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THE GAZETTE-TIMES, HEFP.YER.nnK., THURSDAY, DEC. 18, 1919
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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
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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)