Golden Valley chronicle., March 26, 1915, Image 3

About Golden Valley chronicle. (Beach, Billings County, N.D.) 1905-1916

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
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McCumber'8 Speech
on Rural Credit Bill
"Mr. President, I desire for
just one moment the attention of
the Senator from Oklahoma and
also of Senators upon that side
while 1 quote a single paragraph
from the Democratic platform of
1912. 1 will say that I do not or
dinarily go to that instrument for
any political or industrial text,
but sometimes between the rigid
lips of a bivalve may be found a
pearl of great price. I would
therefore ask the Senator just to
listen to one sentence. It is under
the heading of "Rural credits,"
and reads as follows:
Of equal importance with the ques
of currency reform Is the ques
rural credits for agricultural
tlon
tion of
finance.
"Of equal importance." The
question of currency reform was
considered of such great import'
ance that it was necessary for the
administration to call an extra
session and that extra session,
lasting all last year nearly, was
taken up in the consideration of
that one subject. Nowi, this other
subject, according to your Koran,
is of equal importance.
"Mr. President, ever so often,
•ever since I have been in Congress,
1 have heard eulogies on farmers
and farm life dissertations for
the most part on the beauties of
poverty. These golden words
banded out to the farmer are mat
erialized only in the gold bricks so
frequency harded *o him. Part
of my duties here have been to
apply the chemical test of analy
sis to show to the agricultural
communities the spurious charac
ter of that which ha* been extend
ed to them and to demonstrate to
them that 'All that glitters is not
gold.
"Some of the senators remem
ber a few years ago when the de
natured alcohol bill was up how
that bill was declared to be one
of the greatest boons to the farm
ers how during the long winters
thev could convert their corn
stalks, their turnip tops, their
straw, and their potatoes into
liquid dollars how this article
would revolutionize motive pow
er on the farm, and above all,
bow it would totally paralyze the
Standard Oil Company and fin
ally crush that octopus that had
been sucking the lifeblood from
honest competitive commerce.
"In the clamor and hurrah my
voice of caution could not pene
trate very far, but I took occasion
to say that the American farmer
would not secure any benefit out
of that law that it was but ano
ther one of the many attempts to
play the farmer for political ends.
Six years have elapsed since the
enactment of that denatured-al
cohol law which was to smile pros
perity into every American farm
"home, and not a single gallon of
that precious liquid has been pro
duced on the American farm. On
the contrary, lest in the future
there might be some possibility of
benefit, our Democratic brethren
voted to remove all protection on
denatured alcohol, thereby re
moving beyond all question any
possibility of agricultural benefit.
"We passed that bill. I cannot
say that the bubble burst, but it
was soon found that whatever
motive power alcohol gas had in
side this chamber it had little or
none outside. I do not mean to
say we deceived the farmers. As
a matter of fact, they had learn
ed long before to take with many
grains of salt the aureate promis
es of this body, and so they kept
right on plowing
"Then another great idea was
sprung to challenge attention and
to fill the farmer's heart with
hopeful joy. It was a scheme
for the appointment of a commis
sion—a great national commis
sion—to teach the poor blind, be
nighted farmer how to make farm
life attractive to send him a mis
sionary to lead him out of the
dark ways of his vocation. In
vain I tried to persuade the Con
gress that the farmer knew just
as much as any lecturer you could
send him how to make his home
attractive. In vain I declared
that if you assist him in making
his business as profitable as city
business, you could trust to his
srood common sense to make his
farm life just as attractive as city
life that it was a question of dol
lars and not of inclination or in
telligence that the attractiveness
of any vocation depends almost
wholly upon the remuneration
from it that circulating libraries
would not dig potatoes or increase
the price of grain. My appeal
was in vain. You passed vour
bill for a commission. That
commission did its work and the
farmer paid his proportion of its
expense. Its report to-day lies
mummified in the archives of
of the country, waiting the day
nf resurrection. And here, as be
fore, you did not deceive the
farmer. He knew it was a mere
«op and, a* before, he just simply
Icept on plowing.
"And so I might ?o on citing
bills and resolutions by the score
which have been introduced pro
posing to do this and that for the
welfare of the agricultural people
of the country, bills and resolu
tions that would make farm life
so enticing that the overcrowded
cities would find relief for their
congested population.
"Mr. President, you hav done
everything but the right thing. 1
ave pointed out the right thing
to do again and again. It is a
simple proposition* I have said
what you all well know, that the
drift of population will always be
to the field of greatest remuner
ation for a given amount of ex
pended energy the greatest com
forts, conveniences, and pleas
ures that can be secured for a
given number of hours of labor.
And I have further insisted that
just so long as the average earn
ing in city trades and professions
are three or four times greater
than the average farm earnings,
not only will the people who are
now in the cities remain there but
the sons and daughters of our
American farmers will abandon
the calling of their fathers and
drift to the cities.
"Let me put this question
straight to you who profess such
a deep interest in the welfare of
the farming population: Are you
willing that the farmer shall be
able, after paying himself and his
family citv wages for their ser
vices, to declare a dividend upon
his investment in lands, and
machinery equal to the average
dividends declared on city busi
ness investments? If you will
stand with me and extend to the
American farmer that equal jus
tice, we will solve the back-to-the
farm movement. There is no
use sayine this can not be done.
Mr. President, it can be done,
lust throw around the American
fits as the banker or the merchant
then give him such protection as
will enable him to earn as much,
hour for hour, as the carpenter in
the city.
"I know your usual answer:
'The farmer does not spend as
much as the city resident, there-
rore
fal
equality between farm labor and
city labor.
"Flour retails generally from
$2.25 to $2.50 per hundred
weight. To-day the wholesale
price in New York was about $3.
75 per hundredweight. Even at
this rate flour is the cheapest art
icle that is served on the Ameri
can table- It is still so unimport
ant, from the standpoint of ex
pense, that the average restaur
ant makes no charge for bread
whatever.
"If people would just stop long
enough to analyze their ordinary
expenses and compare their flour
bills with other expenses of city
life, they would rid themselves of
this everlasting fear lest flour
might advance a few cents. I do
not believe I could find 10 men
in this city of more than 400,000
people who would have the slight
est idea what they pay annually
for the flour used annually by
their families or how much one of
them consumes. I wish 1 could
secure the attention of the aver
age citizen of the great city just
long enough to impress upon him
that he consumes only about one
barrel of flour a year that this
barrel of flour can generally be
ourchased for about $8. I want
him to realize that what he pays
for just one theatre ticket for the
cheapes, flattest kind of play will
purchase all the flour he con
sumes in three months that the
tip which he throws to the waiter
for a single meal will pay for all
he bread he will consume in a
week that he pays four or five
times as much for his cigars as he
does for his flour that he sub
mits extortionate charges every
where with stolid indifference,
but if his flour bill is increased 10
certs a month he grows hysterical.
"Mr. President, when the new
administration came into power,
it came laden with a mighty prom
ise on its hands to both the farm
er and the laborer. It promised
farmer the same protection you
have in the past accorded to the for his food products and the rest
manufacturer just raise the oro- of the people were all to have
taction wall around food products cheaper food products. And as
until the price which the farmer a complement to this absurd
shall receive for the things he! promise the laborer was to re
produces will assure him a com-! ceive greater wages in the produc
pensation that will enable him to tion of articles that were not to
pay city wages for all of his lab-1 be sold to the farmer, and yet the
cr, including that of himself and
his family and still declare a div
idend on his investment. Or if
does not need to earn as
much.' But, Mr. President that
is an unjust answer. He is entit- upset the natural consequences of
led to the same pleasures and this duplicity, and by setting most
amusements he is entitled to of the civilized world murdering
take his family lo the theatres he ^ach other created an enormous
is entitled to indulge his tastes he demand for our food products
is entitled to every thing that be- and a feverish demand for many
longs to twentieth-century living, manufactured products and saved
the same as the average urban the country from the impending
population. He surrenders no in- curse of free trade
herent human right by following "But Mr. President, this war
agricultural pursuits. Now, the can not last forever. There is a
only way you can secure him these buttom to the treasury chest and
conditions is to make his business a limit to the credit of these na
pay as great a remuneration as' tions. What then will happen
the other important occupations, "Have you Senators stopped to
"But whenever you observe' consider the first process in the
the farmer receiving for his prod-! rehabilitation of the devastated
uce a price that will place him on countries of Europe? How will
an esual plane with his city breth- these destroyed factories in Bel
ren, you are filled with apprehen- gium, France and Gallacia and
sion and consternation- To-day elsewhere be restored? Not only
you are crying against the price of are the factories in ruins, but the
wheat and flour. I received a pos- commerce which flowed from
the other day from New York them is gone. How long will it
printed in big, black letters, take to bring them into existence
'Place on embargo on the expor- again? All wealth, Mr. Presi
tation of wheat and check the dent, must first be lured or dug
greed of the avaricious farmer.' from the earth. In the famished
The man who had money enough condition of the Old World its
to send that postal all over the people will first seek the shortest
re-
United States was probably
ceiving from 25 to 50 per cent
interest on whatever he may have1
invested in business. The farmer!
who may have received $1 perl
bushel for his wheat may have be raised in 90 days. When this
netted $1 per day for his work
and no dividend on his invest
ment.
"I have stated again and again
md proved my statements, that
taking into account the number
of hours of labor performed by
the American farmers and their
children, and leaving out of the
consideration entirely the amount
invested in their farming opera
tions, they are the poorest paid
labor in the United States.
"Let me ask you, Will $1.50 a
bushel for wheat enable the farm
er to pay his labor more than
reasonable wages and declare
more than a reasonable dividend
on his investment? I know it will
not, you ought to know it, and
every man who owns an acre
farm land knows that it will not.
Let me tell you right here and
now that if the grain raiser should
realize the same wages for his
eight hours of labor that the mas
on in any large city receives, he
must have more than $2 a bushel
for his wheat and the values of all
other cereals must advance in like
proportion. I am asking for this
you think he is not entitled to the of your promise. Coincidently ing with, executes a 5 per cent in-!
?ame treatment, to the same pro- laborers began to be discharged I
Hy the thousands and all forms of
farm products started on a down
ward toboggan slide, and Heaven
re he a
and by filling it with blood and
carnage, checking and destroying
Its productive capacity created a
demand for our goods.
possible means of producing
wealth. It will take years to
build the factories and regain the
commerce. On the other hand,
practically all kinds of crops can
most speedy method of rehabili
tation will manifest itself in an
enormous increase in acreage
planted for the harvesting of food
crops. That means a mighty sur
plus that must be forced upon an
impoverished people whose first
thought will be economy. That
means shortly after our Civil War
when in a comparatively short
time, wheat dropped from $3 to
50 cents per bushel. It means
cheaper cereals when the war is!
over.
"We ought to prepare to meet
that situation. How can we do
it? There is but one proper way
—protection. Give the Ameri-1
can market to the American far-!
mer to the extent that he is able
to supply that market at a just and
fair profit. Put up the bars of pro
tection high enough to assure him
simple justice. This, Mr. Presi
dent, is the first great duty we
owe the American farmer. He
would get more real benefit out
of this protection in a single year
than he would get out of any
rural credits bill in half a century.
Undo the wrong you did to him
GOLDEN VALLEY CHRONICLE
in 1913, when you put practical
ly everything he raised on the free
trade list and compelled him to
compete with the whole world. So
long as this war lasts he will es
cape the great loss which is the
natural result of your unjust and
unequal policy. But when this
war closes, great losses will sure
ly overtake him. You will not
do this, but you say you will give
him something else which may di
vert his mind awhile you will
concentrate his mind on a shining
quarter while you are relieving
his pockets of a $
10 bill.
"And so, Mr. President, we are
-"et again with a proposal to
give the farmer a rural credits bill
Is it like all the other proposals, to
fade away into nothingness? Do
you really want to give the farmer
a rural credits bill that will be of
real and substantial benefit? I
am certain the bill reported from
the committee, no matter how
well intended, will not be a suc
cess- It depends too much upon
philanthrooic sentiment in busi
ness, which I have never yet been
able to discover. There is no
philanthropy in the business
world. People do not go into
business for other people's bene
fit second, it is too complex, too
cumbersome. It equires too
much red tape to answer the
farmer's demands. I have
abiding conviction that it is not
fitted to the farm conditions of
the United States that it will be
but another one of those impract
able theories that have from time
to time been thrown out to the
farmers.
"I have drafted a substitute
which I believe will meet their de
mands, and meet them in a sim
ple and effective way.
"My substitute requires no new
complex, or untried svstem. It
is based upon the theory that
there is sufficient money in this
country readv and eager for in
vestment at 4'/2 pt cent on long
to play one against the other forjHme securities. The vast depos
their mutual advantage. The'its in savings banks, the
farmer was to have higher prices mentf of life
Now What is the procedure
under my substitute?
"A farmer in my State wants to
borrow, say, a thousand dollars
on his land.
Hp
farmer was to secure goods pro
duced by that laborer at a less
price. You began the fulfillment he has been in the h?.bit of deal-j
abstract
a a
anded had not the stern god of. ing full description of the land,!
war intervened in the Old World amount under cultivation, charac-
The war1
ter of soil, kind and value of im
provements, and any other mat-!
ter
Read All the
Ads in
The
Chronicle
Before You Do
Your Shopping
Chronicle
Exchange
&1
L®**
invest-1
insurance compan-'
ies, of trustees, and tru°t comnan
ies show that a 1 0 or 20 year gov
ernment debenture bearing AVi
ner cent would be tnk?n as rapid
ly as it could be issued.
Bi
Bi
Si
Lfi
goes to a bank
terest coupon ncte ancl mortgage,
I
and accompanies them with an1
showing good title in him
a at on or an iv
A.M.Christianson
Devotion to Law
The Story of His Early Life Reads
Like The "Life of Lincoln."
That loyalty to the law brings
that may indicate his ability to its rewards has never been more
amply demonstrated than in the
case of the youngest member of
m-
raise crops and to meet the
terest. That application and the
values are verified by two neigh
bors. The banker knows him,
knows the land, and the value of
the security. In nine cases out of
ten if the farmer wishes the mon
ey on that very day, the banker
will advance it to him, as he
would be secured by the mort
gage in his possession- The bank
er is the agent of the Government
and as such, held to great care in
appraisals, will be very careful
that the loan does not exceed the
half of the actual value of the
land and that it fully meets the
requiremtnts of the law. The ap
plication, mortgage, note, and ab
stract of title will be examined
the application and appraisement
will be carefully scanned not only
to ascertain that the value is un
questionably, but that the appli
cant is possessed of everything
necessary to produce crops on that
land to meet the annual interest.
If everything is found to be cor
rect, the papers will be returned
to the bank with a draft, the mort
gage will be recorded, and the
draft turned over to the borrow
er.
(Continued next week.)
North Dakota's supreme court.
Judge A. M. Christianson was
born a lawyer, with an insatiable
craving for legal knowledge in
his system which had to be as
suaged, that was all. From his
earliest recollection he wanted to
become a lawyer and all his plans
since he became old enough to
make any, were laid with that
and in view.
Reads Law By Lantern Light
It is therefore that we find him
when a boy of about 15 years,
reading Blackstone by the light of
a lantern while the rest of the hay
ing crew of which he was a mem
ber, were getting needed rest for
the next day's toil. Then when
he was going through high school
we find that he is taking a corres
pondence course in law, and- con
tinuing this course while teaching
country school in Northern Min
nesota. When school teaching
and careful saving had enabled
him to earn enough to take him
through a year in the law school,
he loses no time in enrolling.
But it takes much money to go
through the law school and the
original sum is soon used up. Va
cation time is made to supplv
this deficiency through the book
agency route- The budding at
torney and future supreme justice
is said to have made such a suc
cess at selling books that the firm
for which he worked offered him
steady position, at a salary
which to us fellows in those days
seemed fabulous. But the call of
the law was stronger than all oth
er inducements to Mr. Christian
son and he is soon back at the
law school.
Eyes Give Out
But A. M. was applying him
self too assiduously to his law
course and at this point a tragedy
came very near being enacted.
Mr. Christianson had only one
pair of eyes and these were only
of the ordinary sort. He was
compelling these same eyes to do
the work of six ordinary pairs of
optics and they rebelled. The re
sult was that doctors held consul
tations over the new attorney.He
was ordered to the dark room, for
a time and forbidden to read for
several months after he was let
out in the light again.
Then back home to the farm
for a while so the eyes and the
For the benefit of Golden Valley land owners who want
to dispose of their property, the Chronicle has opened "The
Chronicle Real Estate Exchange" and will list free of charge
ig and advertise their property in the Chronicle and eastern pa
per no expense or commission to be paid unless land is sold.
Those wishing to list their property for sale should call at
the Chronicle office at once, so as to get your land offered in
the first lists sent out. Your name will not be used in the
advertising and it will cost you nothing until your property is sold.
Land buyers are coming to North Dakota this year and
the Chronicle proposes to bring some of them to the Golden
Si Valley. List your land now.
The Chronicle Real Estate Exchange
Office the Postoffice Building. J. W. Brinton, Manager
rest of him could be given a
chance to recuperate. While
taking this rest the young attor
ney was looking around for an
opening. He finally selected
Towner, McHenry county, N- D.
then a new place, as a likely lo
cation and decided to try it there.
Admission to the North Dakota
bar soon followed and a few
ANEMIA—^Irs"
SPRING COLDS
CATARRH
SPRING TONIC
When Anybody Finds a Cure
He Is Generally Willing
To Tell His Neighbor
Postoffice
Building
months later he was elected states
attorney of that county. This
was only about 14 years ago.
Judge Christianson is now less
than 40 years old, the youngest
member of the supreme court of
the state, and possibly of any
such body in the nation. He is
making good and his fame is
growing apace.
The willingness of one neighbor to tell another neigh
bor in a private way of the benefit received from Peruna,
explains the popularity of i'eruna more than all the ad
vertising that has been done.
li The fear of the publicity undoubtedly prevents the
majority of such people from writing a testimonial to be
used in the newspaper. But in spite of that we are re
ceiving fine testimonials continually.
Marengo, Ohio, says: "I believe
fUlEIMft rcruna to bo the best tonic. I recommend It for any
run-down condition of the system."
-Mrs. Rhoda Stufflebeam, Bunch, Iowa: "A
Fprins colli I took settled on my lungs.
Coughed. Could not sleep. We feared consumption. Thanks to
Peruna, I am a well woman today."
-Mrs. Sadie Allen, Joseph, Oregon: "My little boy Is
entirely cured of catarrh of the ears by Peruna. Am
thankful for your good advice."
-Mrs. H'm. Mcjloberts, P.rown Valley, Minn.:
"Taken in spring Peruna tones up the system,
acts
as
a tonic. I consider Peruna a whole family medicine
chest."
IIow did they hear of Peruna?
Simply bccauFe one neighbor is always willing to tell
another one lie has found a cure. Neighborly conversa
tion of grateful patients has done more for Peruna than
advertising. Much more.
The Ills of Life," sent free.
The Peruna Co., Columbus, Ohio.
Look Listen
Come Hear
Harm's Jubilee Singers
BEACH OPERA HOUSE ONE NIGHT ONLY
THURSDAY, APRIL 8th
Seven years known as the Midland Jubilee Sing
ers. A company of 7 colored artists.
Reserved seats $ 1.00.
'iJtfc-
5
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