The people's voice., 1957-11-01

| mas Deen making FARMERS IufnisH
cheap food to labor, so that it does
not have to pay higher wages. Now,
the current reports are that the
government is afraid to firm up
! farm prices or initiation will run
| away and the nation may get into
another bust like $780,"
Roth said the % cent-a-bushel loss
from lower 1868 price supports on
wheat alone, which was fixed by the
Administration, will mean farmers in
the spring wheat states of Montana,
the Dakotas, and Minnesota will lose
more than $50 million, and is addi-
tional proof that the farmer is being
forced to act as a buffer against
further initiation.
1900 FARM FAMILIES LEFT
LAND SINCE 1880
The Grain Terminal spokesman said
Montana farmers are pulling up
stakes at an alarming rate. The num-
Der of commercial farms has dropped
from 47,0OO in 1880 to 10000 in
1866. ''That means one out of every
three families quit farming in 25
years. And this rate may be stepped
up" he warned. "because of the farm
program the President and Secretary
of Agriculture are pushing on Con-
gress. That is the real crisis in Mon
tana today"
cts high time that farmers-and
small businessmen, too = decide to
mind their own business, and under
stand what that business is" Roth
told the Farmers Union members.
you've got to make sure you have
a fighting farm organization and
strong cooperatives. Farmers and
folks on Main Street voted this Ad-
ministration into office. And they
can change it by their vote, too.
'Montana's liberal congressman
and senators in Washington show
what a state can do when farmers,
labor and Main Street team up to
protect their economic investment at
the voting booth. Maybe that lesson
can be applied later on at a state
level"
A state that has as big an invest
ment in agriculture as Montana,
the coop representative said, ought
to find out what makes the wheels
go round, or why they don't go
around as they should. In Mime
sofa, he pointed out, the governor
has named a farm study commits
sion, and the co-ops are footing
the bill to find out what is wrong
with agriculture, and maybe come
up with some remedies. Maybe your
state could do the same"
By comparison, Roth pointed out,
Montana's farmers as doing as we'll,
if not slightly better, than most farm
ers in the United States.
"But that is like folks in the poor
house Dragging who is the richest.
The truth is that Montana farmers
are falling back just, about as fast
as any other farmers. In 1850 the
average net, before income tax, was
$4,532, according to the study made
by Farmers Union Grain Terminal
Association. In 1856 the net, before
income tax, averaged $4,306, accord
ing to GTA's farm income survey. In
the six years there has been 20 per
cent initiation, so figure what your
real income is," he added.
BENSON SET ON NUMBERING
ALL PRICE SUPPORTS"
The Grain Terminal spokesman said
the Farmers Union, GTA, the Farmers
Union Central Exchange, and other
co-ops, constitute the only blocks in
the way of the Administrations mo
campaign, and that the
present farm law, prime target of the
Administration, must be held onto in
order to block Secretary Benson from
numbering all price supports"
The traditional Farm Bloc in
Congress, Roth said, has become
demoralized and disunited. "Only
in the Upper Midwest, where the
Farmers Union, GTA and their CO.
operatives have hewed to biparti-
san approach to the farm situation,
is there still hard core of unity"
he said, "and it is this remaining
force that must be the Washington
political spearhead in the months