The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1921-04-29
North Dakota Wheat Growers Blax.
ing Way to Economic and
Financial Freedom.
Says Liberty Sale Of State Bonds
Direct to People Means
Big Victory.
BY CLINT c. HOUSTON.

tngton these days to talk with u
statesman who has ideas Of his own
and knows how to dress them up in
words that have a real meaning to
the great common people. I found
such a man in the person of Sem
ator Edwin F. Laid of North Da-
kota when visited him in the
Senate Once Building to obtain
some irst-hand information con-
corning the situation in his Stale,
now occupying large place in the
public attention. Senator Ladd has
the distinction OF being the ilrst
man ever elected to the upper
branch Of Congress by organized
farmers and organized city workers
voting in complete unison. MY
prediction is that he will write a
record in the next six years to which
his constituents can point with
pride and increase his tribe.
Senator Ladd is not politician.
He was selected by the Nonpartisan
League to enter the campaign last
November and won by a large ma
jority. At that time he was presi-
dent of the Agricultural College Of
North Dakota and had been resi-
dent Of the State for 30 years, NOV
ing there from his native State Of
Maine. He is also a member of
the committee of seventeen ap-
pointed by the combined farm or
ganization Of the United States to
study and devise a more efficient
method Of marketing farm products.
''For so years the Congress of the
United States has been enacting
legislation for the benefit and pro-
lection Of manufacturers and COM
mercial enterprises said the Sen
ator. "Much of this legislation has
been detrimental to the farmers.
Now the farmers are demanding that
their needs be recognized
What Aroused the Farmers.
Inasmuch as the farmers Of North
Dakota have blazed the way by send
dierct representative to the Sen
ate. asked him to tell me some
thing of the genesis OF the Nom
partisan League, how the farmers
performed the hitherto impossible
feat of uniting upon an economic and
political program.
sFor many years the millers and
grain buyers of Minneapolis and Du-
luth, our marketing points, had beer
defrauding the wheat growers by
short weight and grading, devices,
robbing them OF as much as 25 per
cent of the value of their crops, /"
replied the Senator. "Our appeals
to the legislature and State officials
were ignored. The milling and bank
ing interests were in complete con-
troll.
"In 1916 drought and rust
brought havoc to the wheat crop.
The kernel, while shrunken, was
especially strong in gluten, the most
nutritious part of any wheat. When
shipped to Minneapolis and Duluth
the millers and grain buyers graded
it as chicken feed and paid from IS
cents to 81 per bushel less for Il
than regular wheat. I made an
analysis of this wheat and found that
while 1T did not measure up TO
regular No. / Northern, 1t was
worth within II cents per bushel of
the best grade. The millers ground
this Chicken feed into -four and sold
It at top prices. BY this process the
farmers of North Dakota were rob-
bed Of 100000, 900 in that one year
alone, which the millers and grain
buyers pocketed."
eco Home and Stop the Hogs. =
.What action did the farmers take
to secure redress and foresta}l
further thievery Of this character
I asked.
"Of course, our people were
aroused to high state of indigna.
ton. They went before the state
legislature and demanded Ian
establishing terminal grain elevator
that would have cost about 5000,
900. They were told to submit their
proposition to vote Of the people
and IL approved the elevator bill
would be enacted. In two separate
State elections the terminal elevator
plan was approved by IS per cent
Of the voters. Finally, in 1917, the
political leaders in the legislature
told the farmers that their plan was
impractical and that notwfthstand
ing its Endorsement the bill for re