Emmons County record. [volume] (Williamsport, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-current, 1922-02-02
SAVERS SUNDAY. SERMON

Sunday Afternoon, Jan. 29th.
Mr.. F. B. Streeter, s-
+ First Paragraph
Dear Sir: Much of the stuff in your
paper of late is wrong, absolutely.
You quoted the conversation between
)a farmer and myself about county
agent expense correctly but why such
editorial comment! There was no Ear
gument" or sarcasm" in this Incl
dent. ! remember the person and the
incident very well. The farmer was
not offended. The dealings with this
man have always been pleasant. And
challenge you, at any convenient
time, to call this farmer and me into
your Office and let us see if he sane
tions your comment. Had this party
known that you would treat this in
cident as you did, he would not have
told you. You might credit me with
that much tact and diplomacy, any
way.
Second Paragraph n
The only part of the grasshopper
story that was true was the amount
Of expense and the fact that the writ
er is termed "Grasshopper jim" The
rest is all wrong. The county agent
did not solicit one signature on the
petitions. He did not actively push
the matter, etc., etc. Several auto
loads of Braddock farmers came down
and "fcrced" the commissioners to
act. was not even present at the
meeting. There might have been a
pint or two of "Bolshevik" made,
but not load after load" Say, Frank,
you may get a few in the south end
Of the county to believe that dope,
but name one person in the infested
area that sanctions that article. It's
"Jim Jam" in style, but not in back
ground.
Third Paragraph
When you say that any resident
farmer could fill the position of coun-
ty agent suppose you thought that
would take with the farmers-that's
why you said it, isn't it! Well, you
might get few to believe that too,
but the majority of our farmers are
not so conceited as that. You might
as we'll say, any farmer can be doc
tor, lawyer, dentist, professor,
etc. You know there are 40 county
agents in North. Dakota. SO of them
are college graduates; several have
done one and two years of post-grad-
uate work; the remaining four have
had two and three years of college
work. (These four got in during the
war when it was hard to get quail
fled men; after the War none but
college men are accepted.) The fact
that lot of the work is practical
does not imply that any one can
handle the job. The Department Of
Agriculture demands lot of scien-
tific investigations that are not pub
lished in the local papers as it would
not be popular reading. The govern
ment pays half the salary and they
want men that can do this scientific
work when called upon to do SO.
Fourth Paragraph
You make much Of the fact that
county agents salary is little above
the other county officers. Well, why
not? With all due respect to all the
county officers that I have had the
pleasure Of being associated with dur
ing these four years, they are bunch
of good, honest, capable men, yet
what educational requirements are
there for the ordinary county officer!
We knew county treasurer in this
state a few years ago that was as il
literate as person could be; he
could barely scribble i.:s name OF, a
check and that was all. His deputy
did all the work at SIS per month
and the officer got $3.50 for shaking
hands. As an illustration: Suppose
YOU. Mr.. Streeter, or any farmer or
business man in this county had sew
eral sons; and suppose one Of these
by his own ambition and work, or by
the assistance Of his father, or ~
both. should spend at least eipht