The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1936-09-25
FARMERS MOBILIZE
TO SAVE HOME OF
EDDY COUNTY
NEIGHBOR

The so-called illegal" mora
torium-one with teeth in it that
actually protects the homes and
property of the debt-ridden-is an
executive moratorium such as
Governor LANCER declared in the
spring of 1888 when he stopped
q wave of foreclosures and evic-
tions.
Tuesday morning last week, a.
determined band of some 500
North Dakota farmers gathered
on the courthouse ornnnds at New
Rockford to- do what Welford's
moratorium" failed to do-block
the foreclosure sale which was in
tended to take away the home and
means of livelihood of an Eddy
county farmer.
Farmers Save
Neighbours Home
The farm was scheduled to go
under the sheriff's hammer at IL
a. m. that morning. When the
hour came, the Eddy county court
house was. SO jammed with grim
and determined farmers that the
sheriff couldn't bulge out of his
office: Eleven o'clock passed. There
was no sale.
Back in 1875 years ago
Charles Almaras bought his farm
near New Rockford containing
two quarters of land. The pur-
chase price was $4,000. Through
the ups and downs of the next
ten. years, Mr.. Almaras and his
family struggled and saved to
keep up the payments on their
property, at the same time max
ing many improvements on the
building and towards increasing
the value of the farm. By 1882,
the principal and outstanding in
debtedness against the farm had
been reduced to approximately
$4,000.
Demon Drouth
Takes a hand
Came then the lean years-the
years Of low prices; of small crops
or of no crop at all.
Like thousands of his fellow
farmers throughout the state, Mr..
Almaras was caught with his back
to the wall by forces over which
he had no control. Not his fault
that scorching sun and soaring
winds shTiveled his growing
grain; not his fault that hoppers
stripped his fields, or that lack of
rain made off his fertile acres a
waste of powdery dust.
But such excuses" were not
sufficient for the moneylenders
and the mortgage sharks. "Pay
up the mortgage and interest, or
else........"
Some months ago, Mr.. Almaras
applied to the federal land bank
for a loan to carry him along and
help him retain possession Of his
farm.
The loan was granted. It would
have. enabled Mr.. Almaras to pay
up every cent of principal, interest
and taxes outstanding on the pro-
perty with the exception ofS15O.
But then another Glitch" occur
ed. The Prudential Life Insurance
company, an out-of-state insur-
ance corporation which holds the
mortgage, refused to scale down
their bill even in the amount of
such paltry sum.
AS a result the federal land
bank was forced to withdraw it's
loan.
Case Exposes
Fake Moratorium
With the withdrawal of the fed
eral land bank loan, Mr.. Almaras'
last hope for saving his farm was
gone. He looked in vain for the
legal" moratorium to help him.
he was told that nothing could be
done. His farm was advertised for
foreclosure sale to be held Tues
day, the 22nd day of September,
1886. =.
Wexford and the rascal polite
lans with which he has surrounded
himself could edo nothing" Their
legal" moratorium when put to a
practical test, was exposed as a
fake.
The question naturally arises
What would Bill LANCER have
done had he been. faced with
similar situation in 1893 under the |
executive moratorium ?" Would he
have allowed this insurance com
pany to put the Almaras farm on
the auction block Siunnlv haoaueo i