Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1937-10-21

Apportioned school funds during the
last fiscal year totalled $3,449 ,522.84
at $7.45 per capita.
The people of this country (and
this is particularly true of the middle
west) have for years felt that the
safe road to peace lay in policy
of isolation. President Roosevelt in
his Chicago address jolted us out of
our false sense of security.
Those who have watched recent in
ternational affairs have come to feel
more and more, after the violent
performance of fascist nations, that
only through firm, concerted pol
icy of collective action by the demo-
cratic nations of the world can peace
be preserved. The futility of an iso-
lationist policy, even for a nation
as we'll fortified against foreign at
tack as the United States, is becom-
ing apparent.
While the democratic nations have
been assuming the negative policy
of isolation and neutrality, fascist
nations, following a positive policy
of war, force and conquest, have
hurled the firebrand of international
conflict into half dozen areas, from
whence it is spreading to all the rest
of the international fabric.
We are a part of that fabric, be-
cause modern industry, tranSporta-
ton, and commerce have brought all
nations into a close interdependence
which makes it impossible for any
one nation completely to isolate it
self from the rest of the world.
Isolation and neutrality have not
brought peace, but rather a situation
which is growing progressively worse.
A continuation of that policy appears
certain to ultimately embroil us in
war, as the President points out
The only hope of averting it is con-
certed action by all the peace-loving
nations of the world.
The one recent occasion upon which
such a policy was tried worked
When fascist piracy in the Mediter-
ranean was threatening international
peace, this threat was wiped away
by Great Britain, France and Rus
STA boldly gathering together the
rest of the peace-loving nations to
take collective action against such
piracy The threat of collective eco
nomic measures against peace dis
turbers may even be more potent
Instead of marching up the ladder
of farm ownership, farms operated
by their owners are sinking further
into debt, Farm Research reports in
its current issue of Facts for Farm
ers." A marked drop in the equity
which farmers hold on their land is
indicated by figures taken from the
recent survey of mortgage indebted
ness made every five years by the
federal government.
For every $1,000 of value, farm
owner-operators are found to have
a mortgage Indebtedness of $500 in
1885 as compared with 1896 in 1890
an increase of q per cent in their
debt burden. Heavy liquidation
through foreclosure reduced the total
farm mortgage debt for all types of
farms in the United States from So
214,278,0O0 in 1880 to $7,645, 091 900
in 1854 drop of II per cent. This
drop in total farm mortgages out
standing is often pointed to as sign
of farm improvement" but Farm
Research draws a different conclu-
sion. ''Such an Interpretation would
be correct only if the farmers were
paying off their mortgages and be-
coming debt-free owners" the bu-
reau asserts, "but the figures show
that farmers got rid of their mort
cages only at the cost of losing their
land"
Harmony among trade unions, both
craft and industrial, was urged by
Minnesota Farmers Holiday ASsocia-
ton state officials and county board
members at a recent meeting in St.
Paul. The farm leaders issued a
statement declaring, "We believe that
the prevailing sentiment among the
trade union membership is for CO.
operation between unions. It seems
quite clear to us that there is still
a need for craft unions and that Ger
tainly there is a great need for in
duStrial unions. We therefore urge
all workers to join unions, and we
urge the trade unions to establish
a policy of harmony with the grow
ing industrial union movement"
Greenwich Village in New York
city roughly corresponds to the Latin
Quarter in Paris.