Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1922-02-16
~ THE AMERICAN FAIRg


Mnder the above caption II. r.
Buck. son-in-iaw OF Ludwig
Il Mosbak, writes a well-written
article To the American in reply
to our article last week entitled
Farming the Farmers. Mr..
Bucks article follows:
First let me state that ] have no
intention Of making an attack on the
American. neither do | feel called
upon To come before the readers Of
the American to defend MIR. Mosb@k.
Their differences do not concern me
and Mr.. Mosb@k is undoubtedly able
To make his own defense.
However. after reading the attack
on Mr. Mosbsk In the last issue of
the American. | asked myself the
question over and over again. us
the American fair" Let the readers
| Judge.
The American goes back to the
year 1915 to prove Mr.. Mosbmk has
always tried To farm the farmer The
American tries to prove that Mosbak
would move heaven and earth To OBJ
tain for himself a soft berth.
II Is true that In 1916 Mr. Moshmk
agreed To ship rutabagas for the
farmers. charging them soc per ton
| for his service. Let il be remem-
bered that for years Mosbmk had
been shipping bagas. cabbage and
potatoes for himself, SO what he
agreed To do was simply tn load aud
consignN or SELL his neighbors' pro-
ducts along with his own.
The season opened the banner
baga season SO far i'm the history of
Askov, Load after load OF bagas
were hauled in, and sold to local
buyers. Mosbak loaded his own
bagas. but it seemed that no one
cared To- trust him to ship their
bagas. This went on for week or
ten days, Mosb@k was paying a man
wages for staying around the ear to
look after the stray loads that was
1 intrusted to his care. He was losing
money on this deal every day. Then
Mosbmk. whatever his motives were
probably self interest, decided to buy
bagas outright from the farmers.
pay cash for them out Of his own
pocket. and take chance for himself,
aud what happenedr Did the farm
ers with whom the American claims
that he had broken trust. desert and
boycott him. He was buried. Buried
mile deep under rutabagas. The
price advanced every day and inside
OF week Mosbak had little noun
| tains or rutabagas along the track
Ills problem was to get them out OF
town, How he fought for ears, how
he did for awhile fool the G. ~ Ry..
by billing q. N, ears tn a party in
Minneapolis. and have them re-bill
these ears to Chicago need not be
| dweit on here, Mosbak was up
| against a man sized job. and he proved
tn be equal to the task. How many
ears OF rutabagas he handled that
season I don't know. he has. l think,
stated that he handled nearly one
hundred carloads. BE that as II may
| he handled the biggest part of the
crop. and IL the American printed
the Local Market" then, M they do
now | think they will find ON nvesti-
cation OF their files that the price
paid for bagas that season was very
high.
Now 10 Moshwk handled TOO car
loads Of rutahagas on basis 81 soc
per ton this would have made him
u profit OF approximately $1,000 90,
Perhaps his private operations
Melted him much larger hgure. I
hope IL did. He worked hard for il
day and night, and earned what he
got.
Some of the bagas sold by Mosbmk
brought high prices. some showed
him loss. know for I handled his
wire messages over the telephone At
that time Askov did not enjoy direct
telegraphic communications with the
rest Of the world
In handling these messages over
the wires in public place. like a
store, IL is not strange that business
secrets should leak out Neither ia II
strange that a few farmers should
demand that Mosb@k show them an
account Of his transactions. These
| transactions were private. The
farmers interest In his rutabagas
ceased when he turned them over tc
J Mosbwk and received his check
} That was understood. This all trans.
: pired A. d. 1919 =
In the year Of 1918 the farmers
: built q potato warehouse, and those
/ same farmers whom Mosh@k has 81
mercilessly farmed i'm 1917 elected
: him manager OF this warehouse
, This tx where he engaged hi,
, brother-in-law as bookkeeper at $l3I
: per month. Less than $500 per da,
3 and $500 per day Was then the mini
! mum pay for common labor. Possibl,
= lady bookkecper could have beer
: hired for $7S.00 per month. Still
help was very scarce. However i,
I lady bookkeeper could not have don<
7 the work accomplished by Mr.. 10
1 berg. Anyone who~ came into On,
/ wArehouoe that yeaF duping the rual
a