Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-04-08
Advocates Common Sense
Farm Program and Leg
iS1atiVe Action.

Al the annual rural ledUeTSDlp Uln-
ner which will eliminate the 10Th
annual Arrowhead Agricultural In
stitute tonight at the Northeast Ex-
pertinent Station, Duluth. will appear
Hjalmar Petersen, former governor
and present chairman of the Mime
sofa Railroad & Warehouse Commits
sion, as a speaker.
Mr. Petersen's talk which reviews
the farm situation and outlines a
practical farm program. follows:
We are met this evening to honor
certain men of this region who have
made outstanding success i'm farming
the past year or so. Surely these men
and undoubtedly their wives and FAM
lies too are to be congratulated. IN
questionably the wives, mothers and
daughters have done their fair share
in bringing about these remarkable
records of achievement in farm man.
agement.
Anyone who has made a success of
farming the past few years, must be
a wizard or some sort of superman.
During this period, agriculture in the
United States has been in the dol
drums. For the past decade farm prod
ucts have averaged less than IS per
cent of their pre-war purchasing
power. During much of the past Is
years, agriculture has not received
as much as IL per cent of the national
income; much of the time ten per
cent or less. Even in the cOmrara-
lively prosperous year ending June 80
1927, Professor Morris A. Copeland
estimated that if the farmers of the
United States paid themselves for
their labor an average of $40 year,
or slightly more than $40 a week, and
set aside 4 - per cent interest on the
market value of the equity in their
farm property. they would collectivel y
face a deficit of no less than $1.717,-
100000. Only by cancelling the interest
on their property and by limiting
themselves to an average income of
SO or 81 week wage, could they
balance their books.
The Saturday evening before Easter.
I happened to note an item in the
daily press reading as follows:
"Rockport, Mo-, March 27-John c.
Stapel, editor of the Atchison County
Mail, says his 30O-acre farm showed a
profit in 1886 for the first time in sew
eral years-income exceeding expen-
ses by eight cents
We hope that the farmers of Mime
sofa have been more fortunate than
Mr.. Stapel of Missouri, but we fear
that many have not.
Surely in recent years, success upon
the farm, victory over handicaps and
even pitiable conditions is a supreme
achievement and it has been made by
men who sit here with us this eve
ming. Think of the knowledge, indus
try and planning which are necessary
to make such a triumph POSSIBLE.
These men have, as it were, won
against world conditions against a
state of chronic illness in agriculture
which has become the concern of the
whole nation. And these gentlemen
whom we honor tonight have tri-
umphed over adverse conditions, I'M
favorable trends, almost against fate
itself, and they have triumphed by
reason of knowledge, skill and indus
try. 1t all serves to show that these
three: knowledge, skill and industry,
are largely the masters of human
destiny.
A Tribute to Andrew Boss.
Upon this occasion we have with
us man who has given years to the
study of agriculture and the inter-
probation of its problems. l was about
to speak of Professor Andrew Boss as
veteran teacher at the Agricultural
College in the University of Minnesota
but on second thought l am reminded
of remark a. friend made to me not
so long ago. He said: Petersen, after
the age of forty, the term veteran or
aged is not lightly and carelessly to
be banded about among friends"
/ quite agree with this remark and
so l will just cite the fact that Pro-
fessCr Boss knows so much about agri-
culture that one hesitates to speak
much on that subject in his presence.
Moreover, Professor Boss has recently
been to Europe and made many in
teresting observations over there rel
ative to agriculture.
Scandinavians for Cooperatives.
So upon this occasion, l am going
to content myself by making just a
few remarks about the mind of the
American farmer in Minnesota and
am going to begin by quoting myself
in a short interview carried in the
March issue of The American Maya
zine. Questioned about Scar dinavians
and reported by Mr.. William Seabrook
had this to say about the mental at
titude of farmers in Minnesota:
1.-THE Scandinavian-Ameri farm
ers are not, properly speaking, radi-
Gals. They are agrarian liberals, al
most untinged by MARKHAM or Com
munistic doctrines. They are inter-
ested in consumers cooperatives-buy-
ing by groups-but are by nature little
capitalists, owners of property, re-
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