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About The gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 18, 1919)
pace si:vi:v !53 THE GAZETTE-TIMES, HEFP.YER.nnK., THURSDAY, DEC. 18, 1919 3 SSI 5 J? 3 sst 53 El S 331 53 & 53 53 3 SSI S3 31 a 53 53 S3 31 S3 S3 I ! CHI FARM BU HHB AIMS AND HUE L. A. HUNT, County Agent. In spite ot the fact that medieval History hat several examples of ag rarian societies which were organiz ed and did considerable work in mod ern times, there hag been no really definite constructive program of Farm Organization developed until within the last fifty years. Its need has been long realized. The various and vital problems which effects the agricultural Interest of each locality are too offtimes solved in silence and the results of long and costly ex periments conducted by Individuals are of no advantage, noi-er heard of by the mass of the farmers of the country. The problems which effect the whole mass of Farmers, both state and National, go unsupported by a itni.cd demand from their peo ple movt interested because of lack of a definite mouthpiece, while every other organization In the Unit ed States has for a great many years teen profiting by organized work, or gun d planning, and organized di re. Ion; the vast agricultural peoplo i f tlute United States have bee:i left in tin. lurch, while a the present time they have Invested in theii name nearly 60 per cent of the total wealth of the country and have en umerated one-third of the population of the country, their Interests are less cared tor and their problem less considered and their voice less heard than that of any branch of industry In the United States. Every other industry has found by example and hat) profited by organized efforts, and organized development, and It has remained for the farmers to be the Inst ones to adopt this principle which has proven bo profitable to every other Industry. This is no time for past recriminations or dis cussion ot past problems, but is Is u time for the development of a Btaunch Americanism, and the fact that there nre two mass bodies of the Amorican people wrestling in war like grasp, renders all the more necessary that there should be some Intermediary force that would assist in the. solu tion of these problems. The efforts that hove been made by the American Legion In establishing Americanism In the country 1b to be commended, but powerful as they are, great need is apparent for more Buport and this support should come, will come and must largoly come from the great bodies of the most conservative peo ple In the world today, the agricul tural class of America. Past dilatory of Agrarian Organ izn tion. It was about the year 1863 that the Farmers Alliance was organized and In the stress of the Civil War, MERRY CHRISTMAS To All Our Friends and Patrons You will find our stock of Eats for your Xmas Dinner complete Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Fancy Canned Fruits and Vegetables, Preserves, Jams Jellies, Mince Meat, Candy, Nuts. Phelps Grocery Company action was taken, resulted in the or ganization of a" Bureau in one of the departments ot the Cabinet where agricultural was considered as a vi tal factor. It was in the eighties that the organization ot the Orange in co-operation with the efforts of the Farmers' Alliance, succeeded in getting this organized as a separate department of the Cabinet, but it was not until the BO's that the real forcb of this department began to be felt when more and more definite farm organization began to take shape. The Farmers' Alliance was a vital fac tor In the , development of agricul ture but its race was not long in the running. Several peculiar mistakes Interfered and it died a premature death. The Grange has lived longer has done a great deal of good and will probably always remain bb a vi tal factor In many communities. ' Its activities are largely social and scmi politlcal, and while furnishing a great deal of room for expression, provides little room for definite action. The Farmers' Union one of the most pow erful and most potent factors in the grain section of the United States was organized entirely as a market ing organization and while there has been times that it attempted some politirnl work It has been practically entirely a marketing organization and along this line has accomplished tremendous steps for advancement and there is no community into which it has gone but what has felt the en couragement of a new and greater prosperity for Its people. Their In fluence has uniformly been for the advancement of the prosperity of Its members and of the community as a whole. All of these organizations are more or less secret and. are only eligible to those who are duly elect ed to its membership. Early Activities of the Department of Agriculture. Among the first attempts made by this department, when it was ear ly formed wns the sending of spec ially prepared scientists to various localities to deliver lectures to far mers. These men had a theroletori cal knowledge of agriculture which was too often not reinforced by prac tical experience or by knowledge ac quired of local conditions. Next came the demonstration train which was quite a stop Jn advance. It was supported by the leading railroad systems nnd by Agricultural Colleges and 'was another one of these exper iences which were necessary in the final evolution of the agricultural de velopment to that Btate that must be reached In this country and which hns already been reached in foreign countries. Following this came the demonstration agent, who went trom farm to farm putting in practice or showing the farmers how to put in the practice, definite plans which had been proved out at the center many miles removed from place of applica tion. While this was very valuable and while all these things were ac complishing considerable good they were open to one decided drawback which long ago made Itself manifest and which is now in process are be ing at least partially eradicated. The Basis Was Wrong It has been found that it is not enough for the agent in the field to ave a scientific knowledge of agri culture, it is not enough that differ ent problems should be brought to the farmers attention, in fact, it has proven that this is not even always necessary. These men and these ex- periments were all well conducted and the men who had charge ot them, many of them were good men in their line but the trouble was that they did not have the sympathetic touch with the various localities Into which they came into contact and that many of the problems that they discussed were not ot vital need to the farmers or that the need was not recognized by them. The Origin of the Farm Bureau. It remains then, until 1911 tor farmers in the State of Illinois to un dertake something entirely new and a meeting was called in the County Scat of De Kalb County, Of a num ber of farmers who were intensely interested in agriculture as practical men and they decided that they would undertake to get one of these scientific men to come to live upon the ground to get his feet and his bands into the soil, an 3 apply after a practical study of their actual working condition, the theories that he had learned in agricultural study and arrange, if possible, the practi cal ppplication of these theoretical principles In working conditions, -and therefore, Mr. Eckheart, was chosen from the Agricultural College and put in as the first County Agent ever employed as such in the United States The experiments were placed for three years duration, ifat the end of that time he bad given no definite results he would be given his pass port and told to seek other territory. What were the results may be best judged by the fact that practically every agricultural county in the state of Illinois Is now very thoroughly organized, that they have organized probably the first farm Bureau in the United States and the farmers themselves after careful considera tion of the problem facing them are sound business men,' have put up their' hard earned dollars out of their own pockets and are hiring a State Secretary for the State Organ ization and are faying him the splen did salary of $10,000.00 per pear ti, look after the interest of the farmers of the standpoint ot the State as a whole. If those hardheaded men have done this mucch It is Bate to as sume that the experiments have been a success. In seven years' time the farm Bureau program has increased by leaps and bounds until at the be ginning of April of last year there were nearly one-half million farmers enrolled in active membership in ac active organizations throughout the counties of these United States. Dur ing the present winter a strenuous campaign is being put on with the Idea and the hope that before the end of another April that at least one million farmers will be enrolled un der the banner of the Farm Bureau ot the United States. The National Or ganization is being put upon its feet and the active co.operation of the farmer of the Nation seem to be fi nally and at last assured. Politics Hak Xo Part in the Program It is not to be thought of by any who are giving serious consideration to this idea that politics will be al lowed to enter in the habit as has so often characterized its adoption and social organizations for the farmers with (the idea of handling as many complex agricultural, marketing and business problems and its object is to protect the farmer and give him a mouthpiece to speak along any of the lines that may properly come under Farmer Business. It is felt by many people that the time has now come to revise our view point of office holders. They should be chosen in the same manner that a farmer or manufacturer would hire a skilled artcsan or mechanic. Ef ficenoy should be and will be the test. The personality of the man in so far as it does not effect his effic iency will more and more cease to be a vital factor. We must get away from the fact that our office holders are the guardians ot the people. They do not require any guardian. The public conscience is at last awakened and all that Is required is a method of expression, that will en able a general expression of business principles for this, and this alone is the essence of good government, and further an organization or a number of organizations representing differ ent industries, that will have a good deal to say towards compelling the adoption of these good principles by the chosen spokesman ot the people who will act not from the standpoint of guardian but as men who are there to do the biding of men who are perfectly capable of doing their own thinking. The Farm Bureau Built From the Ground Up. The Farm Bureau differs from any other organizations in that it Is not organized from the top down but built from the ground up. It Is bas ed upon the elemental requirements of the individual composing the var ious social units of the states and pro vides for their solution and expres sion. Each locality in an organized county where the Farm Bureau has taken hold has its local organisation whose particcular province is to look after local conditions and is a work ing organization tor the state pro gram to its own locality and Is a working organization for the solution ot those problems which are pecu liar to its own locality and are not comparable with those of other pro jects. Where a number of commun ities have the same problems of com mon interest a group committee is organized with committeemen ot each of these localities, forming therein a community committee. Where more than two coumres or numerous counties have a common problem, a state committee is composed in the same way. In this way the results and the solution of problems found in any particular localities can be carried to the last Interested com munity in this connected chain of In terested committeemen and so the business ot the farmers are taken care of in that particular line of re search or investigation. The Farm Bureau in Morrow County In applying the Farm Bureau plan to Morrow County, the executive committees of farmers who have met from time to time to consider the problems of this locality has decided upon the adoption of ten projects tor the major operations of the County Agent and the Farm Bureau, and in holding the various local meetings, and planning tor local work, the op erations of the Farm Bureau com mittees in various localities have a dopted such parts of the County plan as Is suited to the need ot such lo cality. Wheat Varieties Fertilizing This project is in the charge ot S. L. Stevens of Lexington. It is con sidered by the Farm Bureau that in view of the fact that there are in the world two or three thousand variet ies of wheat, that undoubtedly many new varieties will be found which will probably be preferable to those now grown in Morrow County, and it is the aim to try out such varieties that will appear to be suitable to this lo cality in very small plots and to do away if possible with expensive ex periment by individual farmers, but will hold true to small experiment uu small land where the Farm Bureau will be back of, gathering data and so forth. The application of sulphur to dry land wheat under summer.fal low conditions is something very new, something that has never been tried too extensively, but has in many lo calities given results that are very gratifying. All these things are go ing to be tried ont by the County Committee on this line. Ijibor Under the head of the labor com mittee which is in charge of Ed. Reit mnnn of lone, it is expected that a great deal will be done to stabilize the wage situation among the har vest men during the season,. It is hoped that It will be possible to make such an adjustment of wages, that not only will men stay on the job un til the Job is completed but that more satisfactory and better work will be' received, and that the men who are brought in from the outside can be handed and placed on the land to a great deal better advantage, and In dividual farmers who are looking for extra help may secure the same by the application, through individual committee-men in each locality and know at first hand of any change in a County wage scale. Co-operative Marketing This project is in charge of R. W. Turner of Heppner, and under this head it is the plan of the executive committee, that the small shippers of live.stock, who have a few head of cows or calves or hogs or sheep or possibly some poultry, to send to mar ket to pay a lower price than he would otherwise, if It were not for the surplus of butcher stock and by shipping in co-operative associa tion they have proven that it Is pos sible In other localities to save a very considerable amount of money and it is hoped that this may be found pro fitable in this locality. Another of the projects which will come under this head and has proven to be very satisfactory, every where it has been tried out, is the County Wool Pool, where the small grower of wool is enabled to pool his wool together and hold for a larger pricce. These are some of the problems which will be taken up and discussed The Rodent control, which at the present time is one of the most Im portant projects of the Farm Bur eau, this is in the hands ot three committee-men: Oscar Keithley, president of the Farm Bureau; Jack Hynd of Cecil and Jim Carty of Lex ington. These men pass on all plans for handling the rabbit situation and the County Agent is their field re presentative in carrying on these plans. All money collected in further ing this campaign is turned over Immediately to Mr. E. M. Hulden of Heppner, who is the Treasurer of the Association. ,All bills will be paid by him directly after they have been passed on and audited by this rodent control cimmlttee. In the spring when the sage-cat and ground-squirrels are dealing devastation to the wheat crop it Is planned to be able to furnish poison in large quantities to the farmers with a saving of sev eral cents per gallon, if enough In terest Is shown In various localities the legal campaign will be put on and every man would be theTein compell ed to poison the land on his own place, this however is a matter which will be left to the local representa tive for determination and to the action of the County Court therein. In Baker County last year eighteen tons of poison oats which were dis tributed to their Farm B;ureau In er adicating these ground-squirrels of that County, and a very successful campaign from the point of the ex termination was conducted. Irrigation nnd Alfalfa This Imp or tint project Is In & m m is & IS S3 IS ft m 1 charge of Mr. Matt Hughes of Lex ington. The different methods of ir rigation have many of them never been tried out In this locality and some interest is indicated along that line. Under this head will come the work in eradicating the alfalfa along the creek bottom, the application of I sulphur to alfalfa and the introduc tion of different varieties ot alfalfa for better yields. It is pertinent to notice that Deschutes County has in creased her alfalfa yield by at least fifty per cent an acre by the ap. plication of eighty cents of sulphur per year, this is one of the most im portant things that face the farmers upon the irrigated lands. Another one of the problems which face the people along Willow Creek is the shortage of water, and this will be taken up and discussed by the irri gation committee of the Farm Bur eau and it is hoped that a definite solution may be found for this pro blem. Orchard Work This project is in the hands of Mr. John Wightman of Heppner. It is a well known fact that on Rhea creek, around Heppner, and around Lexing ton, and in many other places, in cluding around Irrigon, there is a great deal of sentana scale and tire blight and the eradication ot this or these is absolutely essential to the protection of clean orchards, for this scale rapidly contaminates healthy trees to the agency of winds and birds, several orchards near Heppner and Lexington are practically dead due to the scale blights An effective campaign will be put on at the prop er time to do away with this work. Livestock Improvement Under this program which is la charge of Ed Rugg of Rhea Creek, it is hoped to introduce better breed ing animals into Morrow County with the idea of building up the herds in this locality. It is generally conceded that the scrcub animals actually eat more in a year's time than the well bred animal. It is simply because he is a poorer machine for trans forming vegetable matter into ani mal flesh, and this is a problem which makes the scrub a far more expen sive animal to raise, and when rais ed is worth several cents less per pound. It is a matter of purely bus iness economy for the farmer whether he is raising dairy-cows or range stuff to raise the best possible machine for doing this kind of work. Something along this line has been done In the shipping of several dairy cows Into the Boardman Irrigon soc- jtlon. It may be that a shipment of pure-bred bulls will be brought In to Heppner In the spring. Good Roads Under the head ot good roads, which projecct Is In the charge of Adam Knoblock of Rhea Crook, It Is (Continued on Page Twenty-three)
