The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-08-23

was holding hot pie. If you know
Jim Just you know how he talks anC
demonstrates with his hands. jim
was so mad he wanted to eat some
body up or give some man a licking
Heber Austin and all his cohorts
were the kind of people Jim wanted
to get hold Of and give a beating
He said he knew the sugar com.
pany had made good profits and i,
! seemed SO contemplate of Mr.. Aus
tin to be deceiying those girls and
trying to keep them in humor to
try again next year at that hard
manual labor at poor pay. Jim
cussed the church crowd and the
sugar company, and said it was not
right to let things like that ge 60
ing on, He said it was using their
influence to the wrong effect.
Got on My Nerves
| did not more than half believe
what Jim was telling me, and it soon
got on my nerves. suppose show
ed my Indifference, for Jim chop
ped off so to speak, and went out.
remembered that Jim was a Nor
mon-hater and anti-Mormon in poll
tics, and that he probably did not
have much faith in men in general
and that he liked to hear himself
talk when he was criticizing some
body. | dismissed the matter from
my mind as nearly as l could and
considered that what had just been
told me was the expression of radi-
cal. | was so disguised with the
whole subject l did not want to ever
hear of beets nor Mormons nor an
ti-Mormons again. And l tried to
steer clear of those subjects. But
since this federal trade investigation
has brought to light the letters, the
bargains and the misdeeds of some
of those men that Jim was talking
about, l am convinced now that Jim
had it just about right. There is
an old proverb that says that what
we despise we steer clear of, then
SA'Si W oA 10 We SohC W lCCi oil III
difference about it, and finally we
come to like it, or tolerate it, or to
feel kindly about it. That is the
way lot of us have come to feel
about these subjects. We have
logged along till we have got used
to them, and now we actually like
it. But in the last year or two there
has been stronger agitation to get
away from the low price of beets,
and the task of raising beets for just |
enough to pay expenses. This agi- |
tation was brought on chiefly by the |
war.
Hurting Beet Growers Cause
There is a counter-influence in all
this that | want to call your atten-
ton to. You may have noticed it |
last winter when beet growers were
holding meetings and some rather
extravagant statements were being
made and published. Speakers in
the meetings were stating good
many things that l did not believe,
and probably good many others did
not believe. They were telling what
enormous profits the sugar compa-
ny was making while paying the beet
raisers merely enough to pay for
raising the beets, varying, of course,
according to the kind of farmer we
mentioned. Some were making
money and some were losing money.
II you are thoughtful man and are
acquainted with the farmers of this
county, | venture to say that you
never sat in one of those beet grow
ers meetings that you did not look
over the crowd and pick out men
who were taking very prominent
part in the agitation for higher
prices, who seldom made success of
anything in their lives. could
mention some of them, but il | gave
heir names they would be sore about
t and never speak to me afterwards.
That, of course, would hurt my feel
ngs awfully, so l will not mention
heir names, but just give you sam
Die of the kind of fellows that agi-
ate to disturb existing conditions.
md you will know how badly it pref
ldices the cause they are working
or. The average man gets disgust
ID and quits, even tho the cause is
worth investigating. ! have in mind
! farmer who is always interested
n starting something, but who is
carcely ever there at the finish. For
Wenty years he has been active in
tarting things in this valley, has al
Ways been enthusiastic, always ready
o make a speech, always ready to
commend something that is not
ound. In his earlier career here
e was quite active in condemning
he implement dealers for charg-
ng too much for machinery, and he |
nay have been right in good deal I
hat he said, but some of his propo-
ltions were foolish and unsound. He
Stoned to gossipers for a good
lany things and then told them as I
acts. Later he became interested
dealing in farm produce to make Q
honey from the farmer by turning '
is produce over and thereby being Q
he mfddleman He used To mako n