The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-10-27
|DR. {. +. LADD'S
WEEKLY LETTER
| ls.+.'s.- ~e
Washington, D: G. Oct. Fl, 1921
How Long Will These Conditions Be
Permitted

will right itself. l have lived in this
vicinity going on Al years, and while
I have been economical and spent no
money for myself personally, nor do
I think I have wasted any, made no in
vestments, working harder than I
have ever worked, I find myself today
in greater stringent circumstances
than I have even been in my life be-
fore. I do not know why money should
be so scarce; undoubtedly there is as
much money in the United States now
as there ever was, as the balance of
trade has been in our favor for some
time, yet it is more difficult to bor-
row money in good security than I
have even before seen.
II have been wondering if it wasn't
about time that the members Of Con-
gress should wake up to the fact that
the Government ought to give some
concern to the condition of the farm
ers of the country. The condition in
which they are in today can in no
manner be attributed to themselves.
They have worked hard, have had to
combat the elements, the parasites,
the Juggling Of the markets, high
prices, and a hundred other things;
and I can say to you that many Of
them are getting absolutely discour-
aged. They are becoming Indifferent.
They have gotten to point where
they do not care what happens. They
have lost their pep, so to speak,
think they are all Ishmaelites; every
body's hand is against them. If they
raise beet, pork or mutton, they have
to take it to the packers market to-
sell it, and the packer tells him what
he will give him for it, and he can
take it or leave it. When he opens up
discussion as to the price Of his meat
with the packer, the question of what
it costs him to produce it doesn't en-
ter into the discussion at all. He is
told the coldhearted fact, that he can
get just so much and that is all there
is to it. There is no competition in
the packers markets among the pack
ers. You go to South st. Paul and sell
your cattle and you will find Cudahy's
man buying on one avenue; you will
find Swift's man bnuying on another
avenue and on another you will find
Armour's, and on another Wilson's
man buying, another avenue Morris
man buying, but you don't find any
two Of these men on the same avenue
bidding against each other. A condi-
ton Of that kind could not exist un-
less there was an understanding and
agreement that it should exist. Where
is the competition? Once in while an
outsider probably steps in but he is
discouraged and sometimes roughly
handled.
Grain Grading
"Again the grading of our grain,
the rules and regulations pertaining
to the grading Of grain have been all
made in the interest of the elevator
companies, and the miller, and they
are damnable. Let me illustrate: I
can take so bushels Of cleaned wheat
that weighs 60 pounds to the bushel
to the elevator, and he'll grade it
No. Hard, and he will offer me $1.00
bushel for it. It is Blue Stem wheat,
best milling wheat raised. / can take
another so bushels out of the same
bin, the same kind of wheat exactly
grown on the same field, threshed at
the same time and part Of the same
crop, bring it into the elevator and
when he tests it I can take out of the
bushel that he tests the load with, five
poupds Of wheat and put in five
pounds Of wild oats and pigeon grass
and he will grade that so bushels of
wheat No. because Of this pigeon
grass and wild oats in it, and there
is difference between those grades
of II cents a bushel, yet the elevator
man takes 60 pounds to the bushel Of
cleaned wheat Of the load that had five
pounds Of dirt in it. He takes out the
dirt, docks it, doesn't call it wheat,
but takes 60 pounds to the bushel Of
that wheat, and every 60 pounds Of
that wheat is just the same as every
60 pounds Of wheat in the first load
that was graded No. / and yet he
pays me II cents a bushel less for the
sixty pounds Of wheat that had wild
oats and which he screened out Of il,
and still had 60 pounds Of good clean
seed left II cents less than the sixty
pounds that didn't have any IN. Now
if the Secretary Of the Interior OF
anybody else can justify the taking