Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-06-24
State Capitol News
BY A. I. HARRIS

The great dream of farmers of the
northwest for an outlet to the sea and
a means of cheap transportation to
connect them with eastern markets
was brought nearer realization last
week by an appeal of Governor Ben
MN to President Roosevelt for aid
IN opening up negotiations with Can
ada regarding the Great Lakes-St.
Lawrence Seaway. Ratification of a
treaty with Canada is necessary be-
fore the project can be undertaken.
SIS it not possible to bring the
negotiations with Canada to a very
early successful elimination" Gov
ernor Benson wrote the president,
'to the end that the people of my
state in particular, and the midwest
in general, may have the renewed
assurance that the successful end
of the fight over the seaway is &C
tuaIly at hand and that it is one
of the great projects which you re-
gard as paramount in your pro-
gram of national development"
Industry of the northwest will also
be greatly enheartened at the action
of the House appropriations COM
mittee in Washington last week which
set aside SGT 100000 to complete the
Mississippi nine-foot channel, con-
Meeting Minneapolis with st. Louis.
Passage of the appropriation would
open up another water highway with
a. %1,D Oh, al &c oh
80 per cent finished it is expected
that the government will furnish
funds to complete the project.
With the outlook for a bumper
crop good over a large area of the
northwest, farmers are wondering
whether prosperity or disaster will
meet them next fall. Too often in
the past bumper crops have meant
fall in prices and farmers still re-
member the 10 cent corn and 25 cent
wheat of the Hoover days.
Even good prices will only enable
many farmers to pay up some of the
debts that piled higher than the hay
stacks during the depression. It
seems more than likely that some
form of government aid to augment
farmers incomes will be necessary
both in the areas where a good crop
is expected as we'll as in the western
part of the Dakotas, Montana and
parts of Kansas, Colorado and Ne
braSka where there has been consid-
cradle damage from drouth. For
this reason farmers look aSkance at
the plans in Washington for cutting
down AAA and Resettlement grants
as well as restricting WPA projects
in rural areas. Some hope is offered
with the Boileau farmers security
bill, but a great deal of support will
be needed to get the measure enacted.
A success story rivalling the feats
of Horatio Ayers heroes and of far
more social significance was told
about Midland Cooperative Wholesale
at its tenth annual convention held
in Minneapolis last week. A short
ten years has seen the rise of Mid
land from a small institution with
little capital but big hopes to ma
jor factor in community life.
Not only do consumers cooperatives
make savings possible for the people
but they foster the education of their
membership, thus bringing about a
better understanding of economics
and social problems, which plays no
small part in Strengthening the lib
eral movement.
Governor Benson this week as
sured the National Farmers Holiday
Association of his "wholehearted in
dorsement' of the farmers security
bill, introduced into Congress by Rep
resentative Gerald J. Boileau of Wis
conSin.
Il believe that this measure rep
resents one of the finest solutions of
me farm tenancy problem that has
yet been proposed" the governor
wrote to the organization.
Indications that conservative SEN
ate and liberal House stand some
what closer together on the tax ques-
ton grew this week, as the Senate
prepared itself to approve several
House bills, some with the same rates
As the liberals had approved How
ever, the real fight is expected to
come at the time consideration is
given House income tax, iron ore tax,
and money and credits levy measures
m the Senate, where threats of dras-
tic cuts are already being made.
Meanwhile, the House sent on sew