The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1921-07-01

Washington, D. CA joint COM
mission Of FIVE senators and five house
members has been formed to study
the agricultural situation with re-
spect to possible legislation.
Hearings will be- held In different
parts of the country, and the report
is expected to be ready within ~
The following points will be covered
in the commissions investigation:
/. Causes of the present condition
in agriculture.
2, Causes of differences between
the prices paid the producer and the
prices paid by the ultimate consum-
er. 81
8. Comparative condition Of indus
tries other than agriculture.
A. Relation of prices of other COM
modities to the prices of farm prod
ucts.
5. Banking and financial resources
and credits Of the country affecting
agriculture.
Senator Lenroot, conservative, from
Wisconsin, is to head the commission.
Hence even if progressive like
Senator Laid or Norris or La Toilette
is added to it, there is little doubt as
to what the result will be.
The great purpose Of machine poll
ticians at the present time is to quiet
the farmers and keep them as good
old party men. s IF anything is done
of worth for the farmers it will be
just enough for talking points and not
enough to meet any serious problem.
Our best hope lies in getting good
minority report from one or two IN
dependents on the commission.
WEEKS ON DISARMAMENT @
Secretary of War Weeks, in q
speech at Tufts college, Massachu-
sets, on June 20 made a strong if 10.
directly expressed Plea for a let up in
. the fight for disarmament. He asked
his audience and the country to trust
the administration as to how far it
was safe to go in disarmament.
'"The present administration" de-
clared the secretary, is most DESTROYS
to have disarmament as far as it is
safe to CO. But we must ask that we
be the judges Of jus:a what this degree
is, for we have information which we
can not divulge, obtained in reliable
and complete manner, which makes US
the only competent judges.
"When we see nations preparing for
war, making greater preparations in
times of peace than during the war,
we must sit .upt and take notice. Eng
land is at war, France is at war, and
many other foreign nations are IN con-
flict, and it is not the time for US to
r..
Ii the administration We're LOO per
cent DESTROYS of disarmament it would
welcome the uprising Of . our public
opinion in its favor to Offset the ex-
IRENE militarism demanded Of it by
the most powerful interests in Amer
lea at the present time-the very men
whom Harding calls to conferences
Of the best financial minds
COOPERATIVE BANKS DENIED
Every state in the Union in which
the legislature considered the model
bill for cooperative banks proposed
by the American farner-labor coop
erative commission during the last
session either slammed the door on it's
advocates or messed the thing up in
such shape that it is no good for it's
purpose.
The Iowa senate passed the bill
after amending it to death and then
it was lost sight Of in committees at
the close of the session.
Nebraska gave the state banking
department discretion in granting the
right to establish cooperative banks.
1t will find that the farmers always
want bank in the wrong place.
The governor of Pennsylvania We
toed and amended bill haggled thru
both houses.
A member of the senate banking
committee in Washington wrote to a
farmers cooperative society: This
model cooperative banking bill is SO
complicated that it would mess up the
simple banking laws Of this state.
Anyway, it isn't necessary" This re-
minds. us of the time North Dakota
politicians told farmers to Ego home
and slop the hogs" Anyway, it isn't
necessary" strikes us as just about as
insulting.
Minnesota legislators consulted the
bankers, and the bankers all knew
that the bill was dangerously radical.
North Dakota, the state of terrible
things" is the only state in the Union
that gives cooperative banking fair
chance.
GIGANTIC WAR GRATING
The administration has made ges-
ture at prosecuting those who robbed
the government during the war, and
while it is morally certain that none
of the big criminals can be roulsded
mp, we ought to wait and see what the
government will do before forming
final opinions 90.
The nerve and criminality Of the
adollar-a-yean.In men who rushed to,
Washington and took possession of
the government, covered in their ac-
.tions by disloyal press surpasses
ordinary imagination. q A great M
tional calamity would have occurred
had the war reached a. aetually serir
Gus stage with such leadership
On a:rplanes we spent 81 ,O51 ,O0O,-
900, and when the armistice was
signed one year and eight months
after our entry into the Wal, No
United States airplane had reached
thn front The war depaFtuaenf spent