The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1935-01-15

we were ct war with Germany the
government set . price On wheat far
below what they would have other
wise got for it and thereby. the gov
eminent piled up . sum exceeding
500 900, 900 which Is still In the U. 8.
treasury direct profit to the gov.
eminent ct tn expense Of the farmer.
In setting q price Of $l.3S per bushel
for seed wheat and correspondinsly
high prices for other seed grains, the
government Is forcing the farmers to
pay for seed alone more than the
entire crop may bring them should
prices drop Is low as they were q
short time ago.
We believe that something drastic
should be done about this thing. II
not, farmers will be worse off than
ever before with their burden Of debt
piled mountain high.
A short time ago . certain farmer
organization went on record q fav.
oring the cancellation Of seed aud
feed loans, both present and future.
We believe any such procedure would
be mighty unfair to those farmers who
have paid back their loans, either in
full or in part, and also that It would
set bad example to debtors in gen.
eral. But We do believe farmers
should be able to pay not only their
feed and seed loans to the govern
ment but any and all debts owed by
them to the government Or govern.
mental agencies, including the Fed
eral Land bank, with an honest dol
lar and not dishonest one. We be.
lieve that for every dollar owed the
government should accept . bushel Of
wheat or its equivalent, and not ex-
pect the farmer to pay more than .
dollar for seed wheat and be COM
PEELED to give four or five bushels
back for every dollar received.
In other words, farmers should de-
mand the commodity dollar. Had
this been done years ago farmers
would not be In their present position.
The low prices Of 1882 forced many
a farmer to sell every bushel Of wheat
he produced to pay back the govern
ment for money advanced for seed.
Had farmers been able to repay this
debt with one bushel Of wheat for
each dollar borrowed how much bet
ter 1t would have been for all Of US.
But Is 1t Is, the burden Of debt
keeps growing heavier and heavier
with no hope Of decreasing It under
present conditions.
Farmers are also resentful over the
fact that they are being told to buy
their seed and feed with their allot-
ment checks and not expect credit
from the government. The whole
trouble is these allotment checks are
expected to cover too large . terri
tory for their size.
In numerous cases these checks
represent the entire amount Of in
come from the farm the past year.
Farmers not on relief must buy Ill
their necessities from these checks
and, while in the aggregate these
checks represent Z huge sum, the
average farmer received considerably
less than one hundred dollars. How
far viii such q sum 60 toward pay
ing expenses, including seed, for the
average farm? We must also remem-
Der that the big. wealthy farmers are
the ones who got the biggest checks
and that the tenant farmer had to
divide with his landlord.
Today the government Is loaning
thousands Of dollars on land which
Is practically worthless In It's present
condition for raising q profitable
crop. Because farmers were poverty
stricken they were forced to plant
crop after crop 1t loss-they could
not afford TO summer fallow Or ro-
tate their crops. It Is largely these
farms which are being refinanced by
the government. But. farmers today
are finding out that they have mere
ly changed creditors with little bene-
fit to themselves. A little less inter-
est and maybe the principal scaled