The Ely miner., 1930-05-09

Fon the farmer whose products have
been consumed by this vast army of
people, who now, unemployed, find
their buying power reduced perhaps
by more than half. These 6,l88 chain
stores which have replaced $500 in
dependent stores, will carry not larger
but smaller stocks in each store, than
was formerly carried by each inde-
pendent store, and so 1892 stocks of
merchandise will be removed from the
tax rolls and these stores with stocks
which averaged not more than $4,000
per store had taxable assets which
took the highest assessment, of about
thirty-one million dollars. Will this
effect the tax levy on homes and
farms?
The farmer is asking for q farm
relief bill in order that he may secure
a Just compensation for his labor and
investment, yet he Is one of the
largest patrons of the chain store and
the catalogue house. He not only
gives no consideration to a fair and
Just compensation for his home mer-
chant, who as permanent citizen
helps to bear the cost of govern
ment, but actually pays more for his
merchandise, often accepting an in
ferior quality, thus helping by his
patronage of these stores to deprive
thousands of their means of support.
All of these people would gladly be
consumers of the products of the
farm, thus greatly assisting the gov
ernment in disposing of the farmers
surplus, a thing the farmers are
asking both political parties to provide
for.
Does the farmer who patronizeS
the chain store and catalogue house
and who by such patronage drives out
of his state and community the men
and women who would aid him in his
struggle for a better market for his
products, deserve relief?
Does the laborer who is asking for
larger wage scale, and who by his
patronage of the chain store throws
countless thousands out of employ
ment, thus putting them in COM
petition with himself and forcing them
to accept even lower wage than is
already being paid, deserve a wage
increase? These are questions which
those who bring them about must
answer.
When the farmer, the laborer and
every other type of citizenship begins
to. make a profound study of this sit
uation, and try to reason out for
themselves, the things which have
been pointed out to them in this little
booklet then, and not until then, will
these things adjust themselves, and
the importance of the small town be
fully realized. Let the small town
fade, and the independent merchant
become the unwilling victim of great
monopoly, and the farm be truly rural
as in the past, then not only will the
gaunt spectre of taxation haunt the
land owner, but with it will become
an even greater problem, that of
keeping the younger generation on the
farms. No longer will the great agri-
cultural universities now maintained
by the states be needed, for farm life
will once again become heartache
and drudge, and the city worth while
will be too far away for the boys and
the girls from the farms to return,
once they have visited it and become
enchanted with its bright lights
Let us hope that every type of cit
izenship will awaken to the menace
with which they are confronted. 1t
can be easily overcome without the
sacrifice of either money or effort,
but only by use of common sense and
vision of the future, and what 1t
holds unless they themselves decide to
change their present methods of buy
ing. The right method of buying will
mean the right method of selling, and
the right method of selling will in it
self give the farmer his much needed
relief. With farm relief will come
better wage scale, and a better wage
scale will mean more money with
which to purchase the produts of the
farm which all must have, and which
all will buy in proportion to the
amount they have to spend. But these
things cannot come as long as the
money that is being spent, instead of
remaining in and enriching each sep
arate community, Is with first spend
ing started on a journey to the east
from whence it will never return.
When you nave read this article,
read it again, and as you read it again
and agin, study it carefully, pick it to
pieces if you can, challenge every
statement you find between its covers,
and the truth it contains will quickly
and clearly unfold, so that even
though you may at first be prejudiced,
you will in the end realize that you
are the farmer, the laborer or the
professional man whose methods Of
buying are being questioned, and then
you, yourself, will answer these very
serious questions in sane and salts
factory way, and the result will be all
that will be necessary for the re-estab-
lishment of your once prosperous town
and community, and your tax burden
will be hghtened.