Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1920-06-09
N; D. FARMERS HAD NO RELIEF
UNTIL THEY UNITED
DR.. E. F. Laid of the N. D. State
University Issues a State
ment

For more than quarter of a CEN
fury the farmers of North Dakota have
been asking for legislation that would
insure for them better marketing con-
ditions for wheat. They have repeated
Nv asked for terminal elevators for a
better system Of grading and weighing
grain, but until they organized In 1915
for their own protection they secured
no legislation of any material benefit to
them " said DR.. f. F. Ladd, Republican
candidate for United States senator. in
a statement issued Saturday.
Before I came to the state, 80 years
ago this summer, the, elevator managers
had Disseminated regularly against
Bluestem as being inferior for flour pro-
duction to that Of Fife, and they paid,
therefore, a less price for it. Every
little thing brought down the grade of
wheat; consequently, the price paid to
the farmer was lowered. Slightly FROST
ed wheat, slightly sunburned, sun scald-
ed from dampness, or wheat d1scolored
wheat slightly shriveled from any cause
lowered the grade and the price to the
farmer, but not one Of these conditions
as named lessened one whit the flour
and bread producing quality OF the
wheat.
"For years the Agricultural college
worked along the line of securing just
prices for the farmer for grain that was
production lower prices for which help
ed the miller and the grain gambler to
the detriment alike of the farmer and
the consumer. The college found, ALSO
that flax slightly frosted, shriveled,
shrunken, discolored, or in any way ef-
fected, was cut down in it's selling price
because it was claimed to produce less
oil and an inferior oil that would not be
satisfactory for use in paint manufac-
ture. This we soon found was rank
injustice and it was demonstrated that
this so-called damaged flax contained
often really more oil that plump fax
and that it's drying quality in paint Was
not lessened and no one was ever
caught selling any oil al a lower price
because it had been produced from this
so-called damaged flax.
Flax Not Damaged
"As matter Of fact, it was not DAM
aged or any less valuable for paint USE
broken up, to the benefit of the farmer
and North Dakota, the largest producer
of flax, benefited thereby.
1.-The buyer also forced down the price
of Durum wheat by rs to 81 cents per
bushel at time when wheat was selling
for less than 81 per bushel. The little
mill at the Agricultural college all this
time was telling different story, but in
the meantime the farmers were defraud-
ed out of millions of dollars while the
consumer saved little or nothing.
when the war came on and the fed
eral government cook over the handling
of wheat, they recognized no difference
in value for Durum as compared with
other spring wheats, and there never has
been the necessity for spread to ex-
coed, at any time, cents per buShel.
Velvet Chaff weighing 62 to 81 pounds
per bushel was locked cents per BUSH
ell at the farmers market; but at the
81 f~~ III
under the protection of the Chamber of
Commerce one bushel of Velvet Chaff
was mixed with two bushels of No. 2
and No. Hard Spring wheat-lo and
J behold-came out three bushels Of
No. l Northern. This practice made a
fortune for the gambler in foods pos
ing as necessary middleman and sup
ported by the consumer and the farmer.
More Middlemen
Here it may be said that the secre-
| tary of agriculture is reported to have
recently said: 1t now takes six men
! to handle the products of four produc-
| erS, and at least the order ought to be
reversed. Is it any wonder then, that
| the farmer receives less while also the
consumer pays higher for the essential
| farm products than any of the European
countries. Who is to blame for this
condition? Our system of transporta-
| ton and marketing. No less an auth
1
| former ambassador to France, says that
| the United States has "the most expen-
sive food distribution system the world
| has ever known Is it any wonder, then
that there is unrest and that the far
mers find the cost for food production
Egreater than their returns?
| THE commissioner of agriculture for
| Kansas has just completed study of
| the cost of producing winter wheat in
Kansas for 1919, and this, including a
| study with POST Kansas wheat growers
in every part of the state and the aver
age cost for the entire state for pro
| ducing wheat per acre, was $3.50. Would
| the farmers get rich on this showing
Not at all. On rs per cent of the acre.
age there was a loss; while on "a pei
| cent of the acreage there was found q
| profit, but taken as a whole for the en-.
tire state the loss averaged 43 cents pei
| acre; and yet we are told that the far.
! mer is a prOfiteer and a bolshevik.
No Pay for Fertility Loss
| But the foregoing does not tell all OF
| the story for in the great wheat belt OF
Kansas, the central portion of the state
| the average loss per acre was 1882, anG
| there was no charge made for fertility
removed nothing allowed the farmer
for overtime work during the busy sea-
son nor for loss thru the seasonal ma
ture OF his vocation. The farmer was
allowed, as manager $3.50 per day 70,
81 days, while he paid his help an av
erage OF $55 per month with board; anl
yet, the farmer is abused because III
will not continue to grow wheat at
loss to feed the cities who are crying
for cheap bread. Where is there an
other business manager who woult
work 81 days during the busy season To-
$3.50 per day and be forced to remain
idle for a considerable portion of tn,
long winter months?
1T costs more to grow spring whea
in North Dakota than it does for win
ter wheat in Kansas and unless the far
mer's services are better appreciated
someone will go hungry in the near fu
ture.
But I have depressed from my sub
ject. For 80 years I have tried to be o
service to the people of North Dakota
and to help the farmer and enable hin
to secure better prices for his grain 1,
the early days the interests pointe
out that 'Ladd's' findings were all theor
and that theory and practice, do not jibe
and so in large measure they wer
able to discredit the work. Then we pu
IN the now famous little mill at tn
Agricultural college, and thus far the
have not been able to point out wher
the findings were at fault, for theor
/ and practice were alike in their cor
illusions, and so the milling trade an
the grain gambler have been forced t
resort to ridicule, but without result
Did Old Politicians Do This2
! FARMERS, who gave YOU the graf
| grading law, the terminal 1narketin
advantages, the new terminal elevate
now building in the state? Was it pol
| ticiar of DAYS gone by? Or did the