The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1920-07-01
father RYAN
BOOSTS MILL
Catholic Economist Sees in In
dustriaI Program Curb on
Abuses Of Monopoly.

That the Catholic church is keenly
interested in the industrial program Of
the organized farmers of the North
west. is indicated by the frequency
with which Catholic publications COM
ment on the activities of the Nonpat-
tisan administration of North Dakota.
The May issue Of the Catholic Chari-
ties Review, official organ of the
National Conference of Catholic Char
tiles, contains an editorial by the Rev.
Father John A. Ryan, D. D., editor-in-
chief, on the operation of the state
mill at Drake. Father Ryan is a pro-
lessor at the Catholic University Of
America, director of the National
Catholic Welfare Council and is the
recognized authority Of American
Catholicism on economic questions. It
was Father Ryan who debated with
Norris Hillquit on the problem of
socialism. He is widely known as an
uncompromising opponent of social
ism. What he has to say of the Non
partisan League is all the more in
teresting in the light of Father Ryan's
position:
"The following statement has been
issued by the North Dakota industrial
commission concerning the operation
Of the state flour mill:
""The first state flour mill-located
in the town of Drake-made q net
profit of $500 in the first Ill days of
it's operation. This represents earn
ings of SO per cent per annum on the
investment, after deducting all operat-
ing costs, including interest on capital
of 5 per cent and depreciation at the
rate of 3 cents per barrel. Despite
these large profits, the state mill paid
to farmers from 6 to 8 cents more per
bushel for wheat than they could get
from private mills. or elevators, and it
sold the state-milled flour at from 80
cents to $1.OO per barrel cheaper than
the flour of private mills. The state
also sold it's bran, shorts, and other
~by-products much cheaper than did
the private mills. Other state mills,
small and large, will be acquired or
built at strategic points throughout
North Dakota when the supreme
courts decision shall have made it
possible to market the bonds author
lied for this purpose
Denunciations Do Not Count.
"Reactionaries may denounce the
Nonpartisan League, which controls
Tho rnvnrpn,nrf nf Mouth Do1-o+o oc
Socialistic or even as B~olshevistic;
they may prove that Townley is an
autocrat comparable to Lenine; doc.
trinaires may denOunce the Industrial
enterprises inaugurated by North Da.
kota as a violation of all sound politi.
cal principles; and interested persons
may misrepresent the state authori.
ties of North Dakota but so long as
the state is able to make large profits
in paying farmers from 6 to 8 cents q
bushel more for wheat than they can
get from private concerns, and in sell.
ing flour at 80 cents to 81 per barrel
cheaper than the private mills, all
such criticism will fail to make an
impression on the hard-headed farm.
ers of North Dakota.
Other States May Follow.
"'Should this record of state opera.
ton be continued in the flour milling
industries which North Dakota has
entered upon, OF is about to enter
upon, the question will be seriously
raised whether that northwestern
state has not pointed the way to a
solution of the battling problem of
monopoly; and if the extortionate
practices of monOpolistic concerns can
be ended in no other way than
through state competition with monop.
olistic industry, then, it will be clearly
the business and the duty of the state
to meet the situation in this way.
This would be in accordance with the
great principle laid down by Pope Leo
XIII Whenever the general inter.
est or any particular class suffers, OF
is threatened with mischief which can
in no other way be met or prevented,
the public authority must step in to
deal with IT."