The Devils Lake world., 1922-11-08

mittee of Seventeen.
Wars aftermath had spread chronic dis
content with the speculative system Of
handling grain. Men Of the sickle were
beginning to realize as they developed
their farms and changed from the state
Of living on what they produced to the
state Of living from the profits Of their
harvests, that there had necessarily de.
veloped great grain distribution system
which pro6ted altogether too greatly at
their expense. This commercial system
had once rendered them service, but
folks had begun to question.
A great plan was now before the house.
Here was new move to provide an al
ternate channel through which growers
could distribute their grain. Everywhere
people were hailing ut as great boon and
Il it succeeded in accordance with expec-
tations many would benefit.
But let US begin at the beginning. II
we are to perceive the import Of this great
grain marketing struggle, we must go
back into Agricultural History for some
thirty years beginning with the time when
. small group Of grain farmers formed the
6rst cooperative elevator and took
definite stand against the unfair practices
Of the grain buyers at local stations.
For years these farmers had been vic
tins Of price manipulators, and had been
forced to take whatever price local buyers
saw fit to give them. These same grain
buyers and old-line elevator owners were
quick to see in the cooperative elevator
= movement to take enormous profits
from them. They united and fought it
bitterly. They opposed the farmers in
securing sites for their elevators, en-.
couraged car discrimination by agreement
with station agents and artifcially raised
the price to point where farmers CO.
operative elevators faced failure.
Then line elevators were able to pur-
chase on such program as to buy higher
than the market price in order to freeze
out farmers elevators, by buying under
the market where no cooperative COM
petition existed.
In April, 1920, William G. Eckhardt,
county adviser of DeKalb county, Illinois,
was employed by the Illinois Agricultural
Association to head department Of grain
marketing. He came to Chicago in May
with the knowledge that something was
wrong with the present and past systems
Of marketing grain, and an Office desk
and chair as his sole stock in trade.
Mr.. Eckhardt began his work by going
straight to the farmers Of Illinois in 4
series Of is meetings, and asked them il
they would back up new and improved
system Of grain marketing. He presented
. few preliminary suggestions for stabil'
izing prices at these meetings and farmer,
pledged their support almost to man
The idea Of big cooperative grain mar
keting system then spread over the STATE
like wild6re and into other States.
That conference on July 1874, 1920
viii long be remembered by the farmer
of the grain-producfng states.
For the first time in the history Of Or
sanized agriculture truly Representative.
group Of erain-growing farmers from al
parts of the United States met in q national
eet-together grain marketing conference
Three hundred and fifty delegates repre-
senting practically every important farm
organization in the grain-producing sec
tions Of the whole country attehded
They heard how time and again some farm
leader with vision had made an attempt
10 unity the efforts Of different co-opera'
tfve grain-marketing plans and that ever,
plan 70 far had failed to give farmer
control over their products. Time anc
again the aim Of such cooperative move
nent had failed and selfish organizations
purposes OF sel6sh leadership had stood
IN the way Of national cooperation.