The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1936-09-25

get OIL WOulu nC nave o~O AAAJ
bv without moving a finger and
permitted Mr.. Almaras and his
family to be moved off the farm
to which they had devoted 10
hard years of labor?
Farmers Have
Faith in LANCER
The farmers of North Dakota
know that Bill LANCER would have
stopped that foreclosure without
hesitating a second. That's why
Bill LANCER today has the support
of the farmers of North Dakota
and why they have again drafted
him to be governor on the Non
partisan League Third Party
ticket. The farmers want man
in the governors office who can
do his own thinking and who is
not afraid to act in the best in
terests of the common people; a
man who believes in a real mora
torium-not fake which doesn't
work.
The foreclosure sale on Mr.. Al
maras' farm was scheduled for IL
a. m. last Tuesday. Two hours be-
fore the scheduled sale, the far
mers started gathering on the
Eddy county courthouse steps and
in the corridors. There was no
violence: no threats. Just a group
of grim-faced farmers. But they
meant business. They were there
to see justice done; to see that
human rights we're placed above
property rights when a much
bragged-about illegal" moratorium
offered them no protection.
Nor is this the only instance
in which the so-called "legal' mo-
ratorium drafted for Wexford by
IVA lawyers has proved Of little
help to debt-ridden farmers and
their families. Scores of instances
could be cited of farmers who
have lost their homes through
evictions and foreclosure.
Foreclosures
On The Increase
Just ten days before this aro-
used group of 500 farmers blocked
the foreclosure sale of the Alma
ras farm, the sheriff of Stutsman
county sold by foreclosure the
farm of T. G. Musgrave situated
near jamestown. On the mortgage
covering this quarter section,
there was due the sum of $4,025.-
09 which because Of poor crops
Mr.. Musgrave was unable to pay.
The mortgage was foreclosed and
his farm sold. Another family
Joined the ranks of thn homeless.
Why did not the Farm Holiday
association stop THIS sale? For
the reason that the mortgage was
held by the federal land hank. an
agency of the federal government,
and a few days previous TO the
scheduled sale, these banking Of
ficials sent word to the Holiday
men that any interference would
be construed as construction of an
act of congress" and would sub
ject them to a heavy fine and
prison term.
Other Farmers
Are FOreclOsed
Nevertheless, Stutsman county
Holiday members gathered at
Jamestown for a county meeting
to discuss the situation.
On the very day that the sale
of the Musgrave farm was held,
officials received a letter
from Miss Hanson, Welford's pri-
vate secretary, saying that no
foreclosure sales were being per-
mitted in North Dakota under the
legal moratorium.
The Holiday group which
heard this letter read to them on
the 18th day of September, 1896 |
saw the sheriff's hammer fall as
the title to- two Stutsman county
farms changed hands, ane of them |
the Musgfave farm. Protests and |
to the acting governor
and his bosses had again been of |
no avail.
Why perpetuate and continue |
The fraud and hypocrispy of the
Walford administration? Whv tell |
a distressed people to seek relief
from a "legal' moratorium when
y reality there is no such thing?
What North Dakota needs is q
real moratorium-an executive
moratorium and one that will be |
enforced to protect the interests of