River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1921-12-01

it will not show on the tax receipt. |
The latest comes from the Market
Commission, which has lot OF men
to inspect every car of potatoes ana
other vegetables and make the farmer
nav so much per bushel for the work.
Would YOU have blamed the farmers
in Waupaca County, who are now
fighting this tax, who last spring
sold potatoes at 12c per bushel, if they
hsI kicked an Inspector out OF the
car who demanded two or three cents
per bushe for inspection. Il do not
know what the charge ISL
Now | see the farmers are up IN
arms at the work of the new cheese
inspectors. The farmer pays for in
spection and if cheese is marked
No. 2 or No. 3 the farmers gets three
or four cents less and he knows the
consumer pays just as much as II 1t
were No. /. The merchant does not
saw to the woman who telephones Tor
cheese, eyes, we have some nice No.
cheese" Did the farmer ask for these
inspectors Did the consumers ask
for them. No. Who did? Why the
men who wanted jobs. The commits,
sion recently advertised that 1t would
take on four cheese inspectors, sub
iect to civil service rules, and eIght
hungry fellows who had been living
on barley bread or screenings TOOK
the examination in hopes to get
taste of the yellow corn In the trough
under the big dome. Yes the market
commission felt it had to do some
thing. 1t had spent $120,00O IN two
wears and the farmer could not see
that he was getting one cent more Tor
his product. In fact he was getting
less profit, and Mr.. Nordman, in all
his speeches, claimed that wages
ought not to come down. Now they
are trying to make the consumer be-
lieve he is being benefited. This new
scheme of taxation does not show on
your receipt.
The Industrial Commission is to
blame for some of the local tax. A
few years ago the superintendent OF
the county asylum hired man as
foreman and while at work in charge
of, a crew filling the ice house the
Superintendent caught him riding up
the steep incline on cake OF ice and
told him not to do it as the tongs
might slip and he would get hurt. The
ladder was the safe way.
AS long as the superintendent was
around he used the ladder, but the
next day rode the ice and the tongs
did slip and he broke leg. He was
taken to the hospital ward, given
careful medical attention, fed, nurs-
ed, and the trustees paid his check the
same as if he were at work until ne
was completely we'll and went to work
again. He acknowledged that it was
his own fault and thanked the super
intendent and trustees for the way
he had been treated and left perfectly
satisfied. We of course reported the
accident to the commission and sever
al months after got a letter from
them asking for his address. We did
not know where he was, but they sent
a man to hunt him up and made him
believe he was entitled to big damag-
es and the trustees had to settle with
the commission to pay the damages
they assessed, which was absolutely
wrong and uncalled for. That, Mr..
Anderson, showed in the tax receipt.
The board of control, at the sug-
gestion of some one who wanted job
of bookkeeping or of selling blank
books, do not know which, got the
Legislature to pass a bill providing
for a uniform system of bookkeeping
i'm all county asylums. There did not
seem to be anything unreasonable
about this, although the system we
were using was very simple and COM
prehensive. / submit in evidence the
printed reports of fifteen years ago
and those of 1920. But when the
books came, about four hundred
rounds as | remember, and we looked
them over and saw what was expect
ed of us and the absolute nonsense of
it, we refused to pay the bill or keep
the books.
At our next meeting two young
fellows from Madison were there to
tell us we must keep the books and
they were there to show us how it
should be done and explained that in
order to find what is cost per capita
we must weigh and count and put a
price on every bushel of potatoes.
carrots, onions, cabbage, quarts Of
fruit, milk, butter, meat and bread
that went on the table each day, ami
that we must write on a menu card
Just what was served each day so the
state inspector could figure or have
some one else figure whether the M
mates were getting the right amount
of fat, carbohydrates and protein. OF
course the inspector or trustees ~
physician who saw them often could
not tell by their looks whether they
were well fed. But the card would
tell.
When we asked them how we were
to fix a price on peas, string beans
cucumbers and other vegetables where
there was no market for these things
they said to TELEPHONE to Minneapolis
every morning and find out. More
costs. What did they care? Well.
we told them to teach the Jars how to
keep books and they went away mad.
But those fellows at Madison knew
how to bring us to time. We soon
found some of our patients were or
dered to other asylums and we were
not getting new ones and our per cap
tia cost was going up. Oh yes, they
took the starch out of US and we hired
a book-keeper and this years report
shows that it cost 1915 for office sup