The nonpartisan leader. [volume], October 28, 1915, Image 2

About The nonpartisan leader. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1915-1921

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
PAGE TWO
Land Slipping Awaty
From Actual User
Into Hands of
A thoroughly competent investi
gator recently reported that in 27
Georgia counties 70 per cent of the
frams were occupied, by tenant farm
ers, 20 per cent by owners so hsavily
in debt that they were hardly any
more independent than tenants, and
only 10 per cent by independent farm
ers. In Texas, according to a report
of the industrial relations commis
sion, there are 200,000 farms culti
vated by tenants. These comprise,
according to a Texas state official,
about 52.6 per cent of the total num
ber of farms in the state.
"The time has come," says Special
Investigator Holnian of the industrial
relations commission, as quoted in
The New Repubie, '.'for the people of
this government to realize that its
land inheritance is slipping away, and
that ownershipi ix becoming concen
trated into the hands of a limited
number of individuals."
The south is peculiarly liable to
these depressing conditions, but no
part of the Union, even California,
is entirely safe from them. Unless
some decided check is given there will
be a constant tendency for staple
farming to be done on large areas
owned by do-nothing or absentee1
landlords, and for the more intensive
farming to be carried on by small
owners tied hand and* foot by a re
lentless system of private credit.
In 1910 about 94 per cent of the
farm acreage of Maine was operated
by owners in the same year, less
than 55 per cent of the farm acreage
of California was operated by own
ers. Of the total number of Cali
fornia farms operated--by their own
ers- only 60 per cent were free fittm
mortgage. Thus less than half of ours
already too few working ownrecs held
their lands free from encumbrance.
Many, more, it is probable, were in
the habit of anticipating their crops
by going into debt from year to
year. This is one reason-why it takes
sa much money every year to '"move"'
the crops.
In California irrigation is almost
everywhere either a necessity or a
great economy. Land which, will pro
duce fairly well without irrigation
will yield lavishly if- a little Water
is poured upon it during the dry sear
son Irrigation has to- be carried on-,4
usually, in cooperative' fashion either
by voluntary associations, by ths
state, or by the federal government.-:
TMs circumstance, .together withotto* bfed- themselves to. jointly vmt
era which wilt suggest themselves to
experts sooner tham to-laymerv makes,
cheap credit absolutely necessary.
The cheapest credit iBTthiit futnishnd'
by the state at cost. It. is: to the
state's interest to- do this, because'
it )B to th» 9ta±a*s interest to haBRfi
a free farm, papulation, with, the at
tending benefit, of better' cultivation-,:
great production and- sounder citi
zenship. No one can doubt' that Cal
ifornia would be the wealthier ..today
if the majority of. the foot-free la
borers: who plant and: gather the
various erops were each doing the
same. for. himself on a farm owned
by himself, and living with his fam
ily in a clean and' decent home. Re
spect for government can not be ex
torted: fiwm men without a "stake"
in the community.
The state as a creditor does, nob
endeavor to* tyrannize over its debit
ors, as the gre&^aoney interests do.
The state has a-far-reaching eye. Its
long time intengts, which are the
onl* ones it need consider, are "the
same as tbesa. ofthe fasmeK
credit can be used to develop, not to
des'roy, to I 'v.
"Private capital" has, of course, its
v..
THE NONPARTISANS LEADER
Wkote World May Be
come iis One City
New Peace Poli
cy Planned
San Francisco, Oct. 12.—"The whole
world is to become one city, and in
fact it is already one. Our individual,
life^. as our public life, is deeply jaw
tarnatdanal. There are no salf-suf)
pdrting countries. The far-reaching
economical consequences of the great
war have made this fact obvious to
everyone."
With these words, Senator La Fon
taine of Belgium, winner of a Nobel
peace prize, opened an address on
"World Organization" here today be
fore the International Peace Con
gress.
Herbert S. Houston, president of
the Ad Clubs of the World and chair
man on Information of the League to
Enforce Peace, said:
"No nation, however isolated, can
any longer have either peace or war
unto itself alone.
"Each of the leagues abroad is com
posed of several nations for not one
nation among them all is strong
enough to withstand the shock of
war alone. And not a single nation
among them all, at least among the
great powers involved was strong
enough to maintain a separate psace..
U. S. Takes New Stand.
'Here in America at last, with all
of our traditions and policies of iso
lation and freedom from entangling
alliances, we are grasping this tnuth.
Even the Monroe doctrine, which we
long held as an exclusive possession,
we are willing to sfcaxe with other
nations of this hemisphere: Argen
tine, Brazil, and Chili have been act
ing jointly with us on our invitation,
in seeking to bring calm and safety to
distraught Mexico.
The League to Enforce Peace,
stand#' for pieace through interna
tional forces. It believes that law
should take the place of war in set
tling, differences between nations.
'It may tend to clarifying my theme
to state briefly the four proposals
thaft have been widely discussed in
Deference
to an international or world
court-
Hague Plait One Way.
'Fiist there is this Hague pro
posal of 1907 for a court of arbitral
jHstie«-^udicia*y machinery without
prosasiort to-' have it used.
"Second, the. proposal that nation?
Should: bind themselves to use suehi
a couietin settling their diffisseiHns*—
an agueament without provision to
enforce- it.
in
TRixnt^ the proposal that natrons.
force against any signateey nation:
refused: to take: its di®ea»iH»8
lwi£fci
another nations to the count fes1
fane- gating- to wac—a, definite plan to
{pit international force behind a.
count,. compelling: its use.
TPatfuth, a ptCo pesali that nations
•shajridt not only establish the: caaajt
and: require it to be' used* but shonM
put behind its decrees their com
bined power—this of course, is a pro
posal to make the judgments of the
woeld court as mandatory, interna
tionally as are those of a national
court, within the boundaries of a
nation"
A wheat gambler's head often
.swells along with his checking ac
-eount.
legitimate field, bat it can not be'
geaenaua or fasvsigiited eneugjt. to be
trusted with a process of such vast
importance as the peopling and utili
zation-ofthe land. Its mutivei by the
rules. of the game, is- profit, and* profit
is not a- safe motiva ta tie up to
when the welfare of a great, eommun
-y i° at stake.—San Francisco Bulle-
Income Tariff Lamr
Failed to Make Big
Fellows Come
Across
By ©lson Gardner
Washington, Oct. 15.—Talk of is
suing bonds or increasing tariff du
ties has attracted attention to the
failure of the income tax Ibw to pro
vide the revenue expected of it.
It has produced only 9 per cent of
the government's revenues. The rest
comes from taxes on necessities. In
stead of raising $100,000,000, the in
come tax law, including the corpora
rtion taj$, has produced a scanty $60,
',009,000.
Why? Are the incomes lacking, or
iare tha people dodging?' This is the
question now fairly up to congress.
Evasion of the law is no doubt the
.answer. The government is getting
•only a small fraction of what it
should in taxes on large incomes.
Seamcy is Obstacle
The secrecy provision is the prin
cipal obstacle to the law's enforce
ment. Nobody knows what his neigh
",bor pays. If he is successful in fool
ing the uninformed officials of the
treasury department, his neighbors
will never tell, for they do not know.
A student of income tax laws in
this and other countries has submit
ted figuresi to the treasury depart
ment to prove that the law
adequately enforced. He says:
"The value of the products—tl
to say, the net income—of the U:
States, per annum is reckoned at
Lass than-. $40,000,000,090. The
agg income of 90 per cent of the
ilies in- the United States does not'ex
ceed $600 a year. Therefore, tht share
of the total products which are en
joyed by the 90 per cent does not ex
ceed $10,000,000,000. It is nearer $6,
000,QOO OQO. The other $40,000,000 is
enjoyed by the 10 per cent, and most
of it does not get past 5 per cent.
Loss by Deception
"If the rates prescribed by law
were paid on this 30 to 40 billions,
the income tax collected would be 10
times the amount now. collected. In
other words* nine*-tenths of the in
come tax due is lost by reason of the
successful deception of the very rich
tax dodgers."
Critics of the income tax adminis
tration believe the law's failure to be
due to lack of publicity, an attempt
to enfbcce the laav by a corps of po
litical appointees, failure to institute
prosecutions- under the penal clauses
of the statute and unwillingness of
political appointees in the treasury
acfcment to antagonize the
wealthy men' and interests making, up
tthe bulk of the dodgers.
The affiarts of the income: tax. diui
ision. of the treasury, department harae
been* devoted mostly to {HtatiBg ob
vious enters- or evasions disclosed on
the' facts,
of returns vohuttacii^' mads.
Jh come oases the so-sailed. 100' bat
aent penaifty for commoting: has- been'
imposed but in no case have the au
thorities undertaken prosecutions un
der the criminal clauses. The officials
take the ground that it is practically
impossible to get evidence to prow,
'intent" to disobey the law.
POLITICIANS OUR FRIENDS.
"Those fellows that turned us down
at Bismarck last winter were our
friends—though- tiny didn't know it,"
said a Steele county farmer, recently:
"That slap in the face we got is go
ing to mean more in actual dollacs
and cents to us farmers than anything
that has happened in North Dakota
in the last ten years. It has woke
up every last man:in tiJBa€ate. From
now on we can get ftagpthra and: do
something. It Into:' eyaq
man jack of tis. 4aad
Secretary Houston
-f. Spoke.Too Soon:
His Prophecy^
N&Good
Dl". David F. Houston, secretary off
agriculture, had a painful experience:
with the grain market, and especially
[the wheat martee, recently.
When the war in Europe began the.
average price of wheat on -the farms:
of the United States was 76% cents-.
When the war. was seven months oldi
April 1, the average value of wheat
on the farm, taking the wheat states
the country over, was $1.31, and the
price at the big wheat markets waa
from $1.50 to $1.75 or higher, accordK
ing to' the grade.
When the magnitude of the 19#l5
crop in the United States became
reasonably safe to count up, the big:
operators in the exchanges began to.
hammer down wheat prices, and the'
average value the country over drop?"
ped to $1.06.
Predicts 30-Cent Rise.
It was about this time that the
secretary of agriculture, approached'
by a newspaper man for an interview,
gave it, and in it ventured the pre
diction that the wheat farmer of the
United States would find his wheat
this year worth 30 cents* a bushel:
more than when the war began, or
a profit on the 1,000,000,000 bushels
of this year's crop of $300,000,000.
Of this figure that $120,000,000
would be "velvet" for the United:
States because the experts in his de
partment calculated that 400,000,000
bushels of this crop would be sold
to foreign buyers-
Held Back Interview.
For sime reason,, however, the news
paper, man in question held back his.
Houston interview, and when he fin
ally printed it, the average value of
wheat on the farms had dropped—
or been hammered further down—
from $1.06 to lers than 91 cents, so
that the farmer, at least, will not
get $150,000,000 of the $300,000,000
profit, and the United States harvest
off the European buyer, instead of
being $120,000,000* promises to be cut
to $60*000,000.
Minnesota Farmer Suffers.
The Minnesota farmer,, of course,
was hit even: harder than Br. Houston
by this drop in wheat. On Aug. 1
his wheat was warthr—or seemed to
be—t$1.25 a bushel on the1 farm but
it was not rea^ ta market. Sept.
it had dropped: to $1', and Oct. 1 to
86 cents, which, as the! Minnesota
farmers this year raised 72,760,000
bushels, meant a lbss of $18,190,000
during August an& $Mi206t£GO during:
September, or a stamp of $28,396,400
ia two months.
September was. not sueh a bad
month for thfr North, HMsoAa wheat
farmer, according to reports ,to Dr:
Houston, for the piriee of his wheat
dropped- onLy 3 cents a bushel—dur
mg September. had) dropped 33
cents, however, during August. He
lost only $4,283,460 during Sepitember,
and had $47,118,060 loss in August,,
which makes.a tumble of $51,400,000
during the two months.
South Dakota fanners last 26- cents
in August and- 9 cents September on
eaeh of their 60«58S,000 bushels of
wheat, or a $21,200)000 drop far the
two months. —,
TROUBLE AHEAD.
The- person popularly kqowni as the'
.head of the house turned his key in
the door and entered as quietly as
possible.
"Where's your mother?" he whisr"
pered as his. yonng son appeared. 4
"Shi" caafiraani the bay. "She's
waiting upstairs in the. war zone, and'
I think shete gpt yoar ranpe."—N. Yl
World: