The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1922-11-02

VA SLOGAN, PLl)W
PLANT And PROSPER
The IVA slogan, aPlow, Plant and
Prosper" is not popular with the peo-
Pile of North Dakota any more, ac-
cording to reports coming from every
section OF the state. That the plow-
ing part Of it is not III favor with q
large number Of farmers is indicated
III the small acreage that has been
ploWed so far this fall. Tt is claimed
by Fargoans who have travelled over
the state the past two weeks that less
plowing has been done this season than
in any other year in the history Of
the state. ~. ~ 3E.. <=<sz 49, =
Many. farmers who planted large
potato acreage last spring are not dig
gihg up the crop this year, because
they cannot get cars to ship them in
and even if they could get cars, the
price is no low that they claim they
would be money out digging them.
For: the other crops of which the
farmers planted a large acreage last
spring, they are not getting more than
half of the cost of production in the
most favored instances. For many
the gross returns are Only a small
fraction Of the cost.
.. 1t is these conditions that have put
the IVA slogan in bad and created
a sentiment for greatly curtailed
plowing and planting for next year
The farmers of North Dakota, who
heretofore have produced the bulk of
the hard spring wheat of the nation,
are getting tired of having to do this
at loss year il and year out. They
are at a point when, they feel like
quitting. At least a large portion Of
them are not going to raise more than
for their own needs next year, if
they practice what they say.
c. w. Reicnert, president of the
Equity Cooperative Packing company
of Fargo said yesterday that less
plowing is being done this season than
in any fall since he started farming
in North Dakota. Mr.. Reichart re-
turned Wednesday evening from Car
rington, where he had been looking
after his farming interest for several
days. 4 r. .~-.%-. h
'The farmers of North Dakota are
on the verge of giving up" said Mr..
Reichert. The ruinously low prices
for all farm products and the fact
that the farmers cannot ever get the
low market price, but are robbed of q
large part of that thru false grading
unreasonably big margins and in
equitable freight rates, is discourag-
ing the farmers. They are on the
verge of blackest despair. The re-
turns for their crops are not even
enough to pay interest of the mort
cages. They have come to the coIclu-
sion, many of them, that it does not
pay to keep on planting a large acre
age, as the more they plant and the
larger the crops, the less the get "
e. A. Duff Of Dazey, member of
the executive committee of the pack
ing company, who arrived in Fargo
yesterday, said that less plowing was
being done in his section of the state
than usual. He attributed the fact
to lack Of funds with which to hire
men to, do the plowing.
"Most of the farmers are plowing
only what they can do themselves
without hiring any help" said Mr..
Duff. "They have no money with
which to pay for extra help now and
the result is that the plowing is left
alone. It is very serious situation,
but the farmer cannot be said to be
the cause of it. For him it is lust a
matter Of hanging on now until there
is change Of some kind" ]
This is the situation after al
most year of the Nestos admins
tration. On every hand it is admitted
that the state never was in such des-
perate shape as it is now. The farm
ers are absolutely without protect:cn
against discrimination and crooked
dealings ii the marketing Of his grain
The result is that they are robbed Q.
millions on this years crop .s1 81
w. F. Hayes of Douglas, in letter
10 William Lemke, candidate TOR
governor. tells some Of his experience
ln selling grain this fall. Mr.. Hayes
writes under date Of October II:
q am writing you q line to let you
know the elevators at Douglas ara
handing 1t to the farmers, just be-
cause we have no law 10 govern them
On September cath, hauled three
loads of flne Amber Durum wheat,
one load % the Dodge elevator. one:
b the Farmers and one 10 the Oc-
cident. Red was worth 63 cents,
Durum 6S cents and No. 2 Amber 81
cents above Durum 81 73 cents, which
hey paid me FOR my three loads, 4
also stored three loads 81 the Farm-.
ers elevator, and one at the Dodge
elevator of the same Amber Ddru.a.
ssOn October llth. i sold what I had