The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-05-26
FARMERS UNDER Z.
NO DELUS|ONS

nv DLLUOlVNO
The producers and consumers COM
posed Of farmers and Of necessary la
Dor of hand or brain in behalf Of pro-
duction and distribution-must join in
such economical and political cooper
alton as to make over the distribution
of their products from producer to
consumer. This calls for co-opera-
tive code, the state and national, up
on the Rochdale principle.
sIn both the economic and political
action necessary to bring this about
we will be opposed by the Chamber of
Commerce Of the United States, be-
cause it represents both the profits Of
the middleman and speculator."
Thus declares the Farmers Union,
gathered in national mass meeting in
Washington, D. c., during the first
week in May.
The report asserts that the farmers
lost at least S7,000,00O,000 on this
years crops, this despite the fact
that "at all times during and since
the war the demand for farm prod
ucts has been greater than the sup
ply" and holds that the principal di-
rect causes" of these enormous loss
es were as follows: 49,, 49,.
Il. Unnecessary profiteering of
.middlen1en, which includes speculative
gambling.
"2. The arbitrary restriction of cred
it by the Federal Reserve Bank and
the holding up of the Federal Land
Banks by litigation.
"3. The unreasonable rise in railroad
rates.
Cali of these causes" the report de-
clares, "have been created by auto
cratic economic power exercised under
unjust law" @
It declares the farmer to be both a
producer and consumer and the labor
er likewise, and shows that the farmer
gets only 38c out of every 81 he pro-
duces, while labor gets only 35c out
of it's 81 of product, making the cost
Of distribution 60c in the 81, which it
says can be greatly reduced by united
action of the farmers and workers and
the saving divided between them,
which is certainly right and just.
Iowa Farmers Stung \
The Farmers Union is well-mown
to be one of the most conservative of
the farmer organizations, but here is
what it has to say of the methods of
the Federal Reserve system.
The report states that the total
credit extended to the people of this
country was ID billion dollars and, Of
this amount agriculture got only IA
percent, while speculative and miscel-
laneous received 80 percent.
Iowa is then used to illustrate the
control of credit by Wall Street, of
which the National City Bank, which
is now warning of North Dakota,
seems to be the head and front.
Going into the doings of Iowa, the
report shows that under the rules
adopted by the Federal Board, Iowa's
allotment of credit is SO million dol
lars and that, at one time, the state
was given 81 millions. But as early as
February 1920 the farmers were no.
titled that "excess loans" would be
called. Es ,' @
"This," says the report, "forced To-
wa farmers to sell on a falling market
and sent more farmers into bankrupt
cy than in all the history of the
state" Yet the bankers are now hav-
ing the nerve to compliment them
selves for the extremely unselfish SER
vice they rendered Iowa.
But the ungrateful farmers bring
out facts that tend to prove that all
this banker unselfishness was nothing
more nor less than confidence camou-
flage, for, they point out that "f To-
was allotment Of credit had been an
average Of 4S states, it would have
been 300 million dollars instead of
only 36 millions. IF the credit had
been divided on the basis of resources,
Iowa's share would have been 1872 mil
lion dollars, or 20 times as much as
was allotted under the Federal Re-
serve System"
"As a result of this credit monop-
oly," it is declared, "the Spectators
were enabled to force down the price
of wheat 70 cents per bushel to the
American farmer in 1920. At the same
time they forced it up 33c a bushel to
the starving millions of Europe.
From all Of which it will be OBJ
served that the bankerocracy is the
same IN Iowa as it is in North Dako-
Ia and everywhere else on Earth an
aristocracy Of human locusts eating
up the substance and homes OF the
people.
In Iowa thousands Of tenants hand
ed over their entire crop to the land
lords and bankers and went on the
road to compete for an existence with
the disemployed industrial workers.
Thousands Of retired farmers were
forced to, return to farms mortgaged
to the limit, there to spend their last
days along with their younger broth
erD who had not left, eking out an ex-
istence as debt-tenants. It is high
time to organize and end such q hell
ish system forever.
SHERMAN TOWNSHIP
Mr.. and Mrs. Howard Price visited
at the teacherage Monday evening:
Mrs. G. E, Balcom, formerly Miss
Henley Of Fillmore, who taught il this