Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1926-02-04

| this country for 20 CENTS a gallon.
Most of our federal revenue is
derived from export, import and
excise taxes, which the farmer.
as a big producer and consumer
has to pay the bulk of, whether
he is making a profit or not.
Tax profits to support the gov
eminent. Any person who is
making a profit in some business
under the jurisdiction of this
country has no valid reason for
objecting to support the gov
eminent.
/ The question was asked! Does
the government owe the farmer
a living?" Apparently the fell
lows that ask questions of that
kind understand neither the
genesis nor the genius of the
American idea of government,
but have that Unborn tendency
of considering the government
as apart from themselves as it
is in the old country. The farm.
er is part of the governing
body, isn't he? Legislative bo-
dies should be his agents. Why
have a hired man unless you can
make him work for you? The
keenly trained minds that con-
duct big business understand
that part of it, and have down
to perfection the art of using
Legislation to further their in
terests. What special privilege
legislation has the farmer ever
had enacted? Why hasn't he
any? They represent a good
share of the voting power. It's
mostly a matter of intellectual
development that's needed along
that line.
The contention was also made
that the economist falls down
because he does not understand
the psychology of the men who
are farming in this country. In
what possible. manner can the
psychology of man have anything
to do with the soundness of an
economic theory or principle?
Most likely the trouble lies in
the application instead of with
the economist, because as a gen.
eral rule there is no unity of
thought among the different
farm gro ps, and you must have
that before there will ever be
any unity of action. If the
farms are put on an economic
parity with other industries dur
ing this generation our agricul-
tural schools, extension service,
county agents and the various
farm organizations that tend to-
wards bringing the farmers to-
gether with somewhat the same
outlook on their troubles will
have to be thanked, if left to the
next generation our public
schools will probably solve the
problem. The creature is gen
orally not much greater than the
creator. Likewise. no, farm Or
ganization will ever be much
stronger than the intellectual
capacity of the men behind it.
Stabilize the price on farm
produce and there is no necessity
of hiring expensive managers
to mis-manage cooperative asso-
Citations with the idea of selling
farm produce. Generally these
experiments, or farces in one act,
are costly, not only because of
what is lost directly but because
it takes time for the farmer to
rehabilitate after the catastrophe
occurs as it generally does. A
system of that kind does not
control the selling price anyway
and the overhead has habit of
spelling ruin. Last year the
bulk of the best potatoes in the
state were handled by the Potato
Exchange and the farmer got
about eleven cents bushel.
Disguised he quit producing and
this year they climb to two
dollars, which shows that CO.
operative selling associations can
neither control production nor
the selling price.
Respectfully,
A. M. Simonsen.