The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1934-09-06


has been flung into the faces of
farmers all over the country: How
is it Pennsylvania Dutch can make ,
go of it?
Well, they can't. You can quote ,
five thousand Bucks county farm /
ers and their families on that.
Bucks county is the very heart
of Pennsylvania Dutch country.
additionally, it is the land of the
contented COW, the Mennonite. dea-
con and the omnipotent hex sign.
Politically it has been the breeding
ground of Joseph R. Grundy and
hundred pale and soiled carbon
copies. 1t was above the signature
of one of these political stooges
that the official order robbing sew
eGal thousand residents of their
farms ard homes appeared in the
last days of July. Nothing more
than a form letter to inform the
good people of the county that UNI
less 1881 and 1882 back taxes
ranging around five, ten and fiji
teen dollars were Forthcoming their
properties would be auctioned. No
body seemed to know exactly how
many were involved. / asked Co.
Commissioner Roberts and he said,
"God. I don't know. Quite a few"
"But, Commissioner, you who
| signed the orders must certainly
know"
"I'd say there was quite a few
of them"
Then the Doylestown Intelligent
Ger came out with the list. The
farmers were given until Monday,
August 9th, when the sale would
take place at the courthouse. In
thet event that no one bid, the
farms were to go into custody of
the county.
On the same day 125 farmers
met at Hagersville and decided to
call a general meeting of both de-
inquent and paid-up farmers and
workers to see what could be done.
The meeting would be held Aug,
on the courthouse steps. A com
mittee of the United Farmers Pro
tective Association sat up through
he small hours, writing two chou
sand postcards to a partial list
That cost $40. There was no more
money to be had. This organiza-
ton ran off the first successful
penny sale in the country. 1t has
been fighting its way thru hardy
and resisting soil, but farmers lool
to it for leadership.
, When we heard of the order
. was working on the farm of Jo'
TENN in UhleEstown. Joe is ;
model farmer with one of the fines
flocks of pullets in the state. NJ
: insurance company could ever com
! plain of burned barn on the Ten
= in place. He has been working
that spot for "a years and he doe
2 not owe cent in taxes. But h
, is a member of the U.F.P.A. an
+ his little car still runs. Every
spare moment of the following
week he spent going from town
ship to local to isolated farmhouse
: trying to assure the success of tn
Doylestown meeting.
Joe is great, lusty farmer an
q ne eats a lot and works lot an
sings all the time. Sometimes 20
see him stop for a breathing spe
t between the plOwhandles and he
: start singing and before you mo'
n he's dancing all by himself. Dirty
ing the little car in the night. "
sang merry army songs and "Ol
s Susanna" and spirituals they coul
O hear on the Jersey side. That Wa
= on the way to little gatherings a
over the county. We never san
en- he way back.
: Those meetings. In Durhal
about a dozen of US sat on the
a porch of Joseph Hermann. Tn
~ electricity was turned off to say
8 money and we sat in the dark. Oh
e man said ne had shipped six hos
? he'd fed from the day of their bin
and they fetched him a check
10 cents after all expenses ha
10 been deducted. A broad man
u overalls, squatting on the groun
+, said 'I'll be there. I learned n
< lesson. Next Thursday they'r
coming to sheriff my stove and b,
and two hundred cans of fruit
n preserved. Those are the on
h things left to SELL"
Sc Tha was John NJ. Ziegler. j
Id had told me about him just the d
If before. Ziegler had been literal
=. swindled out of his farm by t
. local feed company. Seventeen hi
dred dollars worth of his MACH
~. cry was advertised to be SHERIFF.
= on certain day and the UP.
81 offered to bring a group if tn
D. could gather some of his neig
bors. No, Ziegler was a man W
d. had brought up eight children he
orably and he wanted everythir
legal. The machinery went for S
eS For months he walked arOun
&c telling his story to everybody
r. could collar. He even wrote it
the Farmers National Weekly a
they printed it. In the meantil
the machinery had been carted o
81 learned my lesson" he sa
eff l can get a hitch. I'll be ther'
In Red Hill nine of US sat in
low farm room u~'nr flutterin
kerosene lamp that had to be
and relit. Three scrawny H