The Devils Lake world., 1922-11-08
STICKING in PINS

Tick-tick-clatter, clatter, clatter,
whir-r-r-r goes the stock ticker. On the
Chicago Board Of Trade hundred thou
sand bushels OF May wheat has just been
sold. Tick, tick-clatter, clatter-whizz,
whir-r-r-r, New York has bought ten
thousand shares Of U. S. Steel Preferred.
Minute by minute, hour by hour, this busy
little instrument records the rise and fall
of industry and its message spells exhilara-
tion and depression, success and failure.
Industrial experts carefully study the un-
rolling tape and from it feel the pulse Of ;
the worlds business.
All over this land, in state and county,
township and community, the fight 10
being carried on these days to make perma.
nent farmers organization; to bring
health and strength back to the funda-
mental industry Of soil tilling and stock
raising; and in the Chicago office Of the
American Farm Bureau Federation the
progress of this organization campaign
is being carefully watched and checked,
hour by hour, and day by day.
maps Aeu t0e Sto1y.
Instead OF ticker and tape, a map on
the wall shows every county in the United
States. Whenever county is organized
and Farm Bureau established, red.
headed pin is placed In that county, and
"Farmers Preferred" advances 4 point.
Out west, where the counties cover hum
dreds Of square miles, these pins appear
far apart, while in little Rhode Island three
pins close together make 100 per cent
farm bureau state. Every pin represents
days and weeks Of hard work and tells in
brief the story Of success.
The entire recording mechanism, how
ever, 10 much more delicate than IL re-
, quired for noting the addition Of new
counties. As the stream Of daily mail
goes thru the central office, every letter
10 scanned for news from the field telling
the story bit by bit Of the steady increase
! in membership.
What One Woman Did.
The searchlight plays for moment on
Virginia, where down in the Blacksbure
district Of Montgomery County the story
+! Of Farm Bureau is being carried thru
storms and over impossible roads on
), horseback. In Humboldt County, in
northern Nevada, where a woman drives
fifty miles to the nearest railroad station
and rides FIVE hundred more to attend the
annual state Farm Bureau meeting at
Reno and learn how she best could help
advance the work that means 80 much to
western agriculture. With a wide sweep
, the light swings back for a moment to
old New York State where, in Jefferson
County, Ellisburg Township has just come
thru with signup Of 90 per cent Of the
entire farm population.
In Utah, pushing the regular county
drives, we see the president of the stat,
Farm Bureau taking the field at the head
Of flying squadron in one direction
while an executive committeeman OF tn,
| American Farm Bureau personally lead
picked team from county to county il
another. South Dakota is wiping out
financial deficit Of $500 in 81 minutes
In Missouri. Kansas, and Nebraska nev
enthusiasm and endeavor develop daily
An Organized Agriculture.
Ii The recording system in Chicago tick
away day after day, abstracting and car,
indexing the most detailed and minut
information as to the daily progress OF tn
work, filing away bit at time unde
each state its planning and progress, tell
ing an accurate story Of encouragement,
worries, and fears, as we'll as Of successe
and triumphs, SO that at any moment tn
director may glance over the tape and
at once in possession Of all the facts il
every case.
So the record grows and day by da,
county at time, the blank spaces O
the map are filed up with little red-heade
pins, small in themselves, but great i
the sum total Of what they represent
soI;dlY organized American aoriculture