsequently magnifed and
distorted the situation. The wheat
raisers believed that they were being
cheated out of at least SIS 200, 900 n
year, more than $1,000 on the average
from every individual farmer. DIR. Ed
ward +, Ladd of the North Dakota
Agricultural College, an expert farmer
himself and thoroughly familiar with
elevator and marketing practices, made
the downright charge:
"Fifty-five million of dollars are
lost to the farmers of North Dakota
every year through unfair grading
rules for grain"
DR.. Ladd made this statement before
an audience of 5000 farmers, who re-
ceived the remark in sober silence
They made up their minds to act. The
only effective means of acting they
knew of was to get control of the State
Legislature and to elect their own
Governor, so that laws to protect them
could be put upon the statute books
One of the practices most complained
of was the custom of elevators to
weigh grain in the top of an elevator
rather than upon the track AS the
grain dropped down through a hopper
scale 1t passed a spout in front OF
which was suction fan intended tc
remove the dust before it was weighed.
The result actually was that the far
not only removed the dust, but a good
many thousand bushels of grain as
well. The records of the Minnesota
State Railroad Commission show thai
one elevator shipped out 81 900 NOR.
bushels of grain than 1t took in. With
wheat then at 81 a bushel it can bt
seen that $4,000 a year was diverted
from the farmers pocket by every ele.
vator that used this weighing system
ways of Grading Wheat o.,
Another cause of severe complaint
was the system of grading wheat. The
charge was made and believed that the
elevators, mills and commission mer
systematically undergraded grain
thereby depriving growers. of large
amounts of money, since farmers wert
often paid No. 3 price for wheat
which was sold by the elevators for {
No. price.
There were several other causes fol
the farmers determination to do some.
thing in their own interest, especially
toward establishing their own termina
elevators and toward insuring al
honest system Of grading and weigh
ing. The Legislature of 1915 had beer
asked to bring about these reforms
but had declined to act, advising 9
delegation of very angry farmers L
go home and slop their pigs" They
did go home and they stopped thei
pigs very effectively before the bust
ness was done with.
The whole State was Tuning wheI
Townley came along and alertly in
tectsd himself into the tense situation
And If ever a situation existed ready
made for the manipulation of a clever
ambitious man 1t was that which
boiled throughout the great whea
State as 1916 began. To understand
how deeply the farmers were aroused
1t y necessary for the reader to re
member that wheat is the great prod
uct of North Dakota. Upon whea
its comfort is based absolutely. Tn
failure of the wheat crop used to meal
more misery than one likes to thinl
about as spread over whole State
North Dakota lived and thought II
terms of wheat. The awakening I,
the truth that their only source o
prosperity had been tempered With b!
the big interests maddened thousand
of men out OF the possibility OF reason
able action. '-.
Worked with Fleets of Fords.
Along came Townley riding in
fiivver. The fiivver has a good dea
to answer for, but North Dakot
proved the full depth of its RESPONSE
bility. Without Ford cars, hundred
Of Ford cars, it Is unlikely that tn
organization of the Non Partisa
League could have been achieved s
swiftly and so compactly. Townle
started with one, to buy which he ha
to borrow the cash. Subsequently h
and his agents employed fleets an
squadrons of Fords. They cruised tn
jtate. crisis CROSSED IL and covered
ap and down and across the middle
Fords could go anywhere and did 1
that nat land to enable Townley an
his emissaries to breathe their prom
ises into the ears of the embattle
farmers. The job couldn't have bee
accomplished by wagon or by horse
back.
1t would have taken too long. TIL
fall election of 1916 would have bee
In moth balls by the time an organiza
ton could have been built up. Onl,
by means Of the flying squadrons o
handy tin lizzies at the disposal o
rNT.NuE Na..W Al
Eetic men he enlisted in his schem
was 1t possible to visit personally vir
tually every aggrIeved farmer in tn
State. Moreover thousands of tn
farmers owned Fords themselves, an
that fact made it easy for them to al
tend the rallies organized by Townle,
He organized rural gatherings, picnic
and parbecues in all parts Of the Stat
10 winch the farmers went in drove
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