Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1931-10-08
THIS Is A GOOD LOCATION

If what Colonel Charles H. March
of Litchfield, a member sof Federal
Trade Commission, said at Washing
ton the other day about the proposed
location of a federal prison farm
and the cut-over region of Minnesota
should be taken seriously it would
not be good advertising for this re-
gion. Locations near Hinckley and
Sandstone are seriously considered by
the Bureau of Prisons because they
are equally accessible from the Twin
Cities and Duluth, from where the
larger number of prisoners are SEN
fenced, and which would save travel
and transportation costs to the govern
ment. Announcement of the definite
location is expected within a few days.
Yesterdays St. Paul Pioneer Press
quotes Colonel March as follows:
why the government should. de-
liberately select inferior land for a
farming operation when the best land
in the world is to be had in Mime
sofa is beyond my comprehension.
1.-The American people have be-
come accustomed to the argument
that government operations are in
efficiently conducted. Here is an in
stance in which the government is
insuring failure at the outset with its
eyes open. 1t is planning to start
farming experiment on land on which
nobody ever has been able to succeed.
1T is planning to employ prisoners
pulling stumps, when it ought to be
planning to keep them busy produc-
ing food for themselves and other
prisoners on land so productive as
to be a good investment"
From the way the Colonel spouts it
might sound like he had a farm near
Litchfield that he wanted to sell to
the Bureau of Prisons for the federal
institution, or perhaps some of his
friends had land to sell and they
were turned down. He asserted that
the prison farm on which the govern
ment expects to invest probably $780,
600 to house and employ federal mis-
demeanor prisoners should be located
in central Minnesota, so as to be
equally accessible from, all parts of
the state. In central Minnesota, he
said, plenty of rich land is to be had.
With good land to start with, he
added, the government would stand
a chance to work out its prison farm
idea with excellent prospects of sue
cess instead of with certainty of fail
ure in the sand and stumps.
Colonel March is likely one of those
who has heard of the Hinckley fire
of 1894 and assumes that all we have
here is black stumps, brush, and sand.
At any rate he displays his ignorance
of the situation. Folks have made
a living in Pine county for more than
sixty years and farmers do not go
hungry here any more than in any
other part of America. Sixty years
is a long time where nobody ever
has been able to succeed" In Pine
county we have been blasting stumps
for years, very little pulling" now,
and many farms are as free from
'stumps as are the farms on the
prairies. And as for the prisoners
producing food, they will have plenty
of opportunity to do that here. In
fact Pine county farmers have been
selling annually more than two mil
lion dollars worth of butterfat, much
livestock is shipped out, and potatoes
and rutabagas are raised abundantly.
If the prisoners can eat those pro-
ducts they will not need to go hungry,
and we understand that if the prison
is located here it is planned that the
inmates raise potatoes and rutabagas.
In fact Pine county, of which Askov
is the center, raises more marketable
rutabagas than any other community
in the United States, about 500 car
loads being shipped out annually
Sandstone and Hinckley are amongst
the communities that also raise roots.
Oh, yes, there is plenty of food in
Pine county, and the prisoners will
find ample opportunity to raise food
for themselves. Our biggest problem
now is to find a market for the album
dance of products that we have to
sell.