Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-11-09

have been made by someone that he is a '.fHp, half
baked young reporter" and in evidence of his in
nocence of this charge, he confesses to be sixty
years of age and to a rather extended university
and business career. He is now and has been for
years a manufacturer of railway material at, Hack
ensack, New Jersey. Evidently the charge men
toned will not lie against Mr.. Gregg. His pres
ent ARTICLE, however, does not appear to mend mat
tiers much. 1t was hardly to be expected that it
would. The method of treatment employed in the
fornep>article was such that it would have been i'm
probable that any great amendment should be
shown in a subsequent article.
Had the original article appeared in a publica-
ton of less standing than the Outlook, it would
have attracted little attention. As it is, many peo-
pie in North Dakota believe that the magazine owes
it to its own readers and to its splendid reputation to
have subjects OF Importance treated more adequate
ly than has been done in this case.
In his present article, Mr.. Gregg says among
other things: eth editor of the Grand Forks Her
aid tells me that the political unrest in North Dakota
Is The same as in other western states, as shown by
the agricultural bloc in congress-. | hope that I
may be permitted to, differ with him."
While nothing can be accomplished by prolong-
ing the discussion of this subject, inasmuch as this
phase of it has been mentioned, a little further ref
erence may be %pardoned.
Mr.. Gregg wrote the editor of The Herald ask
ing for a statement of the causes of the political
revolution in North Dakota. The reply was in sub
stance that to treat such a subject. in a satisfactory
manner within the scope or an ordinary letter would
be as impossible as ~to>state in similar brief form
the causes of the Revolutionary War or any other
occurrence which is the result of a multitude of
conditions, some of them reaching back for genera
tons. The comparison of North; Dakota with other
states III this connection was not limited to western
states as is evidenced by the following paragraphs
on that subject:
THE economic history of North Dakota does
not vary essentially from the economic history of
any other part of the American continent. There
have been variations due to variations in, local and
nnf,,roJ ~@~I,%s~-@ I.4 IT, L I 80
same. The pioneers did what they found it neces-
sary to do in order to live. Sometimes living con-
dltions were very difficult: Necessarily many of
their operations were comparatively non-produc-
tive and wasteful. The timber resources of the east
were squandered just as we may say that the sur
face fertility of the prairies has been squandered,
but 1t was not until conditions of population, trans
|pqrtation, and general environment had developed
sufficiently that it was possible to check these
wastes and to direct the energies OF the people in
the more productive and less w~asteful channels.
The prairie states, not North Dakota alone, but all
the great agricultural states of the Mississippi val
ley, have passed through a similar experience or
are passing through it. Diversification has come in
some states as the conditions warranted and made
1t possible. The early settler on the plains found it
necessary IN very many cases to go into debt for
his buildings and equipment. In order to cancel
that indebtedness and to keep up the interest paw
ments while the indebtedness remained, it was nee
essary for him to have money. To obtain money
he must produce that which he could sell, and thk
character of his product depended not alone on the
necessities of his family for food, but on the market
conditions Of which he was able to avail himself.
For a long time in our state and its neighbors, wheat
was the only article which the farmer could be Ger
tain he could turn into money. He could raise other
!~products, but the other products were not salable
because markets for them in this district had not
developed, Gradually, as markets developed, diver
%slfication set in.
II refer to these facts, which are matters of
common knowledge, as indications that our own
state is not a peculiar one. We have been subjected
here to the same general influences which have been
experienced by other states, and the inference in
your article that North Dakota stands alone in at
tempting to perform by means Of legislation that
which should have been performed in other ways
is decidedly erroneous. If there is any question On
th1sR point, l refer you to the agricultural bloc in
congress at the present time, and the speeches of
those members who come from every part of this
republic. In those speeches, you will find those
who represent themselves as the spokesman of the
agricultural interests as making\ the same COM
plaintsl and demonstrating that there is a commit
nifty of feeling extending throughout the agricultu-
raj population OF the country, no matter where that
population is to be found. The farmers of Georgia
and Louisiana are as eager for government aid as
are the farmers of North Dakota, and there is as
strong a tendency among them when they find OPP
portunity to express themselves, toward socialistic
experiment, as there is in this state. 1t happens
that in North Dakota this spirit which is practically
universal, has become crystallized into a working
policy directed by the heads of the state govern
ment. In this respect our state differs from most
Others, but not in the underlying causes which pro-
duced this situation"
FROM TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO. =
There have just been discovered in Egypt doc
uments which shed an interesting light on the Gus
toms of men and women who lived nearly two thou
sand years ago. The documents date back to the
beginning of the Christian era, and lamong them
are the records of contracts made between individ-
uals relating the transfer Of property and the adj
%justment of other relations in the time of the Ro-
man emperors, when most Of the civilized world
was under the sway Of Rome.
Many of the contracts are just about such as
might be made between individuals TODAY. They