The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1932-03-25
Farmer-Labor PARTY
Offers Stolen MINI
Farm Lands for Sal.


"FARM LANDS ARE THE
FUNDAMENTAL SOURCE OF
THERE is NO BET
TER OR SAFER INVESTMENT. F."
Under this slogan C. F. Garen-
strom, Chairman of the Minnesota
Rural Credit Bureau, broadcasts
loudly the fact that the State of
Minnesota, and its Farmer-Labor
government have 224O farms for
sale. The whole damnable hypo-
crisy of the sales of these farm
lands is evident in the paragraph
following Immediately on this slo-
gan in an article written for the
capitalist press by Gaarenstrom.
"Under present conditions, the
State of Minnesota is in a posi-
ton to sell a farm home for
less than it cost the pioneers
who settled Minnesota in the
early days, without the hard
ships and inconvenience those
men and their families were
forced to suffer. A well-im-
proved farm ranging in size
from 40 to 800 acres can be
bought for what il would cost
to duplicate the improvements"
Farm lands are such a "safe in
that they can be bought
now for less than they cost the
original homesteaders. "The hard
ships and Inconvenience those
men and their families were fore
ed to suffer" were rewarded by
the capitalist class first with
grinding exploitation, and later
with privation and eviction. The
lands which the Farmer-Labo1
chairman of the Minnesota Rural
Credits Bureau is advertising are
the lands WHICH HAVE BEEN
TAKEN FROM THE PIONEERS
BY THE STATE AT THE BID
DING OF THE WALL STREET
BANKERS.
Gaarenstrom has the brazenness
to flaunt the fact that it cost the
state only 81 a farm to appraise
these farms which it is going to
sell, as compared with the previ-
GUS average appraisal cost of $2l..
ga. "A great deal of money was
saved by carrying out the instruc.
tons of the Minnesota Legislature
in this manner" He boasts OF
how cheaply the Farmer-Labor ad-
is preparing the
farms of these pioneers for sale.
The reason the Rural Credits Bu-
reau wants to get rid of the
farms is that the state could moi
operate the farms at a profit. Op-
Grating these farms would cost the
state $375,00O annually and the
task of the Farmer-Labor admin
istration is to save this money 50
that the capitalist class can be
saved that much in additional
taxes.
The Minnesota Legislature in
1881 made a thorough investiga-
ton of the Rural Credit Bureau
and, among other things recOm-
'@-'4e@ that the Bureau sell its
farms in an orderly manner at
fair present market values. II
realized that the State was not
IN a position to operate these
farms at a profit, but that their
operation would entail a con-
tmual annual loss, amounting
to approximately $375.0OO Der
year for the present holdings"
The reason the state wants "a
sell this land is to get it on the
tax rolls. THIS MEANS SO
THAT THE STATE CAN DE.
RIVE ADDITIONAL THOUS.
ANDS OF DOLLARS IN TAXES
FROM THE TOILING FARM
The Farmer-Labor ad.
is trying to exploit
the farmers who will buy the land
and "take an interest in their
community and pay taxes on these
lands"
The Legislature further be-
lieved that it would be to the
best interest of The state if
these farms were owned BY bona
fide farmers, who would take
an interest In their community
and who would pay taxes on
these lands. The farms owned
by the State are not on the tax
rolls, which means that other
farms, as well as city property.
IN the county are forced TO
bear that part OF the taxes
which would otherwise be paid
by the farms owned by the
State"
The criterion used by the Farm
administration of Wall
Street for Minnesota is the cri-
terion Of "the Federal land bank
and Of the large insurance and