OREGON CITY COURIER, THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 1914. OREGON EQUITY NEWS p -"iSs Would city markets benefit the farmer? The farmer must control his mar ket. Denmark has no trusts or poverty. American farmers make about everything except law and money. We are seventeen million bushels short on spuds and they are 60c per 100 pounds. Millionaire Ryan says our 'rail roads are 95 per cent water and yet they want us to pay more for freight and passenger service. This government has put in cir culation less than five billion dollars, and yet the banks report 17 billion on deposit. Must be some water there too. ply and should not be delegated to private capital lor exploitation and prolit. They favor low rates for long terms. They also lavor our government borrowing money at 3H and Waning it to farmers at AM and the profit arising, if any, go to build good roads. The farmers Union and Federation of Labor has also en dorsed these resolutions. The Supreme Court of New Yrok has decided that it is legal for the Union Pacific ,to disttribute eighty million dollars to its owners as a sou per cent dividend. This is one oi the railroads that millionaire Ryan testified was ninety-nine per cent water and we suppose this is one of the roads wanting the Interstate Commerce Commission to grant them permission to raise freight and pas senger rates five per cent. Did you ever figure how many far mers it would take to raise produce enough at the market price to pay the interest on one million dollars of watered stock ? The French government partially reimburses labor unions for money spent to feed the army of the unemployed. Free trade would not sting the farmer in America very much if the market here was not tied up with the trusts. Will the Democratic law yers in Congress ever better it any? It is the policy of the Equity to take care of the home market first, and this policy is recommended by our Agricultural Department so a committee of the Equity is to meet the city council of Oregon Clity and see what can be done to better the condition of our home market here. The second annual meeting of the National Marketing Congress was held last week at Chicago. All the vital qseutions of production and dis tribution were discussed. Rural credits came in for its share. If this congress was composed of ac tual farmers who have had actual ex perience in selling or trying to sell their product on American markets we might expect a rational method to correct some of the evils of our craz marketing system.. We farmers do not understand why Oregon City merchants make no in ducements or conveniences for far mers. They want to compel us to patronize livery barns unnecessarily and even make unnecessary efforts to put our dog in the pound for the dollar to redeem him. Automobiles can block the street and nothing said, but we must not feed our horses in the street. In Kansas a hunter must have a license from the state and also get a written permission from the owner of the land. All game should belong to the man who owns or leases the land from which, it feeds ,and grows, and no one else should be allowed to appropriate it under any law. The fish in the ocean and rivers should belong to all the people and laws made to prevent special privileges and fish monopolies. The National Grange passed a ru ral credit resolution stating that rural credit was a part of our nation al policy of conservation of food sup- The high cost of living in our cit ies has not raised the price of po tatoes to the farmers. Wages to factory workers are farther and far ther behind the cost of living. The profits of American industry are go ing to pay dividends on watered stock, in our American trusts. Be sides our taxes are increasing at an alarming rate. Too many state commissions drawing ' big salaries compelling us to oatch our own fish with only one hook and grub our or chard with one grubbing hoe. While the cost of living is going up the -salaries of county, state, and national officers are not going down. Taxes are going up so the politic- What we want to get at is that the high cost of living is caused in a big part by the high cost of government. The present market system is re sponsible for the greater share of living costs. In 1912 we had a bumper crop and the consumer paid seven billion more for food than the farmer received. Farmers of less than 100 acres are farming at a loss according to the Department of Agriculture. ApplesJ potatoes and other lood stuns are rotting where they grew within 20 miles of our large cities where the prices are high and here in Portland if a farmer undertakes to sell his own produce the police coal-oil it be cause it doesn't lock like a city ordi nance says it must look. We all know that the market is controlled by commission men, jobbers and the wholesalers. Some Colorado farmers sent two cars of peiches to Chicago. The com mission men would not receive them, and the railroad sold them at auc tion, and the same commission men bought them at $50 per car. The freight was $1.60 per car and the farmer had to send $100 per car to pay freight. Peaches ought to be cheap in Chicago, but are they? Far mers must control the market and to do that they must organize. Try the Jiquity plan. are many things the government must assume to prevent trusts and monopolies. Yet the Denmark far mer realizes that his prosperity U tho lesult of his own efforts and he asks his government for no bounty sub' sidy or tariff piotection. In fact he is a free trader. He buys on the cheapest market and sells on the highest. The Agricultural press is satura ted with remarks and argument for rural credit. We Eouitv farmers fa vor rural credits and your editor be lieves the organized farmers are en titled to as cheap money as the or ganized bankers and bankers some times get government money free, but Professor Wilson says they must pay two per cent. Now if bankers are to get government money at two per cent why not farmers also ? Will someone show us if we are wrong? You know we are from Missouri. More About Denmark The farmers of Denmark began to organize in 1880. Almost 95 per cent of the farmers belong to organ- ians put the big end of the burden i izations. They have 1,087 co-opera- on the farmer, congress nas just wve uairies; a co-operaiive siaujrn- aired the high cost of army officers ter houses; 536 co-operative banks, living in high priced hotels when I The farmers have a great many barracks with special quarters for meetings, both political and agricul- officers have been built and main- tural. Every farmer almost, is an tained and at the same time these agitator for something. The Danes officers are violating the law by tak- are well educated in both political and me double the SDace allowed. They agricultural science and they have are allowed 7 cents per mile for trav eling expenses and their household goods Shipped at government ex pense. And they even ship automo biles as household goods. ' Congressmen get 20 cents per mile for traveling expenses and admit they can travel in first class style for 7 cents per mile. Congressmen are allowed to send their speeches through the mails free and they make a long speech for the sugar tmst and send.it over the country and the trust admitted that a year ago they saved $60,000 that way. aueer ways of doing things, For instance, they are going to build more railroads, which will in crease the value of the land and it is this increase in land values that will be taxed to pay for the roads. This increased value is called community value and a campaign is on now in Denmark to have all taxes levied on community values instead of value created bv individual effort. The Denmark farmers are so well: 318,000 head. Now - these figures organized that they are not afflicted show that we are not sending out with trusts and monopolies. The many cattle, but we are bringing in farmers recognize the fact that there over twenty times as many as fjr- Out in Lyon County. Kansas, last fall a few farmers formed an organi zation for buying and selling. They have three directors and hire a man ager on commission similar to .some Equity locals. They now have 200 members. During December they did a busi ness or over $i,uuu, and made a profit of over $1,000. They hope to spread the organization over the en ure siaie uiiu (fet some law promo, iting grain gambling. It is just such organizations aa this that are joining the Farmers' Society of Equity and building up the state organizations with a nat ional head to prevent one market from being glutted and another go bare. Our Equity Warehouse Co. at Portland must be put on a better business base. Farmers are demand ing quicker returns and better prices in both selling and buying, and our institution must meet this demand or go out under the fierce competition. Stockholders better get busy. The packers are predicting a beef famine. So are the bankers and Bv are the farmers. The Underwood law lets beef come in free and mil lions of pounds are coming in from Argentina but the same packers that control the Chicago market control the Argentina beef industry. If the price of American beef steers goes too high the trust just ships in a few million pounds from Argentine and the big packers hold this law as a clu&t to bring the American beei! raise'rs to time. The American farmer would keep his calves and raise more beef if he could profitably, but he must bat tle under conditions of the markei and knows it is better for him to sell his calves. The market sometimes drops fifty cents before the feeder gets his cattle to market. In fact the price of beef cattle is seldom the same two days in succession, but the price at the butcher shop sel dom changes. Congress and the legislature do nothing to protect the farmer no matter how much he complains. It seems these lawyers are either ig norant of the public welfare or brib ed by the trust. Farmeis must or ganize and elect members of , their own class to make better laws gov erning agriculture. We must have better laws or have a beef famine. We are quitting the cattle raising business here, and the following are the figures: We used to export cattle and In 1906 we exported 525,000 head and six years later only 105,000 head. In 1906 we imported only 16,000 head and fv ye?rs later we shipped in merly and still we have in the U .S. only 36 million head to where we had in 1907 over 50 million head. Wo have many millions more people to teed. EQUITY STATE CONVENTION Officers Elected and Outline of Bus iness Transacted Saturday Mr. and Mrs. Berray and family, who have been at Seattle, Washing ton, where they were called by the death of the former's father, have returned to Oregon City. Miss Ida Morley, who has been IH at her home for the past week, suf fering from a sever attack of la grippe, has recovered so that she was able to resume her position at the Enterprise on Monday morning. Miss Grace Silcox has returned from a few days' visit with friends at Mt. Angel. . Mr. Schultz, familiarly known as "Daddy" is very ill at his home on Seventh and Jefferson Street. Mr. Schultz is the father of William An- dresen of this city and has a host oi friends in this city. Meeting called to order at 10:45 A. M. by Pres. Grisenthwaite. Ap pointment of committees. Committee on Credentials "J. A. Randolph, N. J. W. Eichner, and J. M. Stretcher. Committee on Resolutions P. W. Meredith, M. C. Young, and Chester Wirtz. Committee on Auditing W. W. Harris, W. )3. Dayfwaljt find Mat thew Gibson. Committee on Credentials report ed 51 delegates present. Moved and supported that the By Laws be amended section by sec tion. Carried. Moved and supported that the creamery proposition presented by M. E. Damon be refered back to the locals. Carried. Resolution regarding the exclus ion of politics laid on the table. Moved and supported that a com mittee of three be elected to investi gate the Equity Warehouse Com pany. Carried. Moved and supported that the State Union assume the expense of the committee on Warehouse investi gation. Carried. Nominations for committee: J. P. Campau, W. W. Harris, F. H. Hint, H. Stark, and M. C. Young. J. F. Campau, F. H. King and M. C. Young elected. Articles 2,4,5 of the By-Laws amended. Election of officers for ensuing year. W. Grisenthwaite, and J. F. Cam pau nominated. Grisenthwait elec ted by acclamation after withdrawal of Campau. F. G. Buchanan nominated for Sec. Elected by acclamation. J. Schmitke nominated for Vice President. Elected by acclamation. Nominations for directors: J. M. Stretcher, J. F. Campau, W. S. Day wait, and P. W. Meredith nominated. J. P. Cmpmi and P. W. Meredith elected by ballot. Moved and sunported that the Clark Co. Locals be received into the Oregon State Union with the under standing that when Washington forms a state union their proportion of fees and dues from the date said union is formed until the end of that year will be returned to them. Carried. Moved and supported that a re port of the findings of the committee on investigation of the Equity Ware house be sent to each local secre tary. Carried. Moved and supported that a copy of the amended By-Laws be sent to each local ires, and Sec. Carried, Resolutions Adopted Initiative Petition: Be it enacted by the People of the State of Ore- gon: That Chapter 269 found on pages 465, 466, 467, and 468 of the General Laws of the State of Ore gon, enacted and adopted by the 26th regular session of the Legislative Assembly A.. U. 1911, being Senate bill No. 24, and entitled an act "re lating to the Naval Militia of the State, providing for the organization, regulation, maintainance and disci pline of the Oregon Naval Militia, the same be and is hereby repealed and the Naval Militia of the State is hereby abolished. Initiative Peition: Be it enacted by the people of the State of Oregon: That Chapter 79, on page 119 of the General Laws of the State of Oregon and enacted and adopted by the 26 regular session of the legislative as sembly of the State of Oregon in the year 1911, being house bill No. 197 and entitled , : ; , . An Act "To provide for County Education al Boards to define the powers and duties of the same; to provide for a division of the counties of the State of Oregon, into supervisory districts and to provide mean's for defraying the, expenses of the Supervisory School Districts," the same shall be and is hereby repealed and the Coun ty Educational Board is hereby abol ished. Resolved that the Oregon Game and Fish Laws be abolished and be it further resolved that the ' State Pres. of the Farmers' Society oh Equity appoint a committee, to map out a plan with this end in view. Whereas, our legislature has ap propriated $150,000 to pay expenses m collecting an exhibition for the World's Fair Association and where as the burden of taxation falls heav ier on the farmer and whereas we are expected to spend our time, labor and produce as a donation to this fair association in which we hold not one dollar's worth of stock. Be it re solved that we demand reasonable compensation for our time, labor and produce furnished for said fair asso ciation, The following resolution favoring an efficiency system of rural credits, was adopted: Whereas, we believe that the greatest single problem now before American agriculture is the estab lishment of a satisfactory system to provide short time loans as work ing capital for farmers, and long term mortgage credit for land pur chase and permanent improvements and. .Whereas, practically every coun try in Europe as yell as the British possessions in India enjoy systems of rural credits which are revolution izing agriculture in those various countries, and, Whereas, an American Commis sion representing the Federal Gov ernment and thirty-six states of the Union made a thorough investigation of the working and results of the European rural credit systems and came back strongly recommending the establishment of a similar sys tem modified to meet our American needs, and, Whereas, up to the present some eight or ten bills hava been introduc ed in Congress bearing on the estab lishment of rural credits ystems, and, Whereas, while all of them con tain useful suggestions, not one of them, we believe, is adequate to the needs of our American farmers, and, Whereas, we believe that the pas sage of the bill last introduced by senator .tietcner and congressman Moss (as outlined in Senate Docu ment No. 380) would be a fatal mis take for the following reasons: 1. It is not co-operativo. and its loosely connected cooperative feature would probably amount to nothing in practice. 2. It leaves the new rural credit systems entirely in the hands of the same financial interests that hav always dominated the field of rural credits. 3. These interests would control the marketing of the bonds which automatically would determine the interest rates and could be manipu lated in such a way that the farmers would be no better off than they are at present; 4. The blil provides restrictions on deposits and bond issues which would be unreasonable under a prop erly regulated co-operative system. Therefore, BE. IT "RESOLVED: That we instruct our representative in Congress to work for the framing of an entirely new act which shall embody, as nearly as possible, the following fundamental points: 1. A credit system for farmers should aim first of all at service, not at dividends on capital stock. Dividends on capital should be limit ed to current interest rates, and the advantages of all possible economy should accrue to the farmer in low er interest on short time and mort- , gage loans. 2. That postal savings be depos ited in the state central co-operative banks and that such banks share equally with National Banks in the receipt of deposits of other Govern ment funds. From the state central banks, such funds can be distributed! to the local banks in accordance with their needs. We believe that such funds originate almost exclusively among the masses of producers and consumers and should therefore be used to reduce the high cost of liv ing. As used at present, these funds return as boomerangs, being the in strument through which the mass es of producers and consumers are exploited by the organized . middle-class. 3. Such banks should reach many rural districts not now provided with (Continued on. Page Ten.) Now comes Frank Basch with prices on Wire Fence that cot all previous record and defies all competition. Comparison of prices with all the wholesale or catalogue hoases any place in the United States and yoa will be convinced that oar prices are right. Then send for sample and be satisfied that there is no better fence made. Oar catalogae of fence will be oat in a few days. Ask for a copy--a post card will get it to yoa. X C) FRANK B USCH, OREGON CITY, OREGON POULTRY FENCE WITH MERIT Strong Enough to Turn Cattle or Hogs J-i--i t lr I9S4 . i f-j'jf' .'jj ta... i -i t - 1848 18-bar 48-inch poultry fence. Same as 2060 with top two wires left off. Price Per Rod 40c 2060 20-bar 60-inch poultry fence. Top, No. 10; bottom, No. 12; filling. No. 14. Crossbars 8 inches apart. - Price Per Rod 45c These styles of poultry fence havb also had a very large sale. Note the spacing is only 8 inches apart. 4 and 5-Foot Poultry Fences HIGHEST QUALITY Prices Reduced ' Our Poultry Netting is made from the best tough, strong steel wire, thorougn ly and heavily galvanized by the best process and guaran teed for long service. It is uniform in mesh, has double wire selvedge and does not sag or bulge when put up. The new process of galvan izing makes it rustproof. We Save You at Least 25 Per Cent on Poultry Netting TWO INCH MESH No. 20 Gauge (Light Wire) Length Price Height of Roll Per Roll 24 in. 150 ft $1.10 36 in. 150 ft $1.70 48 in. 150 ft $2.15 60 in. 150 ft $2.70 72 in. 150 ft $3.20 ONE INCH MESH No. 20 Gauge For Pigeons and Small Chicks. Length Price Height of Roll Per Roll 12 in. 150 ft $1.50 18 in. 150 ft $2.30 24 ui. 150 ft $3.00 36 in. 150 ft $4.50 48 in. 150 ft $6.0w OUR SPECIAL" BARBED WIRE Eiehtv Rod SdooIs Galvanized Made of 14 gauge galvanized wire, with barbs about 5 inche. apart. Put up in spools of 80 rods each, weighing from 53 to 55 lbs. per spool. Price, per spool , $2.00 (Extract from catalogue page 10) A O U w X z & o w CO D O X 6) O Bfiif'W Fit H FRANK BUSCH, OREGON CITY, OREGON Stiff Stay Hog Fence 4 MIMJMMfl 3726 7-bar 26-inch hog fence. Top and bottom, No. 10; filling No. 13; crossbars 12 Inches apart. Price Per Rod 21c Put up in 10 and 20 Rod Rolls. 03726 7-bar 26-inch hog fence, top and bottom, No. 10; filling, No. 13; crossbars 6 inches apart. Price Per Rod 25c Standard 26-nch Hog Fences These patterns are the established standard hog fences of the West; they are usually used with three strands of barb wire above and when thus constructed make a stock and field fence for all pur poses. The stiff stays in Peerless Fence make it superior for turning hogs, which cannot root under and art it up. t ieia v ence 39399 bar 39-inch field fence. Top and bottom, No. 10; filling, No. 13; crossbars, 12 inches. Price Per Rod 28c Put up in 10 and 20 Rod Rolls. Growing to be one of our best sellers. Close enough at the bottom to turn pigs and high enough, with a barb over it to turn all kinds of stock, and strong enough to turn au automobile. No man will ever go wrong in buying this kind of fence. U-Bar 39-ln ch Field Fence 1047 10-bar 47-inch field fence. No. 10 top and bottom; No. 13 filling. Crossbars 12 inch es apart. Price Per Rod 30c II 104710 bars 47-inch field fence.' No. 9 top and botto-n ; No. 12 Filling Cross bar 12-inch-es apart. . Price Per Rod 33c Note the three 3-inch spaces at the bottom of these fences. 10-llar 4-Foot Styles These styles are our largest sellers, and tliey make good fences for anyone or for any purpose. (Extract from catalogue Page 9) i ll I I I H M I II H I H I'M M'M"