The producers news. [volume], March 22, 1929, Page PAGE TWO, Image 2

About The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
THE PRODUCERS NEWS
Paper of the people, by the people, for the people
By Peoples Publishing Company, Publishers
CONTINUING—The Outlook Promoter, The Out
look Optimist, The Dooley Sun, The Antelope In
dependent, The Sheridan County News, The Pio
neer Press and the Sheridan County Farmer.
CHARLES E. TAYLOR. Editor anti Manager
FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 1929.
The present writer relinquishes his position as tem
porary editor of the Producers News this week, and
Editor Charles E. Taylor will again resume his posi
tion after spending the past two months as Senator in
the State Legislature. We have enjoyed our labors
but gladly hand over the quill to Mr. Taylor's more
efficient hands.
COUNTY FAIR GROUNDS
Negotiations are now going forward toward the
purchase of grounds for a County Fair and Municipal
Airport by the City of Plentywood and Sheridan Coun
ty.
The land in question formerly belonged to the Good
man farm and consist's of 84 acres, lying just south
of the railroad tracks on the outskirts of this city.
The amoun of land gives ample room for fair build
ings, race tracks and runways for descending airplanes .
and will place Plentywood in line with other cities of
Montana in this respect. ,
County Fairs are taking on new life over Montana
and arrangements are being completed to form orga
nizations in groups over the state which will elect of
ficers, set dates and devise amusement's, and other
matters to make success of the Fairs in their district.
It is hoped the present deal will be consummated
and that Sheridan county will have a County Fair
this fall. As one of the leading agricultural counties
of the state, it does not look well for this county to
be lagging behind less prosperous counties in this
matter of a few days pleasure and knowledge for all
the people of this and sourrounding counties.
Boost for a County Fair and a Municipal Airport.
They are necessary in the rapid development of this
city and county.
WE NEED A NEW COURT HOUSE
Despite the efforts of our contemporary in PJenty
yood to stop us from boosting worthy undertakings
by a long line of sarcasm, we are still strong for a
new court house to take the place of the old shack
now bang rented for the purpose of housing the
county officials and records.
Carpenters are busy in Plentywood taking care of
the building operations of private citizens, who are
showing their confidence in this city and county by
erectng substantial edifices.
Fifteen years have passed since Sheridan county
was formed and still it has no home for its official
family and records, despite Une fact that we are among
the most prosperous countie 0 of the state.
Just think if a court ho.';-e had been built at that
time—it would have been practically paid for by this
time and the taxpayer wou * hnr 'y have knowi or
felt the slight addition^ •.axe.-' he would have had
to pay.
Now, after Ufteen year.? of pa\ ing rent, vv sii'.l
have no court house and the present building may
some day collapse.
It is a certainty that some day Sheridan county will
have to build a court house. That is a fact that cannot
be gotten away from. So why not build it now, and
enjoy its use and beauty while we are here, besides
retaining the self respot which always goes with in
dividuals, compaiiies or municipalities who are well
housed and are a source of pride to the owners—the
\axpavers and residents of the commonwealth in which
the edifice is erected.
PLENTYWOOD, A DIVISION POINT
Information has been bandied about the streets of
Plentywood the past weeks that the Great Northern
may make Plentywood a division point for freight
crews and perhaps build a small round house here.
# "P 16 Producers News is not vouching for the authen
ticity of such statements, but it is possible, because
this city is ideally located for such a proposiion, lying
about 100 miles from Williston and 100 miles from
Opheim.
With the
increased business on the Great Northern
railway xesulting from the extension of the line
Cpheim from Scobey, the distance of 200 miles from
Williston to Opheim is too great for one day's haul,
resulting in tieups along the line.
With Plentywood the terminal, trains could come up
from Williston, and a train crew from here, take the
train to Opheim, thus saving tieing up along the line
and making for a better schedule,
is hoping that the talk about making
this city a division point by the G. N. is true as
it will mean more business for this growing metropolis
and many new families added to
to
Plentywood
our population.
PLENTYWOOD'S WATER SYSTEM
During the past winter months, Plentywood
city water, in many cases, have had their water frozen
somewhere between the mains and their homes,
mg them great expense to get the wafer i
homes. In
times.
users of
caus
into their
cases this has happened four or five
some
In other
cases, the water has been allowed to run in
order to avoid having the water pipes freeze and as a
consequence exorbitant water bills have been the re
weatbev"H t f S / ree2ing has rome •*« »arm
SSÆ ^ frcSt d0W " int ° the *— * °
The question is what is the City of Plentywood
my to do about this matter, or what are the
users going to do?
An emergency surely exists when
city water users have the
time which i
go
water
a great number of
same difficulty at the same
no •°° Stmg them hundreds of dollars thru
no fault of their own. The users of city water are at
caL™"et°th the C ' ty Wi ' h th6ir m ° dem and
cannot let their pipes stay frozen until sprine when
^ C ° U d thaw th< ™ 0,lt "d have them stay that
As
a matter of fact, if Plentywood
water system to function
means must be employed to
lees expensive method of
vidual will have to
pressure system.
Jüro St'innoclt puro r hat^ S „, 0f ^ PiPSS W ° Uld
the victim of those who
pipes at a depth sufficient
wishes the city
as other cities are doing,
give the water users a
I receiving water, or the indi
resort back to the well and electric
property from being
failed to put N their lead in
to stop them from freezing.
Anyway it is a good thing to talk over, as ton lis a
mighty rumble going over the city from .rate water
because of the high cost of water.
users
U. S. BUSINESS REACHING OUT
making the
Great American industries are now
It is not enough to sell goods to
own
world their field.
foreign countries. They are reaching out to
business and manufacturing establishments within tne
boundaries of other states. Henry Ford and the
General Motors Company are reported to be preparing
struggle for control of the European auto
the
to stage a
mobile business with manufacturing right
ground. Ford already has a factory in Amsterdam,
and the telegraph reports that General Motors is
gotiating a deal for the purchase of the largest car
works in Germany for the sum of $31,250,000.
It has been realized by American automobile makers
that, whiie this country remains a great market for
automobiles, the rest of the world is a still larger
field. While there are but 120,000,000 people in
United States the world contains 2,000,000,000 and ev
en
ne
the
erybody ought to have a car.
The Germans are said to resent the proposed en
of the General Motors into the automobile field
of Germany, and while Ford is reported as making
ready to fight the small-bore car General Motors in
tends to make in Germany, with another car of the
kino, the Germans are thinking of forming
trust to resist all foreign competition, particularly
American
Extension of American industries into European
countries suggests that some day the chain store will
girdle the world.
trance
a
>ame
HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY?
Senator Norris of Nebraska has been devoting much
time to the education of his colleagues and the gen
eral public on the power question. He is trying to
show them the difference between public ownership
and private orterprise in this field of public service,
and explains hew the Power Trust can afford to keep
the world's most expensive lobby in Washington.
As a teacher,, Senator Norris uses what is some
times called the case method, and here is one oi the
cases:
In Detroit, with electricity furnished by private en
terprise, the householder pays 10 cents per kilowatt
hour for the first 30 hours, and 4 cents per kilowatt
hour for the next 120.
In Windsor, just across the river, in Canada, with a
publicly-owned municipal plant distributif to its
townsmen current bought from the publicly-owned by
dro-electnc commission, the householder pays 2'A cents
per kilowatt hour for the first 60 hours and J Vi cents
per kilowatt hour for any. further amount which he
uses>
A householder who uses 30 k. w. h. per month nays
, .. J a., CA . „r. ,
$4.20 in Detroit and $1.50 in Windsor.
A householder who uses 180 k. w. h. per month pays
$9 in Detroit and $3 in Windsor.
Or to nut it another wav the Detroit familv which
ur, to put it anotner way, tne iretrou iamn> wnicn
uses 30 kilowatt hours of current per month and pays
*3 for it can move across the river to Windsor and get
six times as mnob ©loo-tricHy— 18 U k. w. h.—-for exact
iv tVie same m-iee
* Private entemrise savs the fexbooks is much more
1 mate entuprise, says the texbooks, is muen more
effecient than public ownership—and, that is true. At
least in the matter of charges.
COPPER VICTIMS
It is plain from the eleventh hour legislation at Hel
ena that there will only be two victims of the Erickson
administration of the state, under the tutelage and
guidance of the Sixth floor of the Anaconda Copper
Mining company. ' Those two victims are the people of
the state of Montana and the state institutions. The
appropriation bills, warranting the expenditure of more
money than the state will take in during the next two
years, will plunge the people further into debt to the
tune of a million or so. The reduction of the budget
* figures of the state institutions will leave the university
and other concerns crippled -for lack of operating fi
nances.
With the Anaconda Copper company governing Mon
tana and Gov. Erickson acting as the official figure
head, the ship of state during the past four years grew
more and more waterlogged and incapable of keeping
afloat. The state structure grew, and of course it was
evident to Erickson, or should have been evident to
him, that more revenue was imperative. With three or
four millions of new revenues secured to him by the
tax measures that Gov. Dixon had passed against the
copper company's desperate opposition he couldn't even
reduce the state debt.
The least that might have been done by the Anaconda
Copper company was to have its nine daily newspapers
tell the people of Montana the situation. The welfare
of the state, fair play, ordinary decency demanded that
. much - The ni ne newspapers were mum, Erickson was
dumb, nobody whispered about the matter. What good
are the copper newspapers to the people of the state
when they suppress such vital news? The Anaconda
Standard, Bütte Post, Helena Independent and Record
Herald, Billings Gazette, Missoula Sentinel and Mis
soulian, and Livingston Enterprise, and not one of them
■warned its readers that the state was sunk in debt, and
that revenues were dropping $1,500,000
needs.
a year below
^ They kept the good news for the legislature. Erick
son sprung it on the lawmakers as a pleasant surprise
m his message. What happened then? Why, the Ana
conda rompany's lobbyists and its men in both houses
did their best to pile
the Anaconda
up new taxes on everybody but
company and the Montana Power com
pany. They did not altogether succeed in that, but they
did prevent any taxes being put on their two corpora
tion masters. They had more power in the house than
m the senate. They were greatly aided by Speaker
Bncker, who packed the committees for the
power in the house.
alld h ° USe dUring the PaSt WeCk haVe
fought bitterly over appropriations. The majority in the
house sought to appropriate about $2,000,000 more than
the estimated revenues, which would have added that
° f $3 ' 000 ' 000 two years hence, bring
would V f M t0 $5 ' 000 ' 000 ' On this debt the peopfe
d pa> interest. No complete figures are available
but apparently the senate has, by determined bSubg
kept the over appropriations to some hundreds of thous
copper
ands of dollars.
ha^raiStta 1 rt the n ' i " age bi " that
J. , sed the s *ate levy one-half of a mill. The sen
ate s policy was to cut the state institutions to the
svjrÂt'-î f e up m ° re warrant deM
the staatiln wr t rr s 1 S0,Ut - i0 " ° f the SitUati0 "
taxpavers R„t tv, A P laWS mcreashl £ taxes on all
u company
And since thev and Th • " P P W>Uld not h »v c that,
ists and Ottr aûttÎ àniT 6 neWSpa ' )ws and lobby
the peopie Montana Zl
T at * -fchte and the state university and otw' 6
stitutions will get along the best thev oa ^
dent funds. they 6311 on »suffi
on
of
in
Keon° m ic Articles
By Leland Olds, Federated Press
Farm Population Shrinks
I
«
The trend toward a top heavy city
the oack of an
civilization riding on ...
exploited agricultural minority is
cleasly pictured in the U. S. depart
ment -of agriculture report « n -arm
population in 1928. The number of
persons on farms has fallen to 2 1 ,
511,000, the lowest figure on 20 years.
The farm population of the country
reached a peak in 1909 with a total
of 32,000,000. In 1920 it was still close
to this figure with 31,614,269 persons
living on the farms. But beginning in
the latter part of 1920 the terrible de
flation of agriculture caused a veri
table trek of farmers to the cities.
They hoped to find in industrial em
ployment a chance to provide a bare
existence for their families. By 1925
the farm population had fallen to 28,
980,693. In the five intervening years
is estimated that more than 6 mil
lion left the farms but a part of this
loss was made good by excess of
births over deaths and by the drift
of unemployed city workers to the
country.
Since 1925 the net loss in the farm
population has been 1,469,693 indicat
ing that the pressure of industrialism
on agriculture has not been material
ly reduced. In the three year interval
6,093,000 persons left the farms but
at the same time 3,871,000 flowed
back to the farms in a reverse current
due undoubtedly to the difficulty of
making a go of it in the cities. The
steady spread of mass production
made tens of thousands of jobs inse
cure. Excess of births over deaths al
so tended to reduce the net drift to
the cities.
The rapid drop in the proportion of
the farm population to the total pop
ulation is even more striking than the
straight population figures would in
dicate. This feature is not touched by
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& March* 15 1929'
rn, T> J XT iïldrcn xo >
The Producers News,
Plenty wood, Mont.
Gentlemen:
* note From the current issue of
your p aper that my subscription ex
pires with this issue. Inasmuch as we
do not now carry an advertisement
w Fth your paper I do not feel that I
care to subscribe again * I,la Wl,,c *
T> " refo *e, } ~~ tU ' jr ™ e / ou to remove
my name from your files as a sub
senber and it will avoid the necessity
°f my having to refuse it at the Post
° f 'Û ce ' I • , . .
1 hanking you for your past k nd
and the many good write-ups
which you have given my store htre
and the J C. Penney Company as a
whole, 1 am
nesses
Yours veiy truly,
AVERY L. ROSER.
Stahlberg Praises Producers
News Stand and Makeup
Plentywood, Mont.,
March 6, 1929.
The Producers News,
Plentywood, Montana.
Gentlemen :
If criticism is in order, perhaps the
editor will allow an occasional con
tributor to another department to drop
a missive—or is it missile?—into the
Letter Box. Criticism is interesting
chiefly in that it expresses a certain
clash of ideas, and it follows that two
criticisms, like two heads or ideas, are
better than one. The more the clash
es, the merrier the clatter.
I am not interested in the journal
istic stock phrases to which some
readers may object. They mean less
than nothing in intelligent evaluation
of a paper. As far as I have been
able to learn, no one, with the possible
exception of hostess, cares a tinker's
hoot whether the guests at any given
birthday party eat a sumptuous re
past or a mere meal; the fact that
they got something to eat is what
counts. When I drove to Wolf Point
on a particular errand, it did not
matter to me whether I was embark
ing upon the seas of matrimony or
merely getting married! what inter
ested me was my wife. Likewise,
when I die, I shall not care in what
sort of language the fact is made
known; I shall have relinquishel all
such worries, and two weeks there
after no one will remember me even
so much as to call me further bad
names—certainly not enough to quar
rel over the rhetorical question of
whether I passea away, went west,
gave up the ghost, or simply and con
clusively died.
Unless, in the meantime, I shall
have produced some real out-and-out
drivel, thereby descending to a dubi
ous quasi-immorlaiity in the minds
(here I knock on wood) of such people
as have no very clear conception of
is dr.vel and what is something
else. *
By the way, let me contradict a re
cent assertion in The Letter Box that
the statement, "the young couple were
united^ in the holy bonds of matri
mony," is inane. An inane expres
sion is one which has no
meaning. The phrase mentioned has
a meaning. It means that the young
couple were united in the holy bonds
(or at least, in the bonds) of matri
mony. Which is precisely what they
were. The remark is commonplace,
but not inane.
I should not care to pose as an apol
ogist for banality in phraseology and
diction. It i s not to be denied that
newspaper English is sometimes ra
ther poor. Rut the necessity of haste
accounts for much of that, and though
i Rave found some expressional abom
inations in the Producers N ws they
. n °t impress me as important. What
is really striking about the Producers
r; ews is the inteligence manifest in
^r a ^' up ' and in the things it says
ajner than in its way of saying them.
AS a new s organ it may have faults;
^tical war-cry it may be a
it • iu U; but no one can deny that
oK , ls the most interesting and read
me small-town publication of which
sense or
the department. In 1910 34.8% of the
country's population lived on the
farm. By 1920 the proportion of farm
to total population had fallen to 29.%
By 1926, for the first time in the his
tory of the country, less than a quart
er of the population was in contact
with farming and in 1928 the percent
age fell to 22.9%.
Year
Total Pop. Farm Pop. Pet.
91,972,226 32,000,000 34.8%
105,710,620 31,614,269 29.9
115,378,094 28,980,693 25.1
118,628,000 27,982,000 23.6
120,013,000 27,511,000 22.9
' The farms produce the raw materi
al of food and clothing without which
city life would wither,
words, the trend toward urban indus
trialism has today reached the point
where about 77% of the population is
absolutely dependent upon the other
23% for these necessities. Probably
the number actually engaged in pro
ducing farm products falls below 10,
000.000, for a large part of the farm
population is composed of women and
children.
To date the diminished farm popu
lation has a.ways produced enough to
meet the country's needs,
creased productivity of the average
farm worker has made possible a
steady increase in crops and livestock
products just about paralleling the
growth of population. But the stories
of previous city empires suggest that
in the end the exploitation of a tri
bute gathering urban class will crush
the vitality out of agriculture. The
farmer will lack the incentive to pro
duce a surplus for the parasite cities.
Some such development has always
played a part in the crumbling of
economic empires.
1910
1920
1925
1927
1928
In other
The in
this section has any knowledge.. It
does not merely report the various
P ittes °f gossip which ar> called
"news"; it tinkers happily and arr-st
2T* ^
n , .. .
enemy, the Medicine Lake Wave
(what a pitiful little ripple to call
itself a wave!!) From the top of the
first page with its abysmally stupid
I y lo F an ! ° pkies that Medicin.
I Lake is entitled to precedence over
the great, wide, wonderful world, the
Wave gets voise and worse, whereas
the p ro du.ers News
worth while rm
*, ore •
c f t ] i€ parties V. the Triple disalliance
i s h a n mention the third, though what
i say may not register so well: I con
[ smer tne riem,yvruv«i u—oM V vprv
good newspaper. This ought to slow
that I have no political preiudices,
but rate the papers mentioned nurely
on a basis of one c'gree ' î intelli
gence evident in each mie. Polit icol
] y i a m neither red nor any other
color; political arguments are to me
|USUa i ly either amusing in their ah
surdity or disgusting in their
bridled malice. During political
paigns I read only such portion?
the News and the Herald as I can
safely digest. As for the Wave,
si mething
.*■ « .■>
:.ir on every page,
ne tinned two
un
cam
H
ere it is
4 * 4
A NEW
frigidaire
at the
lowest price
in Frigidaire
history
-. and equipped
with the
Cold Control
es
s
r c*wm
i
2
Delivered complet*
plugged in and trorktni
inyour home. {Very etut
term • if you prefer)•
nir *195
, O
And a cabinet which adds beauty to any kitchen ... all ma
chinery completely enclosed... built of steel with a perma
nent Duco finish... and with the added value of a seamless
porcelain enamel lining , as easy to clean as chinaware.
4 cubic feet food compartment; 8 square feet of shelf space.
ERE is the greatest value
offered in the history of electric
refrigeration
price so low that no one need delay
any longer.
And it has every essential Frigidaire
feature.
It even has the famous Frigidaire
the exclusive new
H
Frigidaire development which enable*
you to regulate at tcill the time re
quired to freeze ice cubes and to make
possible dozens of
require extreme cold.
Stop in and see this latest Frigidaire
development. You need Frigidaire*
Now is the time to buy. See this new
F rigidairc today.. .in our display room*
ever
a new Frigidaire at a
• • •
desserts that
new
Cold Control
• • •
^ *
Montana-Dakota Power Company
PLENTYWOOD, MONTANA
3389
seldom even glance at it, smce the
first experience.
A further observation on shgans:
"Medicire Lake first; the world af
terwards" is not the only stupid one.
Another declares that "Plentywood is
plenty good." As a matter of fad,
it is no such thing. No town or city j
is good enough, and Plentywood can
achieve some rather sweeping im
provements and still lack something
of being "plenty good." This is not
knocking; it is common sens'.
Now, Mr. Editor, I shall soon have.
ne. Just one thing more. This
boy, Michael Salisbury, sounds prom- j
ising. He knows, apparency what he
wants to say, and he says it fairly
well. So, in spite of the gratuitous
slap-in-the-face with which you and
he presented me, I wish he could be
encouraged to express himself furth
er. If he has any additional slaps for
me, I shall be glad to sample their
power, wincing only so much as may
be becoming. I realize that he who
gives must be ready to take. Be
r
I ' ^ j
Si
i
iX
LOWER SERVICE CONNECTION
CHARGES ARE ANNOUNCED
MORE SERVICE AT LOWER COST
An extension telephone for your
library—for
any room in the house—can
be had for less than half the
ice connection charge that had
been effective until March 1. This
substantial reduction in charges
for the connection of new equip
ment or changes in existing
ice Is an obvious benefit to sub
scribers throughout the entire
Mountain States territory served
by this Company.
Reductions have also been made in charges for the
connection of business telephone extensions and for moving
telephones from one part of the house or office to another.
In addition, the charge for changing the type of your tele
phone (hand, desk or wall set) has been reduced more than
one-half.
bedroom, kitchen,
now
serv
31
of
I
serv
The reductions are entirely in line with this Company's
to provide the most
policy and the aim of the Bell System
telephone service and the best at the least cost to the
public.
9 9
INVESTING $10,000 A DAY
For every working day of 19 29 almost JlO.OOO will be
in vested in a Greater Telephone System for a Greater Mon
tana.
Put into land and buildings, switchboard and cables,
poles and wire, the 19 29 budget, largest in the history o!
The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company,
will mean a continually improving telephone service for this
territory.
Ask Out Local Managet fot New Chatges
sides, I am accustomed to taking
I reserve the right to give free'iv <
return for what I take. It i s L
blessed to give than to receive. - *
ally 1 wish Mike anç you to
that a prominent midwife
not love me mea is to thank vou W
for what he saiu about me. Trnsrti
that you will oe joyful in the
ness of this reward, I
Cordially yours,
JOHN A. STAHLBERq
Fin
know
who
aies
1! .
Rre at .
am
GEN. NOBILE KICKED OUT
ITALIAN ARMY FOR CONBÎtpi*
IN POLE FLIGHT DISASTVd
- ' ^
Rome, March 16.—Gen. UmW*
Nobile, commander of the tragic flf ■
of the dirigible Italia to the north ^
last year, has resigned his ran |.
office in the Italian
ment announced,
The committee which investirais
the Italia disaster made its " retwv* a
last week, placing the blame for thl
wreck of the dirigible on Nobile **
0p
pole
ar<i
army the govern.