The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-10-22

the farmers are to put themselves
upon terms of equality with the
great industries of the country, they
| too must organize. The problems
which press hardest upon them TO-
| day are concerned with the market
ing of their products at a price
which will enable them to live and
to 60 on producing. They must find
some way to restore the proper re-
receive for their products and the
prices they pay for other commodi-
ties. The dcvotee of the laisscz faire
philosophy insists that in process of
time, under the operation of eco
nomic laws alone, this. relationship
will be restored. Perhaps he is
right. The last report of the secrc-
tary of Agriculture states that dur
ing the last year ten per cent Of
the farms in Michigan alone have
been abandoned and thirteen per
cent more only partially worked.
Only the other day the county agent
in one of the counties in Indiana
told me that last year three hun
dred and twenty farms in his county
alone law idle. Indeed, l think l
may safely say that there is not an
agricultural state in the country in
which there are not at the present
time fallow fields. As things stand,
this tendency will continue until
farm production will fall so low
that there will be a real scarcity
of farm products and farm prices
will rise to an even. higher level
than would be desirable. In the
meantime large portion of the
farm population will go bankrupt.
Certainly this is not pleasing pro-
spect from the standpoint of either
the producer or the consumer of
farm products. If we would avoid
this ruin, l see but one way out.
The farmer too must organize for
the purpose of marketing his prod
ucts. Cooperative farm marketing
associations are no longer an ex
pertinent. In Denmark and Holland
they have existed longest and per-
haps have achieved their greatest
success. In California the fruit
growers for many years have been
successfully marketing their prod
uct through cooperative associations.
More recently the cotton growers OF
the South and the tobacco growers
Of America have made substantial
progress. There are innumerab!c
other instances. Wherever cooper
NJ;
you will find agriculture in its best
estate. In those communities the
farms are better improved and are
kept in higher state of cultivation
and repair. An air Of thrift and
prosperity is likely to abound, bet
ter community spirit has evolved,
the farm has more nearly approach
ed the ideal requirements of home.
Cooperative Law
AT last we have law upon the
statute books which authorizes to
the full extent the organization Of
the farmers to accomplish this very
purpose. That law was placed there
by "a, Republican Congress. The
President of the United States is in
tan sympathy with the principle.
The Republican party in its plat
form, has declared unequivocally in
favor of it.
"Thc future Of American agricul-
ture lies in the home markets. Ac-
cording to a recent report from the
Government the value of farm lands
in America has shrunk about quar-
ter in the last four years. They arc
still high in comparison with the
cheap lands of Canada, Australia,
South America, South Africa and
Russia. In the last named country
values have almost disappeared due
to the Soviet regime, and production
has been greatly curtailed. It's vast
area of agricultural lands, however,
will again some day come into COM
petition with the American farmers.
In all these countries have named,
agricultural production is going for
ward by leaps and bounds. Much of
those lands is virgin soil. If we are
to prevent the further decline of
agriculture in America we have got