Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1934-05-31

The American Academy March. 1894,
and printed in the ASkov American
by special permission.
Wherever we turn i'm the capital
istic world we find agriculture in
neglected status. This is more true
i'm the United States than in any
other country. unless it be Great Brit
ain. There is no agricultural obJec-
tive, as there is no effective political
concern for the farmer. With some
limitations, his position is that OF the
wage worker. Only within recent
months have attempts been made to
lift his status to that of the more
powerful economic groups.
There are five problems that must
be solved if we would place agricul-
ture in its proper place as related
to the Nation as a whole. Those
problems are: (a) the relation OF the
farmer to the land; (b) transporta-
ton, and the cost of bringing the
products of the farm to the market;
(c) credit; (d) marketing agencies;
and (e) the elevation of the farmer
to effective and intelligent power in
the political state.
These problems may be reduced to
efficient production on the one hand
and the eliminating of wastes OF dis
tribution on the other. They are both
economic and political. Both must
be solved if the farmer is to have ms
proper place in the social system.
rINl.o hos Two al "a
He has 125,O00,O00 buyers. These
buyers have no choice. They must
eat if they would live. The more
they buy. the greater their physical
well-being; as the more they buy at
a price they can pay, the surer the
farmer of profitable market. The
farm problem is a consumers prob
lem.
An orderly, balanced, and equit-
ably organized society is the goal.
And it is important that we have
goal, even though the routes to be
travelled may have to be abandoned
from time to time for new approach
to the problem.
Now, it is my belief that in high
" nationalistic state no recovery Is
possible until the well-being OF the
farmer is assured. The farmer is
the paymaster of the wage worker,
as he is the paymaster of interest and
dividends. We cannot expect to have
profitable industry until the farm
er's income is such that he can buy.
|, is not an accident that the income
of the farmers in 1882 was S5,0OO,OOO,-
900, while the income OF the factory
workers was almost exactly the same
amount.
Denmark, A Farmers Society.
1t is because the little country of
Denmark has seemed to be inspired
by this belief and has achieved these
ends that | am telling the story OF
that country as an exhibit OF what
a state may become when the prl-
mary producers and the ultimate con-
sumers have achieved a working re-
lationship through which new So
ciety has been born.
To my mind, Denmark is the most
inviting field of political and soclo-
logical study that the Western World
offers. | discovered Denmark some
years ago while writing a series OF
articles for a New York magazine
While in London, | learned that Eng
land bought her legs, bacon, ano
butter from Denmark instead OF pro-
ducing them herself. l learned that
81. hnI h icTh ltIln L.
ity than those of other countries
| visited the Danish Export Society
in London. | found that it was
farmers cooperative and served as q
sales agency for Danish farm pro-
ducts. The manager told me that
could find not only the village bu
even the farm from which an indi
vidual egg came, if l desired to do so
went to Copenhagen and visited
the Offices of the central cooperative
society. From there | was directed t.
an inland town. From this point
visited a number of Danish farmers
the rural folk schools and the credl
agencies maintained by the co-opera
tiyes. | even found the farm from
which a single egg bearing a loca
marking had come, which egg ha'
been served to me at breakfast in
London hotel. | found myself in
commonwealth of farmers, ruled b.
farmers, where all the agencies
the state, of education, and OF a vas
number of cooperative enterprise
were consciously dedicated to the pre-
motion of the well-being OF the farm
ers. AS a result of this visit l wrote
little book entitled Denmark, &c
operative Commonwealth Ruled b
Farmers"
Denmark, / found, had about tn
same distribution of population be
tween agriculture and manufactur1n
that we find in the United States.
found that it was a country with fe'
millionaires, but with very h1g
standard of living for all classes
There were no rural or urban slum
There was no illiteracy. There wa
an economic, and political democrac,
as well as an equality between tn
sexes, that was not to be found
any country with which ! was fami
lar in the outside world.
A Country in Despair.