Montana news. [volume], April 27, 1904, Image 1

About Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?

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THEMONTANA NEWS.
VOL.II.
itajSafety .f Mwtwaj
LEW'STOWN,MONTANA, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1904.
NO.18.
'SheFarmers^Real Condition
TheAmerican farmer is a distinct^t and peculiar social factor. No other^age has anything comparable to him.^No other nation has his counterpart.^His problems, his history and his^fntnrc evolution present complica^^tions and relations unknown else^^where. At the same time he is more^closely united to great world ques^^tions than any previous race of tillers^of the soil. He is part of the great^social development of his age to a^greater extent than the farmers of^any other nation, past or present,^tor these reasons the voluminous^literature on the '''Agrarian (Jnes-^tion^ in European countries is of^little value to the student of Ameri^^can agricultural problems, save in^relation to the most general phases^of the subject.
Anydiscussion of the subject in^Europe must, to a large extent, be^based upon the survivals and rem^^nants of feudalism. The ure.it es^^tates had their origin in this social^stage. Hundreds of details affect^ing the present relation of landlords^to their tenants have their origin in^the days of lord and serf. The^manner of tilling the soil, the nature^of ownership, even the order of the^rotation of crops, are still more or^less affected by traditions of the^time when the land surrounding each^ullage was either assigned by lot to^the serfs of the lord or the manor,^:o be tilled by them according to^mstoms handed down through^uany generations, or else was held^is ^commons^ for the free nse of^ill, subject to certain cu.tomary^emulations This system of feudal^sin was much the same in all^Cmopean conntries and hence con-^fA titutes a common base or starting^^ ^oint for all discussions of agricnl-^ure in those countries. The result^pv^ s that whenever the word farmer is^JN^ ised a definite set of conditions con-
CI
withany new ideas concerning bis^own industry.
Thereverse of all this is true in^America. The American farmer en^^tered upon a virgin continent in^more senses than one. It was as^free from social and political forms^as it was from industrial improve^^ments. The settler built a society^as he reared bis log cabin. That^society, as is always the case, was^determined by his industrial devel^^opment and his physical surround^^ings. The first of these was as di^^verse as human history, the latter^as varied as terrestial geography.^He came from a multitude of differ^^ing nations through a period of four^centnries. However similar might^the traditions of those countries as^a whole, their customs and social^institutions were never simultaneous^^ly identical. Kaeh of them was in^a dif erent stage of social develop^^ment, and the immigrant brought^the customs of the stage prevailing^at his departure. America fused^these matvekmsly varied and diverse^traditions and customs into an^amalgam different from any or all^of then and then cast them in a^mold of such an intricateand unique^a pattern that even yet no one has^been able to grasp its complete^plan, to say nothing of comprehend^^ing all its details.
Theconquest of the continent of^America has been marked by a ser^^ies of social waves and until recently^it has been possible to find simult-^taneonsly all stages of society from^the half savage hrntet and tcout 10^the highest developed and most con^^centrated capitalism on earth. The^continent on which this tremendous^^ly complex social problem is being^worked out is as varied as the prob^^lem, it is characteristic of the city^and especially of the city of capi^^talism, that it levels all before it.
APANESE TORPEDO BOAT DESTROYER
PORTARTHUR.
CRUISINGNEAR
Lifeon a torpedo boat dsatroyer In time of pence when th*^ weather la^vaim Im unpleasant mid datyproua enough, hut In 11 wluter emnpntgn the^atuatlon la well nlgb Intolerable. The Japanono who are wutchiug Tort^\r^ t from torpedo honta and torpedo bout ilentroyer* are suffering great^anrdahlp*. Off the Uuaaian port the sea In full of Ice, and hllr.Mrda aru^^MM
crningthe fundamentals of the lit-^lation arise in the mind. Whatever^liflew mca may exist in various tia-^ions the I uropenn fanner is always^n hereditary peasant, generally ig-^.)iant and reactionary, nnd de^lending upon a ruling class to direct^im in his work and to provide him
London,Paris, New York, San^Frain I SCO and Yokohoma diller but^little in essentials. They are all^man made all .from the same pattern.^Hut the farmer is more nenr'v r^product of nature and relle^ ts all^the countless variation! of nature.^When we speak of the Atnen.
farmerthen it is necessary to know^of whom we speak. Even with the^greatest care and the widest know^^ledge it is almost impossible to^avoid ascribing to the type what is^characteristic only of a single sec^^tion or class.
Ifwe are to select any particular^section as a type, which shall it be^^Shall it be the New England Yankee^wresting from his stumpy and^rocky soil a niggard subsistence and^swapping his products with his^neighbors^ If so, when we seek^him in his native states we shall find^him displaced by French Canadians^and Irish immigrants, and if we^follow up his children wc shall^hardly recognize them in the tillers^of the broad prairies of the west^with a mind and hospitality as wide^and as fertile as the teeming soil^beneath their feet. Or is the^American Farmer best typified by^the early pioneer, that strange^combination of hunter, fisher, lum^^berman, farmer, trapper and scout,^now well-nigh extinct, but to whom^we owe Lincoln, the best and most^typical American citizen^ Or shall^we find him in the south, amid the^cotton, rice and sugar plantations^^And if here, is he white or black^a^memlier of ante-bellum aristocracy^or ^poor white trash^^ If purity^of American blood is to be the test,^the latter will demand first consid^^eration, for in few places is the^foreign strain less present than^among the moon-shining, feud fight^^ing mountaineers of Kentucky and^the Carolinas. Or is the typical^American farmer the resident of the^great arid irrigated belt, a depend^^ent upon a great water company,^raising almost fabulous crops and^receiving a beggarly return^ Or is^he the Slav, or Italian, or Dutch^truck farmer of the city suburb,^working beneath glass and aided by^steam and electricity. Or shall we^find him upon the dairy and stock^farms of Illinois, Iowa and Wiscon^^sin^ Or is he a fruit farmer, and^if so is he in tropic or temperate^climes^ Is it all of these, or none,^or part of each, or a composite pic^ture of the whole that makes up the^American Farmer
Itwill be the object of the follow^ing study to seek in some degree to^select from out these various ele^^ments the common factors and to^analyze the fundamental facts and^relations that determine the present^condition and probable future evo^^lution of the American Farmer.
Aswe shall have occasion to no^^tice frequently in the course of our^investigations almost every portion^of America has passed with more or^less rapidity and elaborateness of^detail through all the stages of hu^^man history from savagery to the^most complete development of mod^^ern social organization. New Kng^land being one of the oldest settled^portions of the country and hence^having been more nearly synchron^^ous in its social evolution ^ith^Europe, exhibited these successive^stages in much greater detail than^the remainder of the country.
Atthe time of the earliest settle^ments in New England, European^society was still at that stage marked^by common ownership of village^lands Hut the econo m ic conditions^in New England were such as to^develop a much earlier social stage^and so we see a reproduction of the^institutions corresponding to the^conditions in Kurope centuries In-^fore This does rot mean that the^traditions of these old conditions^were revived and the customs copied^froi.i the ealier days, or that they^are traceable to inherited customs^as some of the foremost historians^of America would have us believe.
(0I'rof. Hcrl^ert II. Adams in^^The (iermanic Origin of Nan^England Towns,^ (John Hopkins^I ni\ersit\ Studies. \ ol i attempts^to trace the evolution of New I k^land town government from ;lie^time of Tacitus through (lei man and^English history to America. He^show; t'.nt the New Hnfttftd villages^resemble those desciibed by l.u ittis^even in minute details. Speaking of^'vmonth, he savs, ^ There are fea
turesof communal administration^in the matter of landed property too^peculiar and too closely resembling^those elsewhere considered in the^case of the historical village com^^munity, to permit of any other sat^isfactory explanation than that of^inherited Saxon customs.^ Again^on p. 78, ^Wherever in this common^Saxon land the student may care to^institute researches into the begin^^ning of ciyic life, there he will find^if he digs deeply enough, the old^Saxon principle of land community-^uniting men upon a common econ^^omic basis and around a common^center.
Itsimply means that there in New^England the same economic condi^^tions arose that in the time of Taci^^tus caused the formatioi of the iso^^lated communistic settlements desi^^gnated as the Mark. The New^England village, like that of the^early (Germans, was a little clearing^in the midst of the forest. It was^surrounded by hostile Indians with^no strong central government to^preserre order and protect the set^^tlers from its savage neighbors.^Fences were erected by common^labor around the entire village,^shutting it off from the rest of the^world. * An independent owner^who would not fence against the^outward world, both giving and^taking the protection of neighboring^fields, must move out and must let^a better communist approach to^seek family inclosure.^ The land^about the ^meeting house,^ which^was the center of all social life, as^well as the geographical center of^the village, was assigned to the dif^^ferent residents in such a way that^those nearest the central point re^^ceived the smallest share. The farm^^ing land around the village was di^^vided into the commons and culti^^vable land. The former embraced
pasture and forest land and was^sometimes assigned to individual^owners and sometimes divided each^season by lot for cultivation while^the title was still vested in the com^^munity. Even where the land was^nominally owned in severality it^could not be sold, especially to non^^residents, without the consent of^the community. A common herder^for the cattle and sheep and often a^common sheep fold were provided^by the village authorities.
SheepShearers Union
Forthe benefit of the sheep^shearers and others interested in^this line of work, following will be^found the ^Scale of prices of the^hand and sheep shearers I'nion No.^175 A. L. I'., for the season of^1004.
montana ani^ wTOMUM
Minimumprices for the season^of igoi in the states of Montana^and Wyoming shall t^e as follows:
Eightcents per head straight and^U'.i'd. or nine cents per head^straight without board, for yearlings^ewes and two year old wethers;
Ninecents per head straight and^board; or ten cents per head straight^without Ward, for wethers three^years and older;
Hucksto be two strings for each;^Shearers to pay nothing for tying
w^ ^ol j
Shearersat all times to have the^privilege of boarding theuisebes;
Employersto have the privilege^of furnishing machines and repairs;^but where shearers furnish machines^and repairs, all prices shall be '^cent per head higher than given^above.
him
Minimumprices for the season of^1904 in the state of Idaho shall be
asfollows:
Sevencents per head straight and
board; or eight cents per head^straight w ithout hoard, for yearlings^ewes and two vear old wethers;^Fight cents per head straight and
hoard; or nine cents per head^straight w ithout board, for wethers^three years and older;^Provided that in
PVMJC ('ok k AIM
Minimumprices shall be seven^(Continued on local page)
T5heSocialists^Are For Peace
BY ERNEST L'NTERMAN'.
Theenemies of Socialism claim^that we Socialists aypeal to the low^^est passions of the moo, and set class^against class. If this charge is made^in good faith, it shows a superficial^understanding of the Socialist phil^^osophy. If it is made in bad faith,^it is a calumny. In either case, an^explanation is due to the people who^are searching for truth.
Theclass struggle is not an inven^^tion of the Socialists. It is a fact^which they discovered by a scientific^analysis of human history. The^class struggle was raging in human^society thousands of years before the^Socialists discovered its existence^and pointed it out. So did the strug^^gle for existance between organic^and inorganic creation, and between^the various divisions of the organic^creation, rage for uncounted ages^before Darwin formulated his defini^^tion of it. Hut the first enunciation^of the class struggle in human lang^^uage was no more a gospel of hatred^than was the assertion of the strug^^gle for existance by Darwin. It was^simply the statement of a scientific^fact in plain scientific terms.
isa calm and well weighed state^^ment of historical evolution through^class antagonisms, and no amount^of ingenuity can overthrow the testi^^mony of history, since the introduc^^tion of private property, which sub^stantiates this analysis.
Itis true, the authors of the^^Communist Manifesto^ speak of a^^revolution^ and of ^force.^ Hut^in the first place, at the time when^the ^Communist Manifesto^ was^written, there was no prospect of^solving this problem by peaceful^means in any European country^but England. In the second place,^Marx has later shown in his ^Capi^^tal^ that the capitalist class, by^revolutionizing industry through^concentration of wealth and indus^^tries, through the expropriation of^the small competitors and of the^mass of the people, use more force^and destroy more property and lives^than will the revolution of the work^^ing class, which is merely the birth^act of the new society.
Thehistory of the Socialist a^ liv-^itv in the parliaments of the various^countries has amply shown that we
Thefirst Socialists who pointed! are the only element in present so-^^ut the existance of the class strug- ciety who really and truly want
glesdid so only to show their histor^^ical function in the development of^society, and to declare that their aim^was the absolution of all class strug^gles. This alone should be sufficient^proof to the unbiased mind that the^Socialist philosophy is a scientific^foundation for a new etiiit s, not a^philosophy of hatred.
In1K47, Marx and F.ngles, who^then called themselves communists^in distinction from fre I'topian So^^cialists of their time stated the fol^^lowing truths in the ^Communist^Manifesto:
The history of all past society-^has consisted in the development of^class antagonisms that assumed dif^^ferent forms at different epochs.
Hutwhatever form they may^have taken, one fact is common to^all past ages, viz., the exploitation^of one part of society by the other.^No wonder, then that the social^consciousness of past ages, despite^all the multiplicity and variety dis^^plays, moves within certain com^^mon forms, or general ideas, which^cannot completely vanish except^with the total disappearance of^class antagonisms.
Whenin the course of develop^^ment c lass distinctions have disap^peared, and all production has been^concentrated in the hands of a vast^association of the whole nation, the^public power will lose its political^character. Political power, properly^so called, is merely the organized^power of one class for oppressing^another. If the proletariat during^its contest with the bourgeois i.-.^compelled, by the force of circum-^stances, to organize itself as a class^if by means of a revolution, it^makes itself the ruling class, and,^as such, sweeps away by force the^old conditions of production, then^it will, along with these conditions,^have swept away the conditions for^the existence of class antagonisms,^and of classes generally and will^thereby have abolished its own su^^premacy as a class.
Inplace of the old bourgeois^sin letv, with its classes and class^antagonisms, we shall have an as^sociatioii in which the free develop^nient of each is the condition of the^free development of all.
Thereis not a word of hatred^taught in this statement, nor is there^anv sentence in the whole ^Com^munist Manifesto^ inciting to class^hatred. A scientific criticism, be it^couched in ever so sharp terms, has^certainly nothing in common with a^fanatical appeal to passion. Here
peace.And above all, we know^and declare that in a country with^the political liberties of the United^States, education and peaceful con^^quest through the ballot must be^the only means by which the class^struggles shall be ended.
Iwish 1 c .uld say ii much or^capitalist class and their official^spokesmen.
TheSocialist conception of the^class struggle is the ethical codu of^the working ( lass. It tea( lies the^working class to educate itself. It^endeavors to subdue the evil pas^^sions w hich the economic conditions^of capitalist society create, and to^prevent the outburst of the untrain^ed and untutored masses which^capitalist production inevitably^produces. Instead of sowing the^seeds of a bloody revolution, we^are straing everv nerve to arouse^the intelligence ai the niTftl and^to make reason the master of blind^fury.
Itis the capitalist class that in^^cites to class hatred by the vulgar^display of wealth in the face of the^suffering multitude. It is the capi^^talist class that destroys the homes^and families of the workers, and^confiscates the property of the mil^^lions. It is the injunction, the riot^bullet, the bull pen, the police club,^and the militia laws that speak the^language of hatred and passion.
NoSocialist makes any single cap^^italist or their whole class responsi^^ble for their deeds. We recognize^that the capitalist classs cannot act^otherwise, bet ause their own self in^^terest forces them to concentrate^wealthy, form trusts and use the po^^litical power ft r their own ends. Hut^we also recognize that the logical^counterpart of the trust is the trade^union, an org ini/ation which edu^cates the working class to class con^^sciousness in their economic dealings^with the capitalists. We also recog^^nize that the economic force exerted^by the capitalist! inevitably begets^economic ton e on the part of orga^nized workinginen. Capitalist ethics^is powerless to bridge this chasm,^because it has no solution for his^class struggle between the capitalist^class and the working class. Hut^the class struggle is itself an ethical^power. Tlio very necessity to orga^nize and to find a way out of the^capitalist labyrinth by themselves^acts as an educaton on the working^class, and counteracts all attempts of^the capitalist class to create belief in^the harmony between capitalists and
II MtlntHK At ;