The producers news. [volume], April 05, 1935, Image 1

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

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
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PLENTY WOOD, SHERIDAN COUNTY, MONTANA,
\>
vTxV» 1 - No. 3.
FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 1935
PUBLISHED WEEKC
econd Time
c
a
SIO UX FALLS C ONFAB IS BI G STEP TOWARD REAL UNITED FRONT
414 Delegates Join
In Fight For Relief,
reduction Credits
41 Organizations From 19 States Represented; Largest
Delegations From Farmers Union, Holiday, U.F.L. ;
Repeal of AAA Demanded by Meeting
5 Go Io Washington, D. C.
Farmers Union Delegates Ask National Organization,
Legislative Committee to Support Delegation and
Program; Support On Farms Organized
SIOUX FALLS, S. D.—With 414 farm delegates from
19 drouth-stricken states, representing 41 different organiz
ations present, the Farmers Emergency Relief Conference
closed here last week after a three-day session at the Coli
seum. The first step towards a real united front of the
Äth^Toolvet AAA ke hI S2ft" A * the ? ght
nr, Am wac accnmnlkhod 8 drouth and subsistence farm
P Tb mu oh nut ttp mnin nnrï «1 • u
«'oik of thp differen t ro-oni/ itinn i in su ^"® es 7
suma of the ai lièrent organizations, the delegates worked
for unity. They succeeded in rallying their
fares ii animously behind the
program that was developed in the*
first session of the conference by
Uni Harris, secretary cf the spon
soring committee, in his report.
In a masterly speech, Harris
dearly outlined the conditions lac
ing farmers everywhere but par
ticulady in the drouth states. He
placed the burden of guilt for the
Present conditions of ti.e farmers
"who have been getting the short
«j» u ihu ueai ever since they
broke the virgin sod, squarely up
« the shoulders of the adminis.
tration which did not heed the
warning given last May by a 'curl
in£ dust cloud consist!: g of mil
» f «res of western farm
l«nd that sailed across the conn
, .
Speaking of the present dust
storms which that vay day swept
over the entire northwest ddwn to
the Gulf and even hoveied ove.
the conference hall, Harris said:
lRl koosevelt administration ig
Bored this warning and even wel
coined the onccming drouth as a
ns of forcing through its pol
icy of reduction.'*
try.
• e.i
Sounded Keynote
. Tko speech, which at the same
tune proposed concrete suggestior
»oout the action to be taken by
farmer? and
kfynote which
disca
wo/kers, sounded the
was taken up by
ions from the floor and in
e
,
^ race, col
are now !" a
BBity which challpnw 1 by a
P<"eer which havp 5 JLtS° S « 'e
Gnomic resource* ar/i „ S °*
mflrcv of t. . ft ; S fi!
* Our hn™ St \
^erthe pJr Lh
«emVrs of * We 3re
hâtions. Put whPth * ° rgan *
S ti e Fnrwrc Vt"!L
National Holidn ? m °n, banners
Vnited ParrnorJ j ?OClatlon ' the
*kWlta HolidL ° r the
t 'W>n),th. .^J .• d,Son c °™
Châtions of peratlves ar d or
^ riow in ««it j workers, all
h sets forth fh j Ctlon ',
-«ÄL'W and
follows d by the ' CM "
^ »CW Without Debt
kw ia** 1 » fcd the world
decent \n\nv w been denie d a
•f Ecooomi this period
amount Cns * s and drouth
* t?eT!c y wo t0 j R na ^i° n M em
, <<fa ) That o„w and:
, Vels of rolirf v P ^ Sent starvation
change t immediate
a '«ek plus f Tninimum of $10
„ ° T eacb depend
gf, !} That this • —,
1 *J nted h V congress be
Uvest'h tn f0TC_
0)7) ' «IBipment # Ur crops
I f ^ f armo 7 v f Uvms ' and
sub-sessions. The discussions!
"Bally developed into a unanim
J?*. aiîcption of the Program of
■Bity In Action. The pr£ amble of
««? r ° Rram states:
e fanners come to the Farm
w hmergency Relief Conférer ce
* toux Falls, South Dakota, unit
y a common struggle for ex
**"'*• The barriers of
? ? 'Bd creed
«rce s
-
bred
-
e
-
t.
it
to sign
in order
to obtain relief.
u
(c) That the income for this
purpose is to be raised by steeply
graduated taxes on incomes of $ 5 ,- j
000 a year and upward, and rot i
by sales taxes, processing taxes
other measures which further in-!
crease the burden of either the im- I
poverished farmers or the work- j
ers. j
"(d) That the distribution of re-1
i ie f sha n ^ supervised by com-!
mittees elected bv the working 1
f ar mers " y g
Production Credit '
Ee-ardimr nroductlon credits for
farmers to carrv on thiir work of
feeding the people of this country,
the delegates adopted the follow
ing demand:
(a) The granting of sufficient
credit to enable us to restore our
farms to full productive capackyA
to replace our livestock that Svas
slaughtered or starved, to repair
(Continued on page three)
1
or
i
400 Farm Delegates Protest
Deportation of News Editor
j
s i
j
!
rp, ,. . . ,
The persecution of the editcir of
mmi Fr ° du ^ rS ^ ews « Alfred E -
j Miller, by the federal government
bt ^ Use he 18 b °5?' ^ r f W
«r n fl g °n < f U tv 1 Pr< p eSt fr0n ^ th6 dele '
p p th f Farmers Emergency
s C °: f rc ce ; assembbd a :
the Sioux Falls Coliseum on March
27 '
( After a re P° rt b y the résolu
tion . s committee on the case, the'
conference unanirr/usly passed a
■ resolution demanding that the per
secution of all foreign-bom Work
*rs cease at once, and that the
Producers News editor "be allowed
to stay in this country to continue
(helping us in our fight."
! The resolution, which was sent
to the Ü. S. department of labor,
follows;
Résolution
We, the 400 delegates assem
hied at the Farmers Emergency
Relief Conferenc at Sioux Falls
1 March 26-27, vigorously protest
I tbe deportation proceedings -
' gainst Alfre d Miller, editor of
tbe Producers News, a farm
paper at Plentywood, Montana.
We recognize in these proceed
ings ' which were initiated by
Montana immigration officers, a
bl0w against 0,6 efforts of the
' P° or farmers of this country to
fight the desperate
i D ... . e . . .l
Resolution Is bent to the
j
U. S. Department of
Labor
a
_ conditions
brought upon them by the ten
year agricultural crisis which is
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Cleveland Piper (standing at head of bed) is an unemployed mechanic. For months
he and his wife and six children have been living on relief handouts. Then along came
triplets, and Cleveland's wondering how they are all going to be fed. Meanwhile, state
legislatures think that it isn't moral to permit health authorities to give out birth con
f r oi nformation—it's morn moral for kids to stnrvpt
it s more moral lor Kids to starve.
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19 A:
5 SHERIDAN BOYS
QUIT WORK AT DAM
Complain About ^Vork Too
*, i D ,
Heavy, ray too Low,
p> af l
' "
-
_
Complaining of poor pay, rotten
meals ard exceedingly heavy work,
fivc yoltng "' crkers of Sheridan
«""'S' duit their jobs at the Fort
Pe H da ™ !"*
ha . d sf" ! Wd t0 î amP
IfTf . ^ at cents per hour.
^ kicking up to their hips in ce
ment ' thcy had to trani P around
in the vats ^reading the mass of
cenun t eyerly They had to work
on such Jobs for 8 hours straight,
during which time they were not
even allowed to fetch themselves
'
_
intensified by drouth and the
The Producers News and its
editor have teen helping in this
fight against oppression and ehe
reduction of farmers to a sub
sistence level. That is Mr. Mil
ler's only "crime," and for that
jj e is persecuted. We further
recognize that th se deportation
proceedings started against the
«ditor of the Producers News are
onl y a P art of th e persecution
of the f or eign-born workers all
over the country, incited by the
H earst press and similar irsti
tutions.
We, the 400 farmers, protest
.
(Continued on page three)
-—
p__
! grievance Committee
| Is Ready for Action
....
I The county relief grievance com
J"* t '® H *| as î!!î, Lf 10 , r rCady
de " s - md
B 85
AAA.
. . , .
me . mbe M of tb<? c ®*? mitte ® temper
anly. Mr. tenehjem wil. act
chairman of the committee.
All grievances are to be written
out and a copy sent each to Mr.
Stenehjem and Gonius Laursen ati
Reserve.
The committee will have its first
meeting on Tuesday, April 9. Af
ter that date, the meeting will be
held on the first and third Tues
days of each month at 9 a. m. at
the relief office.
All meeting are open meetings.
If anyone wants to present a
grievance, he must be at the com
mittee meeting or have an appoint
ment with the chairman.
Melvin Granrud Returns
From Hospital at Minot
Six weeks ago Melvin was rid
on the railroad track when his
r-?!?''ThpTorJ"hLf^nd
l \' Tbe horse lost the hoof and
had to be killed, While Melvin
landed head first on top of the
rail, breakirg jawbones and injur
ing one eye. Although not ovtr
the shock entirely, he is getting
h
-
, . .
a . ° f y hei J thfy m '
™Jed on getting water, they were
ir ® •
0ne of the boys S°t stuck in
tbe hardening cement the other
day aTld was una hle to free him
Felf * But stiU the hig bucket con '
It will please Melvin Granrud's
many friends to know that he has
again returned from the hospital
at Mirot to his farm west of Medi
cine Lake.
along nicely after returning to his
I
I tinued to throw more cemert into
the vat. He was simply told to
■watch out and get out of the way.
He could avoid being hit by the
bucket only by bending backward,
Later he was puuued out with
great difficulty.
! The hoys also complained that
the food was "old and stale." One
1
of them was charged $2.02 for
four meals and two rights sleep
ing in the barracks. There Is no
organization among the workers
|around the tunnels.
:
r . .
I eac « ers Examinations
To Be Held Mav 2-3 4
'
The County Board of Education
al Examiners will hold public ex
aminations of all persons offering
themselves as candidates for cer
tificates to teach at the county
seat on May 2, 3 and 4.
The followirg schedule will be
followed:
Thursday, May 2—A. M.: his
tory, civics and music. P. M.:
grammar, methods and spelling,
Friday, May 3—A. M.: arithme
tic, geography and art; P. M.:
reading, agriculture, hygiene, eco
; nomics and school law.
( Saturday, May 4—A. M.: prin
c i p l es 0 f education, educatioiral
Psychology, school management,
and American literature.
Teachers who are planning to
take the examinations are asked
as;to report their intention to the
'county superintendent, stating the
kind of certificate for which they
wish to apply.
_
Raymond U.F.L. to Meet,
Chas. Taylor Will Speak
The Raymond United Farmers
League will meet at the Home of
Otto Grantham on Thursday,
April 11, at 1 d. m.
Charles Taylor will speak at
the meeting to which all farm
ers are welcome.
.(AAA DESTROYS
FOOD IN SPITE
OF NEW DROUTH
Allows Acreages to Be In
creased If Cuts Are
Greater In *36
The AAA has again placed
wheat acreage restrictions offici
ally on the books. This time they
are permitting an acreage increase
in wheat of 75 ptr cent of a farm
er's permitted acreage added to his
allowed acreage.
As long as the talk was of the
drouth states of the mid-'west
where the getting of a crop was
out of the question, the matter of
lifting the restrictions, that were
j played up so much last week, were
j in order. The fact that another
! drouth and a famine were staring
j us in the face made the AAA shift
some of its tactics. When the
| matter of this restriction lifting
| made a possibility of actually get
1 ting a crop in other states that
were not hit by the drouth, then
i the AAA promptly puts the re
! stricting bars up again.
i All farmers who want to take
| advantage of this and plant an in
creased amount of 'wheat must
s *gn contracts that will bind them
to the 1936 contract, no matter
what it migh be. This means that
the farmer mus t agree with what
ever reduction Wallace may decide
upon. Also, the same contract will
hind the farmer to withdraw from
cultivation the same number of
; acres he added to his fields this
y«ar under the new provision. This
will be on top of the regular cut
*» his production.
! The adjustment payments -will
not be affected because of any
changes in the acreage. However.
if the farm changes hands be
; tween 1935 and 1936, the secord
payment will go to the 1936 pro
due«,
ASKS COURT HALT
TOUR BY DAUGHTER
SEATTLE, Wash.—Mrs. Lillian
F armer tonight sought a court oi
der restraining her pretty daugh
ter. Frances, 21 -year-old Univer
sity tf Washington drama student,
from viriting Russia.
Miss Farmer said she was de
termined to accept the offer of a
trip to Russia, which she won in
a subscription contest sponsored by
a Seattle Communist newspaper.
I'll leave for Russia from New
York Saturday." she said. "I'm so
glad. I'm delighted. It's wonder
ful. I'm thrilled "
She said she was not a Com
munist, but is interested in all
forms of government and the Rus
sian theatre.
«
MASS MEET CALLED BY
PRENDERGAST DEMANDS
HIS IMMEDIATE REMOVAL
«
TAYLOR TO SPEAK
ON LABOR PARTY
At Brotherhood Hall, Dag
mar, on Wed., at Com
ertown Tuesday
Another meeting at which
Charles E. Taylor will speak on
the subject of "A Mass Labor
Party," will be held at the Da-g
mar Brotherhood hall on Wed
nesday, April 10, ,»t 8 p. m.
Recognizing the ever increas
ing break-away of great masses
of people from the two old par
ties, especially now since it be
comes more obvious every day
l hat .^ e rr R0 i O3evel . t , b " b ? le h ? 8
müüwÜ a a Ln= W inh SPäak f° n
onthe policies Ah â'pa«7iT s t
have in order to be successful.
The meeting at Comertown,
April 3 . was postponed on ®c
count of the relief meeting at
Plentywood which took place the
same day.
The meeting will
now be held on Tuesday, April
9, at 8 p. m., at Comertown.
Here also Taylor will be the
maln speaker and will Salk on
the labor party. Other questions
to be taken up will be the West
by defense case, seed and feed
loans, and relief.
SEED ORDERS FROM
FEDERAL STOCK IS
HALTED IN COUNTY
A lot of Sheridan county farm
ers have listed seed for sale and
the list is being forwarded to all
the farmers in the county by the
Extension office. Those who have
not received the list should notify
M. J. Peterson, extension agent.
A telegram was received from
. Sam Sloan, in charge of federal
I seed stocks, stating that no more
! seed orders for federal seed may
be taken in the county,
means that seed gotten in the fu
ture must be gotten from other
sources than the federal seed
stocks.
I
i
Thi?
Letter From Helena Helps
Expose Local Administrator
_ » i r 11
Fanners Insistence rorced
Him to Call County
Relief Meet
__ _ _ ___ . . .
D. M. Warren, assistant stat
relief administrator, helps consxd
erahly, in a letter to Gonius Laur
sen to reveal the maneuvers and
machinations of E. J. Prendergas .
the local relief administrator, rel
ative to the setting up of a gnev
ance committee.
The letter shows clearly how,
Mr. Prendergast not only ignored
the instructions from the Helena
office, but apparently also tried to
give the impression to Dr Butler
that he was acting in ' good faith
when he appointed his own gnev
ance committee.
At the same time he stated here
in Plentywood that he could not
In the second Ward the race be
Bamer and Neville Win
In City Election Monday
The city election on Monday
turned out to be not very exciting
and only a small number of votes
were cast.
In the race for city mayor, Percy
Neville won over L. G. Zeidler and
Mr. Neville was re-elected, 149 to
142.
tween Henry Earner and Grant
Bakewell for alderman was won
i by Mr. Earner, 68 to 38. Redmond
1 for alderman, A. J. Kollman for
treasurer and George Monson for
j city magistrate were elected with
out any competition.
Sabotage of Relief Office and Herald Fails as Large
Crowd Attends Meeting to Force Administrator
to Recognize Farmers* Representative
Deportation Case Protested
Relief Director Fears to Attend Meeting, Sets Himself
Up as Relief Czar Who Will Not Recognize De
cisions of the Grievance Committee
Despite sabotage on the part of the relief administra
tion and the Plentywood Herald, a huge crowd packed the
American Legion hall at Plentywood on Wednesday, elected
Gonius Laursen of Reserve as their representative on the
county relief grievance committee, and at the same time
denounced the local relief administration, demanding the im
r eI P oval , of E - J - Prendergast, administrator, and
Miss Randall, senior case worker.
i . Gonius Laursen, who already had been elected at a pre
Yious meeting but whom Prendergast refused to recognize
apparently because he fears him, was elected by acclama
tion. The chairman of the meeting, A. C. Erickson, pro
| nounced the vote unanimous. No^
other person had been nominated
|
; ant * therefore no balloting was
necessary. The overcrowded meet
j hig, called by the relief office and
representing the entire county,
stood in solidarity behind Gonius
! Laursen. The farmers considered
him their best man to fight in
1 their interest against all maneuv
ers and machinations of the relief
administration.
Sabotage Fail*
The relief office had done all
it could to make the meeting a
flop. First, they had the ridicu-1
lous rule that everybody 'who want
ed to vote shocld register at the
door. This apparently was done
for the purpose of making farm
ers stay away from the meeting
for fear of discrimination. No one
registered, but the well-known L.
S. Olson was sitting near the en
trance trying to take down the
names of everybody who came in
to the hall. And plenty came.
Secondly, the famous Plenty
wood Herald had sabotaged the
meeting by announcing contradic
*r
carry out the instructions of the
state adm i nis trator "because they
were contrary to the ones previ
ously received.
Forced to Call Meeting
In his answer to Mr. Warren,
Gonius Laursen, the farmers' elect
^ representative, exposes this
double . of p ren dergast, and
demands P h f s removal. The corre
spoTldence also shoWs that finally,
a ^ ter muc j v filing and side-track
. the local administrator was
£ orced through the insistence of
farmers and workers in the coun
tQ arra nge for the county re
Uef meeting t h a t took place Wed
nesday
Assistant stat e Administrator
Warren writes to Gonius Laursen
under March 21 ag follows:
„j to quote a p aragrap h
from Dr . Butler's letter to Mr.
Prendergast of February 22.
««You will appoint some one
from the local relief office as a
member of this board. You will
get in touch with the farmers
and people of Sheridan county
and request them to select a
member, as we have no organ
ized or central labor union body
in Sheridan county. These two
members will select the third
member. You will designate the
chairman.*
"I wish to quote a paragraph
from Mr. Prendergast's letter of
February 25 to Dr. Butler.
I appointed Mr. H. O. Stene
hjem to represent the local ERA
and, as we have no organized or
central labor union board and
after consulting a number of
»
ii i
(Continued on page 2)
itory and confusing meeting dates.
a ^ emp ^ t Q e ff ec t a small at
: tendance also failed. Th?t the r«
i} e f administrator had hoped for
a sma ll and insignificant meeting
was a i S o shown when he hired the
sma u Legion hall instead of the
Farmer-Labor Temple.
Prendergast Scared
None of the relief officials were
1 Posent at the meeting they them
1 ">«" ^ f»'« 1 - P«nderg M t
flatly refused to come when a
committee was sent after him. It
seems he doesn't like to face the
people of the county, and he most
certainly dislikes and fears to an
swer questions which might tend
i to ehpose his administration.
-1
!
I
! that the chairman and the county
j commissioners, who were also pres
eT 1 t, were very anxious to have
the member of the grievance com
mittee elected in order to get an
ali bi for adjourning the meeting,
The crowd, however, was too smart
f° r them. Farmers insisted upon
knowing the duties, rights and
powers this grievance committee
would have. Neither chairman nor
From the beginning it seemed
commissioners could r.nswer thes«
questions. Then a committee wat
sent to fetch Prerdermast.
The committee did not bring
back the administrator, but Gon
ius Laursen, as a member of th«
committee, reported that the pow
ers and the rights of the commit
tee were even less than was ex
pected. He stated that the local
administrator can turn down any
decision made by the majority of
the committee, and can virtually
act as dictator regarding all re
lief matters. This information,
Laursen reported, came from E. J.
Prendergast himself.
Must Have Mi»?s Sunnort
A brief discussion showed that
the crowd was regarding the bom
bastic importance of thr relief ad
ministrator as a kind of a joke.
Nevertheless, the meeting unanim
ously passed a motion "that it is
the consent of this meeting that
any decision passed bv the major
ity of the grievance committee be
binding to the administrator." Th*
farmers also realized that tha
power of the commits e will de
pend entirely upon the mass sup*
port it will get from the farmer»
and workers of the county. And
the meeting was the best evidence
that there will be plenty.
The resolution demanding th#
immediate dismissal of Prender
gast and Randall was introduced
by Hans Rasmussen ard receive
a thundering "aye" 'when put t«
a vote. A single "no" vote still
further emphasized the unanimity
of the meeting on this demand,
and at the same time brought
about great laughter. The reso
lution follows:
Resolution
Whereas, the present Sherida»
county relief administrator, Mr.
E, J. Prendererast. and his sen^
ior case worker, Miss M. Rand
all, have made th^mesvles die
(Continued on page three) •