The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1925-08-28

that they have no assurances they
will ever reap. This tendency has
caused CONSERVATION even in banking
circles in Montana. Farseeing bank
ers within the state now see that in
tolerating the legal robbery of the
farmers by the eastern loan compa-
MES they have killed The. goose that
laid the golden egg. Some of the
native bankers realize that the dam
age has been done already and that
some system must be devised to keep
the farmers on the land and to induce
them to put in a crop next year. Sew
eral plans have been discussed and
the one that finds most favor in finan-
cial circles is to get a meeting of the
eastern loan companies with a view Of
getting them to institute a system Of
tenantry of some kind A more rea-
sOnable rent system than the one now
IN vogue is to be devised to induce
the farmer to stay on the land. Il is
argued that no farmer would under
take the uncertainties of crop raising
If one-fourth of the crop were to be-
first delivered to the landlord as rent.
A lower fixed rent is to be recon-
mended
Tenant Farmer SerfdOm
The natural tendency of this sys-
tenn will be to reduce the American
farmer to a species of serfdom or
landlordism such as has been abolish
ed in several European countries.
Economists say the farmer here has
to go through the same system before
he is emancipated. But they, at the
same time, feel that it will be hard
to break the American to this feudal
yoke. However, the system will be
tried whether it leads to bloodshed, as
1t has in other countries, or not. The
securing Of title deeds by eastern
mortgage holders is the preliminary
step to the enslavement of the farm
erS of Montana.
Fight for Freedom in Sheridan
While this transition is taking place
in many parts of the state advices
from Sheridan and other counties in
the northeastern part of the state
would seem to indica c tA25 TIC farm
ers there a@e not bending their neck
to the yoke. Instead they are report
ed to- show a belligerent attitude.
Representative of eastern loan com
i
heard in conversation in the hotel
Hobbies to say that they have been
very unsuccessful in that region.
They ascribe their i'll fortune in Sher-
idan county to the fact that the farm
ers in that district own a powerful
paper called the Producers News and
have complete set of county officers
in the courthouse. The editor of The
Producers News is a lawyer and is re-.
ported to be dishing cut law through
the columns of the paper at a whole
sale rate. Needless to say that this
law is against The interest of the
eastern companies with the resl:lt
that their agents have received sons
very rough usage in that part Of thc
state. In several instances agen S re-
port that they have been chased of
fcreclosed lands by Infatuated farm
ers with shotguns. Complaints have
been forwarded to the bar association
against the edi or in question but SC
far no satisfactory results have been
obtained but on the contrary that dis
tinguished body seem to be disin-
clined to get into tangle with him
because of his connections in the state
and his well known reactions to fights
made upon him.
Taking the ''NelsOn Cure"
A further disconcerting rumol
reaching banking circles here is that
several debated farmers in-end tax
ing the "Nelson cure" as soon as they
) have harvested the crop this year
This news is received with mixed feel
ings in financial circles. Some bank
/ ers and business men seem to favor