1237 
North Dakota “Recall” Election 
There is a desperate political battle going on in 
North Dakota. It represents life or death for the 
Non-Partisan League. This is a farmers’ organiza¬ 
tion, started and maintained to remedy many mar¬ 
keting and financial evils which had grown up in the 
State. No one will deny that those evils existed, and 
that the League fought them. For more than six 
years now the farmers, through this League, have 
controlled the State. They started a new form of 
banking system, State-owned mills and terminals, 
hail insurance, liome-building and other enterprises. 
They have been unable to carry all these things 
through to completion, and a reaction has come, as 
always happens in such progressive movements. The 
enemies of the League have taken advantage of this 
reaction in an effort to “recall” three State officers 
who, as an industrial commission, have charge of the 
State’s industrial program. Under the constitution 
of North Dakota a “recall” of State officers is pos¬ 
sible. A petition must be signed by 40 per cent of 
the voters in the last previous election asking for 
such “recall.” When such a petition is tiled an elec¬ 
tion must be held, and candidates are nominated to 
oppose the officials then in office. On October 28, 
therefore, the Governor, Attorney-General and Com¬ 
missioner of Agriculture are really put on trial, with 
the voters as judge and jury. The issue of course is 
the Non-Partisan League and its management. North 
Dakota is too far away for us to give any personal 
judgment. We have made a careful canvass of our 
subscribers in that State, and we have never known 
that method of investigation to go wrong. The ene¬ 
mies of the League appear to be mostly town people. 
The politicians of both old parties, most business and 
professional men, and railroad and manufacturing 
interests are fighting the League. They say its lead¬ 
ers are dishonest or incompetent, that its program is 
wild and unbusinesslike, that it is plunging the State 
into bankruptcy and discredit. Therefore they want 
the “recall.” On the other hand, the League is sup¬ 
ported by a vast majority of the farmers and many 
people in the small towns. They insist that the 
League and its program are economically sound, that 
the. farmers have been greatly benefited already, and 
that the program, fairly carried out. will make North 
Dakota prosperous. They say that this campaign is 
being forced by the very interests which formerly 
held the farmers in slavery, with a plan to renew 
the chains. There are many claims and side issues, 
but essentially the question is, shall the farmers be 
permitted to carry out their State program? 
Which side will win? We judge from our reports 
that the weather on election day will decide it. The 
farmers have financed several like campaigns and 
won them all thus far. They are now about “broke” 
financially and have difficulty in raising a campaign 
fund. The other side seems to be well supplied with 
money. Without question the big railroad and mill¬ 
ing interests ai’e back of the “recall” proposition. 
Thus far the farmers or the League have won every 
campaign, but with diminishing majorities. Our 
figures show that a majority of the people of North 
Dakota still favor the League and hence oppose the 
recall. This majority lives in the country, often far 
from the polls. If election day is bright and clear so 
that the women can all get out we think the recall 
will fail. If a bad storm should prevent farmers 
from voting the recall will carry. It will have to be 
nearly an earthquake, however, that will keep these 
determined men and women at home. There are 
few fireworks about this election. It is more like a 
grim struggle for life or death. 
Direct Sale of Wool Goods 
il would like the address of the mill or someone of 
authority to see if we could not get some of those 
farmers’ blankets to sell to the members of our associa¬ 
tion. I don’t suppose they compare with the blankets 
turned out by our Eastern mills, although they might 
contain a higher percentage of pure wool, if the finish 
is not so fuzzy and soft. At any rate, I am anxious to 
have a pair of them just to help the cause along. The 
article interested me very much, as I ran into something 
similar to it this Summer. I spent the month of July 
near Pittsfield, Mass. One day I got a ride on a motor 
truck on its way to Hudson, N. Y. The driver dropped 
me at Queechy Lake, on the New York State side of 
the mountain, about 11 a. m., and I was to meet him 
there at 5 p. m. for a ride back, so I arrived 15 min¬ 
utes ahead of time, and during my wait, which was at 
a farmhouse by the roadside, I saw in their chicken 
yard of this farmhouse two women shaking out grain 
sacks, and beating them clean. My curiosity was 
aroused, so I went over and asked them why they were 
doing it. They told me they were going to repack.their 
wool in these bags, as they had three years’ clip on 
hand, and the most they could get offered for it was 
lSe per pound. They would not sell it for that price, 
and nine miles east of them there are mills that use 
thousands of pounds each year and yet won’t buy from 
the farmers nearby. I presume the amount is so small 
they don’t want to bother with it, but there are many 
other farmers who keep from 25 to 50 sheep in the 
same boat up in that country who might get together 
Vhe RURAL NEW-YORKER 
and have their wool made to sleep under, instead of 
hanging in bags up in the attic. c. a. h. 
New York, 
This man is connected with a city mutual co-opera¬ 
tive association which buys supplies for its members. 
They can use many blankets, auto robes and suitings. 
This is one way in which consumers and producers 
may get together. F>y means of their organization 
New York State wool growers have been able to pool 
their wool and send it in large quantities to a mill. 
There it is made into blankets, auto robes, horse 
blankets and cloth for suits. These are sold direct to 
individuals or to organized* buying clubs. We have 
bought one of these blankets, and our folks are so 
well pleased with it that they want more. It is an 
excellent bargain. This plan of organizing to manu¬ 
facture and then to make direct distribution is right 
in principle, and if it can be developed economically 
it will prove a great, help to farmers and to the pub¬ 
lic. We hope the same thing can be worked out. with 
hides and manufactured leather. Years ago farmers 
and their families did a great share of such work as 
baking, hat and clothing making, tanning and shoe¬ 
making. Somehow this work has been taken away 
from 1 them and put into the hands of a privileged 
class which has demanded and obtained twice as 
much for its service as the service was worth! 
Farmers have tried in every way to remedy this, but 
they have failed, and always will fail so long as 
the individual farmer attempts to compete with a 
strong organization. We have long believed that in¬ 
dustrial prosperity for farmers must come from a 
change in system which will bring back to the 
farmer some of the work he formerly did in prepar¬ 
ing and handling his own products. It will not pay 
him, perhaps, to do all the work in his own home 
and family, as was formerly done, but he can organ¬ 
ize to control the work and act as his own middle¬ 
man. This industry of making and selling blankets 
is the beginning of a new system which, we think, 
will rapidly develop. 
The New York Trespass Law 
The amendments to the conservation law, passed at 
the last session of the New York Legislature, will afford 
some relief to the farmers if they will only take advan¬ 
tage of them. These amendments prohibit not only fish¬ 
ing and shooting on posted lands, hut also trespassers 
with a rod or gun ; and no longer require the farmer to 
maintain the signs, but only to renew annually, during 
July, August or September, such signs as have become 
illegible or have been destroyed. These amendments 
provide that the notices must warn “All persons against 
hunting or fishing or trespassing for that purpose.” 
The signs must be not less than 12x12 in., and one 
notice must be posted at each corner, and at least one 
on each side; and the notices must not be more than 40 
rods apart along the boundary lines. This makes con¬ 
victions easy and certain, as it is only necessary to 
prove that the signs were properly posted and that the 
offender was found on the premises with a gun in his 
possession. 
As the offense is a misdemeanor, anyone who wit¬ 
nesses it can arrest the offender without a warrant and 
turn him over to the nearest State policeman or con¬ 
stable for prosecution. The amendment also provides 
that, the State must prosecute at its expense and pay 
one-half of the penalty, $50, to the landowner or to the 
owner of the shooting and fishing rights. If any farmer 
does not care to arrest the offender, he should get the 
number of the trespasser’s shooting license and report it 
to the State police, who are directed to arrest and prose¬ 
cute. If any trespasser injures fences he is liable for 
a like penalty of $50, one-half of which is payable to the 
landowner. One or two convictions in any neighborhood 
will undoubtedly put an end to trespassing in that sec¬ 
tion. Farms that are not posted will, however, be over¬ 
run by the gunners, who, in previous years, were dis¬ 
tributed over all the farms. 
These changes in the law not only afford farmers 
much needed protection, but will enable them to shoot 
a few of their own male pheasants this Fall. If they do 
I hope they will examine the contents of their crops and 
learn that pheasants are not enemies, but friends, be¬ 
cause they will find scarcely anything except ragweed 
seeds. 
Bills will be introduced at the next session of the 
Legislature to repeal the law which throws open to per¬ 
petual trespass farm lands which have been stocked by 
the State with fish or pheasants, and to permit the 
farmer to kill and sell the male pheasants which breed 
and feed upon his land. This would be a great induce¬ 
ment to the farmers to refrain from unlawfully killing 
hen birds, and to feed and care for the birds during the 
Winter season, which would soon make them a source of 
very considerable revenue. H. M. B. 
A Vanishing Industry—Wool Production 
Men may differ as to a tariff policy, but when it is a 
policy it then becomes a matter of fair adjustment to 
different industrial products. Wool is a primary tex¬ 
tile necessity, and in the production of bright luster, 
strong fine fiber wools, it has employed the best talents 
of generations of men. In countries of retarded civ¬ 
ilization the wools are coarse, and classify largely as 
carpet stock. To call fine wool raw material is merely 
misinformation. 
Sheep husbandry is a declining industry in the 
United States. In the past 15 years sheep have declined 
f"om 50 000.000 to ”4.000.000, which, agriculturally 
speaking, is about what has happened in Russia. The 
annual consumption of wool in the United States is 
about twice our annual production. 
The wool grower has had to protest internal and ex¬ 
ternal parasites in his flock, but economic parasitism 
has been his greatest enemy. In 1020 and up to May 
27, 1021. there had been imported into the United 
States 650,000,000 lbs. of wool duty free. If this had 
paid the emergency tariff rates the United States would 
have had approximately $100,000,000 revenue, and the 
speculators about $100,000,000 less. As it was, the 
wool grower suffered a loss of about $1 on each fleece 
of his annual clip. The importer often bought $4.86, 
or the normal pound sterling value for $3.34 in his 
dealings with Australia, and at a probable average dis¬ 
count of 25 per cent in value. This was and is today 
a bounty on imports. The State of Michigan has lost 
by this procedure close to one million dollars annually 
in selling wool below the cost of production. This loss 
has been the gain of the speculator who has imported 
wool with a 25 per cent bonus by reason of this differ¬ 
ence in exchange. 
Those who have had no sheep and contributed noth¬ 
ing to the upbuilding and maintenance of this industry 
“have reaped where they have not sowrn” and secured 
the rewards justly due to the flock owner. Next, there 
is the “shoddy soviet” who work over used woolens and 
rework this with some new wool, and offend common 
decency by using the deceptive term “all wool” to se¬ 
cure the compensation due the wool grower. The essen¬ 
tial live cells are worn out with use and decay, such 
fabrics lack elasticity and wearing qualities when adul¬ 
terated with shoddy. In unhappy and depleted Russia 
agriculture has declined because those who render ser¬ 
vice by way of products are systematically deprived of 
the fruits of their labor. The difference between a 
“Soviet” systematically strangling an industry is not 
different from the depreciation of a product and garner¬ 
ing its rewards until that industry languishes and ceases 
to function. 
Within the last decade Michigan alone has lost 
around 25 per cent, or about 250.00<) sheep, which is a 
considerable levy upon the agricultural resources of a 
single State. Political incapacity allowed unrestricted 
competition, with a bonus on imported wools and frozen 
mutton, as pointed out before, through difference in ex¬ 
change, to ruin sheep owners in a financial w’ay. For 
many years shoddy has made the manufacturer and dis¬ 
tributer of these adulterated fabrics wealthy at the ex¬ 
pense of the sheep owner and consumer, until now the 
production of wool in the United States is a declining 
industry. Already one can see the importation of 
350.000.000 lbs. of wool annually to meet our domestic 
demands, after the depletion of the industry here to 
25.000,000 sheep. This number is about the probable 
minimum that will be reached. As a nation we are 
prodigal of our resources, and agricultural independence 
will be turned to dependence. J. M. m’bride. 
Michigan. 
Cheese for Local Use 
In our country stores it is almost impossible to get 
really good cheese. We pay 30c a pound, which is about 
10c above the wholesale price, delivered in New York, 
for fancy cheese, and we seldom get much but skim or 
at least partly skimmed cheese. I sometimes wonder 
how it happens that as much cheese is used as there is. 
At the same time we are told, and know it to be true, 
that we do not use as much cheese as ought to be con¬ 
sumed. It seems to me that with really good cheese 
provided, as with really good butter, a much larger 
amount would be used. 
I chanced*to talk this over with the local dealer re¬ 
cently. His idea is the same. The best that he can do 
is to get this rather inferior cheese. In too many cases 
he gets inferior butter also. lie believes that there is a 
remedy in many localities for this condition, particu¬ 
larly now that the League Co-operative is in working 
order. Not so many years ago we had cheese factories 
all about us. Most of these have gone out of business. 
In this district, 250 miles from the city, some of the 
milk ought to go into cheese, especially where it is back 
from the railroad. Cheese has to be held a little be¬ 
fore going on the retail market, and from the time of 
the flush production till now it has advanced at least 
Sc a pound. 
As an illustration, there is a factory some 10 miles 
■from my home that is already equipped but it has stood 
idle for months. It can be used now for butter, and in 
season for cheese, and so save long hauls to the station. 
At the same time the manufacturers of cheese and but¬ 
ter will help relieve the fluid milk situation, save the 
hauling on milk, provide ns a good quality of product 
that is wanted here for home consumption. All about 
are farmers and villagers who want good butter at a 
price that would enable these farmers to operate their 
own factory at a profit. There is little butter or cheese 
to be had except that which is brought in from the 
wholesale market, although we are all producing milk in 
ouantities. 
The League sells milk for butter-making and for 
cheese, and charges prices that correspond to market 
prices for those products. I do not know that the 
League would sell the milk from those farms to an asso¬ 
ciation of the same farmers, but I cannot see why it 
would be less desirable to sell to a co-operative cream¬ 
ery or factory than to one owned by a smaller number 
of individuals. It would be possible for the farmers to 
get something out of the investment in the creamery 
and get the pool price for their milk. They would at 
the same time be relieving the fluid market of a little 
of the milk not wanted in the city. 
Or it might be possible for the owners of the plant to 
rent it to the League Go-operative and let them handle 
it as they do others. If the League marketed all the 
butter and cheese made there right at home that, would 
give us the quality and the supply, and take care of 
the surplus milk as in the other case. 
There is still one other method, and that is for one 
or more individuals to get the creamery and handle the 
milk, buying from the League, and permitting, the farm¬ 
ers to deliver near home, as already mentioned. It 
would be possible for a little money to be made on the 
butter and cheese manufactured in that way. I already 
know of one similar concern that states that they will 
follow such a course, only they will make ice cream and 
butter. The pooling plan makes such a mode of opera¬ 
tion possible, while under the old plan it would be diffi¬ 
cult. The League pooling plan has many features to 
recommend it. ..... 
Any of these methods have the objective of giving us 
good cheese at a fair price, and that is what I started 
out to tell about. By supplying a high grade of pro¬ 
duct, be it cheese or butter, a better demand for dairy 
products will result. Farmers will use more and vil¬ 
lagers will use less substitutes, which will benefit the 
industry and at the same time improve the health of the 
people. ir - 
