Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1919-01-10


and the tenants insisting that the
smaller farm is the real money.
maker, featured the first days ses.
sions Of the Washington Grain
Growers, Shippers and Millers asso.
citation, which opened its thirteenth
annual wheat convention at the State
College Tuesday. The principal ad-
dress on the smaller wheat farm
question was delivered by James S
Klemgard, one of Pullman's largest
landowners, who advanced as the
reason for the tendency on the part
Of the farmers to increase their land
holdings their desire to procure
wheat at as small an expense as pos
sible, the speaker contending that
the greater the acreage the smaller
the expense per acre OF production.
Labor, he maintained, is the big
problem, and he based his conten-
ton on the statement that if a wheat
farmer can make money on one man IS
labor, he can make more from the
labor Of several men. He pointed to
the fact that volume of business re-
turns net profits in farming as in
any other business, and the greater
the volume the greater the profit
The farmer" he said, lis human,
and considers the almighty dollar a
paramount factor in his business. "
Mr.. Klemgard admitted that the
large farms are not best for the COM
munity or the merchant, neither for
the individual and his family, when
considered from the standpoint Of
rural progress and contentment, in
that they too often result in isolation
for the family lack of cooperation
in the community and lack of bust
ness for the merchant
Necessity viii Solve Problem
Necessity will ultimately prove the
solution of the large farm evil, ac-
cording to Mr.. Klemgard, who said
that the common public is oyer-step-
ping it's limits. THE young genera
ton, not far ahead of the old, has
forgotten the value of q dollar, but
a crash is inevitable. This crash
will break up the large wheat farms
when nothing else will, and when
the big farmers find themselves over
loaded with $50 per acre land, with
wheat selling at dollar or less, the
disintegration will start"
Frank Wilson, prominent Pullman
farmer, disagreed with Mr.. Klein
gard, claiming that there is more
real money in a farm of 100 acres
developed under a system of divers
lily, than in section or more of
rented land from which the landlord
demands practically all the profit
and grows more and more grasping
as conditions for the tenant show
signs of improvement.
Many farmers took part in the dis
cussion, with sentiment, from the
standpoint of the interest of the
farmer alone, about evenly divided
although the big majority expressed
the belief that the breaking up of
the big farms would result in great
good insofar as the development of
the community and the welfare OF
the entire people is concerned.
The attendance at the sessions
is considerably greater than had
been expected, a feature of the at
tendance being the large percentage
who had never before attended the
conventions.
Farmers Should Use Station
The visitors were welcome to Pull
man by President e. O. Holland of
the State College, and the annual
presidents address was delivered by
]. Houston McCroskey of Garfield
Mr.. McCroskey urged the farmers to
take advantage of the state expert
ment station located here, which is
operated solely for their benefit. The
farmers, he pointed out, owe much
to the young men who entered the
military service during the great war.
These young men, he said, forfeited
every opportunity for financial ad-
yancement and offered their lives to
their country. The farmers were
permitted TO remain at home, and
reaped the benefit Of war prices.
Try and help the college and il
will help you, for it is yours. was
the concluding statement of Presi
dent McCroskey.
An interesting discussion on tn,
workings OF the federal land banl
was led by George c. Jewett OF the
Spokane bank. which figures show Il
be the second largest in the United
States in point of loans to farmers
Jouaff 7.-o.1 tho .. I,Ffr. 1;I;t.-