S545 N36 Cornell University Library S 545.N36 Official year book of the Nebraska Farme 3 1924 000 303 184 •a -■ ' - ij,i.".. , - BS] 1 OFMCIAL YEAR BOOK OF THE Nebraska Farmers* Congress 1 1914 Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Session Omaha, December 9- 1 0- 1 1 - 1 2, 1 9 1 3 Fifth Annual Session will be held at Omaha, December 8-9-10, 1914 THE AGRICULTURAL COUNCIL OF NEBRASKA J GREBS GA^BLES THE DR. BENJ. F. BAILEY SAISTATORIUM AND HEALTH RESORT Complete in hospital equipment, perfect in home atmosphere, and ideal in its modem brick and stone buildings, situated in a beautiful park of twenty-five acres. Nothing like it in the central west III 1*^ ■ • " ■■"^'' ' - t II .1 1*1 Great Western Commission Company SOUTH OMAHA, Nebraska and DENVER, Colorado J. M. COOK PReSIDENT AND HEAD CATTLE SALESMAN Our Cattle Division, always a splendid and convenient location, has been greatly enlarged and remodeled during the past year, and now connects directly ^th the scales, thus giving us the best of facilities for handling your stock, and weighing them without any delay. . Good, hard, honest work for our patrons, coupled with real ability and the RIGHT kind, of treatment of our customers, is what has brought our business up until we are among THE LEADERS here. We have a LARGE force of the BEST assistants money can hire, and every one of them is working for YOU and TOUR INTERESTS. Write, wire or phone us, or better still, COME AND SEE US. We can make you a SATISFIED CUSTOMER AND BOOSTER FOR US if you will give us a chance. SOME OF OUR SALESMEN AND BUYERS SOUTH OMAHA J. M. COOK WM. SHAWGO JOHN BOETEL NAT. C. HOUSTON J. OCIE ALSWORTH JOHN O. NIELSEN CLARENCE L. PETERSON DENVER ALVA SMITH MARK H. BEETHAM WM. A. NIGH ED. L. THORNTON SAM HOUSTON JOE BEETHAM "MOSE" HOWARD INFORMATION BUREAU SOUTH OMAHA Great Live Stock Market of the West [OUTH OMAHA is the most convenient and centrally located large market for the Nebraska shipper, where his stock can be sold m unlimited quantities with the least shrinkage and risk; lowest freight and best transportation, and be assured of net returns unequalled else- where. Nebraska's Home Market The shippers of Live Stock desire service when their stock has arrived at the market. The management of the South Omaha Market has anticipated this fact and has expended during the past four years over one million dollars for permanent and up-to-date improvements to provide the Uve stock shipping public with Market Facilities Unexcelled by Any Other Market in the World Notwithstanding the fact the total receipts at South Omaha for the year 1913 show a decrease of 55,000 cattle and 343,000 hogs, =THE Omaha Live Stock Commission Company SOUTH OMAHA, NEBRASKA Show a nice increase in their business for that year Ship your live stock to them for sale. Give them your orders for feeding cattle or sheep. They do a stnctly commission business and handle shipments for many of the Farmers' Associations throughout the state Correspond With Them About Your Live Stock -^ o PROCEEDINGS OF FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF rrss NEBRASKA FARMERS' CONGRESS HELD AT OMAHA. NEBRASKA DECEMBER 0th to 12th, 1913 HISTORY The Nebraska Fanners Congress was in- stituted in October, 1910, by forty-eigbt delegates from Nebraska to the National Farmers Congress then In session in the city of Lincoln. Interest in the Congress has steadily increased, and for the last session 2,500 delegates from 256 agricultural associa- tions in the state were named as well as a thousand at large. The session for 1914 will be held in Omaha, December 8-9-10. CONSTITUTION Article I This organization shall be known as the Nebraska Farmers Congress. Article II — Object This organization is maintained for the consideration of state questions relating to agriculture in a broad, comprehensive manner. Article III — Membership and Dues Section 1. Any person of the state of Nebraska may become a member of the Nebraska Farmers Congress by the payment of one dollar (fl) annually, and may be- come a life member by the payment of ten dollars ($10), and no annual dues shall be required from life members. Sec. 2. Any association of persons in Nebraska engaged in any form of agricul- tural activities may become a member of the Congress by the payment of two dollars ($2)' annually, and delegates from such associations shall have full voting powers in the Congress without any other payment. Sec. 3. That a membership shall be maintained In the Farmers National Con- gress as provided by the constitution and by-laws of said body. Article IV — Meetings This Congress shall meet annually at such time and place as the Executive Committee shall determine. Article V — Officers and Duties Section 1. The officers of- the Nebraska Farmers Congress shall be a President, First, Second and Third Vice-Presidents, Secretary, and Treasurer, who shall be elected by ballot annually and shall hold office until their successors are elected and qualified, and who shall constitute the Executive Board. Sec. 2. The Executive Board shall have full powers to determine all matters affect- ing the interests of the Congress, subject to approval at the annual meeting. Sec. 3. The officers' duties shall be such as usually pertain to such offices. Sec. 4. The Treasurer shall give bond in twice the amount of moneys belonging to the Congress that may come Into his hands at any one time, said bond to be approved by the Executive Board, and he shall pay out no moneys of the Congress, except upon orders signed by the President and counter- signed by the Secretary. Article VI — Amendments This constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of the members present at any regular meeting. OPENING SESSION Meeting called to order at 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, December 9, President George W. Coupland in the chair. President Coupland: Gentlemen of the Congress — The time has arrived for the first session of this Congress, and I will ask the Rev. Dean Tancock to invoke the Divine Blessing. President Coupland: In the absence of CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED Market Reports Furnished Free on Application Telephone, Bell-South 507 Martin Bros. & Co. Live Stock Commission Merchants SOUTH OMAHA, NEBR. CHICAGO AND SOUTH OMAHA 46, 48 and 50 Exchange Building Union Stock Yards, Chicago Rooms 203-205-207 Exchange Bldg. Union Stock Yards South Omaha, Nebraska FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS HON. GEORGE COUPLAND, Elgin, Nebraska President Mayor Dahlman, Acting Mayor Butler will address us. Mr. Butler: Mr. Chairman, Gentlemen of the Congress — Mr. Dahlman wishes me to say to you that he has been detained by another conference and can not be here to welcome you this afternoon. On behalf of the citizens of Omaha, I wish to extend a hearty welcome to you. I hope that your stay in this city will be a pleasant one, and that you will iDe so pleased with your visit and the hospitality that has been extended to you that when you come to consider the question of the selection of a city in which to hold your next convention you will decide to come back next year. Omaha is glad to have you here; a con- vention of this kind means much to the metropolis of Nebraska; it is an education in itself. I thank you. Mr. Coupland: On behalf of the com- mercial club, we are to hear from Mr. Rome Miller. Gentlemen, Mr. Miller. Mr. Miller: Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Congress — It always gives me pleasure to welcome a convention to Omaha on behalf of the commercial club, and on this occasion doubly so to welcome you on behalf of that organization. We welcome you to the city, and we sincerely hope that your delibera- tions may be of great profit to yourselves and your fellow men of this great state of Nebraska. Unlike Mr. Butler, who repre- sented the Mayor, I have something to say to you, and I feel that I am justified in doing so for several reasons: First, because I have been a resident of this state since 1877. Sometimes in speaking I am given to levity, but I think that would be in- appropriate on this occasion, except to say that at one time, I was a farmer, though I am afraid I was not a very good one. I had a farm of several hundred acres at Norfolk; I had running water for my horses and cows and electric lights in my barns, but I woke up one day and discovered that I ought to be running a hotel and farming the farmer instead of being a farmer; and so here I am, and I hope that when your deliberations are over and you have left the No Country is Better Than the One in Which You Live Some parts of it may not suit you, but there are many places along the . . . Union Pacific System Lines Where you can locate and be satisfied. Write to me and tell me what kind of land you want — irrigated, sub-irrigated or dry farm- ing, for general farming, stock-raising, fruit-rais- ing, etc. — in the. climate that best suits. I will send you the information that will help you locate in the place best suited to your needs. R. A. SMITH Colonization and Industrial Agent Union Pacific Railroad Co., Union Pacific Building OMAHA, NEBRASKA FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS house here of which I have the honor, or the privilege at least, of being the proprietor and owner, that I will not have farmed you so hard but that you will give me a vote of thanks for having left enough money in your pockets for you to get home on. (Laughter.) It is quite useless for me to tell you gentlemen that you are the sinew, the back- bone, and the bulwark of this country — you know that as well as I do — and that without the farmer there would be no country. I would like to make one suggestion to you and that is that you build better homes, make them better places to live in, for your good wife and daughters, so that your chil- dren may be kept upon the farm and not inveigled into coming to the city, where life at best Is false and hollow. And I have fol- lowed that out in my life; at no time since I have been in the hotel business have I ever been without a home outside the hotel. I have always maintained a home away from the hotel, and far out where I could keep a cow, a horse, and some chickens because I believe in the soil and I want to prove to you that I believe in it. You have a speaker on your program today, a noted speaker, on the subject of rural credits, and I believe he is going to tell you how he thinks it will work in this country; and before hearing that address, 1 want to say to you that my candid, frank, and studious opinion is that this is a ques- tion of education. Why should not you men be able to get credit as cheaply as the great packers and other great industries — you who are the men behind it all? (Cheers.) You are the men who have the real assets of the world behind you. I want to say this much to you; get into your hearts and mind what you want along this line, and then when you go down to the legislature, instead of cluttering up the statute books with a lot of laws that have no real value, go after the real things that you need and get them to your own betterment, and to the betterment of this great state and the other great states of the Union, and to the glory of this great country. (Cheers.) I own my own property; I believe in the land; I believe in being a land owner. Out- side of my business here, I am an investor. Every dollar that I can rake and scrape I put into farm mortgages, and I exact the highest rate of interest possible for you to pay, because I am a money leaner. You not only have to pay me 6 per cent for the money that I loan you, but you also have to pay a premium to the man who secures the loan for you. Consequently, you are paying two premiums. But you can not find fault with me for exacting my pound of flesh, to get all that I can for the money that I lend; and the question is up to you to engineer your own rural credits. No man is thought more of than he who thinks of himself, and you must establish credit for yourself by your acts and mode of living. And that brings up the question of cooperation. I can not think of any set of men who should have that thought more thoroughly imbedded in their minds ^nd hearts than the farmer. This subject of cooperation is one in which I am greatly interested and that I have studied a great deal, and I believe that the things in which you are most interested, rural credits, and your schools, have the beginning in the thought of cooperation. There has been a great awakening recently along the lines of cooperation, and the man today who does not cooperate with other men around him is the man who will fail and fall by the wayside. It is necessary that you cooperate with your fellow men in the same line of business that you are, and it is high time that this Congress took some action along cooperative lines. I remember with what great surprise and pleasure I heard this question discussed at your meet- ing a year ago, and I can see as I look into your faces at this, the first session of your Congress this year, that you are going to have a great and glorious meeting, and if I have said anything today along the line of cooperation that will induce you to go just a little deeper into it and just a little bit further on in the thought of cooperation, I shall feel that I have been more than repaid. Again, I welcome you to Omaha. President Coupland: I see by the program that it becomes a part of the President's duty to say a few words in response to the words of welcome; and, first, I want to express my intense delight at being per- mitted to look into the faces of such a body of men as I see before me this afternoon at the initial meeting of this Congress. It augurs the success of our meetings. When I look back over the history of this move- ment for the betterment of agricultural ideas and living in Nebraska, it gives me pleasure to see a gathering like this. We have labored long and hard but the day is at hand, I know, when we are going to accom- plish larger things. May I suggest as the keynote to these meetings, that, agriculturally, we want the best. We want the best for the farming interests in Nebraska — that is what we are after; that is what we want gentlemen. (Cheers.) Let this ideal be the keynote; and whatever is best for the farming inter- ests of Nebraska will be best for the state, for our agricultural interests are the very foundations of the state's best interests. A few days ago I was permitted to visit quite a number of the institutions in the eastern part of the United States, and as I walked down the streets of New York city, as I have done at various periods before in my life, the thought struck _me, as I saw that great throbbing metropolis that seems to grow with such gigantic strides, Who pays for all this? Who keeps up all this wonder- ful machinery? What is the power behind it all? And I could not help but say to myself, It is the land and the people who live upon the land that make it possible to maintain such a wonderful city as the great city of New York. And what is true as to New York is true also as to all urban life When Wanting Seeds Ihat Grow SEE THAI' IHEY COME FROM THR SFBRASKA SFFD CO VIFAS Y OMAHA, NEBRASKA If your local dealer doesn't handle them, write us direct WHEN YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO SELL IN THE SEED LINE SEND US SAMPLES STATING QUANTITY YOU HAVE FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS in this country. And so, gentlemen, the things we consider during this Congress and the things we are able to accomplish for the betterment of rural conditions will be for the betterment of the entire nation. Is not that a splendid thought, that what we do is not merely to help ourselves but to help the whole nation; to put It on a sub- stantial basis? And when you get a founda- tion like that in regard to the things of the country, you get a better foundation for the whole nation. I don't intend, gentlemen, to take much of your time this afternoon.^ I don't think it is any part of the President's duty to burden this Congress with any set speech of his own. If he is any kind of a president, he will have opportunity to sandwich in a word here and there; and before this Congress is over I expect to learn many things; and T sincerely hope that I may be able, as we go along in our deliberations, to throw out a suggestion here and one there that may be helpful. I am sure that we will strike flint and steel together through these meetings, and without doubt the sparks will fly. But I can not sit down without saying a word in response to the hearty words of welcome we have heard from these men of Omaha. When I think of the growth of this splendid city and the old timers here whom I have known for a third of a century, and when I think of the immensity of the inter- ests that are represented in this city, I want to say frankly that I never come to Omaha but what I feel the splendid hospitality of its people. I have had, through the years I have lived in Nebraska, some of my closest friends in Omaha, and I know, gentlemen, that these men who live in Omaha are not here to get your dollar and my dollar, but they think of other things, and that mutual help figures largely with them. May I be permitted to tell you of a visit I had the last time I was in Omaha. I was in the ofiice of one of the largest commercial houses in this city, the senior partner a man whom I have known ever since he came to Omaha. We sat down and had a ten- minute heart-to-heart-talk, and when I rose to go and he shook hands with me, there were tears in his eyes, and he said to me, "I want you to call in and see me the next time you are in Omaha." Let us not feel, gentlemen, towards these men in the me- tropolis of this great state that they are just here to get our dollars; but that they are friends, mutually helpful, in sympathy with the things that we want to do and in hearty accord with the things that will be for the best intersts of the state. And I know if you meet them in that spirit, there must come to you all reciprocal benefit. I have a feeling that we are going to have one of the best Farmers Congresses that we have ever had, and if every man in this room feels the same way, we are going to have it. The psychologic influence is what turns the trick. It's all in the mind. If we say we are going to have it, we will have it. (Cheers.) Now, gentlemen, we had to change the program somewhat from the printed one that you have. It occurred to me in arrang- ing the program that it was proper if we could secure the advice and attendance of some man who had been permitted to study at close range this great question of rural credits, as they are across the water, that he might bring a message of helpfulness to this Congress. In addition to this, I was anxious to have a man who represented the business interests of the country, and the President of the United States in appointing a commission to visit Europe had the same idea in mind; he selected business men; he selected farmers; he selected school men to make the trip to the old country to study the question of rural credits. Gentlemen, it gives me more than ordinary pleasure to state that we have with us today a representative business man, a man of the West, a citizen of our neighbor state, Colorado, Mr. Gordon Jones, president of the United States National Bank of Denver. He is a member of this national commission. He is on his way to Washington now to meet with this commission that the President refers to in the message that I have just read. I am quite sure from the business experience that he has had and from his knowledge of conditions in the West that he will be able to give us some advice as to what we can do in this country to better agricultural conditions economically. It gives me great pleasure to introduce to this audience Mr. Gordon Jones of Denver. Mr. Jones: Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Congress — CAN EUROPEAN RURAL CREDIT SYS- TEMS BE MADE APPLICABLE TO THE AMERICAN FARMER? It is generally contended that in the development of the industries of this country agriculture has not received necessary at- tention or been satisfactorily financed, while at the same time it is a recognized fact that the general and permanent prosperity of the state and nation depends upon the success of that very industry. In order that the American people might be awakened to these necessities, the Amer- ican Commission was assembled for the purpose of investigating at first hand the methods employed in European countries which had faced similar problems and had devised peculiar systems of their own for overcoming the difficulties. This commis- sion was composed of about sixty delegates nominated by the governors of different states, premiers of the provinces of Canada, farmers' organizations and commercial bodies, cooperating with the seven members of the United States Commission appointed by the President. I had the honor of repre- senting the state of Colorado on this com- mission. The commission's full report is being pre- pared and will be available by distribution through Congress at an early date. European rural communities are organized Vou Can't Turn a Switch and Stop a Horse ^^^'^-^ Eating — With a tractor it's entire- ly different. U eats oniy when it worlis. Wlien you are throuiili, turn a switchi and your expense stops. Horses or mules eat three times every day, 365 days a year, whether they're worli- ing: or not. Government statistics show that farm horses averagre only 100 full days' work a "ear— 265 days' feeding all for noth- ing-. Avery owners report that tractor plow- ing costs them le^s than hall what horse or mule piowinjr d'jes. Also bii; savintr '"'n other worli— disking, harrowing, drilling, harvesting, hauling, etc. Tractor farming means bi^^rr crops, too. Three year tests made by the Kansas State Agricultural College gave an increase of more than double the ordinary crop by plowing at the right depth and at the right time. You can't plow fast enough or deep enough with horses or mules— it takes a tractor to do it. one-Man. OUTFIT^ ^'^'yhrrractofs" "^ell ^'^^ i Hundreds of farmers have proved that Tractor Farming' with Avery Tractors and Plows is a great success. The reasons are— they are the lightest weight tractors built, considering' their draw barefflciency. Also the simplest. Andwith an Avery "Self-Lift" Plo^v one man or one boy alone can run the entire outfit. Avery Tractors are built in five sizes, from 8-16 to 40-80 h.p., and pull from 2 to 10 bottoms. Fit large, medium or small size farms. AVERY COMPANY. 96 AveryTractors and Plows Are Sold on Approval at Low Prices and Fully Guaranteed Test out an Avery Tractor and Plow on your own farm. Alter acceptance we back you up with strong guarantees. Avery prices are al.so low. The new Avery book "Tractor Farming" tells why and how to farm with tractor power. The 19J4 Avery Tractor and Plow Book gives all the facts about Avery "Light-Weight" Tractors and "Self-Lift" Plows. Both books sent FREE. Write for them. Address Iowa St.. PEORIA. ILL. Or either of our Bran ch Houses: Avery Co., Lincoln or Omaha, Neb. Also Manufacturers of Avery Under mounted Steam Traction Engines,'" YelLow-Fellow" Grain Threshers and Gawtuie Farm Trucks SHIP TO WOOD BROS LEADING SELLERS OF LIVE STOCK ESTABLISHED 1867 A firm with a clean record of good sales and good service, covering a period of almost 50 years When your stock is handled by Wood Bros, you are sure of fair and honest treatment. Write or wire for market information, and Ship to us for BEST RESULTS CHICAGO SOUTH OMAHA SIOUX CITY Stockers and Feeders Bought on Orders FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 11 ARTHUR SHULTZ, Scribner, Nebraska Fir»t Vice-President along cooperative lines, and cooperation as there practiced teaches many lessons that are of more than passing interest. It is not "communism," for it is not "a scheme which contemplates holding ;all wealth for the equal use or advantage of all." It is not "socialism," as it is not "a system of social reform which contemplates a complete re- construction of society, with a more just and equitable distribution of property and labor." It Is " the association of a number of persons for their common benefit," and as practiced in Europe one of its fundamental principles is to assist and encourage the man of limited means in every way possible, so as to make him more thrifty and successful. European governments have fostered and encouraged these activities as a means of assisting the peasantry to land ownership, and at the same time dividing large estates that were not being profitably handled by a system of landlordism. In certain sections cooperation is encouraged by the government largely to combat socialism, and in other sections "it is prompted by the Catholic party, with a sectarian character." The investigations of the American Com- mission covered finance, production, distri- bution, and rural life. As that of finance bears directly upon the subject in hand, my address will be confined to that particular phase, drawing comparisons to the systems of financing the farmer in vogue in European countries visited with those in our own, in an endeavor to determine whether some such system or modification thereof could be made applicable to our own needs. There is no doubt but what cooperative credit societies throughout all Europe have enabled many of their members to obtain credit where it would have been Impossible through Individual effort. In comparison, the fact must be kept constantly in mind that rural conditions, environment, and tem- perament in European countries differ widely from rural conditions, environment, and SEED CORN As a rule this has been a very bad year for matur- ing seed com the country over. Fortunately the major- ity of our contracts for seed corn were placed with grow- ers located in the rain belt, and for this reason we have to offer a limited amount of fully matured, high grade seed corn that tests Well at a very reasonable price. We can furnish most leading varieties. Write for samples. SEED ANNUAL To any one desiring a copy we would be very glad to send our 24th Annual Seed Catalog of Alfalfa, Sweet Clover, Sand Vetch, Oats, Corn, Vegetable Seed, Flower Seed, Spring Bulbs, Roses, Nursery Stocli, Gar- den Implements, Sprayers and Poultry Supplies. GRISWOLD SEED CO. 255 So. 10th St., LINCOLN. NEBR. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 13 temperament in America. There the farmer with his entire family cultivates the soil and gathers his crops. He, with his wife, sons, and daughters works in the field. It is not unusual to see several generations at work on a small tract of intensely cultivated land, with yet another coming generation using the corner of the field as a nursery. In this connection I will quote from Mr. F. J. H. von Bngelken, the Florida member of the American Commission. Mr. von En- gelken is a German farmer, and his comments will be to you of more than passing interest. My quotation is from his report of his own personal observations, which report has been made a Congressional document. He says: "Germany is literally dotted with villages, and these villages are so unlike anything in our country that they must really be seen to be appreciated. Ranging in size from ten to two hundred homes and with a pop- ulation of from fifty to one thousand, they are scattered all over the country as if sown there by some giant hand. Rarely as distant one from the other as two miles, there are often two or three clustered almost within a stone's throw of each other, and they are as peculiar and as striking in their differences from our own country towns as are the methods under which their inhab- itants work from ours. "The most striking feature about these villages is their sameness, and yet an entire absence of monotony in visiting one after another. The streets are rarely straight; no rectangular blocks of houses, each house of different construction and design in con- formity with the tastes of its owner, but a ground plan of curved and intersecting streets, houses of the same general type and design, each with its bright and well-kept flower garden, and over all a wonderful cleanliness. "Throughout almost entire Germany the ground plans of farmers' homes are the same. The buildings are always of brick or stone (the very old houses being made of a framework of timbers with a rubble plaster filling), and the stables and storehouses are also built of the same lasting and noncom- bustible materials. Roofs are of tile, it now being against the law to use thatch. The house always fronts on the street or road. Built against one wall of this is the store- house, a continuation of this is used for stables, and from this again continue the sheds for tools, etc. This group of buildings is built up on four sides of a square, forming in the center a large court. On one side of the house is the gate opening into the road, and when this is closed the whole place is secure from trespass. "The storehouse is used for storing the crops from the fields, there being no build- ings of any kind on the land. The stables are used for the milch cows and for the beef cattle being fattened, as well as, of course, for the necessary horses. It is one of the peculiar customs of Germany that wherever the soil is rich and is highly cultivated the cows and hogs and beef cattle are never taken out of the stables after once being put in. They are literally in for life. Green food is brought to them^ daily, and they are well taken care of. Cattle are chained to their stalls, each with its drinking trough, and they are daily cleaned off and bedded down knee deep in straw. Hogs are kept in the same way. Once in their pens they remain there until sold to the butcher; they eat and sleep and grow — nothing else. This system, while apparently very troublesome, is in vogue for two reasons : First, the land is too valuable for pasturage, as well as being in too small tracts; and, secondly, by keeping live stock in this manner every bit of manure Is saved, and manure, as one farmer aptly stated, is the life of German agriculture. "The method of saving this manure is an excellent one, and is one that could be used to great advantage by our farmers. In the center of the court around which stand the buildings is a large. square pit about five feet in depth. In one corner is a runway by means of which a wagon can be run into the pit to facilitate loading. This large pit is for the dry manure, and into it is thrown everything with any fertilizing value. "Between this and the stables is a deep concrete-lined well, much deeper than the dry-manure pit, and this is used for col- lecting the liquid manure. This well is made water-tight, and into it lead drains from all the stables and pens, as well as from the dry-manure pit. The liquid thus collected is pumped from this well into tanks and taken to the fields, where it Is sprayed on the land. It can be stated here that this economical, thrifty, and intelligent use of natural fertilizer has made of the Germans a farming nation which, with a country smaller that the state of Texas, and with one-third of its area covered with forests, produces 95 per cent of its own food prod- ucts, and its population is around 65,000,000. "This, then, is a description of a German farmer's home and his method of building and living there. From these homes he and his family go daily to their fields, where they meet their neighbors at work. In the evenings they are again together in the village. There exists, therefore, a com- munity life which we do not know, living, as we country people do, apart from our neighbors on our own large farms and in our own individual ways. The German cus- tom brings about a community of interest, a friendliness and intimate relationship which fosters the spirit of mutual help, and does this automatically. It is a natural result of local conditions and of a lifelong mutual acquaintance and an extensive re- lationship by intermarriage. These condi- tions have aided in the development of cooperative institutions there, and a lack of like conditions will militate against a like success with us. "In Germany, It must be understood, the greater portion jof the farm work Is done by the women. It is a common sight to see women hoeing or pitching hay or spreading COAL From Mine to Consumer Direct UNITED STATES COAL COMPANY Miners and Shippers of KEYSTONE COALS KEMMERER, WYOMING We have a splendid domestic coal which we mine from the largest vein in the world. We have an unsur- passed steel equipment. Prices at mine: Lump, $2.75 per ton; Nut, $2.50 per ton; Run of Mine, $1.75 per ton; Pea, $L00 per ton. Freights: To Union Pacific points in Nebraska: West of Grand Island $3.50 per ton; east of Grand Island and branch lines $3.75 per ton. On other railroads, an average of 50c addi- tional per ton. We specialize on farmers' trade and sell direct to shipping associa- tions, Farmers' Unions, Farmers' Elevators, or individuals. We have been officially recognized by the Nebraska State Grange. J. A. Harris of Dawson County Grange Cooperative Association says: "Every man who got your coal says it is absolutely the best coal they ever got here. Cleanest, holds fire, makes hot- test fire, no soot, no clinkers, least ash." Order direct from the mine. We will draw a sight draft thru your bank for payment. United States Coal Company ELMER E. THOMAS, Vice-Pre.idenl, Omaha FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 15 manure, and they do it well and cheerfully. The girls o£ the poorer families go into service as maids, which means that they do not only a share of the housework, but also their full proportion of the work about the stables and in the fields. For this service a girl of, say, sixteen or seventeen years, will receive wages of $3 a month, with board and lodging. She becomes a member of the family and is considered and treated as such. It would be an interesting experience for some of our farm workers to try to keep up with one of these young girls in a day's work. "The bearing which this method of work- ing has upon the question of credits is, of course, the fact that the German farmer pays out very little cash for wages. Practi- cally all work being done by the family, all the earnings of the farm remain in the family, and it can be readily seen how, therefore, the German farmer not only needs far less cash money for carrying on his business than is the case with us, but also how he is in much better position to repay such money as he has happened to find it necessary to borrow. "Again, the thrift of these people is almost unbelievable; thrift not only in financial matters, but in every little detail of their lives. An examination of the books of the little local savings and loan bank showed many little accounts in the names of the school children, and in the names of the older boys and girls working on the farms for wages. All seem bent upon establishing themselves firmly in the community, and there is in the minds of the children and young people an idea of providing for the future that is almost uncanny. Everything possible is done to encourage this idea, and, as a result, there is about these people a remarkable air of solidity and contentment." The European farmer is a "fixture" on his place, which possibly his forefather before him had owned and his family expects to con- tinue. The American farmer, at least in the West, usually does things on a larger scale and hires much of his help. He lives to himself and not in a village. In a sense he is usually a land speculator; that is, ready to sell at a fair profit and buy elsewhere. He has been taught from early life to avoid obligating himself to pay the debts of another. Two Distinct Systems European rural credit systems follow the natural division into short-term personal credit societies and long-term land mortgage associations. The organization of coopera- tive societies for short-term credit was forced upon the farmers because of the lack of other banking facilities. Capital had not sought investment in country bank stock. Therefore the farmers had no place of de- posit or obtaining credit for their temporary needs, and the organization of the coopera- tive credit society was the result. In lieu of capital stock, credit is pledged — some- times with limited liability of its members, but more often unUmited. That is, when a farmer becomes a member of a cooperative credit society (or bank as it is called in some countries, though in others the use of the word "bank" by them is prohibited) he pledges his entire worth for the debts of the society or bank. Short-Term Credit System In Germany these societies have reached their highest state of development. Through- out that entire Empire the number of regular banks, including these cooperative short- term credit societies, equals one for each 4,000 population, or one for about each 800 families. This is practically the same ratio of banking Institutions to the population that exists in the United States. It is there- fore obvious that this form of rural co- operative banking occupies the same field in that country that is occupied by the country banks in this. It is not a difficult task to determine the holdings and the financial standing of a borrower, not only because of the intimate knowledge of the conditions of every farmer by every other farmer, but because of the simple methods of property assessment and title registration. Property is assessed at full value, which valuation is generally used as an appraise- ment or for a basis of credit. These short-term credit societies through- out continental Europe are generally fed- erated, and own and operate a central society in some large commercial qenter. There are hundreds and sometimes several thousand thus federated. TJhere are no established rules governing these individual societies, each being left free to make its own by-laws, by them termed "constitution," for the conduct and regulation of its own business. The central does reserve the right of supervision and examination as a creditor, for these local societies obtain needed financial assistance through the central; that is, the central extends loans to or rediscounts for the local societies. When its own resources are exhausted it in turn obtains help either from the banks of issue or some large commercial bank. The local societies deposit their unemployed funds with the central. When demand is light in one section and strong in another the central thus serves as an intermediary be- tween the locals in equalizing the condition. The central society has a capital, furnished by the local federated societies in proportion to their own membership, and is thus owned by them, though they exercise little or no supervision or control ■ over the central. This has proven a weakness of the system as I shall prove. The central is meant to be the servant and not the master of the small societies, and is therefore op- posed to the branch banking system where the central bank owns and controls the branches. These local societies assume no liability for the debts of the central or of one another, though the individual members may have unlimited liability for the debts LIGHT DRAFT PLOWS THE WORLD'S BEST tesrti; =€*% P. & O. Diamond Sulky Plows The Diamond Plow is the "top-notcher" of the famous P. & O. line of riding plows. It is our strongest plow, and we believe the strongest high lift plow of its type made. It is symmetrical in construction, and as long as the singletrees hold no fear need be entertained concerning the plow. We can furnish any style of bottom, so that the Diamond is suited to hard work in any section. Send for catalog of the Diamond Sulky Plow, also Diamond Gang Plow and Dia- mond Three Furrow Plow. Parlin & Orendorff Plow Co. OMAHA, NEBRASKA FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 17 FRANK TANNEHILL, Norfolk, Nebraska Second Vice-President of their own local society. This unlimited liability, it should be kept in mind, is in lieu of a paid-up capital stock. European cooperative credit societies operate without direct profit to their mem- bers, their object being to render financial assistance and advice so that the members may make their profits upon their Individual efforts. In some cases the government has made liberal advances to such societies upon a nominal or no Interest charge. When they are thus fostered, the government exercises certain control and supervision over them. This is objected to by others, who operate without government assistance of any kind. Such aid as involves govern- mental control over their operations is objected to by some, as tending to retard the initiative of the people. We found many that had origlnaJly accepted of government aid, had given up such aid and were now on their own initiative and responsibility, preferring this freedom of operation to the red tape and unnecessary restrictions that usually follow where a government under- takes the control of private operations — mind, I say control, not regulation. I am a firm believer in government regulation, but not control over private capital or activities. Losses are sometimes sustained by these rural short-term credit societies, just as losses are sustained by our country banks. When losses occur they are met out of the small profits, if sufficient; if not sufficient, by an assessment; if too disastrous, the society would be forced to liquidate, and general distress would follow in paying up security debts and meeting the unlimited liability for all obligations of the society. During the year June, 1910, to May, 1911, about sixty such cooperative societies in Germany dissolved, most of which had not tried to aflSllate with a central, and accord- ing to the yearly book of the Association of Cooperative Societies In Germany, "Their dissolution was prlnclpaly owing to insut- ROBERT TAYLOR BREEDER OF Registered Hampshire, Leicester and Rambouillet Sheep, Polled Angus Cattle and Poland China Hogs. Rams and Bulls for Sale ABBOTT, - - - - NEBRASKA This year's lambs sired by William Cooper & Nephews' Champion Pen I Hampshire Rams — Omaha 1911 — beating all America. Ewes all imported or raised by me from im- ported stock. Save Ninety Cents on Your Break- fast, or $292.00 Per Year Not long ago I went with some other fellows to a neighboring city. We had breakfast at the leading hotel and I made the following comparison: HOTEL BOSTON liUNOH OR QUICKSERV H Grape Fruit 25o % Grape Fruit lOo 1 plate cakes 2oc 1 plate cakes 10c 1 order sausage 50c 1 order sausage lOo 1 cup coffee 15o 1 cup coffee 5o 1 tip to waiter 10c No waiter tip 00 »1.25 35c Difference in price 90 cents. Difference in quality in favor of the 35 cent meal. Difference in time 40 minutes in favor of my places. The articles are served on silver plates at the hotel but we didn't eat or keep the dishes so the silver did us no good. Are you working for the hotel man and his waiters to get rich and retire at your expense in a few years, or would you like to do some of the retiring yourself THINK IT OVER. In a few years THEY will either say "he was a fool when he made good money " or "he was wise and has the coin now." WHICH WILL IT BE? IT'S WORTH THTNTT- ING OVER. j^ii^j^ With my own farm market and bakery and eight places of business I can buy In large quantities and supply first class food for less money than the sinele Dlar-n pan buy inferior food. THINK THIS OVER ALSO. ^ ^ ^ °^" THE QUIOKSERV CAFETERIA THE BOSTON LUNCHES city National Bank Buliaing 219 Soutb 16th St. letta and Harney Sts. 1408 Farnnm St. DoTvn Stairs 1406 Douglas St. J, W. WELCH, Proprietor FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 19 ficient knowledge on the part of the founders of the requirements of eoonomic and credit associations. Several societies became bank- rupt more on account of ignorance of proper management than because of dishonesty." In Austria one of these large central societies not under government supervision is now in the hands of the government and in process of liquidation. Its management had proved inefficient and unsafe, and the inevitable- crash was pending. Realizing this meant financial ruin throughout that prov- ince, as the central had deposits from some 800 federated societies, which societies in turn held the deposits of the farmers, the government advanced about a million dollars to pay the liabilities and took over the assets itself. Another disastrous failure of a central, located at Darmstadt, Germany, which was threatened while we were there, is coming to light. It now appears that not only has the entire capital of about $600,000 been wholly lost, but that the deposits carried by the locals will also be largely lost. I will here quote from a report recently re- ceived from Berlin: "The moral effects of the breakdown are apparently very bad — out of all proportion, in fact, to the actual dimensions of the failure. A new central bank has been or- ganized, and is bestirring itself to find ways and means of relief. It has addressed a memorial to the government of Hesse in which it gives the following description of the moral effects of the failure there: 'The broad masses of the country population, which far too long maintained an attitude of non-criticism and really of non-participa- tion in the management of the cooperative central banks, are indignant when they feel that they have been deceived by their for- mer authorities. There is a danger that community spirit, that good teamwork for the common benefit of the agricultural popu- lation, which is really the life element of the cooperative movement, will ^ive place to a disintegrating spirit of controversy, to a strife of all against all. Even in the prov- ince of Rhine-Hesse, where, in other cases, practical decisions and energetic action have been swiftly adopted, men are wasting their strength in futile quarrels.' " There are no legal requirements upon banks or credit societies for a cash reserve throughout Europe so far as ascertained; excepting the gold reserve required of the banks of issue. Therefore all European banks, the large commercial institutions as well as the small credit societies, can be of the greatest possible benefit to the people, for they are not required to lock up a large part of the country's circulating medium in a useless, so-called, reserve, which is not allowed to be used to even meet the con- tingency for which a reserve is supposed to be held. While seeking for methods of Improving our financial system and for low- ering interest rates, it would be well for our lawmakers to give serious consideration to the abolition of useless reserve require- ments, provided a sufficiently strong credit expansion and note-issuing power Is created. So long as our banks are required to keep a considerable portion of their deposits In idle and useless reserves, interest .rates will remain proportionately higher than nec- essary. There are hundreds of millions of dollars of the country's circulating medium thus uselessly locked up. In addition to operating without reserve re- quirements, the European rural cooperative credit societies are organized, as before stated, without capital and without the view of profit. The loaning rate is regulated just to meet the expenses of operation. Such ex- penses are held down to the minimum, with little or no taxes to pay. The cashier draws but a nominal salary, usually getting his livelihood largely from other sources, and holds his position as a secondary matter. The president and directors serve without compensation. Unless there Is considerable volume of business no bookkeeper is em- ployed. Bookkeeping Is simple, as checking Is not done as it is done with our country banks. Such societies seldom cash or re- ceive for deposit checks or drafts on other' banks. Doors of the small societies are opened on stated days — once each week or sometimes semi-monthly. The furniture and fixtures account is nominal, as usually a table, desk, and chairs constitute the entire equipment — often not even a safe. Some- times a room in the home of the cashier is used as Its place of business. I doubt if our American farmer would be satisfied with this sort of banking facilities, and at the same time render himself liable for all the deposits and debts of the bank, in order to be able to obtain his money at a less rate of Interest; or at least I doubt if the more responsible farmer, who would give strength and standing to such a bank, would be. All these facts should be considered in comparing interest rates paid by European farmers w'ith those paid by the American farmer for short-term personal credit. Undoubtedly the fact has already been noted that European cooperative rural credit societies are associations of borrowers. This Is one of the most marked distinctions be- tween the European and American systems, for in our country, banks are associations of lenders. Our national and state laws either restrict or prohibit bank owners from bor- rowing from their own bank. Our investigation proved, beyond doubt, that In order to keep pace with European countries we need in the United States a change In our present financial system that will permit our banks to be more liberal with their borrowing customers. I do not mean to be more liberal In the acceptance of security, but to be enabled to be more liberal in credit expansion for the purpose of facil- itating the maturing and marketing of crops. Our country banks are mostly owned by the farmers themselves, and as we have about the same ratio to the population that exists in the country where cooperative so- cieties are most highly developed, I can not The Sign of Mechanical Excellence the WorldOeer CASE Products Generations Success The Sign of Mechanical Excellence the World Over ASB Machinery is known and used throughout the world. Its repu- tation for over seventy years has been of the best because it has always done exactly what we have claimed for it. 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Beginning in 1842 with a small workshop we have grown into an Industry capitalized at millions of dollars. Such an immense organization back of your purchase is your insurance of the safety of your Investment. If you are interested and want to know about the details of construction of CASE Machinery we shall be glad to send you our catalogs. They contain valuable information for you who would invest wisely. Steam Tractors Steam Portable Engines Steam Skid Engines, Skid Boilers and IVIounted Boilers Gas and Oil Tractors Stationery Gas and Oil Motors Steel Threshing Machines Tractor Gang Plows Corn IHusker-Shredders Corn Shellers Alfalfa Mills Horse Powers Baling Presses Road Rollers, Graders and other Road Building Equipment Automobiles. We shall appreciate your inquiry for a catalog on any or all of the above machinery. J. I. CASE THRESHING MACHINE CO. (INCORPORATED) 725-775 State Street, RACINE, WISCONSIN, U.S.A. Factory Branch: 600-602 L Street, LINCOLN, NEBR. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 21 J. B. GRINNELL, PapiiHon, Nebraska Thiid Vice-President see the necessity for establishing an entirely new system of rural banking for the United States for the purpose of rendering short- term personal credit to our farmers. Our present banking laws, if modified to enable the national and state banking systems al- ready established to respond to the require- ments of the farmer, in a manner I shall endeavor to point out, would amply suffice. Our crying need Is the creation of an elastic currency and a safe credit expansion system. It is to be hoped that In the enactment of our new financial system the peculiar needs of the farmer for the ma- turing and marketing of his crops will be met. It should be kept in mind that "the maturing and marketing of crops" contem- plates as well the maturing and marketing of live stock and its by-products, for the reason that a large part of our crops is thus mar- keted. The bankers of this country have realized for years the inadequacy of our present financial system. Contrary to the operations of the banking systems of Euro- pean countries, we have a fixed or static circulating medium, and no method of in- creasing our circulation or of obtaining credit in times of greatest need. It is almost inconceivable that a great nation like our own should have for such a length of time left its agricultural, commercial, and industrial interests so poorly provided for. This lesson has been Impressed upon our minds time and again In the repeated needs for an increased money supply, both in the moving of crops and in the demands of an excited banking public. The pending bank and currency bill, if enacted in its present form, will fall short of the needs of our country banking and agricultural interests. Prom the standpoint of the farmer and stockman a serious objec- tion to the pending measure is the restriction placed upon the time limit of paper to be accepted by the proposed federal bank for International Harvester Oil and Gas Engines i.-.^_ kZj^ THE I H C LINE GRAIN AND HAY MACHINES Binders, Reapers Headers, Mowers Rakes, Stackers Hay Loaders Hay Presses CORN MACHINES Planters, Pickers Binders, Cultivators Ensilage Cutters Shellers, Shredders TILLAGE Combination Peg and Spring-Tooth and Disk Harrows Cultivators GENERAL LINE Oil and Gas Engines Oil Tractors Manure Spreaders Cream Separators Farm Wagons Motor Trucks Threshers Grain Drills Feed Grinders Knife Grinders Binder Twine HAVE you a washing machine and a churn at your house? Do you pump water, saw wood, grind feed, run a cream separator? Do you do this work by hand? If so, you will be able to save yourself much time for other work by letting an International oil or gas engine do this drudgery for you. An International engine will last many years working for you economically and without trouble because of such features as these: Accurately ground piston and lapped rings, offset cylinder head, large valves, detachable valve guides, fuel pump, etc. The engines are of all styles — ^verti- cal, horizontal, stationary and portable; air and water-cooled — sizes from 1 to 50 H. P. They operate on the cheapest or most convenient fuel. Learn all about them at the local dealer's. If he does not sell International engines, write us for interesting catalogues and full information. Drop us a postal card today. International Harvester Company of America (Incorporated) CHICAGO USA Champion Deering McCormick Milwaukee Osborne Piano FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 23 rediscount. It is easily understood why It should be necessary to require reasonably short time and perfectly liquid paper; but I see no reason sufficiently strong to restrict the maturity so that little of that held by our country banks would be available, and especially that made by our producers, who require a longer time to mature and prepare their products for market. A fixed rule is not applicable over the entire United States for the reason that conditions and requirements vary greatly In the different sections. In some sections, at certain seasons of the. year, the time limit might sufiice, while in other sections, at the same season, the time limit would not suf- fice. The time limit named, however, would always be adequate for the distributor or the middleman. The contention has been for years that the American producer is handicapped and that the middleman is ab- sorbing too much of the price paid by the consumer. Why make it still easier for the middleman to finance himself without at the same time giving the producer equal facilities? It should be kept in mind there exist no such restrictions upon the pro- ducers' paper in European countries, and it is inconceivable that our lawmakers will write upon our statutes, in the present-day light, a new banking code that will not give our farming industry an equal show with other industries needing credit fa- cilities. Long-Term Credit System Passing from the short-term credit so- cieties as organized and operated in European countries, we have now to con- sider the long-term mortgage associaftions as another phase of the subject under dis- cussion. Here we have much to learn from European methods. It is a recognized fact that, in our country, financiers have devoted themselves more to the finaucing of rail- roads, utility corporations, and urban build- ing than they have to financing the farmer. We should keep in mind, in discussing this subject, the relative importance of the city and the country. Destroy the city and the country surrounding it would soon re- build that city; but destroy the country surrounding a city and the city could not rebuild the country, but of Itself could not long survive. The more prosperous the country, the greater and more prosperous the city, and as the city becomes greater and more prosperous it is in stronger posi- tion to render financial assistance to the country. There is, indeed, an interlocking of interest and a consequent need of "co- operation" between the city and country, and the best results can only be obtained by a spirit of harmony and proper under- standing. The builders of our cities have been able to obtain financial assistance, the payment of which is extended over a long period of years, upon buildings erected even upon leased grounds. The value of nearly all of our investments and properties depends chiefly upon the success of our agricultural Interests. Yet we have never devised a sat- isfactory plan to finance those engaged in that industry to safely carry themselves over a sufficient period to retire even a fair portion of the purchase price of their fixed investment. I am not criticizing those engaged in the farm loan business as now conducted. A market has been established for real estate security on the present basis, and our lenders are handling this business along the only recognized method employed in America. It would not be feasible to adopt the long-term plan with small partial payments where the loan itself is lodged with the individual investor. He will not accept of a loan on these terms, and it would be only through the intermediary of some bond or debenture issuing organization that funds could possibly be obtained for the fanner under such conditions. The European countries have adopted a workable plan for their farm owners by the organization of their long-term mortgage associations, which are not banks of deposit. This system contemplates the return of the principal in small amounts at the same time interest is paid, with the option of repay- ment of any larger amount, or the whole, at any interest pay-day. Only Income-producing property of de- pendable value is loaned upon. The annuity to be paid is fixed, which includes the amount of interest and amount the lending association requires for its expenses and profits. The longer the loan the smaller the annuity. When speaking of rates, the European farmer and money-lender on land mortgages always includes the amount to be paid in amortization. Thus, should he tell you the rate is six per cent per annum, he would mean that $60 on each $1,000 bor- rowed Is the amount to be paid each year, including interest and part payment of the principal in order to retire the loan by the time of Its maturity. This annuity remains the same throughout the life of the loan, but as the amount of the principal is grad- ually reduced the amount necessary for Interest becomes less each year, and the amount applicable for amortization increases correspondingly. It is this calculation that retires the loan within a less period than at first impression seems possible. It is the operation of compound interest reversed. Thus by the gradual reduction of the mort- gage the security is constantly enhanced. There are some matters that enter into the negotiation of these long-term mortgage loans affecting interest rates that do not appear on the face. For instance, in the operation of some of these land-mortgage associations the borrower is given bonds issued by the land-mortgage association in exchange for his mortgage. The borrower accepts the bonds at one hundred cents on the dollar, and often has to market them himself. They, however, generally, have a ready market on the Bourse or with com- SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMU = iiMiiiiiiinijiiiiiiiiiii^iiH m yiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiimiii iiiiiiiiiiir iiimiii We are the originators of the only guarantee that stands the test in the scales of justice Your money, including any trans- portation charges you may have paid, will be promptly returned if you are not perfectly satisfied ^lISjiM®) t z = 3IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII^ = '""""""""" '" ' ■■■■Illllll I IIM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII.......T.ff FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 25 mercial and private banks, but do not sell at par when drawing the low rates of interest. Some of the land-mortgage associations have perfected arrangements for cashing their bonds thus accepted by the borrower, through commercial banking institutions which they themselves control or with which they are aflBliated, so that their borrowers need not be forced to find their own market. Originally the land-mortgage associations came into existence through a combination of borrowers who united for their mutual assistance. As at first organized they were cooperative to the highest degiree. The owners of farms severally mortgaged their properties to a cooperative association and the collective mortgages thus became liable for the debts of one and all. The association, with no other capital than possibly a nom- inal membership fee charged, would issue its own bonds, allowing each borrower the use of such bonds to the extent of his individual needs from time to time, to the limit of his own mortgage. In retiring his loan to the association, in whole or in part, the borrower could repurchase the bonds on the market or from whatever source avail- able, delivering them to the association in payment of his loan or could pay cash, if preferred. If the latter, the association would call in the equivalent amount in bonds. Often the borrower would not ask for the cancellation of his mortgage, leaving it of record in case of future needs, against which he could draw bonds in such denom- inations as needed from time to time. This system has now been modified so that each borrower is responsible only for his own individual debt, but remains the same in all other respects. Many of the cooperative land-mortgage as- sociations are fostered by government grants, loans, or special privileges of law. Indefinite loans are sometimes extended them by the government without interest, or at a very low rate, as was mentioned is sometimes done for the short-term rural credit societies. In Germany these associations are granted exceptional legal privileges, and in fore- closing a mortgage it is unnecesary to go through any process of law, as the right is given to immediately dispossess the bor- rower. He has no redress at court, the association being a law unto itself. There are no redemption privileges given the bor- rower, neither has he any exemptions. The maintenance of the farm and fertilizing and productiveness of the soil are conditions in the mortgage. In case this is not done it is a cause for foreclosure, the same as default in Interest or amortization payments. Private capital is now successfully com- peting with these government-fostered as- soeiations in the organization and operation of long - term mortgage banks. Such privately capitalized associations do not re- ceive or desire government subsidy. They are less hampered in their operations, and having laws that fully protect their securi- ties, prefer to operate independently of the government. Bonds issued by both government-fostered and privately owned land-mortgage associa- tions sell on a substantial parity. In some countries, Hungary particularly, an especial effort is made to place these bonds outside their own country, in order to bring in new capital, but in Germany exactly the opposite is pursued. They have proven to be such safe and desirable securities that the savings of the working class as well as trust and court-controlled funds are invested in them. The large commercial and private banks often underwrite the issues, replacing them with til© investing public. These bonds command a price, after reaching the market, near that commanded by government bonds, and usually sell on an equality with state or provincial bonds, and on better terms than industrials. In endeavoring to make applicable any long-term mortgage system for this country, the fact, as already noted, must be kept constantly in mind that the farmer of America is quite a different individual from the farmer of European countries. There he operates under nominal expense as compared with the farmer in this country, as well as operates on a much smaller scale. The European farmer applies himself to a greater degree and is more scientific in the handling of his land and products. While the average farm in Europe is small, varying in size with the different countries, about twice the yield is obtained per acre that is obtained by the American farmer, owing to intense cultivation and more scientific methods. The earning capacity of the European farm is an established fact. That in turn establishes its value. So settled are the values that the basis of assessment for taxation purposes, which is made at one hundred cents on the dollar, is generally used as a basis for valuing property when granting loans. Among the most important advantages for facilitating loans on real estate in Europe is the title-registration law, which, in effect, places the government behind the title to all property, and is an important factor in obtaining low rates of interest. It must be understood that the method to be pursued in this country under existing conditions, should any long-term mortgage system be devised, necessarily would be quite different from the European methods. The rate of interest to be paid by our farmers would of necessity have to be higher, because of the expense incident to appraisement; because of exemption and re- demption laws; because of the general lack of title-registration laws and the consequent need of abstracting and title examination; because of the necessity of safeguarding the loan by watching the security that has not such a stable or definite income-producing value over an extended period; and for the further reason that a market would have to be built up for this class of investment. Whereas, throughout all European countries INCORPORATED 1886 Twenty-Seventh Annual Statement OF THE UNION FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY (MUTUAL) LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 1913 Net Risks Written $14,471,714.00 Net Premiums Written 200,233.36 Losses Adjusted and Unpaid None Reserve for Protection of Policyholders 189,812.92 Policyholders Surplus Above Reserve and All Other Liabilities 79,101.71 Assets (Deposit Notes, First Farm Mortgages, and Cash) 309,582.95 Net Losses Paid Since Organization 779,444.42 The association of more than 28,000 satisfied policyholders in Nebraska gives testimony to 27 years of honorable and fair deal- ing with its patrons. Nebraska's Oldest, Strongest and Best Farm Company AGENTS EVERYWHERE Writings confined to Farm Property, Town Dwellings, School Houses and Churches only. STAND UP FOR NEBRASKA THE HOOVEN & ALLISON CO. MANUFACTURERS OF STAR BRAND ROPE AND BINDER TWINE The trade is demanding the best Binder Twine and Rope regardless of cost. "Star Brand" Rope or Twine means an article made from the best selected fibre in a scientific manner which assures a satisfactory per- formance under all circumstances. If you have never used "Star Brand" Twine or Rope, insist on getting it this year. Branch Office at 817-819 Howard St., Omaha FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 27 W. S. DELANO, Lincoln, Nebraska Secretary this class of investment is now well estab- lished, their land-mortgage associations having been in successful operation for over a century without the loss of a dollar to an investor. However, I do not believe the need of the American farmer is so much for a low rate of interest on his mortgage loan, if he is furnished a reasonable one, as for a method that will give him a sufficient period to work out of debt from the income of his labor and invested capital, without being com- pelled to obtain several renewals, paying new commissions, abstract charges, attorney's and recording fees with each renewal. Through operation of the long-term amortization loan system the European countries have revolutionized the land own- ership, passing titles from large tracts of landlordism into small tracts belonging to the individual farmers, making permanent home owners out of former tenants. They have assisted in making farm life more inviting and in improving farm property to a high state of cultivation, thereby increas- ing the productivity of the land, and, as a natural result, enhancing the value of the land itself. I trust I have made clear the general underlying principles of the two distinct European systems for extending rural cred- its. I have purposely avoided technical terms and foreign names, in order to present the subject in such manner that I felt might be most readily understood. In establishing any such system in this country, all tendency toward paternalism will have to be eliminated, for the idea is repugnant to our form of government, and besides our farmers do not desire to be pampered. All they ask is an equal chance with those engaged in other industries. It is ray firm belief that no European cooperative system for obtaining short-term personal credit can be made generally ap- plicable to the American farmer. In addition 6 to 8 Horse-Power Stationary Cushman Engines Are unusually light in weight. Compact in size. They are throttle governed, fitted with friction clutch pulleys. In sizes 4 to 20 H.-P. 4 H..P. 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ROBBINS, Secy FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 29 to the unnecessary burden of assumed guaranty of one another, the plan itself is unnecessary; because with proper modifica- tions of existing systems, our present country banks, capitalized and already in the field, holding the unemployed funds of their respective communities, owned largely by the farmers themselves, can be made to meet all legitimate requirements for short- term personal credits, where such credits could be safely extended under any system operating upon deposits. But I do believe we can mold a long-term land-mortgage system out of some of the methods employed in European countries that will be applicable to the needs of the American farmer. Not on the cooperative or mutual guarantee plan as practiced in Europe, however. I am confident we can devise a plan which will bring about a sys- tem of cooperation, throughout a state, without the mutual guarantee feature; one that would at once inspire the confidence of the investor in farm securities and receive the hearty support of the country bankers as well as the city financiers, at the same time putting the control in the hands of the farmers themselves. It seems to me this would be an ideal system of "cooperation," and no system is going to prove a success in this country without such general co- operation. I admonish you to keep in mind that the word "cooperation" is being over- worked and played upon by the erstwhile self-advertising politician. What we need is sane, safe, and conservative consideration of this matter, and a practical, not theoretical, a business, not political plan that can be worked out. I am now en route to attend a meeting of the American Commission, called for the purpose of completing the report of our findings and observations in European coun- tries. I look forward to our reconvening with a, great deal of interest, and trust much good will come of our endeavors. I am confident, if we can devise a sound, workable system for financing the farmer, which con- templates the long-term amortization prin- ciple, we will place him on a more solid and safe foundation. If we can make easier the ownership of farms, farmers will multi- ply. We could thereby more readily assist the successful tenant to become a land owner, and the more land owners within a state the more stable and permanent its population; and the more stable and perma- nent its population, the safer and more certain its invested capital, and the happier and more contented are its people. Mr. Coupland: I am sure that I express the opinion of the entire Congress when 1 say that we deeply appreciate this message that Mr. Jones has brought to us. We are In the baby stage on this question of rural credits, and every bit of information that we can have on the subject we want to get, and we appreciate the address by Mr. Jones and the help be has piven us. In listening to Mr. Jones, I was reminded of the German proverb that the heel of the master is manure to the land, and I am sure that any scheme whereby we can get more masters and fewer tenants upon the land will work one of the greatest revolutions in rural life. We are fortunate in having with us today one who for lo these many years has been a student of rural problems.! I remember an address I heard him make quite a long while ago in which he used the words "bet- ter business" — that is what we need in the agricultural world. At that time I was living in the skies. I was a good deal of a dreamer and a kind of a visionary fellow, and believed we should hind people to the land by love of the land, love of the birds and trees, love of country life, but the longer I live upon my farm and study the rural questions, the more I am certain that the economic side of things is of great importance; and therefore I want to present to you a man who will speak to us for a little time upon some phases of this ques- tion, and I am sure that he will say some- thing to you that will be of benefit. It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you my good friend. Sir Horace Plunkett. (Cheers.) Sir Horace Plunkett: Mr. Coupland, Ladies, and Gentlemen- — I only heard that the Congress was in session today. I hap- pened to come to the Rome and I am glad that I have had the pleasure of listening to the intensely interesting addresses that have been made here today, but of course I am wholly unprepared to address you. But you are very fortunate indeed in having the gentleman who has traveled over Europe as a member of this remarkable commission and who is himself a banker and, as he told you, also a country banker, so that he is able to look at the question of rural credits from the farmers' point of view as well as the bankers. Now, as Mr. Coupland has told you, you are in the baby stage as regards rural credits. I believe in my own country, Ire- land, that we are pretty well advanced in the organization of the business of farming in all other lines except that of credits, and we are in peculiar circumstances in Ireland that render it rather difficult for us to deal with this problem. The imperial govern- ment in 1903 entered upon a remarkable policy of rural amelioration. They under- took to provide $500,000,000 in order to enable the farmers of Ireland to purchase their land from the landlords. The money was lent upon terms that would no doubt make some of you somewhat envious. The farmer was enabled to borrow money at 2% per cent interest with 1% per cent for a sinking fund; that is, the farmer pays 3% per cent per year, and after a long period, 68 Va years, the debt is extinguished and the farmer owns his land without any lien at all upon it. And this obligation to the government makes it difficult for the farmer in Ireland to set up any system of long-time credits based upon mortgage security, be- cause the governinent has the first mortgage uDon the land. However, on this class of cooperative credits that has been explained Jacob North & Co. LINCOLN, NEBRASKA PRINTERS and BOOKBINDERS Sale Bills Catalogs Wedding Announcements Etc. High-Class Printing Of Every Description QUALITY ^-.-.^ SERVICE FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 31 to you — this is a plan whereby a lot of farmers or farm laborers could join to- gether, with an interested liability, for the purpose of collectively borrowing money to loan out to a member of their own associa- tion. We have between two and three hundred of these associations in Ireland, and they are altogether successful so far as it has application or as we have applied this system to the very poor community, for the simple reason that it helped the community, some that were poor and some that were well off within a limited terri- tory, and gave foundation and strength to the poorer members. And it would have the moral effect on the poorer classes, that if anything happened, the richer ones would have to pay for it. This was only a start in the very poor districts, but it had the effect of emancipating the farmer from the clutches of the local money lender. It not only emancipated them; it put them upon their legs. I gather from his remarks, that Mr. Gordon Jones does not think it would be suitable for this country, and I entirely agree with him. I do not think the comparison be- tween the credit associations in Europe and the rural banks as they exist in the United States today was quite fair to Europe. I know that the last thing that Mr. Gordon Jones intended was to be in any way unfair, but I think he rather overlooked the dis- tinction that he drew in the early part of his remarks on this question. There should be no comparison between the well-managed banks in the rural communities in this country and these mutual associations of credit in Germany and Italy and Ireland, and a comparison between them is not fair because it is very easy to point out that these banks have no reserve, while under ybur law your banks here must carry a reserve fund. They say as to security that they do not need a reserve fund because security is based upon a mutual understand- ing between themselves, and I think in Italy, Germany, France, and Belgium, I am safe in saying that you will not in the whole range of commercial undertakings find as low a percentage of failure as in these in- stitutions. I have studied these statistics very carefully, and the record is magnificent. In Italy for instance — in Northern Italy, the government loans — not out of a spirit of patriotism' either — ^its postal savings to these banks and considers it the best form of in- vestment that it can find for the government money. As Mr. Jones has said, you are not engaged in this country in getting some legislation which is intended to assist the farmer in getting the money that he requires as a working capital at a lower rate of Interest and on terms more suitable to this industry. Personally, I dread premature dis- closures of the government plans to assist the farmer. I firmly believe that it is not good for this country to have a system of rural credits imposed by the government until the farmers are far more advanced in cooperative organizations than they are today. (Cheers.) The danger gentlemen, that you have to feat is a stereotyped system of rural banks which is devised by the banks in the interest of bankers, not because the bankers are worse than any other class of people or less patriotic, but simply because there is no agricultural opinion on this subject yet, and the reason there is no agricultural opinion on it is because you have no organ- ized agriculture. But, in my opinion, viewed from any standpoint, you are passing through a very serious crisis in your agricul- tural development in this country. I lived in this country from 1879 to 1889, and I have been back and forth ever since for a period of thirty-four years. I have farming and raiiching Interests in this country, and I have been more interested in the study of rural problems than I have been in my own business. I have been so deeply interested in the subject that I have followed it closely. I have seen opened up large portions of your great farm-producing tracts. You have the finest agricultural land in the world. I have seen the most progressive men in Europe come out to occupy this land. I have seen them come out here and become land speculators; I have seen them put all the money they could get into your land here, scarcely scratching the soil, get- ting the cream off it, and then sell it and get up and move, human locusts I have called them. And now in this country of yours there is no more free land, and the farmers in Dakota are now, I understand, moving again, and this time into Canada. (Cheers.) But so far as the United States is concerned, that procession is over, and now your farm- ers have to learn to farm (cheers) and stay on the farm. (Cheers.) There is no place else to move. (Laughter.) And so far as the farmers of this country are concerned, you have as good, I would say better facilities here for teaching scien- tific farming than in any country in Europe. Better facilities in your universities and agricultural colleges; we have none as fine. Education is the final demonstration of scientific farming in any country, and when you come back over the whole situation and come to consider the question and the extent of it, the American farmer is, I believe, arising to this magnificent oppor- tunity — this splendid educatiohal opportu- nity. If you consult your own economists and agricultural experts, you will find that you are not increasing your agricultural exports, and with the physical opportunities and the agricultural societies that you have in America today, you should be increasins; your agricultural exports. But instead we are told by your highest experts at Wash- ington that they are decreasing, and that your increase in population Is growing so rapidly that, within the next decade, the food production in the United States will not be sufficient for you to feed your own popu- lation. This is an alarming state of affairs, and I daresay that every man here would AMERICAN STEEL FENCE POST Cheaper than Wood and More Durable MADE BY AMERICAN STEEL & WIRE COMPANY American Steel Fence Posts do not rot, rust or burn. They protect live stock from destructive lightning, as they act as con- ductors of electricity. Constant fence repairs are stopped by their use. Steel fence posts once erected are the envy of the neighborhood. Every steel fence post is a good one, and each is alike ; no culls. Cost of fence building is reduced by DRIVING line posts instead of digging. Steel posts are galvanized inside and outside — they last indefinitely. American Steel Posts are more durable than wood and cost less in the long run. The highest 'quality is a strong characteristic of the American Steel Post: it is made of high class steel. Strength is another feature. Line posts are strong enough to hold up any wire fence and furnish all neces- sary resistance. End and corner posts are so strong that they will maintain any wire fence made. Adapted to all conditions, they prove absolutely sat- isfactory wherever a good wire fence is desired, regard- less of heavy wire or how vigorous the usage after the fence has been built. American Steel Pence Posts increase fence life, giving better service. Put a fence on good, permanent steel posts and preserve it indefinitely; put it on wood posts and it is like building a brick house on a wood foundation. The American Steel Pence Post will give much more and much better service than can be expected of wood posts because every American Post is just like every other Amerieeui Post, and you get the benefit of every post in the fence from year to year, while the wood posts biirn, rot and decay from the start. American Steel Fence Posts have been in service since 1898,, in every section of the United States, and the oldest posta are today as good as when set. DEALERS EVERYWHERE IQIi Missing Page Missing Page POUfi,TH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 35 GEORGE C. JUNKIN, Smithfield, Nebraska Treasurer permitted to listen to the distilled wisdom that has fallen from the lips of Sir Horace Plunkett this afternoon. It is distilled wis- dom, gentlemen, because it is the result of practical and personal experience. If we are going to get benefit from these helpful addresses, we must find some system, some plan that we can work out, and I am hopeful that as this discussion goes on we will get something so concise that a plan will be suggested. This is a plan of education, gen- tlemen, and I feel that niuch help has come to us from this first session of the Congress. Mr. Stull: Sir Horace Plunkett has said the solution of the problem lies in coopera- tion. But I want to say also that one of the problems of my farming is that of being unable to get laborers. We can talk about the dignity of the American farmer, but I want to tell you that we can't get our own people to work upon our farms. They don't like the job, and we must get some plan of importing the better class of foreign labor who will work upon our farms; and before this Congress adjourns I would like to see a resolution adopted looking toward a solu- tion of that particular problem, so that we could not only go into the world markets and sell our product but also get labor. What we need is to cooperate together on these things and to farm better. I am a graduate of one of the best agricul- tural colleges in the country; what it took my father sixty years to learn, my boys can go down to Lincoln and learn in two years. I believe in agricultural learning and I believe in the farm; but I tell you when you tell one of your boys that you want him to go to the agricultural school and then come back to the farm, you must show him a profit in it, or he will elect to go into other business, and you can't blame him. We must make farming profitable in order to keep the better people on the farms, but FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 37 when we are sending into the Northwest and Canada the better classes of farmers, there is something radically wrong. Delegate: What is the remedy — ^more practical education? We all want more profit. Mr. Stull: It will pay, sir, when we take to practical farming and run the farm the same as we would a factory or any other business enterprise. I want to say, too, that the Nebraska farmers work more hours than they do in a factory and get less for it, and if we would apply the same intelli- gent effort to the running of our farms that the New England owner of a factory does to the running of his factory, we would get the same profit. The time is coming when the farmer must work less with his hands and more with his brains (cheers), and to do that we must have more common labor- ers. Why should we not make some effort to get from the old country this unskilled labor that we need so much for work upon the farm? You can't get laborers here in Omaha — they are idlers. They hang around the streets, apparently have no work and no money; but you try to hire them to go out on your farm. They will go sometimes and sometimes they will not, and when they do go they are no good and leave you in a week or two. There is no question but that upon almost any farm in the state there is not 40 per cent as much produced as there would be if there was plenty of labor. Subject any factory to such condition and take away 40 per cent of its output, and it would fall, and so will agriculture fail event- ually, and when this state loses from year to year its best farmers to the Northwest and Canada, and is increasing its mortgage debt all the time, I say it is time the farmers wakened up to the situation. Gentlemen, I thank you. (Cheers.) Delegate: Gentlemen, we only have thir- ty-five minutes until six o'clock and I am going to suggest that each man be limited to five minutes. George Abbott: I have farmed fifty years in the state of Nebraska. If I want to bor- row money I go down to the bank and give my note, and I think what we farmers need is some plan whereby we can borrow money direct. You put your money in the bank, and they loan it out to Tom Smith and John Jones. I go down to borrow and give my note and get your money. Why shouldn't we farmers have some plan, so that we could loan direct to each other and save the bank's rake-off? I think we ought to ad- vocate some plan whereby we could bor- row on our land direct from the gov- ernment for, say, 5 per cent. Have a government agent at Lincoln or Omaha, and we could go and get the money from him, at, say, 4 or 5 per cent to be paid back at our option. We could borrow when we needed it to carry us through until we harvested our crop, and then pay it back. You can't tell me anything about the banks being the friend of the farmer. The bank- ers have been telling us for years that the farmers couldn't combine, that they couldn't cooperate. Why can't we? Is it because we are fools? Have they all the brains as well as all the money? Why can't I borrow from my neighbor if he has the money to loan and I need it? My security is good. Why does he take the money to the bank and then I go to the bank to get it? We farmers are not such fools as to borrow money unless we need it nor expect to bor- row it without security. Why do I have to go to the bank and put up my note at 7 per cent? I can't understand all this friendly Interest of the badkers and why they are for these things if it's against their interests and for ours. I'm from Missouri and you'll have to show me. (Cheers.) Mr. W. H. Dech: It's a short time for us to consider all the various questions that have come up this afternoon. Now, when we are going to build a house, we start at the foundation, but those who have spoken here have started at the second or third story. One man said there was no profit in farming because we could not get labor- ers; but I say that we can't afford to employ a man all the time, and if we don't we can't get a good man, because the good man will himself farm or get a steady job In town. Most of us have to employ a man during the busy season and the rest of the time do the work ourselves. Now, on my own farm, I work every day, but there's no money In it. Now the trouble with the farmers is that as soon as we raise a big crop, down goes the price. Did you ever hear of the bankers reducing their rate of interest be- cause they had a lot of money on hand or the railroads reducing the rate because they had lots of stuff to haul? Mr. David Brown of Hooper: My idea is different from the gentleman who says there is no profit in the farm. I came out here in Nebraska years ago and started to farm. The first year the grasshoppers got our crop, and I had a team of horses that I mortgaged for a hundred dollars to keep going. I set to work again. A great many didn't. A great many left the land they had broken and went to the Black Hills to dig gold. I think I got more gold eventually than they did. One man left his place in my care because I had a family and couldn't go gold digging. I had my family to support and I stuck to it. I rented the place which I own now. It has been my home. I still live on it. I have paid for it. I have bought more land and paid for it. These hands have earned it all. When I wanted money I went to the bank and I got it. I had just one asset; do you know what it is? Mr. Coupland: Your credit. Mr. Brown: Yes, sir. I bought eighty acres of pasture land last year — pasture is all it is good for — I assumed the indebt- edness and only paid 5 per cent on the mortgage. I want to say that we can make a profit on the farm if we stay at home at work. As we all know, the best farming land in the United States is to be found NO EXCUSE FOR ANY COW OWNER BEING WITHOUT A THERE is no reason why any cow owner who sells cream or makes butter should be without a separator and there can be no excuse for his not having the best separator. Any creameryman or experienced dairyman will tell you that a good cream separator will give you a great deal more and a great deal better butter than you can produce by using any other system of creaming milk. The DE LAVAL is acknowledged by creamerymen and the best posted dairymen the world over as the "World's Standard" and the one and only separator that always accomplishes the best results possi- ble and always gives satisfaction. Butter made from cream separated by DE LAVAL Separators wou all highest awards at the last great National Dairy Show and annual convention of the National Creamery Butter-Makers' Association, just as it has always done year after year, since the organization of the Na- tional Association in 1892. You can not make the excuse that you can't afford to buy a DE LAVAL because it is by far the cheapest machine when you consider capacity and durability. In fact, it is sold on such liberal terms that it soon pays for itself and really will prove to be the best dividend-pay- ing investment you have on the farm. Why not get started right? See and try a DE LAVAL now. The nearest local agent will be glad to set up a machine for you at any time. THE DE LAVAL SEPARATOR CO. 165 Broadway, New York 29 E. Madison St., Chicago 50,000 Brancnes and Local Agencies the World Over FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 39 FRANK G. ODELL, Omaha, Nebraska Nebraska Member Executive Committee Farmers' National Congress FARMERS' NATIONAL CONGRESS. The Farmers' National Congress will hold its thirty-fourth annual session at Fort Worth, Texas, October 14-19 of the current year. The Executive Committee of the Con- gress and the citizens of Fort Worth are planning to make this the most important session in the history of the Congress. We hbpe Nebraska will have a large delegation in attendance and urge upon our farmers to take their wives upon a southern tour at this time. OFFICIAL ROUTE. The Nebraska delegation will leave Lincoln on the Union Pacific train at 6:45 a.m. October 13, leave Kansas City on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas train at 5:30 p.m., and arrive at Fort Worth at 9:30 a.m. of the 14th. Those who will go should write Frank G. Odell, Omaha, or W. S. Delano, Lincoln, ixt the earliest date possible, so that arrangements can be perfected. Should a suf- ficiently large number arrange to go a special train will be provided. W. S. DELANO Secretary Nebraska Farmers' Congress. BURGESS-NASH COMPANY "EVERYBODY'S STORE" "YY 7E are doing our best to make this a store for ^^ "Everybody" — a store of true helpfulness — and intend, if honest endeavor will accomplish it, to make it so pleasing, helpful and satisfactory a shopping place that you need think of no other. q A store of the "GREATEST SERVICE to the GREATEST NUMBER." ^ When you are in the city make Our Store Your Headquarters ^ Make use of the many conveniences provided for your benefit and vs^hen you find it inconvenient to come mail us your orders — they will receive the same careful attention as a personal visit. Sixteenth and Harney Streets Omaha, Nebr. FOURTH ANNUATy SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 41 in the eastern part of Nebraska. I paid for my home farm. I bought more land and paid for it. I have had a good return for my labor. I have raised a family of nine children. I did not go to the University but I have learned agriculture. The first money I had, I put into an agricultural paper and I have never been without it. If a farmer takes such papers as the Ne- braska Parmer and other farm papers equally good and studies them and then works hard upon his farm, he will make a profit if he has a wife and family who are willing . to help him. I have a neighbor, who bought eighty acres on credit, paid for it from what he produced, bought more and paid for it, and is now worth a quarter of a million. Delegate: He found plenty of suckers. Mr. Brown: He lives just south of Hoop- er, sir, and he made it by the work of his hands. Mr. Coupland: It is such men as Mr. Brown that has made Nebraska the great state it is. Mr. Jensen: I have farmed in Nebraska a good many years and I went through the grasshopper siege as the gentleman who just spoke has, but it seems to me that the young farmer of today does not have the opportunity that this gentleman did. You know in those days we could buy railroad land for $3.00 an acre and take ten years to pay for it. Times have changed. There was no trouble in getting a farm those days, but it's a pretty difficult proposition now. A young man today must pay flOO an acre to get his farm, and under the present conditions a man can't buy a farm on time and pay $100 an acre for it and pay for it from the products on that farm. Now, this gentleman takes the stand that farmers are not all workers. Some of them are not. Farms are higher than they ought to be in Nebraska. I rent my farm out for a third of the crop, and that return is not 6 per cent on the value of the land, most years it's only 3 or 4 per cent. I have borrowed lots of money from the banks and always been treated well by them. The trouble with farmers is that we have not been attending to our own business. We don't look after our interests at Lin- -coln during the sessions of the legislature as we should. You leave it to other folks to do and they are too busy taking care of their own business. You never see a session at Lincoln that the doctots and law- yers and business men are not down there fighting for their rights, but we farmers sit back and take whatever they hand us. A doctor can charge just what he wants to for his services; no law regulating that. Why? Because the doctors are smarter than we are, and they know enough to take care of their own business. I know there are men here today that have made lots of money on the farm, but I say that conditions are different today and that a young fellow starting out can't do as well as we did. I know that a man can make a profit on his farm if he's willing to get up at 4:00 o'clock and work in the field until dark, and then until midnight doing chores and work his wife and chil- dren to death, he can make money, but I don't believe in doing it that way. (Cheers.) I think we ought to have reasonable hours, say ten hours a day like any other laboring man, so we can have a little time for our families and to enjoy ourselves, but you can't do it on a farm and make a profit. Mr. Whitmore: Mr. President, as one who lives upon the land, I want to take Issue with some of the statements that have been made here, that a man can't make a profit on the farm, and I want to ask those here who are making a profit to hold up their hands. Now those who are not making a profit hold up your hands. Mr. President, it is just exactly as I ex- pected. It is ten to one, and it looks as though we were fairly prosperous, only we are not willing to admit it. I have lived in this part of the country for thirty-five years. I have seen hundreds of young men come into this state and start' in on nothing and have seen them pay for the farm and make money. We have made money. We are making money. Let's own up. Now the farmers of Nebraska are prosperous, and what are we crying about? We are doing well here in Nebraska. Only a few days ago a banker came to me and begged me to take some money from him at 5% per cent, and he was refusing business men In Omaha loans at 6 per cent at the same time. The banks have always been willing to loan the right kind of men on the farm cheaper than the business men in the city. I agree with what the brother from Dodge county said. If you have credit you can borrow from the bank without giving a mortgage. I have done it. I don't want to boast, but I want to tell you that there hasn't been a time in the last five years that I couldn't borrow money at 4 per cent without giving a mortgage. Mr. S. E. Koch: I would like to make myself known. I am from the western part of the state, I have enjoyed this discussion. I went to North Platte twenty years ago with sixty cents in my pocket. I am not here to boast of what I have done, but I own 2,400 acres of land, and I shipped in stock here this fall that topped the Omaha market. I think the way to make money in Nebraska is to raise stock, and not take your prod- uce off the farm; let it go back into the land. It seems to me that at this conven- tion we ought to take up and discuss the questions that will make our land more profitable; what it is best to raise and how best to get the most out of our farms. I think that is what we are all interested in. One gentleman brought up here the question of labor. I hire a good deal of labor on my farm and they work from 7:00 o'clock In the morning until 6:00 at night. They don't do any chores. I do that myself. I hire them for so many hours just as you would in some business in town, and I find It works out well, and I never have any HHIMIH ^H H ^^^^^^^kT*'^**! ._. :.„. >» -* / ,*<— ^^^^^^1 ^B^' " , _.'^' ■ :., J iS^ V The Chase Engine Does What No Other Engine Can Do It is efficient and economical at 1 H P. or maximum horse power or anything in between^instantly, by the operation of a single lever. TWO MODELS— Size 1-2 to 4 H. P.— Size J to 7 H. P. The mjst simple engine — the fewest working parts. All working parts enclosed free from grit and dirt, yet instantly accessible. Not lowest priced nor the highest priced, but the cheapest. WRITE TO THE Chase Manufacturing Company MASON CITY, IOWA If you investigate you'll have no other. THIS SPREADER IS Sun, Rust, Rot and Acid Proof— How? It has all galvanized metal box, even to bolts and rivets. The trucks are all metal— the best made truck under any spreader THE STRONGEST SRPEADER (heavy galvanized iron sills ) 'still, the lightest weight by 500 to 1,000 lbs. ' LOW DOWN but not to the point of sacrificing many essentials and the adding of the extra weight to do it. S^^T*^^!^,^**,"^^ ^°, °' 2«ater than any of the so-called 70 bu. machines. BOTH wheeb furnish traction. This is the lightest draft spreader made. You know why it is the longest-Iived. Tracks with a wagon— can drive it thru the barn door. Chase Manufacturing Company Goods That Satisfy MASON CITY, IOWA FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 43 trouble hiring help. If they work overtime I pay them extra. (Cheers.) Mr. Delano: Mr President — The Farmers' Industrial and Educational Union are in ses- sion at Fremont and the Nebraska State Grange at Calloway, and I move that a tele- gram of greeting be sent to the Grange. Delegate: I second the motion. Carried. Mr. Delano: Mr. President — I move that Vice-President Tannehill be sent to Fremont to invite the Farmers' Union to send a delegation to this Congress. Carried unanimously. Adjournment taken until 7:30 p.m. EVENING SESSION. Called to order at 7:30. President: The topics we have for dis- cussion tonight are those which were as- signed for this afternoon, the School and the Home. Perhaps there are no two things which are more vital to a successful rural life than these two institutions. You can not have things in the country as they ought to be unless you have the right type of a Home and the right type of a school. Wliat is being done in Nebraska in the rural communities is largely being done through the influence of these two insti- tutions, and as I look back over the years that have passed I think of those splendid pioneers who came to the state in the early day and developed it, and what they gave to us is largely because of the work they did, and what we enjoy is the heritage that came down to us from them. And I take great pleasure in presenting to you Mrs. Emma Reed Davisson of the University of Nebraska, who will speak to you upon the topic which has been assigned to her — "The Home First." THE HOME FIRST. History tells us that just before the close of the Civil War, Generals Grant and Lee were in camp with their men near Peters- burg. The men of the North and South be- came very friendly — would even call across the lines. They formed the habit of each giv- ing the other band concerts. For instance, the band of the South would play "Dixie" and "Maryland, My Maryland." Then the band of the North would play "The Star Spangled Banner" and " The Red, White, and Blue," and each would give the other respectful attention. But one day a happy thought struck the bandmaster of the North, and he asked his men to play "Home Sweet Home." Instantly every man of the North and every man of the South was on his feet with cap in his hand cheering for home. For home was something in which all were equally interested, regardless of whether he lived either north or south. Those of you who were so fortunate as to visit the World's Columbia Exposition a few years ago re- member a picture which hung in the art gallery. There were thousands of pictures there sent by the best artists from all over the world. But there was one which at- tracted more attention than any other. No matter when you visited the gallery you had to wait your turn to get near the canvas. The whole was a very simple pic- ture, one which artists tell us was not a good study from their standpoint because it told its story too plainly. It was the in- terior of a farm house kitchen. The stove, the table set with its colored cloth and heavy dishes, the kitchen chairs, the rag carpet, and the Collie dog, gave a natural touch; but it was the figures in the fore- ground which caught and held your attention — a mother and son. The lad stands with his bag in one hand, his cap in the other, looking down into his mother's face. Her hands, the hard work-worn hands, are on his shoulders as she looks into his eyes. Sad, sweet, true mother love writte(/ on her features. He, her son, is leaving home. The name on the picture Is "Breaking Home Ties," and your sympathy is instantly aroused because so serious a thing as the breaking of a home appeals to you. It matters not what you are interested in, your home is first. If it is not, you are to be pitied. To refer back again to history we are told that late in 1864 President Lincoln called a meeting of his cabinet. General Grant had asked for 300,000 more men. Per- haps the majority of the people felt that it was a useless thing to do, that the war would soon close anyway and that this was a needless slaughter. They did not under- stand the wonderful cleverness of that leader of the South, General Lee. But Pres- ident Lincoln did, and after this meet- ing of the cabinet it was decided to do as General Grant wished. President Lin- coln issued the call for more men to en- list. You all know the result; how in- stantly from all parts of the North, the East, and the West came the thrilling cry, "We are coming. Father Abraham, three hundred thousand strong, shouting the battle cry of freedom." These brave men gave us our Appomattox. The Union was preserved. This is all a matter of familiar history. We have heard it discussed from our earliest infancy. How we love to honor the brave men who answered this call, and to those who have answered the last bugle call we set aside a day when the whole Nation does honor to her soldier dead. And so it should be. They deserve all and more than we can give them. But all of the heroes of the Civil War were not on the battlefields. When the 300,000 men marched bravely to the front, almost as many women were left to mourn for husbands, fathers, brothers, sons, sweethearts. Do you think it took more bravery to follow the flag than it did to face life alone for the first time,' as many of these women did? And not only earn their own bread, but that for the children as well. Did you ever stop and think how much courage it must have taken for the women of refined home-loving instincts to face the world alone after entire dependence on some one? Strange, isn't it, that almost W. WHITTAKER M. A. KELLEY Shorthand Reporters and Examiners in Chancery Conventions, Law Reporting, Depositions. Reported the Nebraska Farmers' Congress, and Nebraska Live Stock & Qrain Shippers' Associ- ation for the last four years, and scores of other Nebraska conventions. 826-828 Brandeis Theatre Building OMAHA, NEBRASKA SPECIAL NOTICE THE ADVERTISERS in this report have shown their appreciation of the Congress in a substantial Way and their sympathy with the farmers and farming. In soliciting advertisements, only reliable advertisers have been admitted to our pages, and the patronage of our readers is requested when they have any business along the lines represented in the columns of this Year Book- IV. S. DELANO, Secretary Nebraska Farmers' Congress. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 45 nothing has been written or talked of from the women's side of this struggle? But no other condition in our country, be it what it may, so materially changed as that of the American woman. For the first time she was forced into the business world. She must succeed. She dared not fail, for the babies must be fed. Bravely, courageously, she met all these conditions, and wonder- ful success crowned her efforts. "Women have been peculiarly successful in busi- ness. Her natural tact and quick grasp of a situation have made her invaluable. She seems able to enter with success any pro- fession she chooses, from the police force where she is newly being tried, to the law, ministry, medicine, — in all these lines she has succeeded. It seems that the so-called "womanly touch," which seemed to denote a complete lack of business qualifications, has been her chief asset. This nameless something, which might almost be called a sixth sense, seems to be one of the things which has made her so valuable whereVer she has been employed. When we as a nation decided to build the Panama Canal, men were employed from all over the coun- try, but regardless of the money paid them they would not stay. Conditions became somewhat serious because of this. Wise men offered all kinds of solutions, but the men would not remain. Mr. Roosevelt, who was then President, decided to send a woman down to study conditions and get her viewpoint. She went, remained some time, returned, and in a committee meeting said that she did not blame any one for leaving, that conditions were simply un- bearable — men housed like animals, clothing never dry, no sanitation, mosquitoes, flies, vermin, absolute lack of home comforts, no schools, no social life, nothing. Why should they stay? She advised giving them all these things they lacked. The committee of men smiled, called it the "womanly touch," but acted on the suggestion. You know the result, that today the sanitary conditions of the isthmus are perhaps the best in the world, and there is no difficulty found in keeping men there. Along another line where women have succeeded so well is in finance. In London a group of women established a bank of their own. Men smiled. Here surely her lack of business training would show. All connected with this bank were women, the president, vice-president and board of direc- tors. .They cautiously and slowly worked their way and were very successful. Just now they are erecting a large new oflice building of their own, and even the men in the business world recognize this as one of the strongest banks in England. Down in New Jersey there is a woman who was forced to not only support herself but her husband and family. At first she was unable to decide what was best to do, but there seemed only one avenue open to her. Her husband had a small anvil factory, and it seemed that this was the only place she knew of where she could turn to earn her living. She visited the oflice one morn- ing and told the men that she was going to take charge of the factory and that she was going to learn how to make good anvils. The men smiled and at flrst did not feel inclined to stay with her, but she insisted that they stay and teach her how. In that little New Jersey factory it is said the best anvils in the world are put out. The United States Government will use no other for the work on the Panama Canal, and the only reason that there are not more in use is simply because she can not supply the demand. The nineteenth century gave to us as women and girls a wonderful gift. It gave to us the equal education with men. '' Up to that time if we wished to be educated above the common branches, we were com- pelled to go into what was then called "a female seminary." The girl of today who wishes to be educated may go into the uni- versity or college of her choice, with the exception of a few of the large eastern uni- versities, and there take any studies she wishes to take along with her brother or her men friends. But the twentieth century still has to prove that education does not mean ex- actly the same studies pursued along pre- cisely the same lines. It means that the girl with the domestic home-loving tastes is going to enter the college or university of her choice and take the studies she loves best along with the old so-called cultural branches, for the girl of today must be educated along all lines. To be cultured today her hands must show that she knows how to use them. But when she graduates she will be just as cultured a girl as her literary, her artistic, or her musical sister, This college woman, a product not quite a century old, is determined to do some real good with her education. So we find her doing all kinds of helpful things with her time and money. Some one recently said that women of wealth have done almost everything, from founding a theological seminary to build- ing hospitals for sick cats. She has made many mistakes, of course, but quick to see and act she has shown herself worthy of any place in the social or business world. What effect is it having on our home life? Fifty years ago, a woman who would stop and consider whether she should enter business and make it her life work or go into a home of her own was almost un- known. Now hundreds of girls when leaving the colleges and universities carefully con- sider this question each year. Is there any- thing surprising in the fact that a girl hesi- tates to go into a home of her own when the man of her choice has just about the same earning capacity she has, when she realizes the thousand duties she must take upon herself? For the duties of the house- wife, are much the same as fifty years ago. Women, so quick to see and help, seem strangely lacking in inventive or creative genius, and almost nothing has been done by them to simplify homekeeping. So far as the history of invention goes, we find 46 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS that men have forced women to give up the heavy stones for the mill, to use the loom, to accept the cook stove, and gite up the fireplace with its back-breaking cranes. They have taken from us the la- borious spinning and weaving, doing all quickly and deftly by machinery, simply worked. In fact, almost all modern con- veniences have come from men. Not un- til wise women saw that something must be done or the homes suffer was anything thought of to help conditions. At last all thinking women agree that housekeeping must be placed on an equal par with the other sciences, and these problems must in some way be worked out so as to dignify the housewife, to so simplify conditions that a girl will want to assume the position of home maker. Again, this college bred woman sees that she and her sisters them- selves must solve this great problem. Up to this time, eminent men have calmly analyzed us and told us their views concern- ing our brains, our mental standing, our moral standing, how much we amount to physically, have in fact told us what they think of us along all lines, until we have be- come accustomed to having our problems solved for us. Just now one of the crying questions, of the day is "Shall the women vote?" Dare she have the right? Is she fit for it? Long hours are being spent by wise men discussing this absorbing question. We are calmly awaiting their pleasure to find out if we are fit to vote. So perhaps we have unconsciously waited for them to solve our domestic problems for us, just from force of habit. Illustration: A prominent man recently said, "Hasn't the masculine mind invented dozens of things to help the feminine? Why doesn't she use them and keep still?" A woman recently remarked that it seemed to her that the "sanctity of the home" has centered mainly around the kitchen stove. The boys have fled from it with a speed which does credit to their in- telligence. Nor can they by any means be lured back to it. These boys act as if they are perfectly sure that Providence arranged all these things, and we have all been taught from our earliest infancy what hap- pens to the one who flies in the face of Providence. In the meantime social prob- lems of every order, born of the most gross ignorance and indifference press upon us and clamor for a solution. What are we going to do about it? The human animal, its ways, needs, rights, is being carefully studied. Men and women leave college in full possession of knowl- edge as to the interior structure of the frog, what food it demands, where it best thrives, etc., but as to themselves dyspepsia rules the professor and student alike. Air of absolute foulness is calmly consumed by both. How best to clothe the human body is still an un- solved problem. If you don't believe it look out of your window and see the scantily half- clad feminine, and the starched front, the rolled trousers and stiff hat of the mascu- line. The human feminine trusts that in- stinct will teach her how to care for her family, how to guide and nourish her young. Many people, both masculine and feminine, are perfectly sure that scientific cookery, sanitation, and all the rest is simply a fad fostered by a few cranks. *This human animal has subdued the earth, has bur- rowed far beneath its surface, has measured the ocean depths, has diligently striven until the poles have been reached, has explored the heavens with wonderful telescope until we know that we understand something of conditions concerning the heavenly bodies, has invented until thousands of miles mean but the ride of a few hours, has created lights which make us almost forget that wonderful thing darkness. Now we can talk from ocean to ocean. The tides of the Charles river at Boston are controlled by the pres- sing of an electric button. In workshops where steel castings are used the men work on tables where vacuum cleaners are in con- stant use, thus making easy one of the most dangerous of trades. Then why should it be so seemingly impossible for the housewife to press a button and have her floor cleaned, her dishes washed or any of the commonest, most plebeian of household duties per- formed by electricty? At least, we may use the many helpful things which are with- in our reach. We must not refuse to be helped just because we have formed the habit of thinking it impossible. Some still refuse to see that broader, happier lives will be lived when the house mother has so simplified her household duties as to be able to enter more into the life of the community with her husband and children. The average woman loves her home, she would not change it if she could. And just like all animals feminine, she would fight for her home and her young if necessary. The hunting, savage woman, still more animal than human, driven by the cold or rain, hunted for some warm, dry place, the shelter of a tree or rock, a cave, anything which would protect her baby. Bare earth, the glare of the sun, the snows of winter would do for her, but the baby must have something better. So began the cave dwell- ing era, then came the mud hut, then at last, out of the cave and hut and every make- shift or habitation, there grew that wonder of comfort — a home, of logs and boughs of trees at first; but with true feminine love of home she gradually added one comfort after another for her children, not for her- self, for the instinct of mother love has always been strong. And whatever comes to us as women it seems to me that normal women will desire to be first of all just home makers. The woman who cares for nothing but keeping the house clean fails In her duty as a wife, as a mother. She must share with her husband an interest in the topics of the day. She must see that the children's minds as well as their bodies are wisely trained. , A woman who works all day long, who never reads, who cares for nothing outside the four walls of home misses her most sacred calling. She is not a home maker, she is simply a FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 47 house keeper, usually too cross to approach by tea time. The woman who has no duties outside of her home is poorly equipped for the duties in it. She is constantly being called on because of her peculiar training to assist in many public and private under- takings, for home is incomplete unless it includes the idea of charity and hospitality. Home is the one place where we really re- lax and are free to act out our personal and Individual tastes, to be, in fact, just our- selves. Some one has truly said that we show our worst side only to the ones we love best. This may be true, for after all how much alike we are. We eat and sleep and hope and fear, are happy or sad, and love just the same. Today may be my day of sorrow, tomorrow yours. Women are to have hereafter a much larger part in the world than they have had in the past. Some of us may regret this but none can help it. They will hold many important positions and assume many re- sponsible duties which the women of the past never dreamed of, and society will demand of them efficiency. We have all seen with some degree of alarm the tendency today of herding together in departments or boarding houses, resulting in an almost total lack of home life. But it seems useless to be disturbed over con- ditions, because surely this same strong, wonderful capable, new type of girl will be capable of making home out of even these unpropitious surroundings. How greatly the type of womanly woman has changed. In the past the novelist painted her as beau- tiful, frail and clinging, with never an opinion of her own. For years the Dora Copperfield type, the "child wife" as Dickens called her, seemed the desirable kind. Can you imagine in any of the old so-called standard novels anything being painted like the girl of today? Imagine Jane Austen try- ing to weave a story around a Gibson girl. Perish the thought! This American girl of today is fully capable of caring for herself. Her hands are not lily white. Generally they are tanned and strong from the swinging of the golf stick or the tennis racket. She is not just what you would call a clinging vine, for she is quite inclined to have opinions of her own. The love of sport, the keen en- joyment of outdoors, combined with a broad and liberal education, a dependence upon herself, a love for the understanding of the conditions of the day, for the cultured girl today must be able to talk to her world along all lines, whether it be the Mexican condition, the President of China, single tax, or a grape juice dinner. All these conditions have combined to make her a wonderful product, strong physically and mentally, even nt to be the mother of the future American man, and we want her to be so trained that she will want to go into her own home, will want to take upon her- self this wonderful privilege of home making. Can't we each one do something to help to put home on a footing with the other progressive things of the day — help to do away with the old drudgery — make it more simple? Put this profession of house- keeping — for I use the word advisedly — housekeeping is a profession on a plane with the other professions — broaden the woman's sphere — let her understand that home making means an interest in any- thing which in q,ny way pertains to the home. It means a broader, happier life. To me there are many wonderful things in the world. It is such a wonderful thing to paint the picture I told you about a few moments ago. It's a wonderful thing to listen to some one play a piece of music, and while they play to be able to see and feel and hear the thing which the com- poser wished us to see and feel and hear. It's a wonderful thing to be able to write a story which will hold one almost breath- less by its beauty. Perhaps one of the most wonderful things is to be able to conceive a statue. Surely Daniel Chester French did a wonderful thing when he conceived the statue of Abraham Lincoln on the Capi- tol grounds at Lincoln. If you remember, a short time ago, the state of Nebraska and the city of Lincoln placed this statue at the west of the Capitol grounds. A wonderful thing. The figure is of bronze. Abraham Lincoln stands with his head bowed and his hands clasped with that sad, careworn look which we all know and love so well. Back of him is a large marble slab on which Is carved the Gettysburg Address. It is a wonderful statue. Art critics tell us that with one possible exception it is the best of Abraham Lincoln in the world, that one exception being the one by St. Gaudens in Lincoln Park, Chicago. It is such a won- derful thing to paint what I choose to call a word picture. James Whitcomb Riley has so many beautiful, simple pictures among his poems. The very simplicity of them is what appeals to us, because with it all the picture is so very plain. Such won- derful pictures of everyday life. But after all, dont you think that the most wonderful thing in the world is the woman who stays quietly in her own home, day after day, week after week, month after month, year In and year out? She washes and irons and bakes and scrubs, does the thousand things which come to the woman in the home. She takes care of the children when they are well, nurses them and loves them doubly when they are sick. She sees that they are ready to go to school and Sun-' day school, cares for them every day, sweetly, kindly, patiently, and oftentimes she is a woman who is capable of doing really wonderful things in the business world, but because of the love of some one she stays on in this home, and after a time she gives to the world some sturdy boys or some sturdy girls to become citi- zens of this, our wonderful country. A truly wonderful thing, the most wonderful thing in the world. In the best civilization we have known, the home has always been first. The home must be first, because as the 48 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS home is, so Is the nation. A nation can not be better than its citizens. Delegate: I would lilce this body to give a rising vote of thanks for this admirable address. Carried unanimously. Mr. Odell: Mr. President — I move the chair appoint a committee on resolutions to consist of five members at large of the dele- gates to the Congress, and to this committee be added from time to time one member of each of the organizations which may now or hereafter have representation during the session of the Congress. Carried. President: The next speaker is assigned the topic of tlie "Home and School." Miss Loomis is the head of our Domestic Science Department of the University. THE HOME AND THE SCHOOL. All of us gave our heartiest assent to the previous speaker when she said the home must come first among the institutions of society. We hear too often that tlie home is losing its hold, that the home no longer decides what the child shall be. Young people are leaving home earlier than they did a few generations ago. As soon as the average child is five or six years of age, nearly half of his waking time Is spent in school. Later on he may leave home for four or more years to attend high school or college. If he is not in school it does not follow that he is at home. It is claimed that the industrial world which we know today could not exist if it were not for the work of children. This is being disproved, but still tens of thousands of young people, not called children because they are over sixteen years of age, are drawn from homes in the country and small towns into the industrial life of the city. Even the young city worker who sleeps and eats a few hurried meals at home knows nothing of real home life; his ideals are not being moulded in the home, his ambitions are all in the other direction. It is folly to deplore the young people leaving home, for in many cases it is the natural thing to do under the circumstances. In the age of home industries, children worked with their parents in the task of obtaining the necessities of life from the raw materials about them. The boys helped to construct the rude implements with which they tilled the soil or cared for its products. The girls worked with their mothers in every step from the raising or gathering of raw material until the food and clothing of the family were provided. The results were not only the material things they fashioned but the training, the mould- ing of character and mutual understanding that came from working together for the common good. The young people who could do this work the best were the best fitted to start new homes for themselves. It is trite to speak of the industries leav- ing the home, and yet we are not fully con- scious of all this means and of the adapta- tion we must make to the changed condi- tions. There is still much home work to be done, but the young people are too fre- quently less interested In it than formerly. Many feel that this work will not help them when they "get out into the world where things are different." Some wise parents fortunately situated do hold the children at home and give their children the training which fits them for life, but many more can not do it. The work at home may seem drudgery, the world outside with its varied activities seems very interesting. Often it is most alluring to the ambitious young person who craves an outlet for his energy. Mr. George, the famous founder of the George Junior Repub- lic, welcomes the unmanageable boys and girls into his community. He believes that the energy that makes a boy incorrigible may make him a valuable citizen when this energy is rightly directed. Other young people leave home because they want a change, excitement, something interesting. The tragedy comes because they have never learned the lesson our ancestors knew so well — that each person must earn his way in this world except in rare cases where some one else has done it for him. The children from many homes go out unprepared into the world which is already overstocked with unskilled workers. Every- where the demand is for people who can do something well, people who can think, people who can see problems and can help to solve them. The only institution which can meet this demand is the school. That the school has not always done this work only means that teachers have not always realized what their work is. It is the tendency for all or- ganized institutions to remain as they are because change is difficult. This tendency and the pressure of overwork have united to keep school life much the same, while great changes have occurred in the world for which the school was preparing its stu- dents. Yale college was founded in the seventeenth century because our Puritan . forefathers felt the need of ministers. It is interesting to note that Yale has recently added a forestry school. The spirit of the college is still the same. It is preparing men to do the work which the world needs done. Today we have colleges to train the physician and the engineer, farmers as well as lawyers. Trade, technical and commer- cial schools are springing up to meet another part of a demand for skilled workers. However, there is a certain amount of education that every human being should have, irrespective or whether he is rich or poor, whether he has to make his living next year or whether some one else has already made it for him. Whether this education is given by the home, the school, or by life is not important. The school can give it most easily to the majority of chil- dren. There must be first the training that gives the student a knowledge of what the world has already thought and done; whether a man is a farmer or a law maker or both FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARM'bRS CONGRESS 49 combined, he will make fewer mistakes and be a more useful citizen the better he is able to interpret the experience of others. To schools is left the task of teaching read- ing_ That school fails which does not make reading an important factor in the lives of its students. A love of reading and a taste for the right kind can do more to inspire high ideals, to broaden one's interests than anything else. It is of growing importance where the temptations are multiplying to scan the headlines and read the best seller. The love of books must not be separated from the love of nature. There is no loneli- ness and no drudgery for the person who works with the things he loves In nature. If he knows enough of her laws to make him at least in part a master, master of the soil and its vegetation, of the great forces about him, so much the better for his hap- piness and his usefulness. All normal development of the mind Is associated with action in the body, interest is stimulated and learning Is more vital when it is carried over Into practice. It is well said that the race has learned by doing and the child must follow the same path. Activity is normal. This desire to do something may be made one of the most powerful factors in education. School au- thorities recognize this fact. New buildings now contain equipment for industrial work and are situated where space is available for playground and for gardens. The rural school has an unexcelled opportunity in this line. A rural school building was dedicated last week in Lancaster county. It is one of several such buildings being constructed now. It is a one-teacher school, but there is a work room apart from the remainder of the school room. Agriculture, normal training, domestic science, and domestic art will gradually be put into this school. While the school gives the child a love and understanding of nature, it can not neglect his health. In modern schools, prob- lems of light, heat, and ventilation are con- sidered of equal importance with the studies in the curriculum. The child in a good school has an excellent opportunity of developing a vigorous body. Above all else, the school must train the child to understand the society in which he lives. Civilized society is based on labor, both mental and physical. The best part of an education, whether acquired at home, in school, or in life, is the part that makes the person willing and anxious to do his share In the world, makes him capable of taking responsibility and, if need be, ready to sac- rifice himself intelligently for the good of others. . It sometimes seems as if we all conspired to make those we care for selfish and there- fore incapable of the highest enjoyments of life. Busy parents send their children to school and relieve them of all possible responsibility. In the schools, honesty and good grades may be so stressed that the child acquires the habit of selfish work. He must not help his neighbor because that Is ilshonest. He must work for himself alone. Honesty and individual work of good quality there must be, but this is not all. The greatest task of the school as of the home Is to teach the student to use his powers for the good of others, to teach self control, subordination of personal interests to the interest of the whole group. The team work in athletics may be the best education that ever came to an impulsive boy. Only that school is doing its work well whose students go home and out into the broader home of the community with greater interest in others and a desire to do something worth while. This influence may come indirectly from the spirit in the school, it may come from the inspiration of the people they have come to know and love in the study of literature or history, or it may come because their Industrial work has inspired them to attack new probelms. A student who has enjoyed doing some- thing that seems vital to him will see other opportunities for such work. When he finds these opportunities in the home, or on the farm, or in the community, there he will find his pleasure and wish to remain. This knitting together the interests of school and home and community is being worked out in many ways. Credit for home work in elementary schools has succeeded in some places. Grade children may have a cooperative problem which appeals to their sympathies, such as preparing clothing for the children in a foundling home. High school and college students have taken up the study of various local problems. A college student recently was working on 'a budget for clothing. She took the average wage of a worker in one of the best laun- dries in town. After deducting the price of the least expensive kind of a room and board, she found her problem extremely difficult. She appreciated what the girl told her of being forced to buy the cheapest kind of clothing with its excess of trimming. That college girl can never have a feeling of indifference toward a less fortunate worker nor will she condemn the lack of taste as she would have done previously. The study of science often makes the student appreciate the keen observation and intelligence of the people who have learned to do the thing which later is justified by a knowledge of science. Some of the laws of Moses might' have been written by a man who understands bacteriology and physiol- ogy. As the student sees the immense value which comes from a respect for these physi- cal laws, he is inspired to apply them still further in meeting the problems of today. A respect for the past, a belief in the value of present progress and a desire for further improvement is a good possession for any young person. The school that gives this training will have no difficulty in holding its students. If they must work for a living and are old enough for the law to allow it, they will come back to night school or take corre- spondence work or join boys' and girls' 50 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF- THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS clubs. They can not be kept away from this school work which they feel rightly to be vital. To such students, work is not the thing they enjoy getting done as op- posed to play which they enjoy doing. Work in the home and on the farm, in the church and in the community, work anywhere is a pleasure to those who can do it well and feel the need of its being done. The training of body, mind, and spirit, this sending healthy young people out into the world with keen visions of its prob- lems, with full development of all the ability .nature has given them, and above all with high ideals of service — this is the task which the school undertakes in connection with the home, and it is the accomplishment of its share of this task which alone justifies the place of the school in society. President: I am sure that we will all agree with the previous speaker that the home must come first. I note Mr. Delzell in the audience and we would like to hear from him. Mr. Delzell: Mr. Chairman — We have in the state of Nebraska about 12,000 teach- ers in round numbers. During each year we send out about 400 new teachers, and one- third of that number who go into our schools are girls from sixteen, seventeen, and eigh- teen years old, and they only stay in the rural school a short time. In the rural schools we have 3,000 teachers who have no more preparation than the eighth grade, we have another 1,000 that have gone into the ninth and tenth grades, and then about 3,000 teachers in our rural schools who have had twelfth grade work. We should have a better teaching force, and we can not have that until we require the pupils to have at least a twelfth grade graduation before they enter our schools. In Lancaster county there are two schools that have been built in the last year in ac- cordarice with just what this lady said in regard to sanitation, heating, etc. This schoolhouse looks more like a dwelling. It has an entrance hall, with a nice room for school work and a large auditorium and a full basement underneath. They are going to have a lecturer every two weeks on Fri- day evening. They have fifty children in that district, boys and girls who are to grow into good men and good women. I believe the farmers of Nebraska are ready to build such schools as those. (Applause.) Mr. Whitmore: Mr. President, there is an impression abroad in this state that when our boys and girls go from the farm to the University that they are beginning to drift away from the farm and the farm home. This may be true in some cases, but I want to assure that it is not the wish of the heads of the departments in the University that they do so. I am certain it is the wish of the Chancellor of the University and of the faculty in general than when the farm boys come to the University and take their University course that they return to the farm and to farm employment, and I beg of you, If the young men and women do drift away from the farm into the towns not to lay the blame upon the Chancellor, the Dean, and the Professors in the Uni- versity, for they tell them the very best thing for them to do is to get right back on the land. President: I am very glad that you called the attention of the meeting to that very phase, Mr. Whitmore, as I Intended to sug- gest it this afternoon. You know of my intense interest with regard to getting the boys and girls to stay on the land. I have been investigating this question year in and year out, and I want to tell you that the boys and girls being educated for agri- culture at the University of Nebraska, or the major portion of them, go back to the land. This is true. You have gotten back from the University some splendid material for this work upon the farms in this state, and you are going to get more of them as the years go by. I want to assure you that you are getting the cream of these young fellows we are educating down there. Delegate: Mr. President, I offer a mo- tion that a commitee of three be named by the President on amendments to our con- stitution. Carried. Adjournment taken at 10:50 p.m. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 9:30 a.m. Meeting called to order by President Coup- land. Prayer offered by Rev. T. J. Mackay. President Coupland announced the Com- mittee on Resolutions, Frank G. Odell, chair- man. Mr. Odell: It will be my endeavor as chairman of the Resolutions Committee to expedite the business of that committee and get the report before you as quickly as pos- sible. President Coupland: Gentlemen of the Congress — We will take up this morning the subject of the rural schools. The first speaker will be Mr. W. H. Campbell of Clarks. Mr. Ca;iipbell: This subject of rural schools is one that you all know is very close to my heart and I know that it is of interest to every man here this morning. I went to school two or three months in the winter time, and our teacher allowed and urged us to get busy with history in and out of school. We had our evening literary, where we met and discussed history. We delved into the great things of history, ge- ography, poetry, and literature. I was too poor to send my boys away and I didn't want to. I had the feeling that it was breaking up the home in a way, so they stayed with me. Then I went to the National Farmers' Congress at Columbus, Ohio, and it was the universal opinion of that body of 'men that we needed the higher education or more grades in our rural schools. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 51 This question is of nation-wide interest and importance. It grips close to our liearts because it affects the rural home, and every one of us here today is interested In the question. Tliey tell us that we can not teach higher education in the rural schools. Why not, gentlemen? Why must we be forced to leave the land in order to get higher edu- cation? Why can't we get the education and remain in the home upon the farm? Why must we go to the city to get higher edu- cation? Why have we not the right to de- mand higher education in the rural schools? Why should we not raise the standard of the country school as we have raised the stand- ard of farming in the last ten years? The school alone has stood still in the march of progress. (Cheers.) Whenever there is a demand for any- thing in this world, we American people find the way. But as Sir Horace Plunkett said here yesterday, the way will not be found until the American farmer rises up and de- mands it. I was at the state fair last fall, viewing premium cattle, and a boy eighteen or nine- teen was there with an exhibit of cattle that won the blue ribbon. He has remained upon the farm and raised those cattle. The judging class came through to look at the cattle and say which should have the pre- miums, and here was a neighbor boy in that class, — a boy who was the son of a merchant in the town, and he had gone to high school and then to the Agricultural College. He came through there judging- the cattle raised by this boy who had re- mained upon the land. I know that this boy from the farm thought a few things that afternoon because he could not enter his own College of Agriculture. Gentlemen, he could have driven his cattle with the blue ribbon right up to the door of the College of Agriculture but he could not have entered, and yet that boy who had left home and gotten the higher education could come and tell this boy from the farm whether his cattle were right or not, and he had never raised a calf in his life. (Cheers.) Why should the system bar the boys from the farm from the College of Agriculture, while his father and other men upon the farm pay 70 per cent of the taxes that support it? Why should this boy fail because of his lack of the chance and not because of his lack of intelligence? In the face of all this, gentlemen, do you wonder that the boys leave the farm? And do you wonder than the farmer looking on says, "My next boy shall leave when he needs more educa- tion"? Do you wonder that he says, "I shall not rob my next child. When he has learned all that he can I will take him to town and give him more education." And so he moves to town and leaves the farm. Do you blame him? No! (Cheers.) Delegate: Could you suggest a system %o replace what we now have? Mr Campbell: In the movement so far we have just been feeling out the public. In every movement that I have been able to find in history, the first thing you must do is to awaken the public mind to the need of it; to get the sympathy of the public. Then we want to find out the opinion of the public, what people think, what they want, what many men think would be best, and then we can work out a plan for the bet- terment of the rural school conditions. Men say to us that there are laws upon the statute books that provide for the con- solidation of the schools. We do not think that we are ready for that step now because of conditions. What we want is not so much consolidation, but putting higher grades in the schools, or central schools, where our children can go and get the higher grades, more than consolidation. That would probably come later. The com- missioner of education in the state of Ohio says that district schools can not consoli- date, that their aims are not the same in all districts, and that therefore the idea of district consolidation should be discouraged. Others say that we can not teach the higher grades in the rural schools. What we want, gentlemen, is interest awakened, sympathy for the idea, and when we have i-hat th,ere will be some plan that we can all enter into. We are just working it out; we don't know the exact plan ourselves yet. Mr. Wooster: I don't think there is any just ground for complaint against the rural schools. Not every one who attends the schools today wants to take the higher grades or would take them if they were within reach of them in their own country schools. And I think the higher education is now well within reach of those who want it or who can afford it. Well, now, if they want the higher grades, let them get them and pay for them, but it is unreason- able that we should establish schools teach-, ing the higher grades in every district, and then compel us to pay taxes to support such a school. We maintain the University At Lincoln without tuition, free to those to enter there, and that's enough. I don't think we should be expected to erect a high school and university in every rural district in the state. If Mr. Campbell wants the higher grades taught in his school, he can take it up with the school board, and I know of no law that will prevent the school board in any rural district teaching the higher grades if they want it and are willing to pay for it. They can make any contract with the teacher in their district that they want to if they want to pay the teacher for it, and it's their business; but I don't see any rea- son why it should be forced upon all the districts, whether they want it or not. Mr. Abbott of Richardson County: I have had some experience on this school ques- tion. I have lived on a farm in Nebraska since the year 1862. After my children got so they could not learn any more in the rural school they drove to town until they got to the twelfth grade. We have nine months of school in Falls City, and they get twelve grades there, and when they get their diploma we send them off to the University to finish up. I know that the 52 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS University is not witbin the reach of more than one boy out of 500, and still I don't believe in establishing a university in each township; but I do believe that the higher grades up to, say, the tenth, eleventh or twelfth, should be brought within the reach of the people who pay the taxes. What is the population of this state? Secretary Delano: A million and a quarter. Mr. Abbott: A million and a quarter, and 2,000 or 2,500 of that population go to the University, so that one out of every four or five hundred boys and girls gets to go to the University, and those who do never go back to the farm. (Cries of "that's right, that's right.) We can't of course, have the University brought to each township, but what, I would like to see is to have a central high school in every county in the state. I would bring these higher branches within reach of the common people who pay the taxes. It seems to me that we ought to have it, but you all know how it is with us farmers; we sit back and do nothing and let some banker come along and tell us what we want and how to get it. Shakespere, the greatest poet who ever lived, had only a common education; Robert Burns had only the ordinary common educa- tion. Arnold, Murdock, Patrick Henry, all quit school when they were mere boys. You all know the story of Abraham Lincoln and where his education came from, and Andrew Johnson's wife taught him his let- ters after they were married. They were the greatest men of their times. Richard T. Crane, of Chicago, one of the greatest and best business men who ever lived, said that of all the men he had in his employ, in his great mercantile establishment, the college and university graduates were the least ef- ficient. So you see that the greatest men did not come from the high school, or the university, or the colleges, but they were graduates, gentlemen from the school of ex- perience. But I think, despite all these facts, that we should have the higher grades taught in our rural schools. I object to paying all the taxes and not having any of the advantages that the taxation brings. President Coupland: Our friend Abbott has given us food for thought, gentlemen. Secretary Delano: Gentlemen, I think I can give you something along this line that you will find interesting The Nebraska Rural Life Commission found in complete statistics for seventy-two counties, 7,000 rural school districts without railroads, 1,800 school districts with railroads. In these 1,800 districts with railroads which include all the high schools of these seventy-two counties, the mill rate is 13.28, and in the 7,000 rural districts without railroads the mill rate 15.65 mills. Add $27 a year that you have to pay when you send your chil- dren to the town high school, and to that you can add what you contribute to the rail- road business, who give nothing to the support of your own schools. Mr. Brown: Mr. Chairman — It has been a matter of regret to me that I did not have a better opportunity in my youth to obtain more education. I had to earn my own way when I was a boy, and I had no chance for an education, and I have tried to see that my children had a better chance than their father had, and I only wish that I had had an opportunity in my own youth to get the education I have been able to give my own children. I don't think that we are asking or expect to get the high schools in the rural districts, but we do ask that certain of the higher grades be taught in our rural schools. I would think that two districts or the township, or perhaps two townships could go in together and build one central school that would teach at least as iriuch as the twelfth grade. I think that we should have that much and without any additional ex- pense, but we don't ask the district to build the high school; nobody ever thought of doing that. We want the children of our districts to get a better education and re- main longer at home with their parents than they can do under the present system. I have reared my own children, and their edu- cation is finished, but I want to help my neighbors give their children what mine should have had, the advantages of the school and still remain at home when they are at a tender age, and I am willing to bear my share. I am more than a thousand times willing to bear my share to see that my neighbor's children have the advantages in this respect that they should have. (Cheers.) Mr. Jensen: I want to ask the gentleman from Clarks a question. What is his plan for a rural school or a better rural school? What has he worked out? I am a farmer and I am not used to seeing so many intel- ligent farmers as have come here and talked this morning. What is the plan for a rural high school? I am interested and I want to be informed. Mr. Campbell: As I suggested a little while ago, I wanted to have a chance to put this matter up to you gentlemen here and see what you have to say. Mr. Jensen: I want to congratulate the men who have spoken here. I think we all ought to have the spirit of our friend Brown, who said that his children were grown up and yet he wanted to help educate his neigh- bors children (cheers), and I want to say I like that spirit, and when my children are educated, I too would be- perfectly willing to bear my share of the expense of bettering^ our system of schools to help my neighbor's children get an education. (Cheers.) There has been a good deal said here about professors. Now, I tell you, gentlemen, I think they are all well meaning, and all want to help us, but you know I'm a good deal like my friend who spoke a while ago. I think the practical farmer could probably tell them something. (Cheers.) They come up here and they make us a nice speech alright and tell us how to do it, but, fellows, if we don't do it ourselves, it won't be done. The college man comes and he makes us a nice speech. He has a nice plan and he tells us FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 53 about it, and they want to run our business for us, but I think we will be more successful if We do things for ourselves, and so I think that we ought to do something to Improve our rural schools, as Mr. Campbell has said, and I think we ought to do it for ourselves so that we can send our children to school and keep them with us until they are eighteen or twenty years old, and then if we want still more education for them, it's a good deal safer to send them away at that age than it is at twelve or fourteen. We seem to have all come to the same conclusion, and that Is that if does not pay to send our children to the town school when they are so young. They are away from us too long; nine months out of the year they go to town schools, and they form habits in town, and when they come back to the farm, country life and country work somehow don't look as it did when they went way. The cow yards are muddier than they remembered them, and they didn't remember that their clothes got that dirty before they went away to school. And so, they look around and get some job in town, and go back where they can wear a clean shirt all the time, and the farm loses them. (Cries of that's right, that's right.) Most of the young fellows who go to col- lege, as Mr. Wooster said, never came back. After a boy has been to college a year or two and comes back for the summer vacation, he don't take off his coat and get out in the hay or the harvest field. He gets some sort of a canvassing job to make a little money during the summer; he don't seem to take to farm work any more. In conclusion, I want to say that we all want the rural school. I want to tell you about the high school that we have at Lowell. We had a schoolhouse that had two rooms, so we put the high school in that. We could use that school for the rural high school and all we would have to pay for would be the books. We thought that would be fine, but when it came to a vote, we only had six or seven. But we went ahead and fixed up the schoolhouse and they said, "edu- cation is fine, but that won't do," and that we couldn't even find a place for the two teachers to board. They said it was too early, wait a little. But we said no, we'd go ahead, and if the teachers couldn't do any bet- ter they could go together and keep house. So we fixed the schoolhouse up, got our books and we have a high school out there that teaches the tenth grade. We divided our schools, and the first year taught the ninth grade, but this year we are teaching the tenth, and we're going along fine. Over In Buffalo county they had the same thing up, but they couldn't get enough interested to make it go, and now they pay us $27 tuition and send their children over to our school. They can drive to our school and get home at night. And it's Just like the gentleman said, you have to get them inter- ested, and then they will take to it. The school right close to us there wouldn't go in with us, and now they wish they had, and they are sending their children down to our school, too, and I know several of them have said they wished they had gone in with us, and built a school. Now if later on, 67 wants to go in with us, we can have a consolidated school. That's the way to do things. (Cheers.) Mr. Coupland: I think these few words have struck the keynote of the very vital questions that are before us in Nebraska. I am delighted to hear these words from the men who have been on the job; who have done something along the line of what we have been discussing this morning. This in- formation that Mr. Jensen has given us Is invaluable, and there is just one thought that I want to leave with you, it is necessary to get the people to do the thing themselves. (Cheers.) If there are any University pro- fessors here, just take that thought home with you. We have to get the folks doing things themselves. (Cheers.) Mr. Stull: While we are on the subject of rural schools, I want to say that the rural schools are falling no further short than the city schools. Our city school system is standing still. I have spent thirty-five years studying the situation and there is some- thing wrong with our city school system as well as with our rural system. There :s something wrong with our whole plan of education. In the old days, we had the pre- paratory schools to prepare a man for his life work; and then if he wanted to study law or medicine, the languages or literary work, he took work that would fit him or prepare him to enter that particular branch of the college, and he went into it with a fixed object in view. That was the old way, but nowadays boys enter the high school and the colleges and university without the least idea of what they are doing to do in life or whether what they are going to learn there will in any way fit them for their life work. I hold, gentlemen, that our rural schools and our city schools generally ought to be so im- proved, the course of study changed and so brought up to standard, that the boy or girl who goes there can learn something useful, something that will fit him to fill his place in life, and I contend that is what our schools are not doing now. (Cheers). The public school system is an institution for the benefit of the public, and the whole system was devised for the use of the public, that pays for it, and it ought to be for the benefit of the people who pay the taxes, and it ought to be teaching the right things, not the things that make iiseless idlers upon our streets, the fellow who will not work. The majority of the idlers upon our streets are men from the colleges and universities, and a few years ago there were something like a million tramps In the United States who were college graduates. Let us get some system that will set these men to work *hether we educate them or not. We have too many idlers. Let's try to get better schools but also let's try to get better boys and girls and better fathers and mothers. There's too much of an attitude in this coun try today to put a premium on idleness. Mr. Brown: I asked a question. It has 54 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS not been answered. I asked, "How is it that the child from infancy to three and a half years of age learns more than all the balance of its natural life?" My answer is, because the child unites the practical with the the- oretical. The mother unites without even knowing that she does it the theoretical with the practical; the child learns one thing at a time, but learns many things be- cause of the necessity, as we all know. Learn one thing at a time. A lifetime is not long enough to learn a score of things and learn them well. Mr. Campbell: If you will pardon me for talking again, the question has been asked, why we have not consolidated. I will say because the school system does not suit us. The liigh school system does not meet the needs of the farmers. What we do want, gentlemen, is the higher grades at home, so that we can teach our children at home and keep them longer with us, and not turn them away and under the influence of strangers while they are yet at a tender age. We have a right to insist, and our school direct- ors have a right to insist, that we have those higher grades at home. We do not have to keep the system because we have had it a long time; we are not like the Medes and Persians and our laws so fixed that we can not change the system. Mr. Champ: Mr. President — I was to have addressed you on a subject that I know you are much interested in, and that is the subject of cooperation, but I find that I must go home this afternoon. I have listened with much interest to this discussion. I am one of the men who helped lay the cor- nerstone of our University. When I came to Nebraska there were few schools and the men who built the University built it .at a great sacrifice. The first three years after that University was built it was filled with boys and girls from the rural districts of this state, and they made more progress, or rather that University made more progress in those three years than it has in the last forty years of its existence. During all that time, in my opinion, the University has not sent out as many brilliant men as it did the first three years of its existence. I think those three years will surpass the entire forty years. Poverty is the mother of inven- tion, and today there is too much of other things than the main business of life at wprk in that University. Our schools, gentlemen, are getting away from the paramount ques- tions or the questions that should be para- mount. In America we have a million tramps who are college graduates. Why? Because the education they got Is of no practical value and has no practical application. Why is it, gentlemen, that the first three years we sent our boys and girls to Lincoln, to that great University, founded by the pioneers of this state at a great sacrifice, they pro- gressed more than they do now, why? Be- cause there was no baseball then and no football and no great athletic games to take up their time and occupy their attention. And I want to say to you men here today — in your rural homes, teach your children, so that when they go down to our University they won't go with the Idea that football and baseball are the paramount Issues and an education. That's the place, gentlemen, to start the pupil right — in the home. You take the great journals today, published at Lin- coln and Omaha, and you cut out the pages devoted to football and baseball and you haven't anything left. Everything, gentle- men, seems to conspire against us in keep- ing our children to the main question in life; everything seems to be pulling them away to giddy amusements which are tear- ing down the American nation today. (Cheers.) You are the men who keep up this great school; you have a right to say what you want and you have a right to get what you want, to demand it; and you will get better schools in your country districts if you de- mand it. Get together and demand it and see that you get it. That brings us to the point — the crux of the situation ; what the farmers lack today is just this — organization. You come to a city and you see these mam- moth institutions of business, these fine buildings that occupy the corner lots, and you say, whence came they, how did they get them, and I tell you, it was by coopera- tion, by working together, and by doing away with competition. You show me a business man in Omaha today whose mind is taken up with baseball and football, and I will show you a dangerous business man. And yet you send your boy to a school and per- mit a school to exist whose main object is football and baseball. I wish I had longer to talk to you. I might show you the value of cooperation and organization. I am interested with two hundred farmers in Saving the city of Lin- coln $25 a day in money and in saving the farmers fifty cents on every hundred pounds of milk they sell. It's a creamery, coopera- tive, and a home institution. When I was in Ohio I went down to Post Defiance and saw that great dam they have builded there. I asked the contractor on that dam how he was progressing and he said to me, "Mr. Champ, I never put a dollar into it. I issued some bonds and went down to New York and sold them, and I have built this great dam, and my contracts pay me four million dollars in four years. After I get that four million dollars paid, I will draw a million every year then from the producers that I am lighting up." Mr. Vogletance: It seems to be the idea that it is the fault of the school system that so many of the boys and girls are leaving the farm ; but so far as my experience goes with the boys who have left the farm, in many cases it has been because their fathers did not have a quarter-section for them to work, and the father could not find work on the farm for the boys to do. Another thing I would like to say; some one spoke here and it seems he thinks they ought to teach the ninth and tenth grades in the county schools, and that would be alright too if it could be done. But I tell you, gentlemen, that the average school in the country is in such con- FOURTH ANNUAL, SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 55 ditioa that those two extra grades couldn't be taught unless you employed a second teacher and had another room added to your schools. The average parent is not satisfied unless his child recites four or five times a day; that would make thirty recitations a day for the country school teacher to hear. And then when you take out the time for sing- ing, the penmanship period, and the time for recess, the teacher has not the time to hear any more classes, granting that she has the education and ability to teach the higher grades. We have a number of schools in Colfax county that teach the ninth grade and some the tenth grade. The time for the recitation period in the high school is forty minutes. You can easily take a pen- cil and figure up how many pupils you have in your rural schools, the time for the sing- ing, and penmanship period, the time for re- cess, the number of classes, and you will find that in many cases your teachers do not have more than five minutes for recitations, and the average will not be more than ten, and you can then figure out how much time she would have to teach even the ninth grade in your schools. Mr. Campbell: Gentlemen, I would like to hear from more of you; you have the subject before you; it is your meeting. Which shall it be — the system or the child? Out yonder are the ninety-five that can not meet the system that can not go to school under the present system against the five who can. Do we want to say that children of twelve and fourteen must quit school and remain ignorant because we can not change the system? What is this system that its laws are as unalterable as those of theMedes and Persians that we can not change it? Every man here with children knows what I am trying to tell you. Oh if I only had the language to tell you that which is in my heart. Why should we put humanity be- low the system or why should the system come before humanity? Let us remeniber that our children should come before the system. We are the men who pay the taxes; let's change the system so that we can have our schools in the country what they should be for the education of the' children upon the farm. Mr. Yoder: I wonder if the gentleman is in the room who called attention to the fact that a letter was filed with our Governor which called attention to the matter of the districts that have railroads as against those who have none? I am wondering if it was his idea to have what we call the county unit, so there would not be a lack of uni- formity. Delegate: Mr. Delano has gone out, but his idea was that the districts that the rail- roads run through should help pay the taxes. Mr. Yoder: In the counties? Delegate: Yes, all over the state. Mr. Yoder: The only reason I mentioned it is because it is one of the things that has a bearing upon the county unit; it is one of the things that is going to come up and that we will hear a good deal about. I am very greatly interested in the rural school problem and I want to say that we have several rural schools in this county that are doing very high class work. In some of the country schools in this county the work is excellent, and the pupils progress as rapidly as they do in city schools. I think the county board could control the situation In a way to bring a higher quality of school work generally. I don't know whether they could or not, but it seems to me they could. My fellow superintendent, Mr. Vogletance, called attention to the fact that we wanted to be careful about taking too many grades of work for one teacher, and he is right. I know how that was myself, when I attended a rural school over in Iowa. If the teacher had thirty or forty pupils, a half dozen or a dozen of them would advance very rapidly, and the balance of them sat on the benches with their mouths wide open wasting their time. The point has been emphasized that this is the time when we must give every pupil a chance. These pupils get the credit for being the brightest pupils, when, as a matter of fact, they just had a little more courage and were not so bashful, and they had a better chance. And another thing I have found in the rural schools; primary pupils are often held in first grade two or three years because they did not happen to pass the first grade the first year, and the teacher took it for granted that they were not smart, and that they did not have the ability to progress, and the need of the pupils as individuals was lost sight of. And I have seen these teachers who would watch over and help the brightest pupil leaving the others with their feet dangling in their seats, and no chance to recite or to see what they could do. I would like to see the time when each child should be given the attention he should have; but to do that we must have a different system. We must have good rural schools for the rural people,- and the right kind of schools. Do you know that one-quarter of the amount of money tliat goes to the state for school purposes is divided for the rural school purposes, and nothing for the per capita distribution? What is the result? That each one of them gets just so much money. Delegate: Do you believe in the theory that all pupils are equal and it is a good thing to hold one scholar back for another? Mr. Yoder: Oh, no. . Delegate: What is your idea; to hold some of them back to benefit the others? Mr. Yoder: No, I don't want that. Mr. Coupland: I think the gentleman tried to convey the reverse of that. Mr. Yoder: I don't think all rural teachers do as much as they could to give individual attention to the children, and I know there are some children who are con- sidered backward and stupid who only need a little attention and help to do as well as any of them, but I certainly do believe that those who can learn rapidly and well should not be held back for a stupid child; but some- times they are considered stupid when they are not but only bashful; and I believe that 56 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS some plan should be had so that individual attention could be given to those pupils who need it. I think this is a vital point. I think high school districts might be made, that Is, a certain district would have a high school* for the pupils from several rural schools. But the first question is. Do we want to create these high school districts, and do we want the consolidation of ihe districts for the education of the pupils in the rural schools? And another point to con- sider, too, is the transportation of these pupils. Some way would have to be arranged for the transportation of the larger pupils to the central schools and still maintain your own rural or district school for the lower grades. Certainly if you have a cen- tral high school, there will have to be a way arranged to transport the pupils there, but that would be a problem that would be large- ly up to you men who live in the rural dis- ■ tricts. I tell you, gentlemen, I would consider this question one of the very important ones to be raised and thought over; just how you are going to transport these children twelve to fifteen years of age to and from this cen- tral school — you can not huddle them together — you have got to have them sent properly and with a man for driver who will be the right kind of a man. You have to have a decent man driving that wagon. Pos- sibly this does not appeal to you as a se- rious question, but I can assure you that it is a very serious one to me. You have to have a man who cares for the welfare of those children and not a man who thinks only of hauling them back and forth and realizes no moral responsibility in regard to those children. These are some of the questions that must be considered. Mr. Campbell: Let two districts go together if they choose, or three or four, so we get an arrangement so that these higher grades may be taught in our schools without t)eing compelled to send our children away so they can not remain under their father's roof. (Cheers.) Mr. Yodei*: I might say that in my judg- ment and in the judgment of Miss Lathrop and others who have the needs of the rural schools in mind and who are in close touch with conditions, we consider the point of transportation and of the matter of a cen- tral high school well raised in this meeting here today. Superintendent Collins, of Sarpy county: Superintendent Yoder said something about, the distribution of the primary funds. If the state appropriation were distributed ac- cording to the number of pupils living there- in, Douglas county and Lancaster county would have the advantage of the number of boys and girls under twenty-one years of age living in Omaha, South Omaha, and Lin- coin. One-fourth of this state appropriation now that goes to Douglas county gives them ?250 for each rural school and Sarpy county has $30 as against Douglas' $250 or $300, so that every one of you can see that to distrib- ute the state funds according to the number of children of school age in a county Is ab- solutely wrong. There are thousands of children in Douglas county of school age who are not going to school — not by a good deal. I think the state appropriation should be so apportioned that we could teach agri- culture and domestic science in the rural schools. Under the last law, three or four districts can go together and form a rural school or district high School, and teach the ninth and tenth grades or all the four high school grades, and most of the pupils will require no transportation. It would simply mean having a barn at the schoolhouse, and the different families could fix up a rig so that the boys and girls of their family could drive to school and keep the horse in the barn at the schoolhouse. I would like to see such a school, one where the ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grades of high school work can be taught, and also domestic science and agriculture. We can then teach our boys and girls at home. I disapprove absolutely of sending them to towns to the school. The conditions in some towns In our county and also in the towns of other counties is absolutely bad for the boys and girls that come from the country to go to school. Many of the farmers in our county say they will not send their boys to town to school because of the loafers and the conditions around the school, and I am frank to say that I do not blame them. Mr. Coupland: Gentlemen, I hesitate to close this discussion because it has been most eloquent, but we must adjourn for lunch. Adjournment taken until 1:30 p.m. AFTERNOON SESSION. Meeting called to order at 1:30 p.m. by President Coupland. Mr. Coupland: Gentlemen of the Con- gress, as you know, the program as arranged has been disarranged, and so we are going to take up the work just where we left off at the morning session. I think, gentlemen, we had a most interesting session this morn- ing. I feel that we have struck the keynote that we are getting right down to the crux of this most interesting problem, and the in- terest that has been manifested here this morning shows that it is a problem that is upon the minds and hearts of every one of us. At the meetings of organized agricul- ture at Lincoln last winter, there was a paper prepared upon this subject, and I con- fess I was astonished at the amount of in- terest that was manifested. There is no doubt that we have a serious problem ahead of us, in connection with our rural school system, and I think, while we may look at it from a different angle of vision, we are all agreed that we should have a change in the system. Men look at things differently and they get a different perspective from their own individual position in life, but when we all get together with only one object in view, nothing but good can come out of it and but one result can happen, and this will be to the best interests of all. I have been to FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 57 school myself this morning, gentlemen. I have sat here and listened and heard many- things that I did not know of, and it has all gladdened me as I was able to hear your different viewpoints. We are all Interested in educational affairs, and we all want to get what will be best for the greatest num- ber. I deem it a privilege to have presided over this meeting here today, and to listen to what you men who live In the country and are up against these problems think of the situation, and I am certain, knowing them as I do, that the professors and the men con- nected with the educational work in this state all want to join hands with you to get the best possible out of this educational machinery of the state of Nebraska. And, gentlemen, if what has been done in the past has not been for the best we are sorry for it, but surely all sincere men can join hands in trying to get out of the machinery in the future that which is best. THE RURAL SCHOOL AND THE COUNTRY HOME. H. C. Filley, Department of Farm Manage- ment, University of Nebraska. The rural school of today is not as im- portant a factor in community life as it has been in the past, and is not doing as effect- ive work as we have a right to expect. The reasons are many, and vary in dif- ferent communities. The most important reason for the decline in rural schools is In the teacher, altho she is an effect of a de- cline as well as a cause. Prior to the Civil War, the majority of rural teachers were men. Their knowledge of books was on the average doubtlessly less than that of the teachers of today. Excepting college stu- dents who were preparing for law, medicine, or the ministry, few had studied a science by laboratory methods or any foreign language. There were however, certain things that they knew, and chief among these were reading, writing, and arithmetic; second, they knew the life of the community in which they lived, and if occasion required could "make a hand" at any of the farm tasks. The custom of "boarding around," unpleasant as it was, gave them an acquaint- ance with every one in the district and a knowledge of the home life of the pupils. On the average they were more mature than the teachers of today, and therefore better fitted to be leaders among the young people of the community. Today we have the schoolma'am. At the best she is the product of a normal training high school, but too often a pupil who has failed to make good in high school work, and so decides to pass on her "knowledge" to some one else. Sometimes she does not know or care for the life of the community, but Is interested in spending as much of each week as possible in her home town. She seldom considers herself as really living where she teaches, and so we need not won- der that the school patrons do not consider her as one of themselves. She knows many things that she has learned in books, but Is not able to use a large part of her knowl- edge. She has studied geometry, but can not supplement the problems given in her arithmetic with problems of the home and field. She has studied Latin grammar, but is not apt to correct the common errors in English made by her pupils. She has passed an examination in chemistry, but too often can not apply her knowledge in working out a balanced ration or a balanced meal. She is usually young, and boys and girls of from sixteen to twenty do not wish to go to school to a teacher of about their own age. Formerly, practically all farm boys and girls attended school during the winter months until they were eighteen or twenty, now they quit at about fifteen unless they are graduated younger and enter some nearby high school. A rural school is not apt to become a social center when the majority of the pupils are under ten years of age, when the teacher spends as little time in the district as possible, and when the majority of the patrons do not have a speaking acquaintance with the teacher and never see the interior of the schoolhouse. The girl who goes out from a normal train- ing high school today is better equipped to teach than was the high school graduate of a few years ago. She has had something of methods and a review of the common branches. Unfortunately, a course in the elements of pedagogy and a review of the five essentials do not give her the country viewpoint. She is still apt to think that her Ideas, being city ideas, are just right, and that country ideas are of necessity wrong. The Chinese still ridicule the American women because of their large feet, and doubtless many country schoolma'.ams in Nebraska consider their landladies old- fashioned because they have not adopted the Bllt skirt. The city boy would laugh at his teacher if she attempted to board a street car from the left side, but the city girl in the country seldom concedes that she. should be expected to know a field of listed' corn from a sweet potato patch, or a mow- ing machine from a stalk cutter. Too often she seems proud of her ignorance, and the long suffering public seldom insists that she shall have a little common knowledge as well as a second grade certificate. Our state laws require that there shall be an institute held in each county for the benefit of the rural teachers. We would naturally expect that the city girls who have been trained in city schools by city teachers for twelve years ought to have the one week of instruction under men who have studied the rural problem and have the farmers' viewpoint. Do they? In ninety- five out of a hundred institutes they do not. It is another week of city methods under city superintendents aided possibly by im- ported primary talent from eastern schools. Do you wonder that many teachers object to attending Institute? The brightest boys and girls in the rural schools, those who some day will be leaders, 58 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS complete the eighth grade at thirteen or fourteen. They usually attend some nearby high school, and naturally the interests of the town pupils become their interests. Sending boys and girls of from thirteen to eighteen to a high school away from home is not always the best method of develop- ing studious habits and strong characters. In the lower grades a wholesome respect for the teacher aids some pupils in ac- quiring knowledge; in the University the most chronic sluffer must either do a fair amount of work or bid farewell to his fra- ternity brothers and go home "to help father." The maudlin sentimentality that attempts "to keep the boy in school at any cost" has had a bad effect on both the boy himself and upon the high school. His time outside of school, if we are to be- lieve current report, is too often taken up with society, joy rides, and his "sub rosa" fraternity. For the good of themselves and the school they ought to be at work, but the superintendent or principal who expels any considerable number of such undesirables, either for idleness or other cause, should usually hasten to write his resignation. The best place for any boy or girl of high school age to spend the night is under the home roof. The large numbers of parents who move to town "to educate the children" afford ample evidence that they realize the importance of keeping the children at home. Too often the move to town deprives the boys and girls of work; various amusements occupy the working hours, and school be- comes of secondary importance. It is fully as important that the hours of night before 12:00 o'clock be passed under the home roof as those that come later. Moving to town does not settle all educational problems. The home is a place of permanent abode. We do not consider a temporary location as a real home. We may live in a Pullman car for several days in crossing the conti- ent, may remain at a hotel or boarding house for weeks or months, and yet none of them is really at home. The star boarder can usually move on twenty-four hours' notice, and within ten days be as well content in some other boarding house. The man who rents a house seldom experiences the same feeling toward his home, his neighborhood, or his city as does the man who owns his dwelling and plot of ground. One man re- gards himself as a transient, ready to move at any time and cast his fortune with other men in a new location. The owner has a personal and a financial interest in the prog- ress of his neighbors. Their improvements add value to his holdings, while all share a common interest in the upbuilding of a community. Who are most interested in the Omaha public schools, the men who drifted here last year, and will ultimately drift to other cities, or the men who have been taxpayers for twenty years and hope to be for another twenty?' What part, think you, of the cost of the new home of the Lincoln commercial club was contributed by men whose income is derived from Oregon fruit lands or who expect to move to Boston to educate their children? During the past summer there was completed at Beatrice the finest high school athletic park to be found in the Missouri valley — the gift of several public spirited men. If you should visit Beatrice would you expect to find the donors of this park planning to move i\way, or would you find them prepared to live for many years in their home town? With the exception of a few ministers, teachers, and social workers, the men and women In any community who consider themselves per- manent residents are the men and women who make for the progress of that com- munity. This rule is as Inexorable in the country as in the city, and the exceptions are us few. The men who are interested in the upbuilding of the community are planning to stay, and the men who are planning to leave as soon as means will permit care little for the upbuilding of schools, social centers, or community life. The men of In- fluence in any rural community are not the men who came last March and will move again next spring. They are the men who have identified themselves with the com- munity for years, men who have made a suc- cess in life, and who are so well satified with life as they find it that they seldom talk of emigrating to Canada or raising oranges in California. Go to any town that you wish in eastern Nebraska and there you will find retired farmers, a large percentage of them still in the prime of life. The county seat towns have more than their proportionate share, but you will often find several in towns that are too small to incorporate. Among the reasons that are given for leaving the farm and moving to town none recurs more often than "to educate the children," "to lighten the work for the women folks," and for "social advantages." Rare indeed is the ex-farmer who admits that he retired either because of old age or a dislike of work. We may suppose, then, that if the rural schools were improved, if the farmer's wife and daughters could be relieved of much of their household drudgery, and if social life could be provided, that the farmers would stay on the farm. The most salient reason given by the farmer for moving to town, that of educating the children, has already been ilientioned. He is not forewarned that the city high school has been arranged to meet the de- mand of city children. The training it gives is valuable, but it is not the training that meets the demand of the rural student. Pew of our text-books have been written either by farmers or by men with the farm point of view. We know that many great men were born on a farm, but the idea is given us that they escaped from the farm as soon as possible. For example, I never fully realized that Washington was a farmer until I visited his old home at Mt. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 59 Vernon. He tired of living in town and re- tired to his farm. Today men are reversing that order. As long as the parents live in the country there is a chance that the boys will come back to the farm. When the parents remove the chance is slight, indeed. The young people who are most fit mentally, morally, and physically are being drained from the country communities. No stock- man would countenance such a policy in his herd. He knows too well the laws of nature. It would mean deterioration. The law does not stop with the lower animals. Like begets like. Our first essential in improving country life and the country school is to keep the leaders in the country. This in- cludes parents as well as children. The rural boy has a right to as good an education as his city cousin, and if he is to become a power in his community that edu- cation must be secured in the country. It can be secured neither in the city nor in the rural school of today. As has already been shown, the teachers of today are seldom fitted for rural school work with older pupils. In many instances they have too many classes to do full justice to their pupils. Fifteen pupils in eight grades require more effort on the part of the teacher than forty pupils in three grades. The country school is too small to stimu- late competition and to create enthusiasm. I can tell you from experience that being the only pupil in a class is a lonesome game. According to the reports on file at the oflSce of the State Superintendent there are about 6,600 rural school districts in the state with a school census of 133,377. This makes an average school census of nearly 21. It should be remembered that this in- cludes about 150 grade schools in villages where more than one teacher is employed. The average daily attendance in ungraded rural schools In Nebraska for 1911-1912 was only 12.4 pupils. There are in the state 1,037 school districts having a census of 10 or less. This means an average daily at- tendance of 5 or 6. How would you like to be a twelve-year-old boy in such a school? No baseball, no football, no dare base, not fiven enough boys of your age to play mum- ble peg or one old cat. What wonder that the boy leaves school? The one-room rural school has done a great work in America. Within its walls have been educated nearly all the soldiers, statesmen, and poets whom we call r;reat. Scores of the eminent educators, lawyers, and authors of the century just past seem to have been in turn, "Brisk wielder of the birch and rule, The master of the district school." It is one of our traditions, handed down through a half dozen generations, and when memory, backward turning, reveals to us the schoolmates of years ago, we live again the joys of other days, play deer ring in winter snow, townball in the spring, and hie away on summer days to the swimming hole down at the creek. For the time being we could almost excuse the shortcomings of the present because of the glamor of the past. There has always been a one-room school, therefore we must always have a one- room school. What else could we have? We are too inclined to take such things for granted, instead of hunting for some- thing better. A few years ago a young man who was writing special articles upon state institutions for McClure's. Magazine heard that the school for the deaf in Kansas was exceptionally well managed. As soon as possible he paid the school a visit, and found that it came up fully to his expectations. The young assistant superintendent who showed him about mentioned the weekly dance given for the pupils, and suggested that he might like to attend that evening. Certainly he would attend. The deaf stu- dents and the few visitors present seemed to be having a splendid time. The reporter soon noticed a young lady who danced with sylph-like grace. He asked the assistant superintendent if it were possible for him to dance with any of the pupils. "Certainly," was the answer, "No introduc- tion is necessary. Your being a guest is suflScient." So the reporter crossed the hall, bowed profoundly to the young lady and with fan- tastic gesture outlined the movement of the waltz. She smiled acquiesence, and soon they were gliding ovet the floor. Such a waltz! It was all too short. The second dance following found him again making known his wishes by motions. This waltz was even better than the first, and when it had ended the reporter knew he had done all that a young gentleman could do with pro- priety. He watched through the remainder of the evening, but when the band struck up "Home, Sweet Home," he found himself again gesticulating before the beautiful young lady, and again she smiled her answer. Just then across the floor came a late ar- rival, a young man with dashing manner and merry eye. "Well Mary," he said, "is the last waltz for me?" "Oh, I'm so sorry Will," she answered, "but I've promised to dance with this dummy." It does not pay to take too much for granted. There is, so far as I can see, but one solu- tion of the problem and that is the con- solidated rural school. That these have been a success is shown by their steady growth. Three-fourths of the states in the Union have adopted the plan more or less fully. In Indiana in 1909 there were 816 consolidated schools. In 1911 Iowa reported 60 consolidated schools; Minnesota, 130; Kansas, 75; Washington, 120; Oklahoma, 86; Virginia, 100; and Louisiana, 250. The first objection usually urged against consolidated rural schools is their cost. It is admitted that ordinarily a good school will cost more than a poor one. The real point is which school gives us the greatest re- 60 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS turns for the money expended? The fol- lowing expense items for district No. 11, Lancaster county, for the school year 1912- 13, is representative of the cost of a small school. Teacher — 9 months @ $50 $450.00 Fuel 31.55 Books 16.00 Hauling and incidentals 21.45 Total $519.10 Enrolled 8 Average daily attendance 6 Average yearly cost per pupil 86.50 Tax Levy — Mills 14.5 There are many schools in the state which have a • still higher cost per pupil. In dis- trict-No. 64, Lancaster county, last year the average cost was $135.35. The cost in the state for 1910-11, based on average daily attendance, was $36.14. The most expensive public schools in the United States are those schools which have an average daily attendance of less than ten pupils. According to Carney, "In schools having an average daily attendance of less than nine pupils, in Hardin county, Iowa, it was found, for example, that the annual per capita cost for each child in 1908 was $40.78. In Olmstead county, Minnesota, the cost per pupil in schools of the same type was $56.50. First grade country schools, that is, schools of the highest standard, in the same county averaged $32.85 per pupil annually. In the John Swaney Consolidated School in Illinois, on the other hand, the annual cost per pupil was but $27.16, and in forty-five typical con- solidated schools in various states the annual average cost per pupil was $33.83, a sum less than that of the nine pupil schools of Iowa and Minnesota." The fact that the cost per pupil was lower does not mean that taxes were lower. In- stead they were higher in many cases. The seeming discrepancy is accounted for by the fact that with the consolidated school more pupils attended school. It must be remembered that the sending of children away from home to attend school is an expense that would be elimi- nated with the consolidated school. In eastern Nebraska, school tax levies in rural districts average several mills lower than in villages and city districts. We have a considerable margin to expend be- fore we will be doing more proportionately for the country youth than is being done for the city youth. Instruction in the one-room rural school must as a general thing end with the eighth grade. Occasionally exceptional teachers in exceptional schools can give ninth grade work satisfactorily, but so far there has beeij so much complaint against the hurrying of pupils through the grammer grades that there has been little opportunity to consider the possibilities of advanced work. In consolidated schools, ten, eleven, or twelve grades may be taught, depending on the size of the school. This allows for more thorough work in the grades and for the introduction of agriculture, manual training, and domestic science in the high school. In eastern states it has been found possible to get a college trained man to take charge of such a school, and doubtless will be possible in Nebraska. Young men who attend such schools would take agricultural work at college, whereas now they study law, engineering, and Latin. The influence of a consolidated school upon the country home can hardly be over- estimated. First, it will end the townward movement in search of education. That will mean that many families who are now planning to leave the farm as soon as pos- sible will then be planning to remain. Their money will be spent on a country home instead of a city home. This in turn will mean more conveniences and consequently less work for the farmer's wife. A modern heating system, running water, sewerage, screened porches, and other conveniences are within the reach of nearly every farmer who retires. They cost money, but repay the cost in the labor saved. The outdoor arrangement of build- ings will be better when they are built for life instead of for a few years. The train- ing of the boys and girls in the rural high school will help solve many problems. I believe that we would find fewer farmsteads located at a considerable distance from the public road, fewer front yards utilized as gardens or calf pastures because they had been laid out on too extensive a scale, a greater use made of galvanized iron pipe and gravity in watering stock, and more attention paid to spraying fruit trees. The woman who must shoo chickens from her front porch or flower beds because her yard is untenced, who can not see the high- way because of distance or a growing wil- derness, or who must carry wood and water several rods is excusable for wishing to move to town. With the farm a permanent home and Johnhy studying methods of im- proving rural life instead of reading about the Gallic wars, we may expect better things. Perhaps it is because I have spent most of my life on a farm, and have seen just a little of village and city life too, that I have never been able to agree that everything of social life which is worth while is neces- sarily concentrated in town. I have had too good a time as a farm boy to believe that. The consolidated school should add a great deal to the social life of the country. It will be a common center for many families. There will be more young people in the neighborhood than under present conditions, as they will not need to go away to high school. The school functions will be of the country, not of the town. I do not believe that the day of spelling school and debating clubs is of the past — except when school ends with the eighth grade or fifteenth year. With the return of the lyceum there will be more discussion of live topics. If ques- tions relating to cooperative elevators, creameries, and shipping associations were discussed in every rural community in Ne- FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 61 braska, we would find the farmers taking other means to regulate the middleman than sending to a catalog mall order house. Neither would we need to go to Europe to find examples of rural credit organizations. The home and school are connected; you can not separate them. Improve the rural school, and it will react upon the home. It will keep more of our leaders on the farm where we need them. Mr. Campbell: Is it possible to so arrange the work of the eighth grade as to permit a pupil to do as you have outlined in that grade? Mr. Filley: Yes, if a teacher is on to her job. We have a splendid text-book in arith- metic in this state, but the average teacher goes over it with her pupil just enough to enable him to pass the examination so that he can enter high school. If she is the exceptional teacher, she gets him to measure the corn crib and granary at home and get the cubic contents of it. She teaches him the practical side of it; awakens his inter- est, and he learns, not just enough to en- able him to pass his examination, but some- thing that he will never forget. A gentle- man stated on the floor here this morn- ing that there were a million tramps in the United States who were college graduates. There are not a million college graduates in the United States and I know quite a number of them who are not tramps. The gentleman who made that statement was either misinformed or he knew he was making a misstatement of fact. The statement has been made here several times that the colleges and high schools turn out men who are unfit for any practical work. I take exception to that statement, and go on record as saying that I don't be- lieve a college education unfits a man for any work. There may be college men who are loafers and tramps; I am not denying that; but those men would have been loafers and tramps if they had never seen a college. I do not believe that a college edu- cation hurts any man, and, on the other hand, I believe that it benefits every man, A census was taken in the west and central part of New York along this line and I give it to you for what it is worth. They found that where a man had had high school train- ing, it increased his earning capacity along the several lines of work that they inves- tigated $300 a year over the man who did not have a high school education, and that those who had had university and college training averaged $300 over those who had only the high school training. I don't say how authentic these figures are, but they were taken in New York and covered quite a wide range of various occupations. I give them to you for what they are worth. Mr. Deck: Every county is different, and what will fit one county won't fit another. Now, where I live, they are mostly Swedes, and they raise good crops and lots of children; and another county will have lots of Germans, and so the school districts are different, but I know that some of the most prosperous farmers don't send , their children to school, and so you have -different rules to fit different conditions. Miss Edith Lathrop: Today has proved to me that the school question is one that is of very great importance to every one of you. And, gentlemen, it is one question in which we are all equally interested and upon which we can eventually agree, even though we do look at it as your president has said from a different angle of vision. I think we will all agree that the rural schools have not been keeping pace with the town schools. The town schools have grown, and they are offering better educational opportunities to the boy and girl than the rural school is offering, in proportion, to the boy arid girl upon the farm. In the first place the city has schools that provide education free right at the very doors of the boy and girl of the town, up to the tenth or twelfth grade, and, the country only teaches up to the eighth, and in some schools only up to the seventh grade. True, we have the loophole in the so-called free high schools. The high school deserves much credit; it has done wonders, but it has not done every- thing. I have for six years been supervising the schools of Clay county, and I have found the country people suffering for want of more high school education, for the high school grades; and the most pitiful thing is that many of the people do not care; they exhibit no interest in the subject. The country boy should have the same op- portunity as the city boy. We can not do it in one room where they are crowded if they hear six or seven grades. A gentleman spoke of two districts joining together. We must have some overhauling of our school laws before we are going to be able to solve these problems. We must have a readjust- ment of our state laws before we are going to be able to accomplish very much along this line. Our last legislature was over- whelmed with a flood of school laws, and the Governor appointed a commission to study the question, and they have asked the assistance of the people and the assistance of the Legislative Reference Bureau. This commission has had one meeting, and they have asked the people of Nebraska for suggestions. They have sent out 6,300 letters asking suggestions and cooneration. These letters have gone to individuals, to public organizations, and they want the co- operation of every citizen in Nebraska who is interested in this school question. I be- lieve that we should do something to help the rural schools, and they iieed more than anything else the cooperation of the farmers themselves. We must have cooperation be- cause we can not get along if the teachers fight the people, and the people fight back; we must all join hands and work for some- thing better for our rural schools in Ne- braska. (Cheers.) Mr. C. J. Carlson: I would like a defini- tion of education. We all want to advance in ability to do business, whether it be farming or other things. Now, in our part of the country, we have boys and girls who go away to school and keep going to school 62 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS until they become of age or nearly so, and now all the education I ever had was nine months in school. I have had to raise a family and support them. There are men whom I know who have gone to school until they were married and then couldn't support a family, and they don't know any more than I do or amount to half as much. For this reason I put this question to this big audience. I want a detlnition as to what education is. There must be something wrong. Before we consider changing the school system let's find out what the defini- tion of education is, and then if we can't get education out of our present system that will fit a man to earn his living and support his family, let's change the system. Richard Buccnold: I was the only voter in the district who attended ihe meetings for three years and we could do nothing. But I tliought the next meeting, I would do as they did in a political meeting that I at- tended once — there was no one there but my brother and me and we didn't have any meet- ing, but the next morning the paper came out and said we had a large and enthusias- tic meeting. I think it's more the parents' fault than the teachers' when the children don't learn. You want to give your children to understand that when they go to school they have to get down to business and dig for themselves if they ever expect to learn anything. Dean Burnett: I have not been fortu- nate enough to have heard all of this dis- cussion, but what I have heard has con- vinced me that what would be good for one school district would not be good for another school district. Still we must have some system which is applicable to the less advanced conditions or locations, and we must have some system which is applicable to the more advanced conditions in other districts. Until we can get some such sys- tem as this, we shall not be able to meet the needs of the varying rural communi- ties in our state. The statement has also been made that there is a continual widen- ing gap between the graded schools of the cities and the rural schools of the country, and that the progress has been more rapid in the cities and in the towns than it has been in the rural communities, so that as the needs of the town have become greater, the town school has adapted itself more or less to the needs of that community. As it has become apparent that separate schools are needed for students less advanced or for delinquent students, these schools have been organized to meet the needs of the retarded pupils in some places, and that is a prob- lem that the schools of the towns and cities are now working upon. It has become ap- parent that industrial education was essen- tial to the best growth of the cities and towns — to the best development of the pupils — and so industrial features have been added to the city schools and to many of the town schools as well, and while it may not be generally apparent, it is, in my opinion, nevertheless true, that all public schools are in need of it. There is no point at which the rural school is weaker than it is at this very point. So we have the question, the need of teaching the form of education which is applicable to the rural community. If the city schools progress year by year along these industrial lines, if the schools for the retarded or delinquent pupils in the cities and towns contribute to this progress, then we are driven to the conclusion that the difference between the city and country schools will increase, and whereas the city schools attempt to take care of the needs of its pupils, the inability of the country schools along this line is apparent, and it will be plain to be seen that the town and city school will continue to draw the boy and girl from the country school into the town schools so long as these conditions exist in the rural districts. As Professor Filley discussed with you, it seems to me that we have come to the point, in the more progressive communties at least, where the old one-room schoolhouse can not meet the situation. In meeting this situation you have to consider, of course, what your community will support. But surely what we are all interested in is the progress of agriculture — that which will build up the country — the farm and farm interests, and in this plan of progress and co- operation, we must not overlook the place that the rural school fills in that community. The facts are that the rural school is the foundation, or should be, of this upbuilding, and if you do not keep it up to meet the needs of the pupils, they will go to the towns to get their education and finally to the colleges where industrial education is now taught, and thereby is constituted the heaviest drain that the rural community can have, for you will have leaving your community the young man and the young woman who might be the most efficient. I believe that the rural communities should have the education there at home for these young men and women, and that also they should furnish the opportunity for them to enjoy themselves socially, and when you make conditions that will furnish a.ducation and social enjoyment and progress, you will keep your best boys and girls at home, and that will make for the progress and upbuild- ing of your homes, your farms, and the com- munity in general. I think, gentlemen, that the rural school is . at the bottom of the whole question. And we have to get away from the one-room school. You are not going to solve your problem so long as you permit this heavy drain upon the rural com- munity. You must find a plan that will per- mit of your boys and girls getting their education up to a certain point at least right there in the country. You must teach some- thing in your rural schools that will develop an interest in those things with which they are surrounded right in their own homes. You much teach them to be interested in the things that are done upon the land. You must teach them the things that will give them an interest in that land, so they will live upon it, and so they will be efficient and com- petent to build up efficient business in the FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 63 rural community; so they will be willing to stay in the country. But before you can do this, you will have to have cooperation along business lines and in a social way iilso. Delegate; As I understand it, it is the system that is at fault. We have this system established, It seems, and we can not change it unless we get other laws. As I understand It, we can not do the industrial work or change the grades as suggested by Dean Burnett. I think the time has gone by when most of us farmers, are satisfied with the three R's in our country schools. That's about all we used to have, with spelling included, but I think we are all dis- satisfied with that, but what I would like to know if there is not. some way that we could add. say, the eighth grade in our school, and then maybe the next year, when we had pupils enough to take the ninth grade work, to add the ninth grade work, and so progress that much until we can .get some change in our laws that will enable us to change the system, as every one seems to feel that the country school system is wrong. But there is one thing that I do feel, that is that a lot of folderol is taught nowadays that we don't need. For instance, I can't think of any reason for a farmer knowing Latin. I think English is .about all the language he needs for tilling the soil and to make him a good farmer and a good citizen, and so I think that the things that are taught might be changed, some things left out and some things added to the course of study. I believe in education thoroughly, and I don't think it's enough i^or a man to just know enough to do the best farming and the best for his soil; 1 think he needs education and I'd like to have It. I'd like to know more about history and gov- ernment and politics and literature, and I believe in teaching just as high grades as we can in our country school; but I don't believe that Latin and Greek do any- good, ' and I think that could be cut out and more im- portant things added. President Coupland: I would like to crave the indulgence of the Congress for a few minutes. I have listened with great in- terest to this discussion, and we appreciate the vital questions that relate to our agri- cultural life in Nebraska. Last night our friend from the Emerald Isle suggested that the widening of the gap between the city and the country schools was that the city has counter' attractions to offer to what exists in the country. I have always wanted to live in the country. I should not want to live anywhere else. I guess it's inherited; that my ancestors had it before me — I have always wanted to stay by the land; to live upon it. I like to live In the country; to en- joy the things of the country. But to live in the country and to enjoy the things of the country, you must surely be in tune with it. (Cheers.) I am a fervent believer in that theory, and that as you get in tune with the things of the country you will have an ever- increasing ability to enjoy the things of the country. And I am very sure as an observer that in order to have an increasing ability to enjoy the things of the country, you must have it augmented day by day, month by month, and year by year, by a system of education in the home, and I believe that any influences that come into the country that tend to sever this golden cord are det-, rimental to the life of the country. I be- lieve the things that are vital to the life of the nation are to be found in the country and if you sever the golden cord that binds us to this country life, that is the worst thing that can possibly happen to us. I have been studying this question of the rural home and the rural school for the last three or four years particularly, and I am con- vinced of the necessity of keeping unim- paired that love of the country that is born with the child upon the farm. The country could exist without the city, but the national life and the life of the cities depend upon the things of the country. It is not right or nat- ural for human beings to love the glare and glamor of the cities, because it does not feed the deep needs of our nature. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I hope that before this Con- gress adjourns, you will do something that will indicate that you have awakened to the situation and that you have an intense de- termination to stem the tide that is flowing into these urban centers from the country. But 1 want to say just this to our friends who seem to fear that the boys that go to the Agricultural College down at the Univer- sity are being stolen from the farm, that I have been watching this thing; I have .given it the best thought that I have. I have tried to build up this idea of higher education for the farm boy and girl, but if I thought it was taking them from the land, I would not be for it. But I don't believe that it does because I know of so many boys who have gone down to Lincoln and taken that agricultural course that you have been supporting by your taxes, and the greater number of them have gone back and are now upon the land. I know that out In the part of the country where I live, we have sent down to Dean Burnett as large a quota as any part of the state, and I only know of one of these boys who has gone away, and I met him the other day in the city of Wash- ington in the Department of Agriculture, trying to do what he can to help us solve these problems. My neighbor's boys have gone to the Agricultural School and have come back to the land. I want you to have faith in this institution that you have placed down at Lincoln. It is going to give you the best dividend upon the money you have put into it and be the best investment you have ever made. This state, through it, is going to get back to the prairies the ability that will help to swell the increasing personal intelligence that is only to be found upon the land. Mr. Deck: Let us try to strike the key- note of this proposition. Man is born into this world not of his own free will, nor are all men born with the same capacities and capabilities. Education is a necessity and agriculture is the foundation of all else. Men in this world seek tor happiness, and 64 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS when you go to work and rob him of that, he revolts and turns to the cities, and when you provide none of this in the country for your boys and girls, they turn to the high schools of the towns and the cities. What we want to teach them is how to produce more. Farming is a business the same as any other business, and farmers want a profit, and the boy today on the farm wants to make something out of his farming, or he goes to town and gets some job where he can make something. What we want is to teach them how to produce more, and then how to distribute it to the best advantage after they have produced it. I want to get right down to the real things. I love educa- tion. I wish I had more of it. I feel the . lack of it, although one of the chancellors of our University told me that I was not ignor- ant, and that was Chancellor Canfleld, but I wish I had more of it. I know what I lack. Chancellor Andrews told me that after I had listened to one of the best talks that ever fell from mortal tongue that he made to us. We want to get down to the fundamental things and find out what we want, and 1 see no reason why the farmers should not have whatever kind of a school- house they want in the country. We men who produce pay for all the schoolhouses and for all the professors, but when you make us laws that rob us of what we pro- duce, I protest against it. Mr. Harrison; What we want to do is to get down to the meat in the cocoanut. We are all honest. We are all driving to the same point, but some of us are taking the longest road to get to it. I want the best things that we can possibly have for our country school, and I know that we all want the same thing. The reason the town schools are better than the country schools Is because the men of brain and ingenuity who build these skyscrapers and who con- duct these mammoth business enterprises demand and get better schools for their children. I listened with great interest to what the gentleman from Kearney county told us about his school. Gentlemen, let us have the township high school or central school for a beginner, but let us start and get some- where as fast as we can. We have the lyceum bureau out In our part of the coun- try, and we hire the best talent we can get to afford us the best food for thought. My brother from Saunders county has education, but he acquired It in the school of hard knocks, and I know that the majority of us fellows here got It In the same school. Let us center our interest around the rural school. Let us do something, too. In the way of more entertainment and more social life in the country; let us do the best we can to build up our rural communities. I think as much of the University at Lincoln as any man, but I know of men who have sent their boys down there to school and they came back fools. Education at that price costs too much. Let us keep our boys at home and our girls at home and give them good schools there and some social life so they will want to stay there. When my boys are at home, I feel secure about them. We tax ourselves 27 mills and carry on one of the best schools In Nebraska In our district, and it's cheap at that. Our neighboring dis- trict has no school at all, and they send to our school and pay tor It. They have just two pupils. That is a calamity. The state law ought to be changed, but until It Is changed, I don't think we can get very far. We are good American citizens, and we obey the law. We must have some law for theft and murder and we must obey the law that affects our schools the same as we obey the law for theft and murder. (Cheers.) Mr. Tibbies: 1 want to say first that the rural schools must be founded on sound eco- nomic principles. When you go outside the principles of sound political economy you go to ruin; second, that the rural schools have presented to them and the rural population generally the wrong idea. You think that a man who is educated for a certain position occupies a higher position than the man who farms, and your boy gets that same notion Into his head, and so when he goes away to school, he takes the course for one of the professions or goes in for literature. Let us understand that the highest position man can attain in the United States today Is that of the scientific farmer. The scientific farmer must be educated in a half dozen dif- ferent directions, while the doctor or law- yer or preacher needs but one. He must be educated in the great fundamental questions of plant growth and plant life, and he Is head and shoulders above any lawyer or doctor that ever lived. Now, you instill that idea into the heads of the boys and girls in che rural districts and you will build up our rural community. But as long as the idea pre- vails that the man who lives in the city and sells goods is of a higher class than the man who lives in Jthe country and raises wheat, your rural population will continue to de- crease. If we could teach the boys the fundamental principles of agriculture In the rural schools today. It would be a great achievement, gentlemen, but you will have to remodel your system and your laws in order to do It. (Cheers.) Mrs. Johnson, of Douglas county: I have never spoken In public before in my life, and I don't know that I can say a word, but this is a subject that touches me very deeply. I have sent my children at the age of thir- teen away to the town high school, and then have them coma home dissatisfied with coun- try life. But the foundation for this dis- content was not laid in the town school, it was laid by the teacher from the town that we hired to teach our country school. Your school board hire some little snip or a girl from the town, who knows nothing about country life, and has no love for It, and nothing but contempt for It, and she comes among us and hurries back to town on Fri- day night to stay until Monday morning; and it is that girl that sows the seed of dis- content with farm living in the minds of our boys and girls. I speak of this because FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 65 I have suffered so much in my own home because of it. President Coupland: This is like a good old-fashioned Methodist love feast. Mr. Davis, Sheridan county: I thought possibly you might forget us up in our part of the country, and I would get up to say just a few words so you wouldn't forget. I have been school director in our district for twenty years. We have large country schools out there, because we have large families. I have thirteen children myself so you see I furnish most of the pupils. (Cheers.) And it seems to me that these children, when I need them most and miss them most, and that is between the ages of fourteen and twenty, are compelled to be away from me on account of this school question. That is the age when they have to leave us in order to get more schooling. I have sent three out already. They are now married and doing for themselves, and I have no com- plaint to make of the schools themselves, but I hate to have children leave me at that age. It seems to me that I would rather hire a teacher proficient to teach up to the twelfth grade and pay her out of my own pocket than to send them away at that age. I have no complaint to make myself for I have been lucky. I have noticed my neighbor's chil- dren, when sent away to the town schools, about two-thirds of them stay in town, and they are lost to the farm. If we could get some system so that we could educate our boys and girls and keep them at home until they are nineteen or twenty years of age, they are then better fitted to go into the cities and towns than they are at the earlier age. And they are then far enough advanced to go into the cities and take up the courses to fit them for some of the professions if they choose that sort of a life, and they are also better able to judge then what they want to do for a life work than they are at the age of fourteen or fifteen. Superintendent Collins: In regard to the question of revision of our present school laws, I think it would be a grand thing to have a representative from this great body of educated men upon a commission for the revision of the laws governing the rural schools. It has been the system in the past that has kept the rural school from making the progress that it should, and you want that changed. In the past you farmers have been too busy at home to take any interest in legislative matters, and you have sat back and said nothing and taken whatever was dished out to you. I realize that you have been too busily engaged in farming to take any active part in making the Jaws pertaining to your own interests. You know there has been such a commission appointed, and I want to tell you, gentlemen, that I be- lieve as farmers you should take some in- terest in these things and know what that commission is doing and be represented on it, and not sit quietly back and let that com- mission be dominated by a particular few. Rev Jones: I am a farmer as well as a preacher, and I tell you, gentlemen, we can't send all the boys back to the farm ; we must have some for preachers ; they make the best preachers. We must have some of them for teachers. They make the best teachers. Let us get the idea in the mind of the boy on the farm that the man in the professor's chair, in the pulpit, or behind the counter is not in any way superior or better or of higher or better grade than the man who tills the soil that God has made rich and pro- ductive and feeds us all. (Cheers.) Mr. Whltmore: I think you ought to dis- abuse your minds, men, of the idea that going down to Lincoln to that splendid University of ours, or to the State Farm is going to wean the boy away from you or away from the land. Years ago Chancellor Andrews began telling the boys to go back to the farms when they had finished their education. He has not written a book "The Call of the Land" in which he gives reasons why the boys should go back. Chancellor Avery is of the same mind and Dean Burnett also. Now these are facts, gentlemen, and if your boys don't go back to the land, whose fault is it? It is not the fault of the people down there at Lincoln, I can tell you. It is gen- erally because the boys themselves do not want to come back, have chosen some other business or profession, or the fault of the parents themselves. There is no influence at work at Lincoln to keep them away from the land. Mr. Hoye, Cuming county: We have had a great deal of talk here, but it has been wide of the mark of the main question before the house. I think we should have a resolu- tion or something of the kind here that our legislative committee take some action on this rural school question. I think the next session of the legislature should take some action in regard to this school law, or leave it to that committee to work out some plan, but I think we surely ought to take some action here today. Mr. Junkin: I was not here at the morn- ing's discussion or at least to all of it, and I am somewhat mixed as to what has gone before, but it seems to be the idea of some of those present that the high school and the University aid or help keep the boys from going back to the farm. Now, I don't believe that is true. Mr. Campbell: I was the one who made that statement, but I want to say that it does not include the Agricultural College, but we want to build up the rural school so that our boys can go direct from the rural school with the proper credits to the Agricul- tural School. Mr. Junkin: I am a farmer. I live upon the land. I have three boys who have gone through the Agricultural College and I want to say that I am heartily in favor of in- creasing the efficiency of the rural schools. I would be glad to see them as Mr. Campbell has said, so that our boys could go direct from them to the State Farm at Lincoln. I think we should do all we can to keep the boys upon the farm, but it is unreasonable to suppose they will all stay there. Some boys will prefer some other way of earning their living, and that is matter for their 66 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS own choice, but as Mr. Whitmore has said, we should try to influence them to stay with the land and then leave it to them. You can't afford to influence them too strongly, though, if they prefer to be a lawyer or a doctor. I find that the majority of the boys who leave the farm do it because of certain conditions that exist upon the farm and it is generally the farmer's own fault. And there are a lot of farms in this state so run down that you can not blame the boys, and it is the farmer himself who is to blame. I believe if conditions were as they should be that the average boy would stay upon the land. I had no trouble in getting my boys back to the farm. I asked them when they finished school at Lincoln if they wanted still higher education, and they said "Why, no, we want to go back to the farm." It is an individual problem in most cases. It seems to me, to be solved between you and your boy. So far as education is concerned, I think we have some splendid educators in this state, and I know that the Chancellor of the Uni- versity knows more about education than we do. If I want the services of an attorney, I go to a good one. If I want a good job of blacksmithing done, I go to a good black- smith. If you have a lawsuit, you have to leave it in the hands of your lawyer — the man who knows what to do — and I believe the teachers know more about the school question than you and I do. If we would lend assistance to the teachers we would get better service from them. You hire a girl to teach your rural school from seventeen to twenty years of age, and of course you can't expect her to have expe- rience and have the judgment of an older head, and if you want to make suggestions to her about the school, why don't you go to her and make your recommendations? She will take it in good part and thank you for it. You have had experience, practical experience, why don't you make suggestions to these little girls who teach your school, instead of criticizing them because your boy or girl does not learn as much in that school as you think she should. Mr. Kurl, of Burt county: I have listened to the talk here about the con- solidation of the rural schools. I think that would be a good thing. I think it might be a fine thing to have a central high school or a district high school. A boy does better in a school of a hundred than he does in a school of twenty-five. Contact with the other boys fits him better to receive the education. Form your schools, hire the teachers, and carry it on yourself if you have to. It will be cheap education for you then. I would like to see a vote taken on this proposition by this splendid audience, so that we might know just where you all stand. I would like to know what every man thinks on this prop- osition of having a township or rural dis- trict school. Now, gentlemen, you all know that the law of this state does not define fraud for the reason that frauds are so various and dif- ferent that if it defined fraud some smart fel- low would come along with a scheme for de- frauding that would not come within the def- inition of the law, and I think that education is just the same way. I agree with the gentleman who spoke and said there were too many subjects being taught in schools nowadays, and none of them thoroughly enough. A boy should study something that will have some bearing upon his life. If he is going into some office in the town or city, he wants shorthand and typewriting and bookkeeping; something that will fit him for his work; he's not likely to have any need of Latin or Greek. We want an elastic course of study so that it can be made to fit the needs of the pupils according to what they are going to do in life. Then I believe that what they learn should be incased in less difficult language that the old text-book contains. You know some of the jaw-breaking things we learned in the old school, and I doubt If any of us can remember them today. Now, gentlemen, coming back to the ques- tion of the definition of education, I believe that the universities have defined education wrongly, I don't know. I have not looked at the entrance requirement of our Univer- sity for a long time, but I think foreign lan- guage is there, and I think there's as much ti learn in the English language as any one has the capicity for (cheers), and that alone should be taught. I think about the most important thing that could be done in our schools today is to make up a new curriculum. We want to throw out some of the old unnecessary stuff that is taught and put in some of the new vital things that we are not teaching at the present time. Now on this matter of defini- tion we have a farmer in Burt county whom I envy very greatly. He is one of the best farmers in the country. He had just thirteen months of schooling, but he is one of the best educated men I know, and if I had my way about it, I would make every farm boy serve an apprenticeship under a man such as he is (cheers). What is education, any- way? What we grasp with our senses and what we see with our eyes. And anything that trains your eyes and sharpens your senses is education. This farmer in Burt county is the best farmer I know, and he only had thirteen months of schooling. Mr. Coupland: I could not help but think of the definition of education that Is given by George McDonald of Scotland. He says, "Life intelligently met and honestly passed is the best education of all." Supt. Vogltance: I just thought of the definition of William Haverly Smith; he says, "An educated man is a man who is on his job." We have heard a good deal here about the inefficiency of the rural schools. I find that the average of the eighth grade pupils in the city school — they are younger than in the country — about eleven or twelve years of age, and I think too young. Their ex- aminations are not up to those of the chil- dren in the rural schools who do not finish the eighth grade until they are thirteen or fourteen, and I think that is more as it should be. Last year the pupil who received FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 67 first honors in our own school was a pupil from the country, and that is true generally in the schools of Schuyler, Howells, Clark- son, and Leigh — the best pupils, those who do the best work, and get the highest cred- its are those who have taken the first eight grades in the country schools. Dean Burnett: I want to crave your in- dulgence for a second hearing in order to define the different classes of work done in the University. We have in agriculture two classes of work, the first and second course, and any girl or boy of sixteen or over who has finished the eighth grade work is eligible. We take these pupils as they are taken into the high school after completing the eighth grade work without any foreign languages or higher mathe- matics. These pupils are given a four-years course. It is largely agriculture with some mathematics, history and English, and some industrial work which is not agriculture. Upon graduation at the end of the four years, they can go back to the land, and most of them do, or 90 per cent of them do as our records show. Of the young women who enter our department of the University a large number of them go back to the country and teach in the rural schools. In addition to that, we have the second course there that requires the same entrance as to the University, that is, some credits in the languages and the same entrance require- ment as to the University proper. Some of the members of the faculty would be willing to modify that requirement somewhat, but up to the present time it has seemed wise to the faculty and those in authority at the University generally to allow it to stand. In the Agricultural College those pupils are taught that which is most closely related to the life that they are to live upon the land. Now, I am well aware that in years gone by, agricultural schools and colleges have fur- nished but little of the population that have gone back to the farm, but this condition has changed in the last decade, until now you will find in every farming community men who have gone back to the farm from the agricultural schools to be an asset upon that farm and in that community, and we have no higher ambition in the Nebraska School of Agriculture than to educate these young men and women in the essentials re- lating to the country in which they grew up with the hope and expectation that they will go back and live upon the land, and I be- lieve that the history of our institution jus- tifies us in that belief. Mr. Campbell: I want to say, gentlemen, that I feel well repaid for whatever effort I have made along the line of this rural school question. This is the happiest day of my life. I know that you are all inter- ested in this question. I know that you are all good men. I have faith in humanity and you men are only a sample of the men all over the state. I knew if it was put in your hands, it would be handled right. Until Longfellow revived it in poem, the ride of Paul Revere was forgotten, but that did not matter— he had spread the spirit of inde- pendence, and so with us today, gentlemen, scatter the thoughts and the ideas that have been brought out here, and the movement, will grow. Don't disparage our University. It was built up high, and some of us can never reach it, some of us are too short to ever reach it, but let's build up our country schools in some way, whether we have one teacher or two, or one room or two in our schools, so that we can teach beyond the eighth grade in our school and so keep our boys and girls at home with us upon the farm and under the home roof until they are older, before we are compelled to send them from home. Let's build up our rural school so that they can at least go out from it to the College of Agriculture without having to go to some town school for a year or two first. Supt. Vogltance: There is nothing to pre- vent hiring a teacher to teach the ninth and tenth grades in the rural schools that I know of, but if that is not to be recognized as a credit when the pupil goes to enter another school, that will be a stumbling block, and as I understand it nothing above the eighth grade from the rural school is recognized as a credit. Mr. Coupland: We have had a splendid meeting this afternoon and we will now stand adjourned until 7:30 tonight. WEDNESDAY, 7:30 P.M. President Coupland: I wish to announce the following standing committees: Committee on Finance, Membership and Organization — E. M. Pollard, chairman, Ne- hawka; L. S. Herron, Lincoln; Hugh Mcin- tosh, Alda; S. J., Koch, Hershey; Frank Tannehill, Norfolk; H. B. Glover, Comstock; Wm. Stull, Omaha; J. D. Kerr, Aurora; An- drew Young, Craig; R. Hogue, Crete; George Hoy, West Point; F. G. Odell, Omaha; Ar- nold Egger, Princeton. Committee on Cooperative Enterprises — C. Vincent, chairman, Omaha; Joseph Nova- sek, Bruno; E. H. Lancaster, Exeter; A. J. McClain, Sprague; Homer Nye, Culbertson; A. M. Templin, Lincoln; J. S. Campbell, Clarks- T N. Moore, Riverton; Herman Beuttow, Norfolk; Otto May, Chapman; ' Frank Loomis, Edholm. Committee on Insurance — W. E. Straub, chairman, Lincoln; J. McArdle, South Om- aha; F. B. Delano, Westerville; A. T. Wil- son, Arcadia; Oscar Bloom, Axtell; J. M. Bassett, Kirkwood. Committee on Constitutional Amendments —George C Junkin, A. M. Templin, W. E. Straub, B. M. Swanson, E. M. Tarbell. President: Ladies and Gentlemen— A few days ago I was permitted to visit one of our eastern universities and to spend some little time with them getting in touch with the work they were doing. I am particularly m- terested in the kind of work they are doing there. This institution is located in the Empire state— Cornell University. I went over to the president's office at his invita- 68 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS tion and spent a pleasant time with him, and he was good enough to loan to Nebraska for a few days one man who has been gath- ering information in regard to the people who live in New York state, and as to the people who live upon the farms of this great United States. We are certainly fortu- nate tonight in having with us one who is eminently qualified to discuss this proposi- tion. I may say it is a new question to us, but not new to some people, this question of rural credits, and it gives me great pleas- ure to present to you Professor Laumann of Cornell University, who will address you on the subject of "The Rural Credit System from the Viewpoint of the Farmer." (Ap- plause.) THE RURAL CREDIT SYSTEM FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE FARMER. G. N. Laumann. What is the farmers' viewpoint and what are the iniluences that have produced it? An answer to this question requires a con- sideration of the present conditions and tendencies of American agriculture. The most fundamental of these conditions is that our agriculture is tending toward perma- nency. The exploiter and pioneer have reached the Pacific ocean. Their westward march has been arrested. It is true a cer- tain type still exists in the speculator, who is ready to sell at the first opportunity, and you may ha,ve invested in an olive orchard, a citrus ranch, or Everglade land. But even such enterprises are gradually settling down to real values, and permanency of owner- ship and our rural civilization tend toward a permanent basis. Our best land has been homesteaded, and the present generation faces the task of looking at the land as a permanent investment — a home. The de- mands of the consumer are forcing the use of the poorer lands, the development of irri- gated areas, of dry land farming and the drainage of swamps. All these areas pro- duce crops at a higher cost per unit than the rich lands of a generation ago. This same demand from consumers makes it pos- sible to intensify our agriculture, on the older lands, and we get paid for our efforts. We diversify our crops, we introduce more rational and longer rotations, and thereby produce more food to the acre than under the old one-crop system. Though we can not lose sight of the world's markets, we begin to look after our local markets more than formerly. We spe- cialize to some extent to supply these mar- kets, and from time to time we find areas and population adapted to particular kinds of crops, and we produce celery or potatoes or cherries or horses or milk or popcorn or sugar beets. The generation which lived through all this has been rewarded with a considerable measure of success, so much so that many of them have gone to the towns to live the rest of their natural lives, and right here we come upon the other great outstanding fact of American agriculture. We have en- tered the era of the tenant farmer. Land becomes a good investment even though we do not farm it personally, and some of the surplus money of the nation is beginning to be put into lands, in just the same way as such money is put into mortgages, bonds and stocks. I do not mean to say that we have not had something of this in the past — Illinois has had its Sibley estates and New York its Wadsworth estates, but as a logi- cal development out of the conditions as they have grown up among us, we must expect to deal with this phenomenon in the future. In the third place we have seen the be- ginnings of cooperation forced primarily by the trend of events, though sometimes simply through a wave of enthusiasm. With this hasty review of conditions, let us now consider what are the credit conditions that face the farmer in these changing times of our agriculture? The owner of the land is either free from a mortgage or has a mortgage on his property. In the latter case it is a rule for a few years at, at least, the legal rate of interest and certain minor privileges or requirements, about repayment. Just how many mortgages are canceled each year it is impossible to ascertain. Guesses are made as to the actually exist- ing mortgages. One fact seems to stand out above all others, and that is that mortgages are increasing at a very rapid rate. Repay- ment is in no sense proportionate to this increase, and in many sections the valua- tions used as a basis are dangerously near the limits or even beyond the conservative maximum. In so far as this maximum is based on the productive power of the land conservatively capitalized, there can be no danger in this expansion of farm credits, pro- vided the greater capital is used for produc- tive purpose at a paying return. I fear that in a number of sections of our country we have exceeded a prudent maximum, and the day of reckoning is not far distant. It is far better for a permanent, healthy and progres- sive agriculture that there should be a con- servative capitalization of land values, based on the average productive power of the soil, than that land should sell at $200 per acre, and be mortgaged on that basis. It would seem from this that the farmer does not lack certain kinds of credit and the facili- ties to encourage him to mortgage his land are increasing daily. What does he do with the money? Either he invests in more land or he improves his present holdings. In both cases, at an interest rate and other ex- penses, at a cost far too great for his cur- rent expense account, and with the debt to be repaid in a way as to make It a difficult problem to handle. Our whole system of credit on land is still in a very crude stage of development. Even in our older regions we can not list and catalog our lands on the basis of the types of soil, their potential and actual productive power. Until we know these facts and our agriculture has be- come measurably stable, the foundations of our mortgage system must be crude, and the farmer pays the bill. A beginning along FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 69 these lines Is easily made. Every state re- vises Its tax laws and methods from time to time. Why should not a beginning be made to classify the lands, if for no other purposes than for taxation? In many sections of our country mortgage money is available at so much per acre, for each district. Is it any wonder that the bankers make miscalculations and the farm- ers do not get their just dues? When a permanent agriculture develops in a region, there should develop with it an appreciation of the land, as the most permanent element in credit operations, and the farmer should be the recipient of the credit he needs at rates commensurate with the value of the security, and without the petty and expen- sive extra expenses. There is no security so secure as the land. Not even govern- ment bonds. The greatest state of the Ger- man Empire, Prussia, at . the time of its deepest humiliation, by Napoleon, when its credit was at its lowest, mortgaged its state lands to the land banks or land mortgage banks, and thus raised money it could not otherwise get. Another feature of this problem is that the land is not a quick asset, nor a liquid asset. Why should this be the case in a country which set a world's example in the method of laying out and distributing its public domain? Most of our states are as yet without a land title registration law, or if they have it, certain interests have been able to hold up its operation so that its benefits are not yet very apparent. When such a law is in active operation it makes the land a liquid asset and a measurably quick asset. Once a title is registered, all those long-drawn-out searches and incalcul- able expenses are done away with, and it costs but a trifle to record an obligation en- tered into with a bank, or an individual. Undoubtedly the greatest benefit of such a law is in the value it gives to land as a basis for short-time credit. Our present land mortgage practice has not in it those compelling forces which, through a well-developed scheme of amorti- zation, causes a debt to be paid, gradually, in small sums, almost without the knowl- edge of the land owner, a complusion which is not a burden to the annual budget. Amor- tization is not practicable under our pres- ent system of land mortgages and is one of the great boons land mortgage banks could confer. With a properly developed scheme of amortization. It would be a comparatively easy matter to get the necessary working capital to bring our lands to the point of highest production demanded by the pre- vailing economic conditions. We have thus far considered primarily the long-term mortgage credit. Let us now con- sider the short-term or working capital credit. I have already spoken of the ef- fect of the land title registration law. To my mind this is one of the greatest boons that can be given to American agriculture, and with but slight interference with estab- lished and vested interests. With his land title registered, the farmer can go back to his bank and we hope in the near future to the national bank also and get the needed money without asking friends or neighbors to sign his notes. He will not feel that he is asking a favor but will feel like the business man he should be. It will require a good deal of education to bring the farmer to a trust in himself and in his neighbors when it comes to doing business in a commercial way, and with short-time loans. In spite of all efforts, it has been difficult to get the mass of farmers to deal with far- off banks for short-time loans. Then the ordinary term of such loans is not adjusted to his needs and though the banks may meet him to a certain extent, even on the time limit, he is not inclined to put himself in the hands of a bank. The private banker flourished in the country as well as in the town, and the history of many agricultural regions of the earth has chapters showing the ruination brought about by these. The small farmer does not get much be- yond the depositor stage, and even this is a considerable achievement. The average bank, even in an agricultural community, is not inclined to look upon the small borrower with favor. The expense attached to this kind of business is said to be too great and money can be made more easily with larger borrowers. If the banks can not fundamen- tally change their tactics toward the small farmer, then the problem must become a community matter in which rich and poor alike bring their contributions. To the small man credit is best granted by his neighbors who have developed their judg- ment of him and who can keep an eye on him. The development of local credit as- sociations would mean much in arousing the communal spirit and the moral and intel- lectual powers of the individual. If the small farmer can not develop financially, as his powers develop, we are in danger of de- veloping stagnation and degeneracy in the rural community. We have suflicient evi- dence of this in our history to date to make us fear for the future unless we are pre- pared to ward off this danger. Such cases of stagnation and degeneracy are not con- fined to the New England country, but the case so luridly written up in the November number of the American magazine indi- cates that the Middle West has arrived at the danger point. It is bad for any class to be confined to a store-lien or crop-lien system, as we find it primarily in the South, but what of the rest of the country that paid and still pays to a certain extent its exhorbitant toll to the implement man or the fertilizer dealer? I have no doubt that such cooperative credit institutions can be or- ganized in this country, in spite of the al- most insurmountable individuality of the American farmer. This individuality is at the same time the greatest achievement and the greatest stumbling block of the Amer- ican farmer. In days gone by it bred a contempt for scientific agriculture, but this has practically disappeared. It still holds the farmer so that he has no team work in his makeup. He must go it alone, even to his financial loss, and only when this is great enough, and he has failed to make every one believe that the railroads or even 70 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS the banking system are his greatest enemies, and failed to persuade the government to deliver at his door through rural carrier all the greenbacks he needs, then and only then does he take stock of himself, and realize that in cooperation Is his great and only real hope. And the strangest thing is that his individuality, after cooperation, has better opportunities for development than before. If these cooperative credit institutions are limited to small areas where each knows the other and the purpose of the loan can be controlled, where the time the loan is to run and the method of its re- payment can be adjusted to suit the condi- tions, and where the mangement is more a matter of honor than remuneration, then we have a means of education and self-help which will give the state the most desirable type of citizen. Not only do these organi- zations train to all kinds of cooperation, as we see in the history of continental Europe, but they put the usurer out of business, de- velop habits of saving, and may equalize to a certain extent the demand and supply of money for the region of their influence. It has been the invariable result of these cooperative credit organizations that they pave the way for other cooperative efforts, both for the financial and the social good of the individual and the community. I am well aware that for the leading farmers of a community such organizations do not of- fer much to them, but for the welfare of the community as a whole, no more fundamental work could be done than to help bring about such credit organizations. Let me give you figures for such organizations in Germany in 1909. They had a total working capital of approximately $500,000,000; 89 per cent of this came from the farmers themselves or their neighbors not members of the as- sociations, and only 11 per cent was bor- rowed from without their ranks. Their or- dinary loans average $125, with an interest rate between 4 and 5 per cent. The loans run from 6 months to 3 years, and are repaid in instalments of principal and interest. What of the renter? We must here distin- guish two types of renters: the renter by choice and the renter by necessity. The former prefers to use all his capital as working capital, rather than invest part of it in the purchase of land, while the latter has only enough to attempt farming on a lease. The renter with money is a type rather rare in this country, but in old-estab- lished agricultural regions he is a valuable element, because he can farm large areas. Is a business man, and, what is an element in old countries, occupies a higher social position than the average farmer. The great mass of renters the world over are renters by necessity. In our own country they have, as a rule, emerged from the class of laborers, and their goal is to own a farm. Earlier in this paper, it was mentioned that the development of a renting class was a sign of permanent agriculture.. It is both a good sign and a bad sign. Any country community under the conditions prevailing in our land, which is composed in great part of renters, is in very grave danger. Not that renting in itself is an evil, but from the standpoint that renting is the only hope of an increasing class. No community can long fiourish and develop a satisfactory ex- istence with 50 to 60 per cent of its land In the hands of renters. These lands may be held by their owners as Investments with- out any idea of selling, or they may be held at prices not warranted by their productive power. The whole problem is still in an unsettled state with us, and with our char- acteristic, individualistic, or let-alone policy we are more apt to develop a rental con- dition detrimental to our best interests than to develop such conditions which go to make renting a stepping stone to ownership. The sequence— laborer, renter, owner — should be the goal toward which we should aim, toward which our customs and our laws should aim. Read the history of Ireland — it Is exciting enough in its political aspects — but read It from the standpoint of agricultural civ- ilization. Do you realize the absentee land- lord Is rapidly developing in this country? Agriculture may even flourish in a region with nothing but renters, renters whose forefathers lived on the same land, whose efforts to adopt the most advanced agricul- tural ideas are thwarted, when the time comes around for a renewal of the lease, and their success Is capitalized against them and they pay the interest in advanced rent. Such a region you can find between Antwerp and Brussels, and In your journey across this region you would scarcely suspect the thrifty appearance of things gives at the end of the year only a mere pittance. The struggle for land In this country is on, and It will become more intense as time goes on — such Is the history of the world. Two results follow: large farms develop, and smaller farms are created to satisfy the land hunger. The capitalist owns the large farms and the renter goes on the smaller farms. It is this renter that I commend to your sympathy and your care. We should have . such customs, Institutions, and laws as win make this man an owner in the course of a generation, or at most a lifetime. He must be able to get money easily, at the lowest possible cost, and without the danger of the cost being Increased to him during the life of the obligation. He must have it without recall, and yet be able to pay off at any time more than the stipulated sum, and, finally, he must be compelled to pay off regularly a definite sum of principal and interest. Here again the land bank or land mortgage bank Is the accepted medium for bringing about the end desired. It should never be said of the United States that the avenue for personal success and ownership of an Independent business in agriculture is closed to the young qualified man of the future, as it it Is to the great mass of young men In cities and towns in these days of consolidation and concentration. This nation will not long endure if Its back- bone — the country — Is diseased. The nat- ural resources of our country must be con- served, and these include the people as well FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 71 as the land. The greatest blot in the his- tory of the English-speaking peoples is that they have not conserved their rural civili- zation, have not given of their time and energy and means to keep such civilization abreast with the times. In conclusion: The American farmer needs a land bank, he needs to use the ex- isting banking facilities much more than he does at present. We need education for the farmer as well as banker, and changes in our laws and additions to our laws to make the land, the most stable and valuable element in our national wealth, the power for good it should be, and finally we need some form of community banking to keep the small man in order to make him the larger man, that agriculture may be con- stantly rejuvenated and not become degen- erate and purely capitalistic. How is this to be done? Take back to your homes from these meetings the desire to know more about these problems, to create the institu- tions to solve these problems. You do not have to rely on the advice of banker or demagogue^both can give good advice — there are public spirited men in every com- munity who can be brought by public opinion to be your leaders in these efforts. Then you have your State University, and par- ticularly the Agricultural College to which you and your leaders may go with confidence for facts. They have no axes to grind. Tons of literature may be had on these sub- jects free of charge, and your College of Agriculture would, if asked, work out a list of such free literature and other literature costing but little. Study these things, not merely as farmers but as citizens of Ne- braska and the United States. Then make your demands known to your legislators, individually, as well as collectively. Stick to those men until you get what you need and what you should have. In other words, take some time and use a package of postal cards to show that you are in existence and you want your legislator to know it. Don't let the free seed distribution or the annual report of the Secretary of Agriculture put you to sleep. And if I may be so bold as to suggest some things you should have in the immediate future, if you do not have them at this moment, they are: 1. A land title registration law. 2. A fundamentally sound cooperation law. 3. A cooperative land mortgage bank. Sir Horace Plunkett: My friends, we have just listened to one of the most Interesting addresses I have ever heard. This Con- gress has given me much more confidence than I had before. I have left a suggestion with your President that this 'Congress per- haps ought not to separate without having a small but efficient committee to watch proposed legislation and with full power to speak on your behalf, and favor any legisla- tion which appears to be sane and in your interest, but to oppose any legislation which does not have these qualifications. I congratulate you on having Professor Laumann's services, and I wish to again thank you heartily for the kindness you have shown me. (Applause.) Good-bye. Mr. Hoy: I would like to ask a question in regard to this point about a young man getting credit. I would like to know about what proposition would be advanced on the man's character? Professor Laumann: I am sorry I can not answer that. I do not know of any system that will give a man sufficient money to start in business of that kind unless he has some money. Delegate: Suppose he has a thousand dollars to start with. How much can be borrow? Laumann: I can only answer that in this way: That a man who has a thousand dol- lars would be able to get suflicient money to start. Tibbies : How much do you think it would take to start a man on 160 acres of land? Laumann: I can not answer that. It may be one sum in the East and one sum in the West. Hoy: What per cent do they figure on these farm loans? Laumann: The mortgage banks let their money out at varying rates, depending on the money market. These mortgage banks have to work according to the law of supply and demand as every other business does, but the fact that they have their security in land makes it possible for them to issue bonds on mortgages at rates of from 3% to 4 per cent. They bear this rate of interest, and then they charge just a little bit more than that rate of interest for the purpose of meeting general expenses. Hoy: When they loan that money do they make any provision in regard to the party spending that money; what he should spend it for? Laumann: Oh, yes; as a rule they have supervision, or rather supervise the expendi- ture of this money pretty closely. Take these banks. They are situated where their work is small, where every man knows every other man, and if they loan this man say $125 they know exactly what is going to be done with the money before he gets it, and practically supervise the expenditure of it when he does get it, and they know they will get it back. I doubt whether you could bring them to the point of giving you money for a "pig in a poke." Delegate: Does not that tend to destroy individuality? Laumann: Not at all. Hoy: Suppose a man wanted to borrow money on his land to make improvements, would frame improvements be considered an additional improvement on the land? Laumann: As far as I know, aS long as it is an improvement which represents a pro- ductive improvement, such as a barn which is a productive improvement, or a shed; this would be considered to represent an expense for that purpose. They will go still further; they will loan money to a man to help edu- cate the children, and that is not what you would ordinarily call a productive invest- 72 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS ment — I mean in the sense of getting it right out of the land. Hoy: Would they consider that in im- proving land, that is turning it and putting it in shape, breaking it up, etc., that was an improvement? Laumann: I would judge from what I have read that would be the case. Delegate: I would like to ask whether the operation of these banks has any effect upon the price of land? _, 11 a"i) r"^f^ral nfo'-" iti^n on this is that it raised the price of land; it raises the price of land because it puts business in better shape, and therefore if the business is more productive it makes the prices better. Delegate: Then is it any easier to buy land? Laumann: It makes the land higher in price, and then if you come along and want to buy you have to pay that higher price. Delegate: As I understand it, the effect of this system you have described is to pro- duce agricultural stagnation? Laumann: That is just what it does not do. Mr. Delano: Dean Price says that they found that the average of cereals produced in Germany has increased 50 per cent since the introduction of that system. Mr. Mcintosh: When I first came to Ne- braska, I was told by the father of Mr. Pol- lard, who was then in the bank at Nehawka, that they had $65,000 on deposit loaned out at 8 per cent, and I would like to ask Mr. Pollard if they had to borrow money at 8 per cent, whether or not they would loan it to the farmer for 8 per cent? Mr. Pollard: That would depend upon circumstances to some extent. I know farmers in my neighborhood at home who are loaning money at 5 per cent while the banks are charging 8 per cent. These loans de- pend to a great extent upon what kind of a farmer he is ; how much of a business man and what kind of a man he is. Mr. Mcintosh: The rate varies? Mr. Pollard: Yes, sir. Mr Mcintosh: I am a farmer out in Hall county, and when I need money to get out my crop, I go to one of these despised na- tional banks, and I always get the money at 7 per cent, and with no security but my per- sonal note. But if one of my neighbors has money to lend and he wants me to take it, he wants to charge me 10 per cent. I know a fellow right in my neighborhood who loans money and gets 10 per cent for it, but for myself, I go to the bank, and if the farmers wanted to establish a coopera- tive bank, wouldn't that be a stumbling block in their way? Mr. Pollard: I fear that Mr. Mcintosh misunderstood my remarks. I don't want to be understood as opposing anything coopera- tive. I am myself the president of a coopera- tive association and a thorough believer in co- operation. I would be the last man to place any stumbling block in the way of any co- operative enterprise, but when we speak of a credit system, I want to drive home the thought that the young man of character today is the man of credit, and the man who can borrow and borrow at the prevailing rate or less than the prevailing rate of interest at any bank. I say that any young man of character in a community can go to the bank and borrow five hundred dollars or a thou- sand dollars upon his credit alone, and with no security if he is the right kind of a young man in the community in which he lives, and it is no kindness to the young men of character in the community to in- augurate a system of credits that will make for agricultural degeneracy. Mr. Coupland: I would like to ask a ques- tion. Suppose this young. man of character that Mr. Pollard has been speaking of is a renter and he has fifteen hundred dollars' worth of personal property. He is rent- ing a piece of land that is worth $100 an acre, and the man who owns the land is willing to sell it to the young fellow, and the young fellow would like to buy it. I would like to ask Mr. Lauman if he knows of any system that would enable this young man to get this land and stay upon that farm. Mr. Laumann: Well, there are several ways that would suggest themselves to me. The government could buy the land and pay the man who owns it the price he asks for it, and then sell it to the young man; he to pay a certain amount each year and 4 or 5 per cent a year until it is paid off. Mr. Coupland: Surely that would be a good plan. Mr. Delano: I would like to ask if the French government did not advocate or start some such plan in May, 1910, where they sold the land and charged them only 2 per cent. Mr. Laumann: I couldn't say as to that, but I do know that the government — any government — in contemplating such a plan does not do it to make money, but only with the idea of charging the man just enough interest to enable them to carry him and handle the matter. Delegate: And the fellow has got to have character, also? Mr. Laumann: I think so, yes, sir. Mr. StuU: It is a significant fact that the French farmer knows at the end of the year what he had in the beginning, and he has to first put in what he takes out in the fall. He has to put something back into the ground in the way of fertilizer. I have spent twelve months at a time on the Continent studying these conditions, and I found no place where the producer was getting so lit- tle anrt the consumer paying so much as right here in Omaha, and we are right in the heart of the food-producing center of the United States. There is no better producing state in the country than Nebraska, and yet our mortgage debt increases every year. We must reach a state in our cooperative plans where the producer and the consumer can cooperate and where we can cut out the middle man. Delegate: Do you say the farmers are losing money? Mr. Stull: Undoubtedly. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 73 Delegate: I don't see any signs of it. They are all buying automobiles. Mr. Stull: The automobiles don't amount to one-third the amount the mortgage debt has increased in the last seven years. Mr. Whitmore: A man told to me today that I had no business at this meeting be- cause I am too well satisfied. I want to deny the statement that has been made here that the farmer can not borrow money as cheaply as the city man. I think he can borrow it at a lower rate. I am sure of it. I know of cases where farmers have been borrowing for 5 per cent, and the business man borrowing from the same bank had to pay 7 peSr cent. In the part of the state where I live a young man of character if he hasn't a cent can borrow money from the bank upon his personal note, and I believe that condition holds good all over the state. Delegate: I know of instances myself where the business man Was borrowing from the bank at from 5 to 6 per cent and the same bank was charging the farmer 8% per cent. Mr. Herron: After listening to Mr. Whit- more, I am wondering if there is any rural problem. I was under the impression there was. But I might have you look at Mr. Whitmore's picture from another angle. When he came to Nebraska, land was selling for $10 an acre. He went to work at $20 a month and his board and washing; so that he could pay for two acres of land with each month's wages. Now land is worth $150 an acre and wages on the farm is $35 a month, so that a man would have to work four months for one acre of land. Mr. Whitmore: Well, it would be a good bargain at that. Mr: Herron: Do you think today the land produces more corn? Mr. Whitmore: Probably not. Mr. Herron: There has been a lack of dis- tinction between the land mortgage bank and the Raffeisen system. I would like to ask Mr. Laumann to explain that difference. Professor Laumann: I see no reason why we can not determine in this country or any agricultural country, a personal credit sys- tem, perhaps not like the Raffeisen system— as there are certain conditions peculiar to this country that we would have to take into consideration — and adopt a system adapted to our needs. I think we can estab- lish such a system in the United States just as well as in England, and certainly with reference to the land mortgage banks; and if they are not to be established co- operatively, it would have to be as a purely money-making scheme, but I would say that a cooperative bank could be established which would give those who live by agricul- ture a chance to develop their finances. Delegate: I would like to ask the gentle- man if in a land mortgage bank they figure interest at the compound rate and then divide it up at the end of a year, or some- thing like that? Mr. Laumann: Yes, the farmer pays 6 per cent interest as a rule not more than 6 per cent. He pays 6 per cent for a series of years sometimes. Delegate: Does that interest compound? Mr. Laumann: No, it is worked out on the basis of the actual cash. Mr. Coupland: I would like to ask this; suppose a man has a five-year equity in the land and wishes to get rid of it; can it be transferred? Mr. Lauman: Transferred like any other equity, on the basis of the other fellow being satisfied. Mr. Coupland: And then suppose he wanted to take it up again? Mr. Laumann: He could go right back and get some more money. Mr. Jensen: I just want to say a word here about what has been said in regard to buying land -and paying for it. I know that in the early day that was a pretty easy proposition, and if a man had a good char- acter and was a good worker, it was not much of a trick to get a farm; but as Mr. Herron has said, things have changed since that and land is $150 an acre now, where it used to be only $10, and if there's any plan where we can get some way so that the young fellow of today will find it as easy to get a farm as we men did, why I am for that plan. I've got plenty to live on the rest of my life, but I'd like to see it made a little easier for the young man of today. I thought we wanted to benefit the future generation. I know that today a man can't go out and buy land and pay for it off that land as they could when I was a young fellow. He can't do it and pay for it in his natural lifetime unless conditions are changed; and it's my idea that if there is any scheme that will help the young man of today to get his land and his home as we got ours that we ought to be in for it. I think, like Mr. Stull, that we ought to get our farms down to a basis of production and distribution where they will pay us interest on our investment, and I think also, if there's any system of rural credits that we can establish that will help the young fellow today who hasn't got a daddy to give him a farm that he got for ten dollars an acre in the early day, that's what we are here for. (Cheers.) There's another thing, and that is the abstract proposition. If you transfer a piece of land nowadays you have to go back for the last twenty-five or thirty years and pay a hundred or a hundred and fifty dollars for an abstract before you can sell your land. I think we ought to get some plan that will do away with this. Mr. Laumann: The only essential differ- ence under this plan is that you register the land and it is passed upon by the court — it varies in different states — there is a certifi- cate that they have passed on the title to the land just the same as you leave an ordinary deed at the county seat. In effect the deed is guaranteed by the state, and once abstracted and passed on there is no further expense when transfer of the land is made, except a small fee, say of twenty- five cents for the record. Mr. Dech: Now when a man goes into a FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS business proposition, he naturally figures what will be the income. He must have a basis to figure on. Now, a man can have the land or the credit to borrow the money, but if he has not some standard by which he knows what interest he is to pay, he won't know where he is at. Isn't that true? Mr. Laumann: That is true. Mr. Dech: You take the best land in Nebraska today, I don't believe that we ever get the proper return for our labor under present conditions. Mr. Jensen: After the state takes charge of this deed, if there is an error or anything comes up against the land, does the state take care of it or do you? Mr. Laumann: The state takes care of it. Mr. Jensen: I saw an abstract to a lot in Chicago the other day and it was as big a book as the statute of Nebraska. Mr. Laumann. It seems to me that you have a good deal less difficulty here than we have in the East. You have so much of your land by deed from government, but in New York we have an interminable lot of difficulties. Mr. Junkin: I was somewhat impressed with the remarks of my old friends here, and I am going to stand with him. I don't like to hear Nebraska run down and its people run down. I don't believe the banks are charging the farmers today any more than the business men of this country. The majority of the farmers in this state are making money today, but the great difficulty of the farming community is getting their products to market. It takes 54 per cent of what we raise to get it to market. There is something wrong. Let us organize and see If we can not do that cheaper. We need that more than anything else just now in this country. Secretary Delano: I know that the bankers are mighty glad to get the farmers' sale notes in Central Nebraska; 10 per cent interest is charged on the notes on six, eight or ten month's time, and then the banker discounts the paper at 4, 5 or 6 per cent. I have here a tabulation showing the average interest ra'p to farmers in Iowa of 7.31; Missouri, 7.28; Illinois, near , the center of population and closer to the market, 6.88; Michigan, 6.24; Ohio, 6.25; Indiana, 6.31; Wisconsin, 6.24; Minnesota, 7.93; Oklahoma, a new state, 10.57; Oregon, 8.32, and California, 7.44. Taking Iowa 7.31, and Missouri, 7.28, the Rural Life Coin- mission found the interest rate paid by the farmers in this state to be 7.5 per cent, which approximates very closely to the figures obtained by the Department of Agriculture. And, further, in these returns the banks state that they charge the farmer the highest rate of interest, and the presi- dent of the Nebraska Bankers' Association is reported to have said the same thing. Adjournment taken at 11:00 p.m. De- cember 10, 1913. THURSDAY MORNING SESSION, December 11, 1913. Meeting called to order by President Coup- land. Invocation by Rev. Jones. Mr. Coupland: Gentlemen, we are en- tering upon the third day of our Congress, and I want to congratulate you upon the splendid spirit that has been manifested throughout all your deliberations. While there has been a diversity of thought, there has still been a desire to reach the best; and when we come together in that spirit there can be no question but that we can do something worth while. President Coupland: We will now listen to the report of the Secretary. Secretary Delano: Before I read this re- port, I wish to take this occasion to thank the Omaha Commercial Club and the Pub- licity Bureau for the work they have done to make this meeting possible. I hope the Resolutions Committee will take cognizance of the work done by Mr. Parrish. REPORT OF SECRETARY NEBRASKA FARMERS' CONGRESS. Mr. President and Delegates to the Fourth Annual Session of the Nebraska Farmers' Congress — In presenting this, my third annual report as Secretary of the Nebraska Parmer's Con- gress, I wish to express my appreciation of the confidence reposed in me by the farmers of this great agricultural state. Growth of the Congress The Ciongress shows a steady and health- ful growth, as nearly every county is repre- sented among the named delegates and half a thousand postofflces. More than twice as many agricultural associations over the state have named delegates for this session than were named for the session of one year ago. With delegates at large which include the paid members of the Congress and the delegates named by various associa- tions, the total list of delegates approaches four thousand for the current session. Many associations emphasize tlieir confidence in the Congress and its work by paying the ex- penses of their delegates to this session. Need of the Congress Until the institution of the Nebraska Farmers' Congress the producers of Ne- braska had no organization covering the state that took cognizance of the fundamen- tal social and economic questions upon which successful agriculture must be based. Other business interests have had their close or- ganizations for mutual help for years, and the farmer has been the prey for picking to the extent of all the "traffic will bear." The improvement of the rural scliools so they will be placed upon a plane com- mensurate with the proper dignity of rural life; the equalization of revenue burdens so that the farmer bears no more than his just proportion of these requirements of the state; the rectification of the distribution of FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 75 agricultural products that the farmer may receive his fair income for the year's effort; the reconstruction of our credit system or the construction of a rural credit system that the farmer may secure capital at in- terest rates commensurate with the charac- ter of the security he offers and other social and economic elements that must be con- sidered from time to time, all call for a state-wide association of the people in the open country. This is exenlplifled In this Congress and its approval is shown in the increased number of delegates coming to the Congress and the hearty enthusiasm shown in the letters received both from delegates who are unable to attend from cause and from those who have signified their intention of being present at these sessions and participating in the debates'. Reorganization of the Congress. Article 3 of our Constitution provides for members of the Congress upon payment of a yearly fee of $1. By Invitation to the various agricultural associations of the state to send delegates the Congress in a phe- nomenal way has extended its sphere of use- fulness rapidly over the state, as is shown in the representative character of the dele- gates here assembled, and your Secretary suggests that were it not wisdom to amend the ■ constitution so that delegates from as- sociations should be recognized in a dif- ferent manner than at present. Possibly the Congress could take on the form of a fed- eration similar to that devised for the Farmers' National Congress. Two years ago you provided for the organization of county auxiliaries, and two only have been organ- ized. Availing ourselves of the various as- sociations already in the field appears to be more successful in reaching the people and enlisting them in the effort for com- mon welfare of the agricultural interests. The Annual Year Book The proceedings of the preceding Con- gress were published in a Year Book of 132 pages. Through the cooperation of the Omaha Commercial Club's Publicity Bureau, stenographic rectords of the sessions were secured and combined with the prepared addresses which gave a complete record of the greatest state farmers' congress held in this country before this 1913 session of Nebraska farmers. Beside the circulation among our own Nebraskans this Year Book has been re- quested from people from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It Is Ion file in the Library of Con- gress, Department of Agriculture, Inter- national Institute of Agriculture, and the libraries of the leading agricultural colleges of the country. Many of these have di- rectly requested the Secretary for complete files of our annual reports. We have reason to congratulate ourselves for upbuilding a farmer's congress here in Nebraska of sufiicient importance and dig- nity to thus comipand the attention of the thinking men and women interested in the improvement of agricultural conditions. I trust that we shall be able to continue this work in such a dignified way as to continue to merit the support of honest thinking people. Finances Prtovision must be made in some way to increase the finances, that your Secretary can properly conduct the duties devolving upon his office. Yoilr Executive Board in- structed me to send letters to the named dele- gates of the last Congress asking them to assist the Congress in a financial manner to the extent of their abilities. The Board itself contributed .|45 to initiate this move- ment, and three thousand letters were pre- pared, but when about 500 had been sent out and only $32.50 returned your Sec- retary deemed the returns did not warrant further expense for mailing and postage. It is a sad commentary upon the farmers of Ne- braska that they did not respond more readily to a fund that means so much for their interests. Our legislative committee served without compensation or expense money, while the representative of organized labor who worked all last winter before the legislature was allowed $3 per diem. Even the barbers over in Illinois not many years ago raised a fund of $6,000 to secure legis- lation favorable to the barbers, and in New York City it is comparatively easy for the policemen to raise $20,000 to further their interests. Last year the American Bankers' Association expended more than a quarter of a million dollars for so-called legitimate expenses of the association. Can you not afford a dollar apiece at least, can not every farmer in the state afford a dollar per year to advance and protect the interests of him- self and family and aid in securing a greater equalization of business profits? Can not something be done during this session to raise a satisfactory fund for the treasury of the Congress? The publication of the annual report has been possible only by the patronage of the advertisers, and your busi- ness should go to them when possible. Tlie Rural Life Commission When the Rural Life Commission was created at the request of this Congress, Governor Aldrich had the idea it was to be a boosting commission, and at the behest of railroad interests a representative of the railroads was appointed as one of the mem- bers. However, when the Commission begain delving into the economic conditions affect- ing farm life, and particularly the taxes farmers were paying in proportion to their net income, the Executive lost enthusiasm rapidly, and when the tax section went before the Board of Equalization and urged equalization downward on farm valuations, the Governor considered it Impudence. How- ever, the valuation of farm property was raised in forty counties less than the fifty- odd the Board called In county assessors to show why they should not be raised. The Commission brought out the fact that only about one-eighth of the money on deposit in Nebraska banks was returned for 76 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS taxation, and that some wealthy men in the state returned no personal property schedule whatever, while always the farmer had a per- sonal tax to contribute to the revenue fund. Result: Although the Rural Life Commis- sion filed a report of two hundred pages in the Governor's office before the expiration of his term, Governor Aldrich recommended the discontinuance of the Commission. This report has never been printed and is not likely to be until the electorate of this state send men to Lincoln who will try to give the farmers a fair showing. We know that this report was passed around among the legislators last winter, and that the tax amendment proposed and to b© voted upon next year is practically the same as recommended by the Commission. Also, the legislature provided for a State Tax Com- mission, which Is another recommendation of the Rural Life Commission; but while the farmers of the state own three-fifths of the assessed property they were ignored in the make-up of the tax commission. Again, the Rural Life Commission did a lot of work on the rural school question, and the last legislature provided for a Rural School Commission which Governor More- head recently appointed, but there are no farmers on it. Why, my fellow farmers, do you not know that farmers are still con- sidered clod-hoppers and that their pie must be cut and bread spread for them? More need for the farmers to make this Congress a power In this state that will command recognition, and they will never be recognized until they do compel recogni- tion. Please do not misunderstand me — far from it would I have this Congress merged into a political machine. Hold it as a Con- gress to develop means to carry out to suc- cessful solution the problems now confront- ing us and which will come to us from time to time along social, educational, and econ- omic lines. We do this and the political side will take care of itself. REPORT OF TREASURER. Receipts. W. L. Delano, Treasurer, Nebraska Farm- ers' Congress. Dr., Cash on hand from Report of 1912 $91.16 Cash from membership and dona- tions 125.50 Cash from advertising 1,056.00 Cash advanced by W. S. Delano 40.00 Total $1,312.66 Expenditures p Balance rf W. S. Delano from 1912 $31.00 Balance print-'nt; account from 1912 35.00 Postage an:l Incidentals 1913 294.90 Paid CD commissions for advertis- ing 302.50 Paid on printing for 1913 515.25 Reimbursed W. S. Delano for cash advanced 40.00 Balance 4.01 Total $1,312.66 Mr, Hoye: Could not the number of books be cut down without decreasing the advertising? Dr. Delano: No, sir; if we increase the advertising rate, we must show the circula- tion for it. Delegate: How many printed last year? Mr. Delano: 5,000. Mr. Hoye: I move the adoption of the report as read. Adopted. Mr. Coupland: I want to extend a hearty welcome to the members of the Nebraska Education and Industrial Union who have come down to sit with us at this Congress. This is cooperation, gentlemen. I want to assure you, Mr. Gustafson, that this Con- gress is in hearty sympthy with your move- ment. We have on the program this morning, the Third Vice-President of this Congress, who needs no introduction to you. He is going to address you on the subject of cooperative fruit growing. One of the pleas- ures of my life was to have known his father, and the splendid spirit of Mr. Pollard and others like him is what has made Nebraska the great state it is. WHAT THE FRUIT GROWERS' COOPERA- TIVE ASSOCIATION HAS DONE AND WHAT IT EXPECTS TO ACCOMPLISH. By E. IVI. Pollard, Nehawka, Nebraska. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen- It is a pleasure for me to stand before you this morning and recount some of the dif- ficulties that have confronted that part of agriculture that relates to the production of fruit. I think those of us who are in- terested in the production of better hogs, better cattle, better corn and wheat some- times forget that Nebraska is not only one of the best grain producing states of the Union, not only one of the best live stock producing states in the Union, but that it is also one of the best fruit producing states in the Union. (Cheers.) The history of the development of the fruit industry in this state is necessary in order to present my subject properly to you. My father was one of Nebraska's pioneers. He came here from the Green Mountain State, and one of the first things he did upon his arrival in this unorganized territory of Nebraska in 1856 was to begin planting fruit trees. From that day until the present time he has been identified with the history and the development of the fruit industry In this state. I remember as a boy the first apples that we grew upon the farm were perfect apples — perfect specimens. They were entirely free from pests that now at- tack the orchards. You could not find a wormy apple on the trees, nor one that had fungus or canker or scale, any of the pests that now Infest the orchard; and were not wormy or covered with fungous growth. It was not long, however, until these pests were imported, coming in with fruit shipped in from other states and introduced into our or- chards. Simillar orchards scattered over FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 77 the eastern part of Nebraska that had been producing this pure clean fruit found that their product was no longer up to the stan- dard of the early orchard. Moths came in and Infected our orchards, and our fruit was covered with fungous growth. Then we got fruit that was black, what we call apple scab. A number of years intervened before the fruit growers learned how to combat these conditions; and every orchardist in Nebraska who wanted to raise good, clean perfect fruit had to fight the ravages of the codling moth and fungus. The United States Department of Agriculture and our own state became interested, and in time furnished the fruit growers a plan for des- troying these pests. They made experi- ments and sent out literature; they began to spray and to tell us about spraying, and then they told us the proper way to spray and the proper ingredients to use to combat the moth; and so the men in this state who wanted to raise good fruit set to work and shortly afterwards they began again to pro- duce good clean pure fruit such as had been first grown by the pioneers. Unfortunately, it seems that only the large orchard men, and some men who were genuinely interested In producing good ap- ples in this state, were the only ones who would take the time and do the work to put their orchards in condition so they could produce fruit free from all these things. The claim was made that the wholesaler would not pay them enough for their prod- uct so they could afford to take the time and pay for the ingredients to spray and take care of their trees — ^that the wholesaler did not care for that kind of fruit — ^I would hardly say the consumer did not because I do not believe that is true — but the whole- sale men refused to pay these men what they asked and enough so they could afford to take care of their orchards and produce clean fruit — they could not get any more for the fruit that had been properly taken care of. But better things were in store for the Nebraska fruit grower, and it was not long before a chance shipment of apples from southeastern Nebraska found its way to an eastern market. The eastern wholesaler who had been compelled to go to the Pa- cific Coast for his apples in order to get good fruit realized that fruit grown out here in eastern Nebraska was superior in texture, in flavor, and had better keeping qualities than that grown in the West, or the fruit coming from any other section. And he was willing to pay the orchard man in Nebraska who would take the trouble to grow good fruit a better price than the local wholesaler would pay him. The result was that one or two, or possibly three or four, of the fruit growers in eastern Nebraska who were growing this good fruit of superior texture and quality began to sell their product out- side of Nebraska, and the good fruit grown in Nebraska was being comsumed else- where. Why, the time has been, and is now I am sorry to say, when the good housewife in Omaha or Lincoln and in dozens of other smaller cities in the state of Nebraska, when she goes to the grocery to buy a peck, half bushel or bushel of apples, in order to get good fruit, It is necessary for her to buy the box fruit, that comes from the Pacific Coast and pay a premium for It. If she buys a half bushel of Nebraska apples, she will find five out of every six in the basket are defective, and the natural result is — and I don't blame her — that when she goes to the store to buy apples, she does not want Nebraska fruit, and she pays a tre- mendous premium, and is compelled to do It, in order to get good, clean fruit. I know what I am talking about when I make this statement. It Is the truth, and It is to the shame of the men in Nebraska who are growing fruit — this kind of fruit. That, gentlemen, is exactly the commercial situ- ation. That is the situation we fruit growers who have tried to and are raising good fruit in Nebraska have had to meet. We know that the market of the state belongs to us by right, and yet there was that prejudice on the part of the Nebraska housewife because the Nebraska apples that she got were not right. The result of all this was that the better growers of Nebraska, those men who were producing good fruit, got together — we were compelled to in self-defense, gentlemen, — to organize, to cooperate, and, gentlemen, I believe, though I am not aware that it is true, but I believe that these cooperative associations in the various lines come about in that way; where men are compelled to organize in order to protect themselves. For the simple reason that Professor Laumann told us last night, the farmer is generally slow to wake up and start anything; that he does not like to give up the control of any- thing over which he has control not even if it means a dollar in his pocket. He re- fuses many time to surrender as an in- dividual. And so it was with us, but we finally were alive to the situation and we formed the Eastern Nebraska Fruit Growers' Association. We are less than a year old, having organized about nine months ago. It was new to all of us because we had had no experience in cooperative associations and none of us had had any experience In marketing what we grew in our own or- chards, and we entered upon it with more or less of doubt and misgiving, and we were not very anxious at first, after we organized, to extend our association. We were afraid we would have more fruit than we could get rid of, and we felt that we should begin in a small way and grow from natural development. At the present time we have twenty-five members who control about 2,000 acres of apple orchard in the eastern part of the state. One of the hardest things that we have to meet in our association Is the in- dividual grower, the man who sells his fruit not only in the local markets, but in the markets outside, and has great quantities of inferior and defective fruit which lie dumps upon the market, fruit that is wormy and of such a nature that it will not keep 78 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS for any length of time, like a peach or a strawberry, so that it must be sold and con- sumed at once. The result was that the fruit was thrown upon the market, and they were forced to make an early sale of it, and the market was glutted, and those who had gone to the expense of producing good fruit were not able to get what they were entitled to receive, so that we might be re- paid for our extra expense and labor that we had done in order to produce this better class of fruit. Now, what is this Fruit Growers' Asso- ciation that we have formed? What have we done and what do we propose to do? What is its purpose and what have we ac- complished? The first thing we did after we had a board of directors was to adopt a rule — and I believe it was the first — the very first — rule that we adopted that we would accept no fruit grower as a member of the association who would not agree to prune his orchard as it should be and spray it as it should be sprayed, thereby insuring good fruit. We Were all of the opinion that the only way we could reclaim our home market — that we felt we were justly entitled to — and get our own fruit market was by giving to the consumer good, clean fruit, and in order to do that it would be necessary for the orchardist to take care of his trees, to clean them, spray them, and prune them. That was exactly what he has not been doing for the last fifteen years, and that is the only way that clean fruit can be grown, and we adopted this rule as the only step that the grower could take to enable him to grow good, clean fruit. The next step we took — we discovered that when a grower in eastern Nebraska desired to ship a barrel or a box of apples to one of the central or the eastern or western states, that he had to pay about four times higher freight rate than growers in other sections had to pay, and the first thing we did then was to take this matter up with the general freight agents of the various railroads in Nebraska, in an effort to secure a more equitable freight rate on fruit. We dealt directly with the railroads themselves. We failed.. We then joined with Representative Corbin, of Johnson County, and made complaint to the State Railway Commission, and as a result of our combined efforts we secured the redress that we sought, and secured a reduction of from 10 to 100 per cent in some instances, in freight rates in Nebraska. So that our association in the short time we have been In existence has been of distinct advantage to the fruit growers of the state and also we believe to the consumers of the state who would like to eat the best Nebraska grown apples. Another thing we have done, we have gotten a good many of eastern Ne- braska apples on to Nebraska tables where they belong, and we are going to do more along that line this coming season. When we came to pack our fruit last fall — the fruit grown by the members of our association — the rules under which the fruit was graded were so drawn that when the fruit went upon the market it was just as clear and clean and just as free from worm or scab or other physical defects as that fruit that comes from the best orchards on the Pacific Coast. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, we have shown the fruit growers of the eastern part of the state that when they will take care of their fruit in the proper way and grade it as they should that they can give the consumer what he has the right to demand of us — good, clean fruit. And we have endeavored to place not only in the state of Nebraska but in the surrounding states to the limited extent that the fruit grown by our members is sold in other sections, perfect fruit, and to prove to the buyers and the consumers that fruit grown in eastern Nebraska is superior in texture and in delicious flavor to that of any apple grown by the greatest fruit growers in the United States. (Applause.) The fruit growers of Nebraska in the past have not done that. The conditions in east- ern Nebraska are especially appalling, and while I am on this subject I want to cite one instance. Last summer we had a meeting of our board of directors. There was one man down in Chicago, one of the largest com- mission houses in the United States, who had bought some of our best apples from individual fruit growers in years gone by. He had appreciated the true worth and value of the Nebraska fruit, and had ex- pressed a desire to attend the next meeting of the board of directors of our association. He attended the meeting and, gentlemen, he told the board this. "Gentlemen," he said, "I don't want to flatter you but our house — " and it is one of the largest in the United States, their principal office being at Pitts- burg, but they have branches in all the im- portant cities in the United States, and this man who attended our meeting was in charge of the Chicago branch — he went on to say, "our house has bought apples in every state in the Union that produces apples for, some branch of our different houses, we have sold them to our customers, we have stored tliem; and for apples of fine texture, delicious flavor, and long-keeping qualities, we would rather come to western Iowa and eastern Nebraska to get our fruit than any other part of the United States." (Applause.) Gentlemen, here was a man who was in the fruit business, who had had experience with fruit grown in every section of the United States, a man of wide experience In handling fruit, and he said our ftuit was the best. There's no doubt about it, gentle- men, there is a flavor to the fruit grown In the Missouri river valley that fruit grown in other sections lacks. We have thirty-five members in our asso- ciation, gentlemen. We have gone through the preliminary stages. We have become familiar with the market. We have more self-confidence. We know more about growing fruit and more about marketing it .and handling it. And now we are endeavoring to go out among the fruit growers of Nebraska and FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 79 bring into the association the- fruit growers who have orchards of flVe acres or more, the object being to raise the standard ' of Nebraska fruit and put it where it belongs, and enable the fruit growers who are in that business, by cooperation, to put their fruit upon the market and secure what it is worth, and to enable also the Nebraska consumer to eat the best Nebraska grown apples, something they have not been able to do in the past. Now it is going to be the object and pur- pose of our association to make it so valu- able to the small fruit grower in this state that he can not afford to remain out of it. We intend to show him that it is a question of dollars and cents with him, and prove to him that he can not afford to stay outside the Fruit Growers' Association. How will we do that? We are going to do it in this way. Next spring when spraying time comes, the manager of our association is going to visit every member and advise him to take care of his orchard, show him how to spray, when to spray, and what to spray with, so that he will be able to pro- duce clean fruit. We expect to secure for him also his spraying material for one-half cost — one-half what he has been compelled to pay heretofore — by buying cooperatively, that is, in large quantities. In other words, we are going to send out an expert to him who will show him how to take care of his trees, so that he will grow good fruit, and when it is sent to the market it will bear the association brand, and the consumer will know the moment he sees that brand that the contents of the box or barrel is exactly what is represented on its face. Not only that, but by bringing the small grower into the association, we have brought to his very door not only the market of Nebraska but the markets of tjie entire United States. As soon as the press announced last spring the formation of the Eastern Nebraska Fruit Growers' Associa- tion, our president received communications from commission houses all over the United States inquiring about it, wanting to know the extent of our organization, how we proposed to pack and grade it and offer it for sale, and so we are getting in touch with things. We are going to seek more members for our organization now as we know what we can do, and we have something to offer the small orchardist now, the man who has five, six, or ten acres of orchard. He may have a carload of apples to sell, he may have five hundred barrels or only fifty barrels, and he is at the mercy of every commission shark. What does he do? Even say that he packs his fruit in first-class shape and tries to put it on the market, the large commission houses do not want to bother with the individual shipper who has only forty or fifty barrels to sell. The moment the small grower comes into the association all his troubles of that kind are allayed. The manager of the association looks out for the market for the small grower, and his fifty barrels are placed with mine and with every other grower who be- longs to the association, and together they make a shipment of a hundred thousand barrels. The small grower's fruit is put right in with the big grower's and he gets the same price for it. That is the whole secret of cooperation — by uniting their ener- gies, all those who are engaged in fruit growing, forming a syndicate or a selling agency that has at its command the markets of the world. Our association, though only nine months in existence, is in correspond- ence with commission men all over the country and those also who buy for export. We propose to show the small grower that by joining our association he will get in touch with the markets of the- world. He is relieved from the burden of finding a market for his product; the association shoulders that burden. This year we sold our fruit on the basis of 6 per cent, and the common commission merchant, as you all know, charges 10 per cent and you don't know whether he is going to sell your fruit for $2, 2.50, or $3 a barrel. You have to take what he gives you and be satisfied with it, for you can't afford, as an individual, to attempt to fight that out with a commission man. Another thing, we received this year at least 25 per cent more for our product than we did selling as Individuals before the organization of our association. Our association is young, as I have said, and for the present it is going to be our purpose to build up the fruit standard in this state, and first bring into our number the growers, both small and great, that will raise the standard of their fruit so far as the grade is concerned. It will take us some time to do this. At present that is our first purpose. I know it is the thought of some that we should establish a depot in Omaha and Lincoln, and we have discussed that some. I would like to have your opinion on that. What do you think of it? We have thought of establishing a depot, say in Omaha and Lincoln, and later in some of the other towns in the state, and sell direct to the consumer so that when the consumer wants a barrel of good Nebraska apples he can come and get it direct from the farmers. That, I say, has been talked of, but it has been the idea of our association that we were not ready for that yet, that we were not ready for that step, and that so long as the wholesaler treated us fairly we would not be too avaricious, and would continue to deal with him. But we do pro- pose to enter our own home market; we feel that Nebraska belongs to us; that we should have the trade of the Nebraska con- sumer and that the Nebraska consumer should have the privilege of eating Ne- braska-grown apples, of which there are none better. (Applause.) Our first problem as I have said, is to raise the grade, raise the standard of the apples grown In Nebraska, and then to grade and pack the Nebraska apples so that the commission men in Chicago, Pittsburg, and New York will like our fruit and will come 80 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS and offer us a high price for It, and we propose In some way, how, we have not yet determined, to get the fruit onto the Ne- braska markets so that It will be eaten by Nebraska people as it should be. (Cheers.) If the wholesalers of our local markets are not willing to come and pay us what our fruit is worth, after we have gone to all this trouble and expense to make our fruit equal to any grown in other sections, if they are not willing to pay us as much as the men in the east will pay us, then we propose to use means of our own that will create a method of putting Nebraska fruit upon Nebraska tables, so that Nebraska people can eat Nebraska fruit. (Applause.) We propose to compete with and drive out these western apples which now have the Nebraska market and which are inferior in quality, of poor texture and less delicate flavor. We have been asleep too long now. With your assistance we propose to do this, and I know we shall succeed. We growers of Nebraska are extra- ordinarily fortunate in our location. In the first place we are from 1,500 to 2,000 miles nearer the great markets of the United States than are the growers of the Pacific Coast. We have the plains and the great valleys over which to ship our fruit, no mountain ranges to climb. We not only have this advantage, but as I have suggested, the soil of these plains and valleys along either side of the Missouri river seems to be especially adapted to the development of fruit and to the production of fruit of ex- tra fine texture and flavor. There is some- thing about the soil found along the Mis- souri river, gentlemen, between Sioux City ■and St. Joseph, that puts into the apples that delicate flavor and flne texture that the fruit growers of the Pacific Coast can not get, and we propose to take advantage of that fact and reclaim our home market that we are justly entitled to and that should never have been taken away from us by these western growers. But we are going to get it back by co- operation. Our association is going to work and solve these problems, and they can only be solved by all working together and by selling your fruit through one sales agency, where the small grower is placed on an equal footing with the great grower. In that way, gentlemen, we expect to solve this great problem, and in that way we are going to add greatly to the wealth of Ne- braska. I thank you, gentlemen. Mr. Coupland: This splendid address of Mr. Pollard, It seems to me, is the crux of the whole cooperative situation. I have listened with wonderful interest to what has been accomplished by this association In so little time. A year and a half ago I spent some time in California and was permitted to Inspect and get in close touch with that wonderful association, the California Fruit Growers' Association. It is one of the finest organizations of business minds that exists upon this continent today. They have been doing wonderful work there, and the work that our friend Pollard and his association Is doing is along the same line. There is no question of where they are going to land in the ultimate result. That is the Idea of cooperation, gentlemen, the merging of the energies of the individual into an associa- tion of this kind for the common good; not necessarily losing sight of the man as an individual, but the merging of his efforts into tlie efforts of other men for his own good. Mr. Pollard has told us his practical ex- perience; what the fruit growers have done. There is nothing behind this cooperation that can hurt the body politic for people to cooperate. It is for the public good. Mr. Dech: I think Mr. Pollard has ex- pressed it so that we can all understand that much good should come from this address. Pres. Coupland: We have with us Mr. Vincent, of the Farmers' Elevator and Grain Company, who will give us his ideas of co- operation as applied to the grain business. LOOKING FORWARD. By C. Vincent. I have sometimes been called a dreamer. Perhaps I am. Thomas Jefferson "dreamed" of a nation freed from political bondage, or he never would have written the Declaration of Independence through which his dream came true. If my dream of a prosperous people, made prosperous by practical co- operation, is ever to come true, certain economic changes must take place. Modern ideas concerning the legitimacy of fixed in- terest charges on certain forms of invest- ments have shaped themselves with the development of modern systems without seeming to attract serious attention to the economic absurdities involved. It is feared that most economists who have detected the absurdities and economic impossibilities of the system have refrained from pressing them upon public attention for the reason that it would make them unpopular with the men who kept the pay-rolls replenished. Be that as It may, I think I see an insuper- able obstacle to universal prosperity inter- woven into the fiber of our economic sys- tem so that It will require careful and patient effort to eradicate It, and so re-shape the system that prosperity may become a pos- sibility. I refer to the prevailing and estab- lished custom of requiring corporate "stock" or other invested capital to draw Interest in perpetuity. It would not be so bad if actual Investment only was expected to draw in- terest, but when it is remembered that uncounted millions of "watered stock" is expected to draw dividends or interest, and an efl'ort is made to produce an Interest in- come on this "water," it will be easier under- stood that an, «Bpossibility is being at- temped. Realizing that many people will ridicule the foregoing as the idle fears of a pessimist, I will produce some figures calculated to show the reasonableness of my position. Napoleon was said to be one time found lost in the study of a compound interest table, and when roused from his contempla- FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 81 tions, he exclaimed, "I wonder that civ- ilization has endured." No bank or other financial institution will undertake to pay compound interest on either a large sum, nor on any sum for a long period. There is no economic differ- ence between the payment of compound in- terest by one person or firm and the pay- ment of interest by various persons on in- terest earnings from various other sources. The ultimate result would be the same. Then let us inquire what compound in- terest will do. Any arithmetic or a few moments' figur- ing will show that any sum compounded annually will double itself at 10 per cent in 7% years. Now follow closely the table below; at 10 per cent $1 will equal $2 at the end of 7% years. Similarly — In 14% years it will equal $ 4 In 21% years it will equal 8 In 29 years it will equal 16 In 36% years it will equal 32 In 43% years it will equal 64 In 50% years it will equal 128 In 58 years it will equal 256 In 65% years it will equal 512 In 72% years it will equal 1,024 In 79% years it will equal 2,048 In 87 years it will equal 4,096 In 94% years it will equal 8,192 There are yet 5% years for it to run be- fore 100 years would be reached, andyour compound interest table shows that a*t the end of 5% years the principal will be equal to 1.72 per cent of itself, or our new principal of $8,192 will have become $14,090 by the time the first hundred years has expired. The average farmer's elevator is probably capitalized at about $8,000, and with about 200 .farmers' elevators in Nebraska it is probable that the money invested in farmers' elevator stock is about $1,600,000; and if $1 will amount at compound interest to $14,090, the money invested in one-fifth of the eleva- tors of the state (because there areover 1,000 elevators in Nebraska) would, if invested at 10 per cent and compounded annually, amount to the appalling sum of $22,544,000,- 000. It is impossible for the mind of man to imagine the values expressed in the above sum unless we express It in terms that we can more nearly comprehend. It equals about 102,472,727 pounds of gold or 1708 carloads of 60,000 pounds each, or over 34 trainloads of 50 cars each, or one solid train 7 1-9 mil.es long. If we imagine this sum expressed in $1 bills, each 8 inches long, it would make a continuous belt of one dollar bills— 22,544,- 000,000 bills, equal to 15,029,333,333 feet or 1,423,243 miles, or nea^ 57 times around the world at the equat^., When we realize that "this stupendous sum would be the inteFest'on only about one-fifth of the elevator property of Ne- braska at 10 per cent compounded for 100 years, without including- any of the farm capital, the bank capital, the mercantile capital, the manufacturing capital, the rail- way capital, or the capital, invested in all other classes of business, when we pause and try in such feeble manner as we may to realize the utter impossibility of ever paying such an interest charge, we are com- pelled to admit the absurdity of the effort, and would be driven to the declaration that any attempt to enforce such an interest charge would be classed with chattel slavery and outlawed by all governments, as con- trary to public policy. It may be argued that 10 per cent is too high a rate, but that a lower rate would be admissible. Who shall determine what rate would be proper? Many banks charge 10 per cent and most banks charge 8 per cent to the greater part of their customers. Computing the same problem on the basis of 8 per cent, it is found that the interest would amount to $3,537,600,000, or 16,080,000 pounds of gold, or more than 268 carloads of gold — more than 5 trainloads of 50 cars each. In $1 bills it would equal 2,558,400,- 000 feet, or 223,333 miles, or a ribbon of $1 bills about nine times around the earth at the equator. And when we realize that this sum would be the interest on only an extremely small fraction of the capital in- vested in Nebraska alone, it is amply dem- onstrated that perpetual interest on invested capital is indefensible. Imagine if you can a beautiful and fertile body of land lying in a valley where a river skirts one side and precipitous mountains rise on either hand. The land in the center is higher than elsewhere. Ten thousand people have here tilled the soil, reared their children, and buried their fathers and mothers for several generations, so that phys- ical danger was the thought farthest from the minds of every one. The crest of the highest land was large enough to afford asylum for one thousand persons when packed to its closest capacity. A sudden rising of the river in the night converts the valley into an island, and as it continues to rise, the inhabitants begin to move to the higher ground. Higher and higher the waters rise till the whole ten thousand people are hemmed in with the flood lapping their feet on every side. The continuously rising waters wash away the weakest, that were crowded out by those whose strength and cunning had secured for them a loca- tion on the crest. Higher and higher rose the flood, the roar of the snarling waters drowned at times by the cries and shrieks of the helpless weakest of the fear-palsied throng, as they lost their footholds and were swept away. When the remorseless tide had spent its fury, a thousand people were left upon the hilltop — all the rest were des- troyed. As it was impossible for the weakest of the flood victims to escape, so it will be impossible for any but the flnancially strong or cunning to survive the tide of bankruptcy that will sweep the world when the popula- tion flnds no new land to exploit, and all the people must therefore depend on their 82 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS ability to prodjice their living Instead of sucking it like cuttle-fishes from the mass of society in high interest charges, and per- petual dividends on stocks. A New System Proposed. When any system is found to produce results incompatible with the welfare of the public, thoughful citizens should en- deavor to establish a different system more in harmony with the best Interests of so- ciety, and it is in pursuance of this purpose that I am suggesting short-time amortiza- tion bonds as a substitute for the "stock" principle of capitalization because the "stock" principle contemplates perpetual In- terest on an ever-increasing volume of cap- italization, and the end of such a system would be universal bankruptcy within a com- paratively short time after population has in- creased to the point where it consumes the agricultural products of a country. The bonds should be easily sold, for on the proposed amortization basis, the security grows better with every payment, which may be arranged to occur semi-annually (see table below). When the bonds are paid off, no dividend bearing "stock" exists. The property is free from dividend or Interest drains, and the profits may be paid to those whose business produced the profits, which is the ultimate aim of cooperators. There remains one more thing to be pro- vided for. It may be objected that when the bonds are paid off, there being no "stock" there would be no "owners," no one to care for the property or to protect it, etc. This may be provided for as follows: When the bonds are sold, let a share of stock be assigned or given to every resident purchaser of a bond, but let the stock have the following provisions printed on each certificate. 1 — No person shall own more than one share nor cast more than one vote in busi- ness meetings. 2 — No proxies shall be recognized. 3 — The stock shall be non-dividend paying. There being . no "investment" after the bonds are paid, the only use of "stock" is for the purpose of establishing ownership in the nature of a "trust," or trusteeship, for the benefit of the former bondholders, and their profits would come on the coop- erative basis — in proportion to the volume of business of the customers. Ways to Utilize the New System. The farmers of Nebraska may demonstrate to the world the economic soundness of the proposed plan of utilizing the amortization bond system in several ways. A new elevator may be built by a new company on the amortization loan basis in- stead of through the issuance of stock. Exchange existing stock for amortization bonds on an agreed basis or term of years, abolishing the old system and establishing the new. The amortization principle may be used to reduce over-capitalization to normal or proper capitalization. Suppose a new com- pany subscribes for $8,000 of stock, and in buying an elevator it is deemed advisable to pay $6,000 for a house that can be dupli- cated for $4,500. It is plain that $1,500 has been paid for a "franchise" or the "good will" — some may call it "watered stock," — but by whatever name it is called it is an excessive capitalization, and the amortlza^ tion plan could easily be used to absorb the extra $1,500 of franchise value. Let the subscribers buy the bonds of the company on an 8, 10, or 12 year amortization basis. The stock capitalization will remain at actual value, and the "blue sky" or franchise value will be gradually absorbed by the payment of the amortization bonds. Many towns have more elevators than are needed, or more than will be needed when stock raising and dairying find a larger place in farm economics. Consolidations may be made and amortization bonds used instead of "stock." Overhead expenses will be eliminated and economics in operation introduced till the various communities are operating their entire marketing on a basis of cooperation, a system that contains within it the possibilities of commercial freedom instead of the seeds of financial ruin and universal bankruptcy. AMORTIZATION TABLE. for a 10 year Amortization loan or bond of $100.00 at 6 per cent Interest. Payments semi-annually. Annuity $13.44 Interest 6.00% Amortization 7.44% 13.44% Semi- Annual payments $6.72 Semi- Semi- Amortization Annual Annual Interest Payments Still Periods Paym'ts.6 pr ct. on Principal Unpaid 1 $6.72 $3.00 $3.72 $96.28 2 6.72 2.89 3.83 92.45 3 6.72 2.77 3.95 88.50 4 6.72 2.65 4.07 84.43 5 6.72 2.53 4.19 80.24 6 6.72 2.40 4.32 75.93 7 6.72 2.27 4.45 71.48 8 6.72 2.14 4.58 66.90 9 6.72 2.01 4.71 62.19 10 6.72 1.86 4.86 57.34 11 6.72 1.72 5.00 52.33 12 6.72 1.57 5.15 47.18 13 6.72 1.41 5.31 41.88 14 6.72 1.26 5.46 36.40 15 6.72 1.09 5.63 30.77 16 6.72 .92 5.80 24.97 17 6.72 .75 5.97 19.00 18 6.72 .57 6.15 12.85 19 6.72 .39 6.33 6.52 20 6.72 .20 6.52 0.00 $134.40 $34.40 $100.00 Note — The payment of $7.96 every six months would pay off both principal and in- terest on a $100 loan or bond in eight years. The payment of $5,905 every six months would pay off both principal and Interest on a $100 bond in 12 years. Note — See appendix "B" for forrii of bond. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 83 President Coupland: The hour is late now, and we will stand adjourned until 1:30 this afternoon. THURSDAY AFTERNOON SESSION. December 11th, 1913. Called to order by President Coupland. Mr. Coupland:^ Gentlemen, the time Is long past for opening the afternoon session. We had two splendid addresses this morn- ing, and they are now open for discussion. The time is yours. Mr. Buccnold: I want to say a few words about the Rochdale cooperative plan. I was living in a small town in England, worked for the railroad, we were all railroad men, and we got the idea that the storekeeper got too large a share of the profits on what we bought; and we got together and started a cooperative store. Our cooperative law is copied from the English law. We paid $5 to become members. We rented an empty room and sold bacon and cheese first and stuff like that, and started in a small way, and pretty soon we had to have more room, and we rented another room and a room upstairs. Everbody wanted to get things at this cooperative store. We had a meeting every six months and took stock or in- ventory" we would call it. Then we paid whatever per cent we could on the money that was invested, and then divided up the money among the shareholders. The share- holder got twice as much as the nonshare- holder. We charged just exactly the same as the other stores for stuff but the members got back the dividends. By cooperation, the more you spend the more you save. President Coupland: We have with us the President of the Nebraska Farmers' Union, and it gives me great pleasure to introduce him to this Congress. M. Gustafson: Mr. Chairman and Fel- low Farmers — It gives me great pleasure to meet with you this afternoon, and have this opportunity of addressing the Farmers' Con- gress. I have just come from a meeting of the Farmers' Cooperative and Educa- tional Union at Fremont. We have over five thousand paid up members in our Union in the state of Nebraska. In a few words, I want to give you our method of organization. Fifteen men get together and organize a local association and then those local asso- ciations were merged into the state asso- ciation, which now has five thousand mem- bers. This is all done or has all been done by cooperation. I understand that great cooperator from Ireland was with you yes- terday and told you that the keynote of the whole situation is cooperatiop. I believe that is absolutely true. -We are organized in twenty-three or twenty-four counties of the state and we have our state organization started. I hope that every one of you will go home and talk this up. I don't need to tell you men that one-half Of the money the consumer pays for your product goes into somebody else's pocket other than the pro- ducer. You men know this; and the remedy lies in just this — cooperation and organiza- tion. We are just waking up now; just getting our eyes open and getting in action. We are going to be able to handle this proposition. All we have to do is to get together. United we stand, divided we fall. All we need to meet the situation, gentlemen, is to organize and then • stand together. I had understood before I came down here that the Farmers' Congress and the Union were not on the best of terms, that there was some feeling between the two organiza- tions; but I want to say that since I have been here, I have learned that that is a false alarm. There is nothing but the best of feeling between us. We are all working with the same object in view. Mr. Coupland: We have several com- mittees who are at work, and if any of them are ready to report, we will be glad to have it at this time. Is the Committee on Finance ready to report? Mr. Pollard: Your Committee on Finance appointed last evening will have a further report to make, but as chairman of that committee,' I have been instructed to pre- sent this resolution to the Congress: "Be it Resolved, that it is the sense of this Congress that subscriptions shall be called for at this time, and be it further "Resolved, That each delegate sent here shall, upon his return, in reporting the pro- ceedings of this Congress, be required to call for contributions from the local asso- ' ciations of this Congress." Adopted. Mr. Odell: You have to get down to busi- ness to carry out the spirit of this resolu- tion and put this organization upon^ its feet financially, and the time to begin is right now; and I am going to start the ball rolling by contributing $10 from my own pocket, and I want every man here who meant what he said when you unanimously voted for this declaration of independence, to come through now and subscribe. You don't have to pay now; you can give the Secretary your name and the amount. Secretary Delano: In ten minutes $562.50 were subscribed. By resolution the matter of reorganizing the State Board of Agriculture was referred to the Comrnittee on Resolutions and this committee reported in favor of a joint com- mittee from various state associations for considering the entire matter. This commit- tee has been named and will report at next session of the Congress. Mr. Coupland: We will listen to an ad- dress by the Hon T. P. Sturgess, of Omaha, editor of the Twentieth Century Farmer. His topic is, "SHOULD THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE BE REORGAN- IZED?" President Coupland: Mr. Sturgess will take up his matter with the Resolutions Com- mittee, and Mr. Roberts is invited to be present with that committee. We will stand adjourned until the evening session. 84 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS EVENING SESSION. Thursday, December 11, 1913. Meeting called to order by President Coupland at 8:10 p.m. President: Before entering upon our pro- gram for the evening I want to read this telegram : "To the Nebraska Farmers' Congress, Rome Hotel, Omaha — Accept reciprocal con- gratulations for our fullest possible coopera- tion. Nebraska State Grange, by J. B. Ream." President: Members of the Congress, the topic assigned for discussion this evening Is a very important one to the taxpayers of Nebraska. This question has agitated a great many people for a number of years. In the preparation of this program it was felt it would be eminently proper that this problem should be brought before you for discussion. Gentlemen, it will give me great pleasure to introduce a man who is well know in this state. He has given a great deal of his time and thought to the build- ing of Nebraska, and I am sure he will give us some splendid ideas. I take pleasure in presenting Mr. Ross Hammond to this Con- gress. (Applause.) ADDRESS BY HON. ROSS HAMMOND. The first thing for us to know and to un- derstand in its fullest sense is that the people of Nebraska have at Lincoln a great school owned by all of them in common. It is a University made up of several colleges — the College of Liberal Arts, the Colleges of Law, of Mechanical and Electrical Engineer- ing, of Agriculture, of Normal Training, and witii a College of Medicine located at Omaha. For forty years this University has been in process of development. It is re- garded as the flower and fruit of our com- mon schools that are scattered everywhere throughout our beloved state and giving to it, perhaps more than any other influence, its intellectual and social impulse and status. As our visions have widened and our aspir- ations have heightened, so the University has enlarged its curriculm, quickened its interest, and made itself more responsive to the obvious needs of the people in their larger and more intelligent demands. It is the peak and summit, the climax, of our highest ideals of public education. Not many of us attend there, in propor- tion to the whole, yet that it may leaven the whole lump to an ever-increasing degree is the high hope of every worthy and am- bitious citizen. It is for this we all support it. It is for this we cheerfully pay our taxes, though to most it seems a great way off — like a glittering star in the sky, but it is our very own. "We the people" are pro- prietors. It is therefore our business to say what it shall be, just how it shall be op- erated and by whom managed. To interest ourselves in its development will be to give it increasing usefulness and to add to our own intellectual and social, not to say moral, stature. There is scarcely a sacrifice we will not cheerfully make for the upbuilding of our public schools, and that they should have a worthy crown may be our laudable ambition. For purposes of discussion it is necessary to assume that there are some things with which all are not familiar. Let it be said, then, that the University is at present a divided school. The larger portion of the buildings and equipment is on a campus of ten and one-half acres in the congested portion of the city of Lincoln; the remainder on a 320-acre farm owned by the state two and one-half miles distant. What we are to determine here tonight and through the days that are to come between now and the next state election in November, 1914, is whether the University of Nebraska shall be con- ducted for all future time in a divided con- dition or whether it shall be merged and consolidated into one large and harmonious whole? The last legislature decided upon two very important things, with reference to the Uni- versity, namely: (1) That a building fund be created by the levy of an annual tax of % mill for a period of six years upon all property in the state to properly house and equip the University, which levy will yield aproximately $2,500,000; (2) That there shall be submitted to the people under the referendum the question of site. Thus our duty is very plain. We should inform ourselves. We should know before we vote to fix the destiny of the state's greatest institution just what we want. Pop- ular government is in a large degree on trial, as well as the fate of the University involved. What answer shall we give? No state question has provoked more discussion during the past two years. There has been but one opinion among those who have the direct management of the University and of a majority of the mem- bers of the last two legislatures concern- ing the need of a larger university. Present facilities are completely overtaxed. The money for development and relief is now provided for. That much the legislature has been able to accomplish. The much more important question of location is referred to the people to decide. The leg- islature could not agree on this. The body of 133 men failed to unite so it is left to the 275,000 voters of the state to deter- mine. We must "pay, pay, pay," to adapt Kipling, and we must also say, say, say. The one is no more imperative than the other. The tax is now irrevocably imposed upon us. The cost is fixed. We have to deter- mine under which plan we will be able to get the most for our money. The first cost of a project is always of concern. Most people are better able to understand that simple proposition than to take a correct view involving a long sweep of years. I have gone through the analyses of figures for and against removal and these leave me somewhat perplexed in that par- ticular. Both sides have official reports on FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 85 file, these being formulated and presented by a committee appointed by the last legisla- ture. This committee consisted of one mem- ber of the house and one member of the senate, these two being authorized to choose two members of the Board of Regents of the University to serve with them. So taut were the lines drawn on the University question that the whole committee of four consisted of two pro-removal members and two anti-removal members. As a result we have two reports on the relative cost of expansion on the present site and of re- moval to the farm. The anti-removal half of the committee consisted of two members, both residents of Lincoln. Perhaps it is no less significant that the other two members are neither of them residents of Lincoln. The reports of the members of the com- mittee in favor of expansion on the pres- ent site arrives at one conclusion, and the report of the removal committee arrives at quite a different conclusion. It depends in the main upon how the salvage of property composing the present down-town campus is treated in case of removal. Factors en- tering into the estimates are whether this building or that is suitable for continued service. The anti-removalists conclude, after an exhaustive showing of figures, that the excess cost of removal over extension of the present campus would be $697,750. On the other hand, the report of the members favoring removal concludes in these words: ■ "We therefore conclude that the state, by consolidating the University upon the state farm would have at least half a million dollars more for actual build- ing needs than by developing at the city campus the activities already there and purchasing land contiguous thereto, and would also avoid large duplication of build- ings; and the operative and administrative charges which would be incident to separate institutions, and still be the possessor of the land occupied by the down-town campus valued at $350,000 and the buildings thereon." This wide variance in estimates arises in addition to what I have indicated, by the uncertainty of the cost of the six blocks, or about nineteen acres it is proposed shall be added to the city campus. A committee of business men of Lincoln has guaranteed the cost shall not exceed $300,000, But the attorney general says this guarantee is not enforceable, and as the estimated actual cost will be about $500,000, there may be some doubt about the additional space being procurable at the minimum sum. Also the anti-removal report does not acknowledge the need for a new holier and power house on the city campus and the necessary real estate upon which to build it. This ac- counts for $150,000 or $200,000 of the varia- tion in the estimates. The city campus advocates also lose sight of the very important feature that, in case of consolidation on the state farm, it gives for the money spent all new buijdings, erected in conformity to the most modern plans in university architecture. This is an important item in the whole scheme of transferring, consolidating, adapting, and modernizing this great school. These two reports of a divided committee will doubtless be spread at large before the people during the campaign that is to involve the University's fate. They furnish a good analysis of the details of the situation. There are those who will be governed by the immediate results measured in concrete wall surface and floor space furnished by the money to be expended; and these reports will settle the matter for such persons. But there are two other phases of supreme im- portance in the consideration of the sub- ject. One of these is upon which side is the weight of intelligent authority thus far expressed? The other, and this one, para- mount to all other considerations, is whether we are to continue to run counter to the wisest knowledge and experience of the day by keeping a divided university and not give to all University life the flavor of prac- tical knowledge and culture that lead up through physical senses to the highest mate- rial attainments and intellectual satisfaction. In other words, are we, living in a pre- eminently agricultural state, going to keep on subordinating agriculture to the professions? Are we going to continue spending our money for the purpose of manufacturing law- yers, and editors, and doctors and teachers and preachers, and pharmacists, and keep- ing in the background and submerged the very fundamental thing upon which our very life depends, and upon which the measure of our prosperity and happiness is to be determined? If I know anything touching the temper of the people I am ready to say emphatically No. Three years ago a special committee of the legislature was appointed to investigate the advisability of removal and consolida- tion on the state farm. It consisted of eleven members. This committee pre- sented both sides of the question. It con- cluded its report in these words: "We are unanimously of the opinion that a more harmonious- and more economically administrated University may be built up at the farm campus, but that to accomplish this it is absolutely necessary that a special levy of one mill for about eight years be made available for this purpose; and on the con- dition that this legislature is willing to pro- vide for this special levy of one mill we unanimously recommend that it is declared the policy of the state, in regard to the Uni- versity, that all colleges now located on the city campus be removed to the farm campus and a consolidated institution there built up." Let it be noted again that this com- mittee was unanimous and that, strange as it may now seem in the light of subsequent events, two of the members of that com- mittee were from Lincoln. The policy of removal was, in the judgment of that com- mittee,' worth one mill a year for eight years. That legislature settled the policy but failed to furnish the money. The next one (the last) furnished the money but neglected to declare a policy. We now have FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS both questions settled so far as legisla- tures go. How about the Board of University Regents? What do those men think who have given more attention to University conditions, University needs and University possibilities than anybody else? This board during recent years has indicated varying symptons. The removal idea has clearly grown upon it. We have its answer in a supplemental report filed with the Governor last January. The full board says, after reviewing the situation, recommeding re- moval to and consolidation on the farm and a levy sufficient to yield two and one- half millions In six years: "By a.dopting such a policy the board be- lieves that the state can erect a modern university plant, giving maximum efficiency at minimum cost, of which the state of Ne- braska may be justly proud." And by way of giving emphasis to this conclusion, Samuel Avery, Chancellor, and Dr. Chas. B. Bessey, Head Dean, added to the supplemental report this: "It has our cordial and unqualified approval. From a most careful consideration of all the ques- tions involved, we are firmly convinced that the policy recommended, of consolidating all the University's activities at the state farm, is educationally wise and economically prudent." Do you think we need more testimony or better testimony than this? Is it likely there exists anywhere any body of men who are as well informed on the specific ques- tions involved as are these whom I have quoted, and who give their unanimous and unqualified approval (with but one anomal- ous exception) to the proposal for removal and consolidation? I can bring to you no higher or more expert authority than I have here submitted. We may grant that these witnesses may have more or less selfish interests, but one must remember that that selfishness runs wholly to the best interest of the University, and these are precisely what we, the taxpayers of Nebraska, whose school this is, desire to advance. There is no personal selfish interest on this side. On the other hand, my observation leads me to believe that there is no considerable opposition to removal and consolidation that is not located in or at least generated in, the city of Lincoln. Such opposition as has been manifested before the last two legisla- tures was created by local sentiment by Lin- coln business interests in which the people of Nebraska, owners of the University, are not greaitly, and only indirectly, concerned. Keeping the University down town, it is figured by these interests will make it worth more to the city of LincoJn; removing it to the Farm campus, it is figured by re- movalists, will make It worth more to the state of Nebraska. In either event, the city of Lincoln stands to be a tremendous gainer from the generous ex- penditure of two and one half millions of the people's money in the immediate future, and unknown millions more during the generations this great institution will exist. But let me summon other competent and impartial witnesses of the very highest authority and eminent In university life. President Vincent, of Minnesota, where there is a divided university, advises con- solidation for Nebraska. President James, of the University of Illinois advises Nebraska to consolidate. Illinois has consolidation. President Thompson, of the Ohio Univer- sity, advises Nebraska to consolidate. Ohio has the advantages of consolidation. President Schurman, of Cornell, advises consolidation for Nebraska. It is worth while to say, also, that Dean Bailey, of the Cornell Agricultural College and President of the Country Life Commission, strongly urges consolidation for Nebraska. President Von Hise, of the University of Wisconsin, consolidated, advises consolida- tion for Nebraska. President Hill, of the University of Mis- souri, urges consolidation for Nebraska. Missouri is consolidated. President Schurman of Cornell puts it thus pithily: "Consolidation is for the state greater economy: for the students better education and a more thorough democracy; and for the teaching staff a better class of men." Dean Roscoe Pound, raised in Lincoln, one of the most eminent products of the Nebraska University law department, now at Harvard, says: "I favor getting the law students as far as possible from the center of town." "Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us and run with pa- tience the race that is set before us." To understand the desirability of removal it is necessary to know that, by the develop- ment of the city, the University is now hedged about by unfavorable environment. The railways have crowded in upon it, and the jobbing and other business concerns make up a growing city. More and more this objection must increase with the years, as the city continues to expand. It would be the essence of poor judgment, in my opinion, for the state to acquire new down town space for expansion, when it already possesses an ample site of such eminent beauty near at hand. Indeed the quad- rangle is already planned and in part com- pleted at the farm. Broad spaces there await the stately edifices of the creation of the architect and builder. The inviting land- scape surrounding beckons with compelling force a nobler university to an unsurpassed location. It is argued with some force that to re- move to the farm will be to deny hundreds of students who are working their way through school the equal facilities they now enjoy. These obtain employment down town in many ways. This praiseworthy practice should not be curtailed, without reason. It is conceded by removalists that this objection can not be immediately over- come. It is estimated, however, that not FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 87 more than 25. per cent of those who depend in any way upon their earnings will be more than temporarily denied, and that in a short time the whole question will readjust it- self. It is contended by those who have carefully watched it that this industrial phase is not an unmixed blessing. There are many students who seek gainful em- ployment, not from necessity, but that they may purchase forbidden things that would not be creditable in an exhibit showing dis- bursements of paternal remittances. There is also the religious phase to be considered. Objection is raised to the re- moval upon the ground that it would take students farther from the influences of the city churches. This training is of the ut- most importance, for at college age young men and women are most impressionable and must be carefully guarded. But in favor of removal it may be said that more and more churches are spreading to the suburbs, and the residential district is ex- tending toward the state farm. Indeed, there has already been such a change in the residential center that it may be asserted the farm is as near to it as is the present city campus. In any event, being more re- mote from the evil influences of the city which have crowded themselves in upon the University for the purpose of preying upon the student, will be a gain quite as distinct as will be any moral loss that may be bus- stained by getting a little further away, per- haps, from the downtown churches. I should revert to the comparative cost of the two plans for the purpose of empha- sizing what was meant by the legislative committee of two years ago when it said that "a more harmonious and more eco- nomically administrated university" could be developed at the farm, and ^ what Chan- cellor Avery and Dean Bessey meant when they endorsed the removal recommendation of the Board of Regents as being "econom- ically prudent." To expand the city campus as contem- plated also means development of the farm campus. It means a continuation of a divided interest. Already there are dupli- cations of buildings indispensable on each campus. To continue the policy of dual development will be to compel many costly duplications in the future. Removal to the farm means consolidation, and consolidation means no duplication. Thus when we come to consider that for the centuries this in- stitution is sure to live this avoidance of duplication is likely to save even more than the total sum we are now about to expend, the wisdom of removal becomes the more apparent. Earlier in this discussion I said there was one paramount question — one more vital than any other— namely: "Are we, in this preeminently agricultural state, going to continue to subordinate agriculture to the professions?" I do not care how you answer other ques- tions with reference to the University; I am going to insist that you give but one answer to this. I hold it to be as incontro- vertible as it is palpable that manual and vocational training are an indispensable ele- ment of education. It is fundamental, for it gives us the first law of nature — self- preservation. The evolution of our public school sys- tem shows it to be more and more, and very distinctly now, leading toward indus- trial training as the most efficient method of arousing and developing the latent and inherent human powers. In the beginning the schools were established mainly for teaching the Gospel and imparting religious instruction. Then they were broadened by the addition of the "three R's." To these were later added grammar and geography, these coming in long after. Then it was con- ceived that, since every individual was vi- tally concerned about knowledge of his own construction and the organs of the body, physiology was added. Still later it began to permeate the public mind that the schools should he an instrument for training for citizenship. This could be done by teach- ing political economy, history, civil govern- ment, and kindred subjects. Thus all these were put into the curriculum. The scope of education was so broadened as to put our school into the business of making citi- zens. This made them public schools. Since they became such, we have habitually prided ourselves in their stability and their use- fulness. Very slowly they have responded to our needs and to their opportunities. For generations they have made little progress. The vocational has come slowly. They have been directed toward the abstract more than toward the concrete. The public Is now arousing itself and demanding that the schools, supported out of the common fund shall direct themselves toward the com- mon good. Clearly this is interpreted in vo- cational training — in the things that mean a contribution to production, the actual crea- tion of that which is necessary to sub- sistence. We are now getting domestic science, the handicrafts, and agriculture. We are at last discovering that the higher powers are developed through training of the hand. We are dispelling the false no- tion that, because a thing is useful, it is not to be classed as educational. While we are not abreast of the times in Ne- braska, we are at least making a beginning in industrial education. The foundation is being laid for the pursuit of agriculture in a more adequate manner. Our country schools are adopting agricultural courses. Under the provisions of new laws our high schools are studying agriculture and are making use of plots of ground for experi- mental purposes. Thus this essential thing is being introduced in the elementary parts of our public school system. It is being taught simultaneously and in connection with the academic studies. We are setting it apart from the so-called "cultural" studies. I have little patience with such segrega- tion, yet that has been the rule. "Cultural" is a high-sounding term. It implies an air FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS of superiority that does not exist. To know Greek history is not better than to know the pedigree ot corn. To know Sans- krit is not better than to have knowledge of the chemical elements of the soils. I would fetch men down out of the clouds and give them Intelligent contact with the earth. That is what a practical education will do. I would not make everybody farmers, but I would check the tendency of our institu- tions of higher learning to make everybody professional men and women. I would give university life the same flavor of agriculture that we are giving to our common schools. I sat upon the platform in June and wit- nessed the conferring of degrees upon grad- uates of the Nebraska University. When the classes arose to receive their honors, I saw the candidates In law greatly outnumbering those in agriculture. Lawyers may perform a useful service, but it is a travesty upon our times and an arraignment of our hard sense that there should be such a dispropor- tion; as if the rearing of lawyers to get us into trouble at our cost and to get us out at their profit is of more importance in an agri- cultural state like this than is the breeding of shorthorns and the production of wheat and corn to feed the world. To keep the agri- cultural separate from other kinds of edu- cation is to discriminate against agriculture. That is the meaning of it, and it should no longer be so. I think it may be taken for granted that the best results are obtained in the matter of a rounded-out education to have all kinds of students intermingle in university life. To bring all into contact with each other is to add to the breadth of knowledge of all. It affords a free flowing from one pro- fession and vocation to another. It will obliterate the idea that the agricultural stu- dent is not on a par with the rest. The dignity of farm life needs such support. It is ridiculous that It does not have it. It Is particularly important that this occupa- tion should give its flavor to all others. The whole University course should be shaped to that end. The conjugation of Greek verbs butters no parsnips, but putting ensilage in silos flUs the larder with the fat of the land. We must depend upon our public schools to solve the rural problem. Through them we must bring about a readjustment of the social order. One hundred years ago, the population was nine-tenths rural; now it is two-thirds city. The abandonment of the farms is one of the signiflcant movements of our times. Social stratification is taking place here. We are passing into a condition of landlords and tenantry, at a time when that little Welshman and great statesman, Lloyd-George, is bending every effect to break it up, to save England from her im- pending fate. In my home county, 1,000 farms are occupied by tenants and 1,400 by their owners. In Nebraska 69,000 farm- ers live on their land and 49,000 are not owners. More university training is needed for farmers, to give them a higher sense and appreciation of farm life. Rural com- munities are being improverished. Social leaders are needed, those who have a vision of the better day and who can organize and arouse to greater agricultural, social, in- tellectual, and moral achievement. There will be enough of the purely academic in our University without special effort. The need, as I clearly see it, is to increase the vocational, and, for that reason above all others, we should transfer the University to a larger and more beautiful site and make it a monument for all time to the wis- dom and utilitarian spirit of our age. This great institution has had its periods of ela- tion and depression, of light and shadow, but let us adopt and apply to it the inspiring words of Columbus. In his journey west- ward his little fleet was beset by storms. All around were angry seas, the inky black- ness of the night and mutinous sailors. The captain of the caravel came to him and said "What shall we say, great admiral, say. If naught but seas we sight at dawn?" to which Columbus replied, "Why you shall say at break of day, 'Sail on, and on, and on.' " President: Is Mr. Reese of Lincoln present? He is to take the opposite side of the argument. If he is not present we will expect some other gentleman to take the other side because it is not a one-sided ques- tion. Mr. Dech: Mr. Chairman, do I understand this question is to be brought before this Congress to give expression publicly in re- gard to how we stand? President: I don't think there is any such idea. We are here tonight to get as much light on the question as we can, so that we can give it more study later on. Adjournment taken at 10:50, until 9:30 in the morning. MORNING SESSION. Friday, December 12, 1913, 9:30 a.m. Meeting called to order by President Coupland. President Coupland: Gentlemen, you are about to embark on your last day's session. I want to congratulate you on the splendid spirit that has been manifested here during these meetings. I have felt that spirit; it has been here; it has been In the air; it has been our custom to open the meeting with prayer, but inasmuch as we have no minister with us this morning I want to repeat to you a poem which is to me a prayer: Oh, may I join the choir Invisible Of those immortal dead who live again, in minds made better by their presence; live In pulses stirred to generosity. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS S9 In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn for miserable alms that end with self. In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars. And with their mild persistence urge man's search To vaster Issues. Oh! May I reach that purest heaven, be to other souls The cup of strength in some great agony. Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, Beget the smiles that have no cruelty, Be the sweet presence of a good diffused. And in diffusion evermore intense. So shall I join the choir invisible Whose music is the gladness of the world." President: Is the Committee on Consti- tutional Amendments ready to report? REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON CONSTI- TUTION AND BY-LAWS. Your committee having under considera- tion amendments to the Constitution with the view of increasing the membershp of the Congress respectfully submit the follow- ing report. We recommend amending Arti- cle III so it will read as follows, viz.: Sec. 1. Any person of the state of Ne- braska may become a member of the Ne- braska Farmers' Congress by the payment of one dollar ($1) annually, and may become a life member by the payment of ten dollars ($10) ; and no annual dues shall be required from life members. Sec. 2. Any association of persons in Ne- braska engaged in any form of agricultural activities may become a member of the Con- gress by the payment of two dollars ($2) an- nually, and delegates from such associations shall have full voting powers in the Con- gress without any other payment. Sec. 3. A membership shall be maintained in the Farmers' National Congress as pro- vided by the Constitution and By-Laws of said body. ARTICLE V. Sec. 1. The officers of the Nebraska Farmers' Congress shall be a President, First, Second, and Third Vice-Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer, who shall be elected annually by ballot and who shall hold office until their successors are elected and qualified, and they shall constitute the Ex- ecutive Board. Sec. 2. The Treasurer shall give bond in twice the amount of moneys belonging to the Congress that may come into his hands at any one time, said bond to be approved by the Executive Board, and he shall pay out no moneys of the Congress except upon orders signed by the President and countersigned by the Secretary of the Congress. Sec. 3. The Executive Board shall have full powers to determine all matters affect- ing the interests of the Congress, subject to approval at the annual meeting. Sec. 4. The officers' duties shall be such as usually pertain to such offices. Signed: GEORGE JUNKIN, Chairman. A. M. TBMPLIN, W. E. STRAUBE, E. M. TARBELL, E. M. SWANSON. Mr. Lawson: I move the adoption of the report as read. Carried. President Coupland: The next order of business is the election of officers. President: Under the Constitution and By-laws, the first office to be filled is Presi- dent. Mr. Lawson: Mr. President, I rise to place in nomination a man whose best qualification for the office of President is the work he has accomplished in the last year, and therefore place in nomination the name of George Coupland, of Elgin, for President. Delegate: I second the nomination. Mr. Lawson: It is easy to see that this Congress don't want anybody else for Presi- dent, and so I move that the rules be sus- pended and the Secretary instructed to cast the unanimous ballot of this convention for Mr. Coupland for President for the ensuing year. The motion being duly seconded, Vice- President Tannehill put the motion, which was carried unanimously. President: I can not express my gratitude to you for the honor, but I want to say just this much — that the work which has been accomplished is due to the Congress and not its President. If I have contributed in any measure to the success of this Congress I am very glad, and I will say that I will give you the best that I have in me the next year as I have the year that has gone, and I thank you most heartily. The next in order will" be the nomination for First Vice-President. Mr. Gustafson: I want to place before this convention the name of a man who has had experience in other farm organizations, a man who knows agriculture and who is in- terested in the betterment of farm condi- tions and who, I know, will do good work for this Congress, Mr. Arthur H. Shultz, of Dodge county. Mr. Odell: I move that the rules be sus- pended and the Secretary instructed to cast the entire ballot of this Congress for Mr. Schultz. The motion having been duly seconded, was put to the convention by the President and carried. Mr. Campbell: I want to place in nomi- nation for the office of Second Vice-Presi- dent a man who has been working for the good of this Congress ever since we organ- ized, Vice-President Tannehill. Mr. Campbell: Mr. President, I move that the rules be suspended and the Secretary in- structed to cast the unanimous ballot of this Congress for Mr. Tannehill as Second Vice- President. 90 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS The motion was duly seconded and put to the convention and carried. Mr. Tannehill: I am not a public orator and will just say one word, I thanlc you. President: I can assure you, gentlemen, tliat you have not made any mistake in the selection of your Second Vice-President. Mr. Tannehill does not make much noise, but he does a lot of work, and that is the reason I entertained Mr. Campbell's motion. Mr. Wooster: Gentlemen, it seems to me we are ignoring our First Vice-President, we liave had no speech from him, and I think we should hear from Mr. Schultz. Mr. Schultz: Mr. President and Gentle- men — -I can say I am very much surprised at being made a member of the Executive Board of this Congress. I was sent down here by the Farmers' Industrial and Educa- tional Union and was told that the members of the Farmers' Congress were not working in harmony with each other — that there was some jealousy or strife; but I want to say that after spending a day here I know I was misinformed. I have never heard such speeches and such enthusiasm as has been at this Congress, and I know every member of it is working shoulder to shoulder for the good of the association, and I am very glad I came down. I assure you I had no thought of being given any oflice, but appreciate the honor and assure you of my hearty support and the hearty support of the Farmers' In- dustrial and Educational Union. President: T can see we didn't make any mistake in our First Vice-President, either. Nominations are in order for Third Vice- President. Delegate: I want to place in nomination for the position of Third Vice-President, .T. D. Grinnell, of Papillion. Mr. Lawson: I want to second that nomi- nation. Mr. Lawson moved that the rules be sus- pended and that the Secretary be instructed to cast the unanimous ballot of the conven- tion for Mr. Grinnell for Third Vice-Presi- dent, which motion, upon being duly seconded, carried. Delegate: Mr. President, I believe nomi- nations are now in order for the office of Secretary and I want to place in nomina- tion a man who has served the organization since its infancy and who is responsible very largely for the success we have had, Mr. W. S. Delano. Delegate: I second the motion. Mr. Junkin: Gentlemen, I move that the President cast the unanimous ballot of this convention for Mr. Delano. Motion put and unanimously carried. President: I want to say this for Mr. Delano; that he is a tireless worker, and I think you have followed the wise course in reelecting him and know that he will con- tinue to serve you faithfully in the future as he has done in the past. Cries of "Let us hear from Delano." > Mr. Delano: Mr. President and Gentlemen of this Congress, I thank you for the confi- dence you have reposed in me. Delegate: Do I understand that Mr. Delano does not get anything for his work? Mr. Odell: Not a penny. Delegate: Mr. President, I don't think any man should be asked to do our work for nothing, and supposed the Secretary got some compensation. Mr. Odell: The Secretary does not get a cent for his services and I am going to rise to make a motion. I had thrust upon me yesterday the responsibility of doing a beg- ging stunt. You fellows gave what was in your hearts to give and we raised $500 in a few minutes. There are places for every cent of that money, but I am going to move you that this Congress by a vote instruct the Executive Committee to draw an order for $100 and tender it to Mr. Delano as a very slight compensation for the work he has done during the past year. Mr. Brown: I will second that motion, but I think it is too small; we ought to give him more. Motion was seconded and carried. Delegate: I rise to place in nomination the name of Mr. George C. Junkin for the oflice of the Treasurer of this Congress. Delegate: I move that the rules be sus- pended and the Secretary Instructed to cast the unanimous ballot of this convention for Mr. Junkin for Treasurer. The motion was duly put and carried. We will now hear the reading of the Legislative Committee's report. REPORT OF LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE. Omaha, Neb., December 12, 1913. Your Legislative Committee respectfully submits the following report: We have endeavored to faithfully dis- charge the responsibilities imposed upon us, by instructions of the Congress, in promoting such legislation as will be beneficial to the farmer, and in active oppositon to such measures, as, in our judgment, will be detri- mental to his interests. During the recent session of the legislature, your committee maintained permanent headquarters in Lin- coln, without expense to the Congress. Fre- quent sessions of the committee were held, and through the chairman, the Congress was represented continuously during the en- tire session of the legislature. All bills in- troduced were carefully scrutinized as to their probable effect upon the agricultural interest, in most cases receiving the con- current scrutiny and judgment of the entire committee. It must be a source of gratification to this Congress and to the large body of farmers which it represents, to know that your Legis- lative Committee has been faVored with a large measure of confidence from the mem- bers of both house and senate, and that the advice and counsel of the committee has been frequently sought upon such measures as were of direct interest to the farmer. This fortunate situation arises from the fact that from the beginning your committee has operated upon an open and honorable plane, has refrained from doing any per- sonal lobbying or solicitation for votes, has consistently refused to do any log-rolling, FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 91 trading, or compromising, holding itself at all times at the service of the members of the legislature for the furnishing promptly of accurate and reliable information upon pending measures. This service has been heartily appreciated by the menibers of the legislature, and we believe has established a bond of confidence and respect which could be secured in no other way. The experience of your committee indi- cates the absolute necessity of its contin- uance, if the farmer is to be properly rep- resented in legislative action. The average member of the legislature is a busy man. It is utterly impossible for him to personally investigate the merits of even a small per- centage of the flood of bills which are in- troduced at every session. He does not know what the organized body of farmers of the state want or need in the way of legis- lation, unless he can hear from the farmers themselves, either personally or through their accredited representatives. We there- fore recommend that your permanent Legis- lative Committee be continued with full cxt ecutive powers to represent this Congress in the interim between sessions on all matters of federal and state legislation, and- that they also be authorized, to appear before administrative boards and commissions as the representatives of this Congress, in any matter in controversy, in which the general interest of the farmer is affected. We specifically call the attention of the Congress to the pending congressional action upon the subject of rural credits. There is grave danger that a hastily planned and ill-considered rural credit bill may pass the national Congress under the pressure of pub- lic opinion, and that because of the lack of first-hand information among your repre- sentatives at Washington, such a law might easily be framed so as to work a serious detriment to the interests it is ostensibly designed to serve. The extraordinary activity of the Ameri- can Bankers Association, and prominent cap- italists, who have hitherto been exploiting the farmer for their personal profit, in this matter of rural credit legislation, augurs ill for the real benefit to the farmer through any measure which may pafes Congress, unless it shall have first received the care- ful scrutiny of competent representatives of this and similar bodies. We therefore recommend that your perma- nent Legislative Committee be instructed and given power, on behalf of this Congress, to examine and report upon any proposed legislation upon the subject of rural credits, and to voice the approval or dissent of this Congress with reference to such measure. We beg to report that during the entire period of service of this committee, not a penny has been drawn from the treasury of the Congress for compensation or expenses to any member thereof. The members of the committee have cheerfully contributed of their time and means in the discharging of the obligations imposed upon them, and they have no bills to present. We believe, however, that in view of the remarkable spirit of business-like generosity shown by this Congress, in its session on Thursday, December 11, during which the delegates present contributed over $500 cash as a voluntary offering to the treasury of the Congress for its support, that the Congress should, before the adjournment of this ses- sion, instruct the Executive Board to au- thorize and pay the necessary personal ex- penses of the members of the Legislative Committee when incurred upon the neces- sary business of the Congress. And we further recommend that in no case should any payment be made from the treasury of the Congress for personal com- pensation, as salary to any member of the Legislative Committee. We submit herewith a list of some of the most important measures, in the direct in- terest of agriculture, which passed the re- cent session of the legislature, and which were supported in the main by your Legis- lative Committee. Respectfully submitted, FRANK G. ODELL, Chairman. The Legislative Committee reports the passage of the following measures in the interest of agriculture and general develop- ment of the state which form a part of the recommendations of the last annual session at Omaha. Several of these measures have been signed by the Governor, and others are now pending at this writing (April 7, 1913), prior to the final adjournment of the legis- lature : $50,000 for agricultural extension (former appropriation $35,000). $40,000 for maintenance and improvements at the new agricultural school at Curtis. Protective measures for farm mutual in- surance companies in new insurance code. Strengthening of the anti-discrimination law. A stringent "blue sky" law. A mother's pension law. Submission of an amendment to the con- stitution providing for "uniform and pro- gressive taxation." Uniform bridge plans to be furnished to all counties by the state highway engineer (fought strongly by the "bridge trust," but passed). New stallion registration law. Conservation and public welfare commis- sion to study the resources of the state and correlate work of state departments. Creation of a bureau of agricultural sta- tistics in the State Board of Agriculture. Appropriation of $108,000 for' purchase of additional land and a new agricultural and horticultural building on the state fair grounds. Appropriation for state aid to agricultural high schools. (Shumway bill.) Appropriation for continuance of state soil survey. Gentlemen, you have heard the reading of the report? What is your pleasure? 92 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS Mr. Delano moved the adoption of the report. Mr. Wooster: I am opposed to this report most emphatically. As I understand it, if we adopt that report it gives our Legislative Committee power to run around anywhere they want to under the guise of acting as lobbyists, and we pay the bills, and it is giving them unlimited power, and they could go to Lincoln or Washington as they saw fit, and the Farmers' Congress pay for it, and I don't think we have any business to adopt this report and put that power into the hands of this committee. Let them go down to Lincoln, but pay their own expenses. Some may think it necessary to go to Washington. I am opposed to that sort of thing most emphatically. If you wish to favor any specific legislation, it would be well to appoint a committee and see that they went before the legislature, if it will agree to fight for that measure and try to see that your wishes are carried out and put into effect in the laws of this state. But as for going without specific instructions I am always opposed most emphatically to giving them any unlimited power of this sort. To go at their discretion and repre- sent the farmers of Nebraska and defend any wild hair-brained scheme they might conceive would be a good thing for the farmers and have this put into a law. (Ap- plause.) Mr. Dech: Now, my friends, brother Wooster and myself sometimes agree and sometimes we agree to disagree. Now, there are a number of things we can do as a body here, and there are some things it is utterly impossible to do. There are possibly not a dozen men in this organization who have made a positive and specific study of finance. I know what I am talking about, because for thirty years I have met the best financiers, the best lawyers, and bankers and chancellors of the universities, and when you come down to the basic idea of finance, they acknowledge they don't under- stand it, and that is proved by the suicidal acts that have been passed for the last fifty years. We have on this board here men who have studied this question, men who are capable and have definite ideas on finance. Our brother Odell, here, I know that he understands the question. If we give him the power and understand what he Is doing and knowing what he has done, is it not better to have men of this kind go and rep- resent us than not to be represented at all? I hope that the report of this committee will be adopted. .Put confidence In the men we have trusted here, as I trust we have some confidence in our fellow men. (Applause.) Mr. Junkin: I am surprised at the posi- tion that Mr. Wooster takes, and yet I am not so much surprised either. It strikes me that this Farmers' Congress is organized as one of its purposes to help the agricultural industries of Nebraska and that it is our duty to help ourselves. What has been the matter with the farmer is that he has not been organized, and when the bankers, the telephone and the railroads keep their lobby in Lincoln the farmers stay at home. He has not been represented there except by a few, perhaps three or four, and if the farm- ers do not take interest enough to go down and look after legislation, how are they going to get it? What we want is good legis- lation and know we are going to get it and let us have a committee to look after this legislation. (Applause.) I hope this resolu- tion will pass. Mr. Odell: Mr. President, I wish to rise to a question of personal privilege, not to defend the report of this committee because I don't think it needs any defence. I am heartily in accord with the sentiments ex- pressed by our good friend Wooster. I heartily agree with him that unlimited power ought not to be given to this Legislative Committee or any other committee; and on behalf of the committee I would readily agree to an amendment of this report which would make such expenditures subject to authoriza- tion by the Executive Board of the Congress. Now, as to the question of personal privi- lege: I have been filling that not very re- munerative position of chairman of the Legislative Committee of this Congress since the date of the organization of this body four years ago. It has been a privilege to serve you in that capacity — it has not been a burden, but a privilege — as it has given me an opportunity to come in contact with the best men I ever knew, and it has made for me friendships that will last as long as this life shall endure. I have learned that the average member of the legislature wants to do the right thing, and if he is prevented from doing it it is because he does not know what the right thing is. (Applause.) The average member of the legislature wants to serve you farmers today, and to the best of his knowledge and ability he is trying to serve you, and every time the farmer has tried to regain for himself some small share of the things which belong to him, which have been taken away by the cunning subter- fuge of these special privileged paid lobbies, you have had to battle continuously, and these other fellows have been on the job all the time. Go down and ask for a law to regulate the stockyards, and you will find the stockyards lobby will be there, the rail- road lobby will be there, the grain dealers will be there, and the retail merchants will be there. You have to meet every powerful vested interest in the state of Nebraska. But you could have done twenty-five years ago the things you have done during the last four years through the efforts of this Congress. You have learned your lesson, but I hope you will not again elect me chairman of your Legislative Committee. Now, there are two Instances which will show the results of the efforts and power of the committee. Two years ago, the question of University removal and Capitol removal came up, and as a sort of retribution, some of the friends of the latter represented by a powerful lobby got busy and killed that appropriation of $25,000 for agricultural ex- tension. It had been unanimously reported from the committee on finance, ways and FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS y3 means for passage, but, gentlemen, when it went to third reading they killed that bill by a decisive majority, leaving that part of the State University for two years without a penny. The time limit had passed for the introduction of bills. No member could any longer introduce a bill from the floor of the house or senate, but there still remained in tlae committjee on finance, ways, and means the constitutional power to originate a bill for an appropriation in the committee and report it for passage; and very largely through the activity of your Executive Com- mittee the next day there came out of that committee with a unanimous report for pas- sage, a new bill, not for $25,000 for agricul- tural extension, but for $35,000, and they passed it. Another illustration: A year ago last June the State Board of Equalization issued a notice to the county assessors that they were going to raise tlie valuations of farm lands and live stock in fifty-nine coun- ties of the state, and they notified the county assessors from all the counties in the state to appear before said Board of Equaliza- tion for a period of four days and present any reasons why these raises should not be made. It was a grandstand 'play. The tax section of the Rural Life Commission went before the State Board of Equalization, ap- pearing as a friend . of the board, and pre- sented to that board proof, drawn in due legal form, which showed that the farmers of this state, from the annual returns made and substantiated by the records of the Bureau of Farm Management of the State University and guaranteed by the Federal Department of Agriculture, were only earn- ing 3 per cent net income on the capital in- vested, and were paying 15 per cent in taxes. It showed that 3,900 corporations in this state during the same period of time were earning over 7 per cent net income upon the capital invested according to the sworn re- turns made to the Federal Bureau. Upon that proof filed there they didn't dare to do that, and instead of Increasing the value of your lands in fifty-nine counties they only increased it in sixteen. That was on account of the work your Legislative Committee did, and that is the kind of work you have been getting without price, simply because you had a few men of your own to go and do the work from a sense of personal obligation and courage. (Applause.) Mr. Coupland: I must suggest that we have some serious business before this Congress during the day, and it is near 12 : 00 o'clock now. Member: As a member of that Legisla- tive Committee I want to say a few words. I served on that Legislative Committee and, as Mr. Odell said, not one member of that committee received one cent for their labors. It is not any pink tea party down there at Lincoln. What we do we do in the interest of this association and the farmers of this state. As far as I am concerned, I am not anxious to serve on that committee, and I know Mr. Odell is not anxious to, either. He says he wants to be relieved as chairman of that committee, but I want to keep him there, because we know, what he has done in the past. Mr. Brown: I tell you gentlemen, I want to endorse all that Mr. Odell has said. Mr. Coupland: Are you ready for the question? Delegates: Yes. Mr. Coupland: All those in favor of ac- cepting the report of the Legislative Com- mittee and adopting it, say aye; contrary, no. The ayes have it and it is carried. Secretary: We have to elect a delegate to the Farmers' National Congress and sev- eral members of the Legislative Committee. President: How many members on that Legislative Committee? Secretary: Five. Member: As the farmers of different or- ganizations must work together, I presume the Grange has a Legislative Committee, the Farmers' Union has one, and it seems to me that this is a matter that ought to be taken up with all three of those bodies and get together in one committee. Mr. Whitniore: I hesitate to trespass any further on the time of this Congress, but I want to remind you of something. I fought for the adoption of this report, be- cause I want to tell you candidly I ihink it is our business to be represented, and I believe it is not only the business of the farmers of this state to see they are properly represented before the legislature, but I be- lieve it is absolutely legitimate and honor- able for their interests to be represented. Delegate: I nominate Frank G. Odell as Chairman of the Committee on Legislation. Seconded. Member: I desire to place in nomination for a place on that committee C. H. Gus- tafson of Mead. Nomination seconded. Member: While I am not in favor of this, I want to place in nomination a man whom you all have full confidence in, and I take pleasure in presenting the name of Chas. Graff. Seconded. Member : I wish to place in nomination Willliam Straub, of Cass County. Seconded. Member: In behalf of the good old farm- ers who know the hardships of the country I want to nominate the gentleman here, Mr. Junkin. Seconded. Members: I move that the nominations be closed. Seconded. Member: Mr. President, I move that the Secretary be instructed to cast the ballot of this Congress for these gentlemen you have nominated as your Legislative Com- mittee. President: Gentlemen, are you ready for the question? Yes, yes. All those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye; contrary, no. Carried and it is so ordered. Secretary: There Is one more election, a delegate to the Farmers' National Congress. 94 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS Mr. Wooster: I nominate Mr. Delano as a delegate to the Farmers' National Con- gress. Member: I nominate Mr. J. D. Ream. Seconded. President: We elect two; are there any others? Member: I move that the nominations be closed and that the Secretary be instructed to cast the entire ballot for W. S. Delano and J. D. Ream. Carried. Adjourned to 1.15 p.m. AFTERNOON SESSION Friday, December 12, 1913. Meeting called to order by President Coup- land. Resolutions Committee report read by Frank G. Odell. Mr. Tibbies: I move that the report be adopted as read. Delegate: I second that. Delegate: I think they should be read one by one. Mr. Odell: The rule is to read them in their entirety and move the adoption, and then read them one by one, which I will now do. RESOLUTIONS — NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS, FOURTH ANNUAL SES- SION, OMAHA, DECEMBER 12, 1913. Rural Credits. We note the recommendation of the Presi- dent of the United States that Congress speedily pass such legislation as shall pro- vide an adequate system of credit for the farmer, to be commensurate with his re- sources and operate for the reduction of interest rates to a level with those given to other business enterprises. While this Congress commends the patri- otic recommendation of the President, we believe that the farmers of the country are not yet sufficiently informed on this subject, nor sufficiently represented at Washington to bring to the attention of Congress the information and influence which is being exerted by the powerful banking interests toward similar ends. We believe that the subject of rural cred- its has its proper foundation in the local commimity, and that it is a legitimate sub- ject of state rather than of federal legisla- tion, until it has been developed satisfac- torily in its preliminary stages. We therefore express our conviction that federal legislation upon this subject at this time is untimely and may possibly operate to defeat the ends it is designed to serve, and we call upon our representatives in the Senate and House of Representatives to proceed with due caution, and to decline to act upon such measures as are or may be proposed until they shall have been sub- mitted to representative farmers' organiza- tions for their approval or rejection. Economy in State Government We believe that the taxpayers of Ne- braska are unnecessarily burdened with a multiplication of boards, commissions, and useless employees, which hamper efficiency and extravagantly increase the expenses of state government. This Congress calls upon the State Board of Control to recommend to the coming session of the legislature such measures as will tend toward the elimination of useless office-holders and the promotion of economy and efficiency in the administration of public affairs. Rural Higli Schools Whereas, There is a general feeling that the present system of public schools is not meeting the needs of the rural community, and that, in order to give our rural youth a high school education under the present system the joy and comfort of home and the community life of the rural people are more or less impaired: therefore be it Resolved, That we favor keeping our boys and girls at home in a pure and wholesome environment until they shall have completed the common and high school courses; that we favor a more practical education that will fit them for greater usefulness in life; that to meet these conditions in a satisfac- tory manner, we favor the rural high school, located at a central point in the two or more districts forming the high school union; that the rural high school may teach either two or more of the high school grades, and that we favor the elimination of non-essential subjects in our courses of study and the substitution of those more practical and useful; that we favor securing not less than a five-acre plot of ground in connection with the rural high school for buildings and demonstrations. Resolved, That the President of this Con- gress appoint a permanent commission of one at large and one from each of the six congressional districts of the state, with general powers to advise and cooperate with the commission appointed by the Governor of Nebraska to suggest revision of the school laws. University Consolidation Whereas, The individual voter has little opportunity to study for himself at first hand the issues involved in the proposed removal of the State University; therefore, be it Resolved, That this Congress would wel- come the advice of a commission of repre- sentatives of state universities and agricul- tural colleges to investigate and report upon the educational, social, moral, and economic advantages or disadvantages of consolidat- ing all the colleges of the State University on the state farm campus. Resolved, That this Congress commends the wisdom of the legislature of Nebraska FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 95 in making a levy for State University grounds and buildings. Reorganization of State Board of Agri- cuiture. Whereas, The question "Should the State Board of Agriculture be Reorganized" has been presented to this Congress; therefore be it Resolved, That this Congress requests the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, the State Horticultural Society, the Nebraska Improved Live Stock Breeders' Association and each of the auxiliary associations in- corporated under the Nebraska Improved Live Stock Breeders' Association, to each appoint a representative, who, with a like representative from this Congress, shall con- stitute a committee to consider whether,, through reorganization of the State Board of Agriculture, it may better serve the agri- cultural interests of the state; the findings of this joint committee to be reported back to their respective organizations, together with a recommendation as to what changes should be made and what steps should be taken to bring them about. Torrens Title Registration. We favor the adoption of the Torrens system of registering title to real estate, under which the state guarantees the valid- ity of titles so registered. Tax Amendment. We favor the adoption ' of the pending amendment to the constitution of Nebraska, giving to the people the power to make laws providing for uniform and progressive taxation. Cooperative Organizations. Whereas, There is a law upon the statute books of Nebraska providing for the in- corporation of cooperative associations with small shares of stock, and Whereas, The Attorney General of Ne- braska has recently decided that no associa- tion can be incorporated with less than $100 shares, therefore, be It Resolved, That the laws of Nebraska should be so amended as to make it lawful to incorporate cooperative associations with shares of par value less than $100 each. Acknowledging Courtesies Received. The thanks of this Congress are due and are hereby most heartily extended to the commercial club, the business interests, and the people of Omaha for the cordial recep- tion they have given us, the assembled rep- resentatives of the 130,000 farmers of the state, as well as for substantial assistance rendered in making the arrangements for this session. We take a just pride in the city of Omaha, the great and rapidly growing metropolitan city of our state, and we believe that the most cordial cooperation between the busi- ness interests of Omaha and the farmers of the state will continue to be greatly to the advantage of both. Respectfully submitted, FRANK G. ODELL, Chairman. Mr. Coupland: All those in favor of adop- tion of the report signify by saying aye; contrary, no. Carried. Mr. Odell then read the report seriatim. First, Economy in Slate Government, which was adopted. Then Rural High School, which was unanimously adopted. University Consolidation, which was adopted. Levy for University Buildings, adopted. Reorganization of the State Board of Agri- culture, adopted. Title Registration Law, adopted. Tax Amendment, adopted. Coop- erative Organizations, adopted. Acknowl- edgment of Courtesies Received, adopted by rising vote. Mr. Odell then moved the adoption of the whole report, which was seconded and unanimously carried. Mr. Tibbies : Gentlemen, we have adopted resolutions here which embody the longest series of progressive legislation ever made. ' Is there any way that we can get these resolutions into the hands of the country press of this state? Mr. Odell: I think that a good suggestion, but it can't be done without some expense to the Congress. I move you, Mr. President, that the Secretary be instructed to prepare the resolutions and mail them out to every weekly paper in the state with a letter ask- ing that they be published. Motion duly seconded, and carried. Mr. Delano: I would like to say herp that the Burlington Railroad advertised this session of the Congress in the papers in the state and I think it should be commended. Mr. Coupland: I am glad that this old feeling between the transportation com- panies and the farmers of Nebraska is dy- ing out. Mr. Junkin: Mr. Wooster suggested that those who paid $10 yesterday should be made life members, and I move you that those who paid $10 yesterday be made life members and those who paid $5 can become life members by paying another five. Delegate: Would that apply to associa- tions, too? Mr. Delano: No, just Individuals. Delegate: I second the motion. Motion put to convention and carried. Mr. Odell: I rise to a point of order. I may be wrong, but I am under the impres- sion there is a constitutional provision re- garding membership. I ask for information. Mr. Delano: Our constitution as amended says that when a person pays $10 he may receive a certificate of life membership and pay no further dues. Mr. Coupland: Person or what? Mr. Delano: Person. Delegate: I don't think any of us con- tributed $10 with the idea of being life mem- bers. I'd be glad to give $10 every year as I did this if we needed it. Mr. Dech: That's what I say. We need money each year to run our business, and why should we be exempt from dues? I gave $10 yesterday and I'll give $10 at the next meeting. Mr. Hoye: I move we reconsider the mo- tion just passed relating to life membership. 96 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS Motion was regularly seconded, and, upon being put to convention by Mr. Coupland, carried. Mr. Templin: I would like to be put right about these $2 memberships from affiliated organizations. Do delegates sent here by the State Grange, for instance, have a right to vote? Secretary Delano: Before we adopted this amendment to the constitution, any man or woman who paid $1 a year was a member and could vote upon roll call. Un- der this amendment, any person who pays his dues of $1 can vote on roll call, and any person who comes as an accredited representative of an organization that pays $2 a year can vote on roll call. Mr. Odell: We adopted a resolution de- claring in favor of the reorganization of the State Board of Agriculture, and I think the phraseology of that resolution could be cleared up by Senator Ollis who is with us, and I move that we reconsider that specific resolution. Motion seconded and carried. Mr. Odell: Now, Mr. Chairman, I will ask that Senator Ollis come forward and present the matter. Senator Ollis: I want to add: "To recom- mend the changes that should be made and what steps should be taken to bring that about." Mr. Odell m,oved the adoption of the amendment, which was duly seconded and carried. Mr. Odell: I now move the adoption again of the resolutions report as a whole. Carried. Mr. Coupland: We will now listen to the report of the Insurance Committee. Your Committee on Insurance beg leave to report we find the present wants and needs of mutual Insurance are covered by the new insurance code passed by the last legislature. We believe said insurance code to be fair and just to mutual insurance, and we, your committee, believe it will work in the best interest of mutual insurance. W. E. STRAUB, Chairman. J. McARDLE, F. E. DELANO. Motion to adopt the report as read carried. Mr. Coupland: We have the Tax Com- mission here and they will speak to you in way of review of their work and the object of the commission. Mr. Sears will address us. Mr. Sears: Mr. Chairman and Gentle- men of the Congress — You have all heard the common expression, "There is nothing cer- tain in this world but death and taxes." I question the propriety of that word "cer- tain" in this connection. If there is any- thing that is uncertain in this state, it is In the matter of taxes, not because they are not surely collected, but the uncertainty rests in the method of the valuation of property. We should discontinue the use of that word "certain" and substitute the word "sure" so that the old adage would read "There is nothing sure in this world but death and taxes." Gentlemen, in the study of the question of taxes, I thought I would go back to some of the earlier history and see if I could de- termine just when the tax system started, and so I went to the Good Book, and, by the way, the year 1913 is a propitious one in tax matter — we are living In the year 1913 A.D. I find by reference to the Good Book that the first tax levy was made in the year 1913 B. C. At that time, Abram, who had been out on a trip of exploration had made a cleanup and returned with a lot of money, gold and silver, cattle and stock; he came to the king and the king said, "Abram, how much have you got?" "Oh, I cleaned up a little," Abram said. "All right," said the king, "just give me a tithe or one-tenth part of what you got." And Abram turned over the tithe. That was the first case of taxation of which there is any record. Now, then, the next record in that connection shows that the Christian Era was ushered in by Joseph and Mary going up to Jerusalem to be taxed. Caesar's edict has gone forth that all should come up to Jerusalem to be taxed, and Joseph and Mary while on that memorable trip were going up t& be taxed. I state these things as showing that way back in the early history of the world the idea of taxation was as prevalent as it is today; the need of it, the conditions that made It necessary, as apparent as they are today, the difference being that then the people went to the seat of government to be taxed, whereas today the assessor comes to you. He brings you a schedule as long as your arm; he finds out how many chickens you have, the silver you have, the furniture, everything in your house. One assessor out in the state wrote to the Tax Commission suggesting that we make the schedule shorter and the maps larger. I think he is right. That is along the line of which Mr. Schappell just spoke to you. I believe that the state of Nebraska could well afford to go to the expense of having a survey made of every county in it by a civil engineer and make a topographical map of every section of land in the state. It would take time and money, but eventually it would pay, as it would enable us to get a complete record of the exact topography of the state, and the county commissioners in each county would be able to get the cor- rect value of it from such a topographical map. Such a map should show every eleva- tion In the county, and this map should be sup- plemented by a soil survey in every county so that we would have a complete record of every foot of soil in the state of Ne- braska. Let us look for a moment at some of the different tax systems. Over in Turkey, for instance; you know we don't look upon Turkey as a very enlightened country, and in this particular matter of taxation that idea seems to be the correct one. You know over there the Sultan sells to ihe highest bidder for cash the right to collect FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 97 the taxes in the Turkish empire. Some fel- low buys the right and then he goes out and collects the taxes. He buys this right from the Sultan and then has the right to collect the taxes without any limit. The farmer in Turkey, when his crop is ripe and ready for the harvest, can not touch it until the taxes are gathered — until the tax collector comes and looks it over, determines its value, and takes his proportion of it. Many crops are lost by the farmers because the tax col- lector does not get around when the harvest is ready. I tell you this to show what they do in some other countries, maybe a thou- sandfold worse than anything done in Ne- braska. For instance, in France, where the state has charge of the salt mines or re- fineries, there was a home on the border of the sea where they had a new infant In the house and needed to give it a salt bath, and the nurse took a pail, went down to the sea and dipped up a pail of water in which to bathe the child. She was arrested, taken down and convicted for taking water from the sea without a license, and that license involved the payment of a tax. That sys- tem is in vogue in France today. In England some years ago they wanted to raise some money for the Crown and so they put a tax on windows. Every man who had a window in his house had to pay a tax on it, and the greater number of windows he had, the more taxes he had to pay, and the poorer a man was the fewer windows he had, and some of the houses had none at all. The people began to wall up their windows to avoid the tax, and, as a result they had not the proper light and air, and the sanitary results were so bad that the law became a dead letter on the books. This illus- trates some of the means they used In the past to extort money from the people under the guise of taxes. We complain of the tax system in Ne- braska, and most of these complaints have been of the inequality in the method of valu- ing the property, and that in effect is largely attributed to the failure to reach the moneys and credits that a man may have. There is one phase of the matter that has been brought to the attention of the commission in our meetings that I want to speak of here today. We have ascer- tained that the money on deposit in banks, as given by the people of Nebraska to the assessor for tax assessment, was about $170,- 000,000 less than the money on deposit in banks of Nebraska, as shown by the re- turn of the state banks to the State Bank- ing Board, and we immediately concluded that the people of Nebraska were holding out on the assessor to the extent of $170,- 000,000. However, we found this answer or solution to the problem; a man may have a checking account in the bank and it will show a balance, we will say, of $1,000, and that amount will be reported by the bank as being $1,000 on hand; but as matter of fact the man who has that checking ac- count has issued checks against that ac- count and sent them hither and yon, where it will take them from five to ten days to get back to the bank, to the amount of, we will say $1,200 so that, instead of having $1,000 in the bank, if he had to square up with the bank that minute, he would have an overdraft of $200. Therefore, we believe that is the solution of this vast difference, rather than that the men of Nebraska are so dishonest that they are not making a return to the assessor of this $170,000,000. I hope that must be why it is; the bank may re- port that amount to the Board and yet the man may honestly say to the assessor that he has no money in the bank. There is great difficulty in reaching money and credits, and there always will be. The state of Wisconsin, to get around that dif- ficulty, has passed the income tax law, taking the income of those who receive over $800 a year, on the graduated basis from 1 per cent up to 6 per cent, their purpose being to raise the necessary money through that income tax, and the tax on land and improvements and upon corporations, and excluding from assessment personal prop- erty. They did this as an experiment be- cause they felt they were unable to reach the money and credits in the hands of the people. The State of Pennsylvania derives prac- tically one-half of the revenue necessary by the assessment of corporations. The state of California with its new tax law expects to derive, and probably will derive, all the money necessary for the use of the state from the taxes on corporations, and other states are moving in that direction. Whether Nebraska is that kind of a state, whether the conditions in Nebraska are such as to make it possible or profitable to attempt to do something of the same kind, is more or less problematical. The state of Pennsylvania has iron and steel and other big corporate interests; its agricultural interests are practically nothing as compared with the state of Nebraska. The vast majority of its people live in the cities and towns, and everything in the shape of business and revenue is derived more or less from, or supplied by, or contribulting to some of these great insurance and industrial corporations. Pennsylvania is corporation- ridden, and they have put taxes upon these corporations which are sufficient to provide for at least half of the expenses of the state. In considering the same proposition in its application to the state of Nebraska, we must consider the number and character of the corporations as compared to the prop- erty of the state. We must consider the corporations within this state and the amount of capital invested in it by them as compared with the other interests in the state, and see whether we are going to be able to derive a benefit by getting more revenue from them, or whether we will drive them out of the state by so doing. There are some of them that might feel the burden too heavy and would leave the state. And so we must weigh the benefits against all other considerations and look at the ques- tion from all viewpoints. 98 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THR NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS Now, on this question of the Income tax, when adopted as the basis and the sole basis of the revenue of a state, the revenue is an uncertainity, as the amount of money that will be derived from such a tax will not be the same this year as last. Income tax must be fixed upon a percentage of the income. If the state needs a certain amount of money in addition to what it may derive from the income tax, then the state must go back and simply direct a levy of a half a mill or a mill on the general property of the state to secure this additional money. These things we must consider. I am not giving you these things, gentlemen, as my ideas, I am simply presenting these different phases to you as propositions that have been put up to your Tax Commission, by dif- ferent people throughout the state of Ne- braska — some on one side of the question and some on the other side. You know when we deal with the tax ques- tion, we deal largely, gentlemen, with the per- versity of human nature, and human per- versity enters into it so strongly that a man who is honest in everything else in life, will fail to make the return he should upon his tax schedule. Sometimes, perhaps, it hurts his conscience not to do so, but he knows that his neighbor has not made a return of his full value and he feels that he in justice to himself should take advantage of that fact. We know that what deters many men from giving the assessor the honest facts about what he owns is the fact that he thinks that his neighbor is not doing so. He believes that if he does he will be paying more than his fair share. There has been put up to the Tax Com- mission the proposition of "an absolute cen- tral control" by a tax commission which shall have full and complete power to ap- praise values, assess and collect taxes, and, after collection, distribute the taxes to the different municipalities and subdivisions in the state. There has been put up to the com- mission the proposition of a "complete local option" in the matter of taxation, leaving it either to the district, county, or township, to assess, collect and distribute the taxes and to have complete authority to determine what shall be taxed, the method of reaching it, the money to be derived. These and other propositions have been put up to us. I tell you this gentlemen, to show you the breadth and variety of the propositions that we are called upon to consider. Some of these things are possibly what may be done in Nebraska. We know we have defects in our tax system. We see the remedies that have been tried out in the different states. Some have adopted a method because it is popular, and I believe some people are for certain methods, because they are popular, who have not had an opportunity to determine whether they are appropriate to the state or not. We are great imitators. We like to do what other people have done. This is an age of progress, and in this progressive age we like to be advertised with the rest of them. But before we take that position I want you people to consider these questions and then help direct the com- mission as to what you want done in the state of Nebraska, and we will try to give it to you. On the question of single tax, a gentle- man has handed me this: "What is the single tax theory?" This single tax idea was presented to your Congress by a num- ber of gentlemen the day before yesterday. The question was gone into at some length. It is a splendid theory, but whether it will work out in the state of Nebraska, I am not prepared to say. The gentlemen who have come before the commission and men gen- erally who believe in a single tax follow the Henry George idea, which, it has been claimed and represented to the Tax Commis- sion, was a blow at large landed monopoly, and that the theory of the single tax is not a theory of raising taxes but was for the purpose of forcing the land into the hands of the state and ultimately means state control of the land. I don't suppose any one of you will be for land confiscation or anything like that. I don't suppose you would like to see your lands turned over to the control of the state. The Tax Com- mission is confronted with these various propositions, and so you see, gentlemen, what this commission Is up against, and I want to ask you, gentlemen, to consider these things; to go into these questions for yourselves. Determine for yourself the ques- tion of whether you want a single tax on land values or not, and when you have determined that question, let us hear from you. Consider it well in every light, then come to this commission and tell us what you think of it. That is what we want you to do. While we are appointed by the Governor, the object of the commission is to study the question of taxation, find out the re- quirements and the methods of application, and that problem is yours, gentlemen, as taxpayers of the state. A gentleman has sent up this question: "There are said to be sixty millions on deposit in the banks of Omaha, how much is taxed?" I don't know. I have no Idea. Mr. Templin: Does that mean money or paper? Mr. Sears; Largely credits I presume. Not so long ago a man went down to the bank to open a bank account, and they told him they could not open an account for less than one hundred dollars. He said, "I have not that much money, but I need more money, and if you will loan me $400 that will suit me fine, and then I can open an ac- count. The man and the banker talked the matter over and finally compromised on half. You usually do, you know, when you go the bank to borrow money. But they loaned him $200 and they entered nearly $300 as a deposit to his credit when as a matter of fact he had something less than $100. In other words, it was paper. I feel that I have already taken more than my alloted time, but in conclusion I must say to you, gentlemen, that the purpose -FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS b9 of the Nebraska State Revenue and Taxa- tion Commission is to determine the defects in the present law and if possible remedy them by proposing amendments, and, in ad- dition thereto, if the constitutional amend- ment is carried at the election of November, 1914, then the commission may submit to the Governor and the legislature an ideal tax law in which may be incorporated many of the progressive ideas as developed in other states. The members of the commission, speak- ing either as individuals or as members of the commission, are not yet prepared to say to you, gentlemen, what their positipn is or may eventually be on any of these ques- tions. For the time being and until the commission has before it all the information obtainable from all sources, its decision on any one question must be deferred. Eventu- ally we will, as a commission, consider all phases of the tax question in its application to the state of Nebraska and will, as a com- mission, determine upon some definite re- port, which, under the act creating the com- missioni must be in the hands of the Gover- nor not later than July 1, 1914. I can not close without referring briefly to the present general tendency to increase the expenditures of the various municipal subdivisions of the state, which makes nec- essary a constant increase in the amount of taxes levied and collected in state, county, townships, city and school district. To deal with such problems is beyond the scope of authority of the present Tax Commission, but the fact remains that the question of expenditures is a live issue worthy of the attention of this B'armers' Congress, and until a remedy is applied we may expect a constant increase in the amount of taxes that we have to pay, regardless of whether that tax is levied upon land values alone, upon incomes, upon corporations, or as it is now, upon general property values of the state. Mr. Tibbies: When you spoke of money in the bank, Mr. Sears, do you mean just money or credits? Mr. Sears: Credits. There is one thing further that I would like to suggest to you. The. state legislature meets only every two years, the money from taxes is not available until the next spring and summer after the assessment, and the state is without money and is forced to pay by warrant and carry them along at four per cent until they have sufficient amount to take them up. We also have the same thing in Douglas county; the county is without funds half of the time for the same reason. You get a warrant from Douglas county at a certain time of year and you have to hold it from eight to nine months before you can collect on it. This means a great expense to the state and the county where such conditions exist. It means they can not get the lowest bid for work, as the bidder can not afford to wait so long unless he gets a good price for his service. Now, when the legislature meets a year from this winter, I would like lo see some measures taken that would change that system, making assessment in August and the levy in November, and the taxes payable in December for the next ensuing year. That would mean a great saving to us all as taxpayers, for the business of the state and of the counties could be run much more economically. Mr. Parrish: I would like to ask Mr. Sears a question. . There has always been a great deal of inequality in the levying of assessments upon real estate. Is there not some country where they let the owner put his own value upon his real estate, or what he considers the value, and then any one can go and take the property at the value he places upon it? Mr. Sears: I think that is the New Zealand plan. They let the owner place the value, and then sell it for that, but I think he has the right to redeem by paying taxes on the correct value. Mr. F. E. Delano: Did I understand you to say, Mr. Sears, that you thought it an economical plan to pay taxes in December for the year to follow? Mr. Sears: That solution has been pre- sented to us as the one for more economical administration of state and county govern- ment. It might be that this plan could be modified by paying half the first day of Dec- ember and the other half the first of the following May. Mr. F. E. Delano: I was brought up in the state of Michigan, and we paid taxes on December 1, and hogs and cattle were cheaper then. We would have to put the stuff on the market when the price was cheaper, and so I have always been thank- ful that we didn't pay taxes in December in Nebraska. Delegate: I don't believe if the assess- ment was made that early that all the farmers would have their threshing done and would know where they stood at all. Mr. Sears: That is only a suggestion. We don't want to do anything, of course, that will be unfair to anybody. I would think once the plan was established it would be just as easy to get a clear average ior the year as at any other season. That is just a suggestion. We wanted to put these suggestions up to you and see what you thought of them. It has also been suggested that each county elect one assessor and the State Board appoint one deputy, and that the assessor select a third man from the county to constitute a board for the equaliza- tion or review of taxes, and that the counties make their reports to the State Board, giv- ing the State Board the power to equalize as between counties, giving the county power as to individual assessments, the idea being to centralize the taxing power. The governor to be a member of the board ex-officio. Mr. Sheldon: I don't want to criticize the Tax Commission, but it seems to me they are too modest in their expressions of opinions. I would like to hear some straight-out opinions from them. They are entirely too modest. They have gone into this matter extensively, and I am sure they 100 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS have formed opinious, and I tor one would like to know what those opinions are. If we are going to get anywhere, we have got to reach some decision In these matters, and I would like an honest opinion from the Tax Commission as to what they themselves think as to the best plan for changing the system of taxation in Nebraska. There will be plenty of time between now and the time when any action will be taken for the commission to change its mind and it's no disgrace to be mistaken, but I would like to know what they think about it; what plan suggests itself to them as the best one. There should be some plan of taxation that would be fair and consistent; that is something that we have not now as we all know. We ought to get some system in Nebraska that would secure for us a more equitable taxing plan and a better plan of distribution of the taxes. Delegate: I would be in favor of an in- come tax, but I don't see how you would be able to get at an income tax from the farmer if he wasn't honest. Delegate: He would have to make a sworn statement. Delegate: I believe in the income tax my- self, it's easy enough for the assessor to find out what a man has received from his farm in a year. It's the fairest tax under the sun, and I would like to see this convention take some action as declaring for that kind of a tax. S. Arion Lewis: I am a rank outsider, but I feel that I must say just a word on this Henry George theory as laid down by him in the single tax idea. You can exploit the air to heaven and not pay taxes upon it, but if you own any land you must pay and pay and continue to pay. You must fight to pro- tect the land and then pay two-thirds of the taxes. I am deputy tax commissioner of the city of Omaha and I have seen $6,000 worth of beet sugar lying in the ware- houses of Omaha and not a cent of tax upon it. Does any one else put in the money they have in the bank? No. Buildings should be assessed the same as the land, dol- lar for dollar. Mr. Templin: I don't want to enter into any discussion for or against the single tax, but I would just like to ask Mr. Lewis what remedy he can suggest and how we can go about it? The hands of the legislature are tied whatever recommendation we might make here today. Does he want the people to say what class of property they want taxed? Does he think the board should assess these skyscrapers and honestly assess the value of the land too? Mr. Odell: I didn't intend to say a word on this single tax proposition. Personally I am a believer in it — a single tax on land values. As has been said, whatever recom- mendation the Tax Commission might make, the hands of the legislature are tied. I want to call the attention of my friend Lewis to these skyscrapers that he refers to and say that if the Board of Assessors, of which he is a member, would honestly assess the value of the land at something like its real value instead of at 25 per cent of it, that the amount that could be raised from the assessment of personal property would sink into insignificance. The present tax system of Nebraska imposes a penalty on the man who Is trying to be a good citizen and raise young citizens. I have a wife and four children to contribute to the future citizenship of this state. I am a working man, and every effort that I make goes toward improving my home and my con- dition, and as a reward for trying to better my home I am penalized by the state. It is cheaper to rob a hencoop than it is to build one in Nebraska. If you rob a henhouse and the police catch you at it, you are fined once. If you build a hencoop, you are fined every year, as long as the building lasts. We could learn something on this tax problem by going to Germany. Fifteen years ago, the German government undertook the problem of housing the poor. They built houses for them, modern brick houses, not tenements, and these people live under san- itary conditions, and they are the tenants of the government, paying rent for the houses, and with the opportunity of buying the house from the government as their con- ditions improve, and they are not taxed for it, their idea of taxation being that it should come from the land taxed as its full value and not 25 per cent of it. I am a taxpayer and I have never evaded a tax in my life, but I don't think that in- dividuals should be taxed for their ingenuity or because they try to build up a good home for their family. Mr. Sears: I want to say a word in reply to the gentlemen who stated the commission were too modest about expressing their opinion, and I want to say that we are chary of expressing an opinion until all the re- turns are in. We want to hear from every one, and then from the opinions of many form what we think is the best to incor- porate in our recommendation, and that is the reason that we do not feel like ex- pressing an opinion now. Delegate: I want to speak of one thing that has not been touched upon here. A few years ago in Sarpy county there was $6.0,000 in personal taxes that were uncollectible. If that will work to the extent of $60,000 worth, why don't we all refuse to pay our taxes? Why don't the public servants col- lect these taxes? Mr. Delano: Just a word. I heard the first tax report that was made by Wisconsin under its new income tax law at a conference at Des Moines a year ago last September. The Wisconsin law has operated to increase the taxes of the coun- ties in which large cities were located. I know the counties in which Milwaukee and Madison are located showed a great increase. That is a strict income tax, and incomes un- der $800 a year are exempt, and there is $200 a year exemption for each child under eighteen years of age or each dependent per- son. Mr. Odell is a single taxer; he is a FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 101 salaried man, I am a farmer. He has no in- vestment except his ability; I liave mine in the soil. Mr. Odell: Do you thinli F should be taxed because God Almighty gave me the ability to earn a good salary? Mr. Delano: I think you should be taxed on your income; yes, sir. Mr. Ireland: Those who are for the single tax seem to think that is the solution of the problem and that that will dispose of everything. I don't pretend to know all about tliis tax situation, but I think we should look into the matter very carefully before we select anything as a solution. There's a good deal to learn, you know, gentlemen. Do you know what this single tax would amount to? If you don't you can figure it out and understand it. I tell you when you go at this thing, you want to be sure just where you are and just what you want. Delegate: I agree with Mr. Ireland, I don't know whether this single tax proposition is tlae best thing or not. I think there's more than one side to tliis proposition. They will tell you. Let us exempt your money; let us exempt your farm machinery and this and that. It sounds good. But you only get one side of it. It sounds good. We say. Sure, we would like to be exempt. They will go and exempt something else; they will ex- empt improvement, exempt improvements in town. Property must be taxed according to its' value. Something must be done and something is being done and something will be done in the future. I tell you you want to watch for it. President: Adjourned until 7:30 this even- ing. EVENING SESSION. Friday, December 12, 1913. Meeting called to order by the President at 8:00 p.m. President: Before going on with the evening program I want to say that I omitted to announce one committee, so I will do it now. It is this commission for rural school investigation. Under the arrangement the committee was to be selected from the con- gressional districts, six of them and one at large. The Secretary will read the names. At large, W. H. Campbell, Clarks, First congressional district; 0. E. Woods, Beth- any second congressional district, H. A. Collins Papillion; third congressional dis- trict H P. Shumway, Wakefield; fourth congressional district, T. M. Scott, Aurora; fifth congressional district, Carl B. Stott, Edgar; sixth congressional district, E. Von Porell,' Scotts Bluff. . President: The program this evening. is to be a continuation of the tax discussion. I understand Dr. Condra is here and has some information that would perhaps be pxnlanatory of this thing that came up this afternoon with regard to th^ Blue Sky Law and its operation. Dr. Condra: Gentlemen of the Congress, I hardly know what to say, as I was not present this afternoon. It was my privilege, along with many friends, at the last session to get tlie legislature to enact a law which is called the Blue Sky Law, to provide against fraudulent dealings in this state. You ought to do this: If some one offers for sale in your community lands and comes to you and asks you to purchase a lot, in- form our soil conservation bureau of it and have an investigation. If you don't it is your own fault. Let us work together to the end so tliat if any of these fellows are stealing in this state we can get the inves- tigation necessary, and have a report made as to whether it is favorable or unfavorable, and from this report we can get the loca- tion. You farmers and business men liave now a way of locating rather quickly all these propositions. Of course, don't think that every one selling land in this state is fraudulent, but let us use the means we have of finding out the facts as far as we can. In regard to this bond proposition and stock of $160 denomination. I would not want to be quoted, but I am not sure that it is as bad as you think. I am sure that Senator Cordeal and others wanted to make it impossible for these fraudulent deals to be worked, and they did splendid things against great odds. They wanted to make it lim- possible for these fellows to run this little game so that it would bring large returns. Don't forget that you men must help us in making laws against these fellows stealing under this scheme in this state. Delegate: The question is, the Attorney General has recently rendered an opinion that shares must have a par value of $100 to operate under this Blue Sky Law. Condra: Could they not organize so that the shares would be $100 a share? Delegate: What is our Attorney General for? Isn't our Attorney General our doctor to look after those things, and if the dose won't do for the patient has he got to take it and die? What is he for? We have a man in office to prescribe for those things. When the thing is that way and won't do, why can not he fix a dose that will do? Condra: He has to follow the laws laid down by the legislature. If he could :oianu- facture it he could manufacture it unfavor- able as well as favorable. Odell: Before leaving this subject — it is one I am particularly interested in because Dr. Condra says it is the child of tliis Congress. I don't think there was any In- tention to emasculate this law in any in- terest. Had it not been for a little bit of sharp pratice that Dr. Condra was able to figure out we would not have had any Blue Sky Law at all. The fact of the matter is, Dr. Condra ought to have been cliairman of the Legislative Committee because he framed this up so splendidly that they were glad to avail themselves of the opportunity which he showed them. It had occurred to me that the plan of paying down $25 and making payment of the balance out of the 102 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THK NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS dividends may prove a blessing in disguise. Now tlie thing I like about that plan, and which I think will appeal to every farmer in this state, is this, you liave gotten down to the basis of true cooperation. I am of the opinion that we should seek at the next legislature to have an amendment to the law which will specifically exempt farmers' cooperation from it. President: Gentlemen, let us get through with our program. We will now ask Dr. Virtue to tell us what he knows about taxes. Doctor Virtue: I am going to talk on tlie subject of justice in taxation. We have to raise a given amount of revenue by forced contribution from the people. How shall the burden of taxation be apportioned so that each man and each interest shall bear a just proportion of that burden? That is a question of first rate importance; but unfortunately there is no general agreement on an answer. We are so bound up with the idea of the general property tax, that nine-tenths of those present would probably say taxes ought to be paid in proportion to the property owned. With those who believe this, the whole question of tax reform con- sists in Improving the machinery of assess- ment, In finding a way to compel every one to list his property. But in my opinion the theory of taxation according to the value of one's property is unsound. It utterly fails, as is easily seen, in the taxation of business requiring little property in propor- tion to earnings, as e. g. the express busi- ness and the telegraph business. Taxation according to valuation is wrong In theory, moreover, because properties of the same selling value are not equally significant of the ability of the owners to pay taxes. And I take it this is what we are really looking for — something by which to measure the rel- ative ability of citizens to support the gov- ernment. Now if everybody owned the same kind of property, valuation would be a fairly good test of ability; though not even then by any means a perfect one. In my opinion abil- ity to pay taxes normally increases faster than the amount of property, and justice would require that the principle of progres- sion rather than the proportional principle should be applied to ad valorem taxes. We might select an altogether different base for taxation. We might say we shall apportion taxes according to what each one consumes. Our excise and customs taxes are of this sort; and many taxes laid by the state government, taxes that can be shifted to the consumer, are In effect taxes according to consumption. This suggests a very difficult problem in taxation. If the importer can shift the tax he pays over to the consumer, you can hardly say he is taxed at all. Is there any way of reaching him? In my opinion a tax on the net Income of the Importer will In the main be borne by him, and such a tax Is more just than one based on consumption or on valuation. In other words, income is a better index of tax-paying ability than the value of property owned or the amount of goods consumed. It is not a perfect index, it is true; but as modified in recent legislation it seems the fairest test that can be set up. Such a tax should be progressive, i. e. there should be an increasing rate for the larger and larger incomes. The rate should be heavier on incomes from solid, permanent Invest- ments than on Incomes in the form of salaries, or of business profits, which stop when the worker stops. The new English law makes a distinction between earned and unearned incomes and this in accordance with sound principle. Two men may have exactly the same Income In kind and amount, and yet differ in tax-paying ability, If, for example, one has a family and the other has not. The English law and the Wisconsin law recognize this fact and make allowance by exemption or abatement for the man with a family. From what I have said you will perceive that personally I do not believe in the general property tax, which attempts to tax all kinds of property and at the same rate. It Is wrong in theory, as I have tried to show, and it is pernicious in practice. Pernicious because as administered it works so unevenly. There's no use of telling you how difficult it is to reach certain kinds of property, "intangibles" particularly. The failure is notorious everywhere, under good laws and bad laws. I don't think it worth while patching up the administrative side of our revenue law in the hope of reaching this kind of property. In my opinion the best way to deal with the problem is to exempt large classes of personal property and try to reach the Income from such property as well as that from other sources. If we are not ready for that, the next best thing Is the "classified tax." As Mr. Delano pointed out this afternoon, where tried it has worked well, bringing out large amounts of intangibles when subjected to a low rate, producing more revenue, and what Is of more, importance, distributing the tax burden more equitably. If we can not have an Income tax or the classified tax, I should feel dis- posed to frankly exempt the property that can not generally be reached anyway giving it up as a bad job. It may be asked whether an income tax is not as difficult to administer as the per- sonal property tax. The question is per- tinent and deserves a frank answer. No tax law will administer itself. It is fundamental that a tax system should be simple and work with precision. From this point of view Mr. Quimby's tax, the single land value tax, is superior to all others. If indeed you can call it a tax. Now the income tax is not simple ; It presents many difficulties. But its strong point is that it rests on a sound basis, and, if moderate, can, with efficient taxing ma- chinery, be made to work well. Twenty or more states have tried it, It Is true, and failed. But In those states the law was not well worked out and the administration was weak. In Wisconsin the tax, though by no means perfect, is working well. It could be made to work well here in time. But it will not work unless we are willing to give FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGJIBSS 103 large powers to a central authority aD(i pre ready loyally to support that authority. I have always believed in the principle of local self-government and have opposed cen- tralization of power. But I have slowly and reluctantly come to the conclusion that un- der our complex modern conditions effective tax administration requires a centralization of power. It is essential to the successful taxation of corporations, of incomes, of in- heritances, of even general property. The sensible program for tax reform, therefore. Is to revise our plan of taxation so as to meet the common man's sense of justice, give up all attempts to do the Impossible, and put the administration of the law in the hands of men of large Intelligence and business capacity, arm them with adequate authority, and then require of them the fullest publicity of their methods and re- sults. This matter of publicity is one of funda- mental importance in a revenue system. Our tax laws in their operation are wofully deficient in this respect. How many of you know what your own assessment is before you go to pay your taxes ? The law gives you an opportunity to go before the board of equalization to ask for a reduction in your assessment if you think it too high, or for an increase in your neighbor's if you think it too low. But the law and the practice give you no adequate means of comparing your assessment with others. All that is left to chance discovery, unless indeed you go pry- ing into the records at the courthouse. You have a right to know, not only your own, but your neighbor's assessment as well. Publicity in this simple matter would wipe out a vast deal of inequality that now exists. It would put the assessor on his mettle to do his work more accurately, and it would have a like tendency to induce the taxpayer to do the fair thing. Then we need publicity as to the operation of the law. Adequate information about the revenues is not easily available. The legis- lature passed an inheritance tax law, e. g. a few years ago; but who knows how much it yields? If you want to know, you have to write to each county treasurer in the state. If we want to know how much the railroads pay we have to do the same thing, or ask the railroads, or depend on the federal govern- ment. Who knows how much revenue, and from what sources it comes, is raised for state and local purposes? Who knows what the average rate is for the state? And who has any adequate notion what the revenues are used for? It costs a little something to get such information together; but there can be no question but that is is worth many times what It would cost. Of course It is understood 1 am speakmg only for myself, and in no sense for the Tax Commission. Mr. Quimby: I would like to make one comment regarding this discussion of taxa- tion by Doctor Virtue. I have great respect for him, but I can not agree with his re- marks I don't know how far the commis- sion appointed by the legislature is disposed to go unto this subject of taxation, but I do believe the commission should use all the ef- fort it reasonably can to secure the passage of the amendment to the constitution that will be voted upon next year, which will en- able the legislature or the people to make some changes. At the present time we are anchored down. There should be a change made which will enable some kind of a remedy to be adopted. We do not need to levy a tax upon things we desire if we would only avail ourselves of the question of reve- nue which the state, by its organization, creates. I fully agree with him in regard to what he said about railroad lands and property and about rates not being based upon a per cent value of them. I can not see any reason for that. Why should you make a distinction in the railroads? Why are very valuable sites in the city receiving rents based upon a per cent value? Today on the most valuable corner in the city, at 16th and Farnam, streets, that most valuable site, is owned by people who do not live here, and yet they receive from the people of this community a revenue of $10,000 or $12,000 a year for the mere privilege of al- lowing somebody to occupy that corner. Now, until the people of this state wake up to the fact and realize that they should adopt the source of supply that the people themselves are creating; that they should levy a tax upon the value of land which is the result of all the efforts of all the people, and not the individual efforts of a few; un- til they wake up to that, I can not see where they are going to make any real head- way for the benefit of the state. President Coupland: I would like to ask this question. How about these original fel- lows that came here and built up this com- munity and did the things to make it pleas- ant for the other people who came in there, people who afterwards come in and enjoy those things? Then you turn around and tax the land, and you make the fellow who has the land pay for the whole thing. I will grant that the land is worth more. Mr. Quimby: Why are you taxing it more? Because you have more conven- iences. President Coupland: We put on more frills than when we first came there, that is true. Mr. Quimby: If I did not believe ihe single tax would be of benefit to the farmer I should hesitate very much to defend it. Generally speaking, the farmers are opposed to it because they don't understand it. When a man stops to think of the values of land in the city he will see what I am talking about. The farmer at once comes to the conclusion that he is going to be pinched because we propose to tax the land values. I want to impress upon any man this fact, that when he can dispute or contradict what I say that the value of land is due entirely to the social advancement — when he can dispute that then he can overthrow my proposition, but not imtil then. I suppose I am talking to farmers here and not land speculators. If you are a land 104 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS speculator then you don't want to have any- thing to do with the single tax. If you are a farmer, though, and desire to live upon your farm and to cultivate your farm, you are not at all interested in the speculative value of the land, and, consequently, your taxes could not be anything like what they are today. He would pay nothing upon the capital he had, nothing upon the improve- ments he n-akes an,d the macliinery he uses. Taxes would be levied based upon the final and primary value of the land before any other improvement had been put upon it. Delegate: There is one thing in Mr. Coup- land's question you did not meet, and ihat was the justice of letting the man who owns the land go untaxed. I am living where I am and have been for thirty-five years. My idea is that we made that community, all of us together. Now, then, some other fellow comes in and some chap sells to him; he takes a quarter-section of land and builds down there; these people have money in stocks and bonds. We are still on our land. Then the frills they enjoy we have to pro- vide for them. Mr. Quimby: Let those other fellows pay that come in there. Mention some speciSc case. President Coupland: Take the town of Elgin where I live — if Mr. Rockefeller should come there to live. Mr. Quimby: Under the present condi- tions, if Mr. Rockefeller should come there with $500,000,000 and locate in your town of Elgin, that should be considered his home, and I want to say that it would increase the value of land, not only of your land but the whole surrounding country more than we can imagine. Delegate: Not for me It wouldn't. Delegate: I would like to ask this gentle- man a question. What effect this single tax would have on a man that was a tenant out here; had large buildings and thousands of dollars' worth of stock in there, but he was renting the buildings. Tliat stock was paid for, but he didn't own any real estate, and there may be some farmer out here who did not have his farm paid' for. He would be taxed for that farm, but this fellow that didn't own any property would slip by. Mr. Quimby: What about this stock and things you speak of? What is he going to do with them? Delegate: Answer the question. Mr. Quimby: I am answering the ques- tion. If you can answer it any better do so. I am asking about this stock. What does he want to do with this stock? Delegate: Suppose he wants to convert it into money? Mr. Quimby: Well, I can only say that if he wants to convert it into money, he can only do so by selling to the public. By putting a tax on that would enable him to shift that to the public. What is the object of putting it upon him when it will only enable him to shift it to somebody else? Now, I never would defend putting a tax upon merchant's goods because I know he never pays it; he simply shifts it to his customers. He simply shifts it and that's as far as you ever get. Mr. Schultz: I don't think this tax prop- osition should be mixed with politics. I think it should be settled by a commission that is non-political. I don't believe we will get equitable tax arrangement if we keep it in politics. I know something about it. I have had a good deal of dealings one way and another with Senator Brock; he is a special friend of mine. But I didn't approve of spending the taxpayers' money for the Wayne Normal, and there's a lot of things that the politicians do with the taxpayers' money that none of us approves of, so I thing we ought to divorce this tax proposi- tion from politics if it is possible to do so. Mr. Condra: I am of the opinion that the soil survey ought to enter into the proposi- tion of taxes upon the land values. Do you men know that there are seventy different kinds of soil in the state of Nebraska? I be- lieve what this soil survey shows the land to be worth should be used as a basis for taxation. There has been a good deal said here tonight about the single tax. That is a big question. But I think that you farmers should give more thought to the possibili- ties of the soil survey of your farms .and what that would mean to you in the way of increased production from the land. There has been great development along this line in the last four or five years. Your public servants have done much for you in various lines. Men at the University like Professor Virtue and others have given you the best service there was in them. Professor Virtue has given much thought, study, and investigation to this subject of taxes, and when he says he is not sure which plan is the best, I think we'd do well to go a little slow in the matter. Mr. Coupland: I don't want to saw any- body off, but we have had a very strenuous week. Mr. Kurl: I just want to ask Dr. Virtue one question. The doctor of course dwelt on general principles. I have never read the revenue law, but I am under the impression there is no tax on donations. We have a tax on inheritances and there have been sev- eral rumors that several large estates have passed to the heirs by donation just prior to the death of the owner, and in that way have evaded the inheritance tax. Dr. Virtue: There is a possibility, of course, of evading the inheritance tax in that way when donations have been made in anticipation of death, and there is another way, by taking stock in a corporation and when the holder of the stock dies, the prop- erty passes without formal conveyance, and the tax is thus evaded. There is an exemp- tion of ten thousand dollars allowed, and if a man has four or five children and his prop- erty is divided up among them the shares are small enough to come under the ex- emption of ten thousand dollars. Adjourned Sine Die at 10 p.m. FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 105 APPENDIX A January 19, 1914. State Railway Commission, Lincoln, Nebr.: Gentlemen — It has been called to the at- tention of the Nebraska Farmers' Congress, that the so-called Blue Sky Law as enacted at the last session of the legislature is work- ing a hardship on a certain class of our citi- zens who desire to organize local companies for the conduct of their own business in their immediate localities. The feature of the law which interferes with the plans of these people locally is that the sale of stocks less than $100 par value is forbidden. It has long been the custom of farmers in organiz- ing creameries and farmers' elevator com- panies and other shipping associations to sell stock to people locally at a valuation of $10, $25 or $50. It is believed that this class of stocks was entirely lost sight of when the Blue Sky Law was passed. No one seems to think that any person in the legis- lature intended to enact a law that would work a hardship on our people locally, but that this phase of the situation was entirely overlooked. We are now seeking a means of doing business that will be legal, and at the same time will not work a serious incon- venience nor a hardship on our own citizens. It has been suggested that the terms of the law may be fully complied with by the sale of stock on $100 basis, with the provision that a partial payment be made in the sum of $10, $25, or $50 and the balance covered by notes to fall due at stated periods, so that tlie starting of business may not be hampered, and so that people who can not spare $100 immediately may be permitted to join with their neighbors in the financing of these local enterprises. We are now ask- ing from you an opinion or a ruling to the effect that such course would be in compli- ance with the law, so that our people may proceed with their local financial institutions in the full assurance that they are not violat- ing any law nor taking a step that would subject them to unfavorable criticism. It is believed that stocks of all kinds have al- ways been sold on a partial payment basis — otherwise called an assessment basis — part cash down and the part deferred, and we are simply asking aflirmative statement that such course is legal. Yours Truly, Committee on Cooperative Enterprises, C. VINCENT Chairman. Joseph Novacek, Bruno, Thos. Guerin, Decatur, E. H. Lancaster, Exeter, A. J. McClain, Sprague, Homer Nye, Culbertson, A. M. Templin, Palmer, J. S. Campbell, Clarks, T. Ni Moore, Riverton, Herman Buettow, Norfolk, Ott May, Chapman, Frank Loomis, Edholm. Individual members of the committee have all authorized the use of their names. Thomas L. Hall H. G. Taylor H. T. Clarke, Jr. Chairman, NEBRASKA STATE RAILWAY COMMISSION. A. B. Allen, Secretary, Lincoln, January 24, 1914. Mr. C. Vincent, Chairman Committee on Co- operative Enterprises, Nebraska Farmers' Congress, Omaha, Nebraska: Dear Sir — The commission is in receipt of your favor of January 19, in which you call attention to the Nebraska "Blue Sky Law," and to the hardship which you understand is being worked on certain farmers' organiza- tions in the matter of the sale of stock of cooperative enterprises at the arbitrary price of $100 per share. Our understanding of this law and of the interpretation which has been placed upon it is substantially as stated in your letter, viz., that there is nothing to interfere with the sale of stock on the basis of $100 per share with the provisions that a partial pay- ment be made in any definite sum, the bal- ance to be covered by notes coming due at stated periods. We hold that farmers' companies are privileged to organize and to dispose of their stock as above indicated, stock certificates to be of the par value of $100, and settle- ment to be made in accordance with the terms above outlined. Very truly yours, A. B. ALLEN, Secretary. 106 FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OF THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS APPENDIX B FORM OF AMORTIZATION BOND No $100.00 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA STATE OF NEBRASKA The Farmers Company FIRST MORTGAGE SIX PER CENT AMORTIZATION BONDS Know All Men by These Presents, That the Farmers' Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Nebraska, for value received, hereby promises to pay to tlie bearer hereof, or if this bond is registered, to the registered holder thereof, at the office of (Name of Trustee) on the amortization terms herein named, in lawful money of the United States of America, the sum of One Hundred Dollars, together with interest at rate of six per. cent per annum, at the same place semi-annually on the day of and , in each year beginning with the day of 191 , on pre- sentation and surrender of the coupons hereto attached as each of them becomes due. This bond is one of a series of bonds of the same tenor and date aggregating dollars, numbered consecutively from one to , both inclusive, for the sum of one hundred dollars each, all of which bonds are secured equally by a deed of trust, which is a first mortgage on the property of the Farmers' Company, located at the town of in the county of , state of Nebraska, executed and delivered by the Farmers' Company to (Name of Trustee) as trustee, granting and conveying in trust and mortgaging as security for the payment of the principal and interest of said bonds, payable on the amortization terms as stated in the coupons attached hereto, all the property of the Farmers' Company mentioned in said deed of trust with full power to use and sell the same in the event of default in payment of the bonds or coupons, or any of them, and apply the proceeds to the payment of same as in said deed of trust provided. This bond is issued, received and held subject to all and singular the terms and conditions contained in the deed of trust aforesaid. This bond shall not become obligatory until the certificate endorsed hereon shall be signed by the Trustee, and when so authenticated by the signature of the Trustee, the title to said bond shall pass by delivery, unless said bond is registered, and, if registered, the title thereto shall pass only by transfer on the books of said Trustee, and no transfer except on said books shall be valid unless the last transfer shall have been to bearer, which shall restore transferability by delivery. This bond is redeemable at the option of the Farmers' Com- pany on any interest day at any time after the stated date of payment of the first coupon hereto attached at the par value of the principal sum then due plus accrued interest. IN WITNESS WHEREOJ\ the said Farmers' Company has caused these presents to be signed by its President and attested by its Secretary, and its Corporate Seal to be affixed, and has hereunto affixe'd coupons with the name of its Treasurer attached thereto and has caused this bond to be dated the day of , A. D., 19 Farmers' Co. President [SEAL! Secretary TRUSTEE'S CERTIFICATE hereby certifies that the above Bond (Name of Trustee) is one of the series of Bonds described in the Deed of Trust therein mentioned. Trustee By President [Note — A local bank would perhaps be « desirable and convenient trustee] FOURTH ANNUAL SESSION OP THE NEBRASKA FARMERS CONGRESS 107 H0,2O I The Fnrmen. iMuer at tbe oOce of. $6.72 ConiMnj wUl MJ to tba - (ouno or tniitM) NBbraBka, Uj» aum of SUc DoUori and IS ecnta In lawful ?ow or tbfl United StatM. on th« dav of |.«l'brtDB Blx months' Interoit-OB Ifl.SS and |G 53 »b i lom of itB Flret Morlgago SU Per Cant Bond No. I parmBnt DD tti( prlnclpil Prior eoupnna lulng paid, tha prlndpnl siim i HP. ia| . 1 96.72 The Fanners Company wlU pay to tlie , heaier at tho offlco of ,„^3 „, („,j^, •* ■■ Nebrasta, the aum of Six DoUara and 72 cenU In lahftU ?£5"uJ" "■? ^''"«' S'»t«' <"» ">o da, of IBl I.5T beteK sir montha' InUrcat on Jio.oO and »6.1S aa payment on tbe prindpai aum of Ila Fim Mortgnse Six Per Cent Bond No. Prior cn llfl.Qi 1 The Pannora Company wUl pay to tho I* ''* bearer at tho offlce of ,n^p „, tnistw) o' Nebraeka, the sum of Six DoUars and ja cenia la lasTful money of the United State*, on the , day of 191... f.B3 being Blx montha' Intcreat on |30,Tr and IS.80 aa payment on Iha prlnclpBl aum of Its Flr?t Uorlgnge Six Per Cent Bond No. \, Traaaurer. Prior couponB bntng paid, the principal aum due on thla Bond No la IflO.Tr. No. 14 »6.72 The Fannere Company wUl pay to tho bearer at the olOce of (name of tnutee) or Nebruka, the aum of Six DoUara and 72 centa In lawful money of the United Slatea, on the day of ISl... fl.26 being alx montha' Inlereat on tll.SS and I5.4G bb payment on tho principal lum of lie Flrat Mortgage Six Per Cent Bond No. Prior being paid, the principal a Hn 1 3f l&G 72 I Tho Farmera , Company will pay to the ' bearer at the office of (name of truatee) of N'ebraafaa, tho aum of Six DoUara and 73 cents In laifful money of tbe United States, on the day of IBl... Sl.Sr being alx months' InUreat on |S! 33 and tS.lS aa payment on the principal ■un of Ita First Uorlgage Six Per Cent Bond No. ,.,, Treaaurer. Prior coupona being paid, the principal aum due on thtt Bond No la 182.33. 4o. lOl SG.72 I Tho Farmers Company will pay to the I bearer at tbe ofDcc of (name of irualee) of Nebraska, tho aum of fi Dollars and 72 cenla In lawful money of tbe United Btatei, on the day of IQl... tl.SS being alx montha' Interest on 162 IB and UM aa payment on tbe principal aum of Ita First Uortgnge Six Per Cent Bond No Treosuret. Prior cnupona being paid, the princlpnl aum due on thla Bond No la 162.18. bearer at the offlce of -name of trustee) of Nebrotka. the sum of Six Doltora and 73 cents In lawful money of the United Slates, on the day of 161... 12.14 being six months' Interest on tTl.48 and tt.SB as payment «n tbe prindpai aum of Us Pint Morigage Six Per Cent Bond No I being paid, the principal sum due on Qila Bond No la >71.<8. \ ' I Tha Farmera Company will pay to the I bearer at tbe offlce of (name of truatee) of Nebraaha, the sum of Six Dollars and 73 cents In lawful money of the United Statea. on the day of 191... 12.40 being alx-months' lotereat on tSO.24 and 14,39 aa payment on tha prindpai sum of Ita First Morigage Six Per Cent Bond No. Prior coupona being paid, the principal aum due on this Bond No Is 3B0.24. The FanBBrs Company will pay to thtf* se.72 bearer at the offlce of. (namq of trustee) of .' Nebraska, the sum of Blx Dollare and 73 <^Dta In lawful money of the United States, on tbe day of ,.101... f2.8S being alx monUu' Interest on 188.90 and $4.0T as payment on the prindpai aum of Its First Morigage Six Per Cent Bond No Treaaurer. Prior coupona being paid, the prindpai aum due on this Bend No is IBB.M. nm.2 bearer of . . , . ?2''.89' aum ol Prior (name of truatee) 73 centa In lawful on the principal Treasurer. of the United Sta bdng six months' 118 Pint Mortgage »unona being paid. ..Nebraska, the gum of Six DoUara and iStirSt on"-i86;28*ind Six Per Cent Bond No $3.83 as paymen the nrlndpal aum due on thla Bond No '■»"■" 1 Mo. 19 | jji^ pannors Company will pay to the | 1_ baaror at tho oBce of (name of trustee) of Nebraska, the aum of Blx PoUi of the United Statea, on tho..^.^^... ■,-_-dtty of. I and 73 cents In lawful l!30%elng"alx "raoniltsMnUrrat" on' (12.85 Jind 16.33* as payment on tbe principal auo) of ita Flrat Morigage Six ^er Cent Bond No V ' , Tnasnrer- Frior coupons being psld. the principal eum due on thla Bend No Is lU.M. No. 171 The Farmera Company will pay to tbe S«.72 bearer at the office of I""""!* «' trustee) of Nebroaka. the sum 'of BU Dollora and 72 ceoU In lawful money of tho United States, on the day of ......HI... (.75 being sU moiUhs' Interest on (24.97 and (5.87 oa payment on tbe prindpai sum of Us Flrat Mortgage Six Per Cent Bond No Treasurer. Prior coupona bcln^ paid, the prlndpnl aum due on thla Bond Jlo ..... .la 124.87. Mo.lB| . ..Company wlU pay to the ' l»6.72 of truatee)' of .Vebraska. the aum of Six DoUars and 72 cenla In lawful money of the United Statea, on the day of ....Ifll... (1. 09 being alx months' Intereat on (36.40 and (5.63 as payment on the principal sum of lis Flrat Morignge Blx Per Cent Bond No Treasurer. Prior coiinnna lielng paid, the prindpai aum due on thla Bond No U (36.40. No. 13) The Farmon. . $6.72 Company will pay In the I benrer at tho offlce of (name of trustee) of Nebraska, the sum of Six DoUara and 72 cents In lawful money oC tha United Stntee. on the day of 101... (1.41 .being six months' Interest on (17.18 and (S.31 as paymenl on tbe prindpai sum of Ita First Mortcoie Six Per Cent Bend No Prior cnupona being paid, the principal aum due on this Bond No la (47.18 j No. 11 The Firmera.. bearer at the offlce of.. S6.72 Company will pay I9 the (name of tnutee) of Nebraaka, the lUm of Six DoUara and 72 cenla In lawful money of the t/nlied Statea. on the ,.' day of IDI.., (1.T3 being alx months' Intertat on (37.31 and (S.OO oa payment on the prindpai aum of Ita First Morigage Six Per Cent Bond No being paid, the princlpnl sum Tho Fjm r at the offlce of.. N0.9 _ „ ^ „ ^ $672 ... Company wUl pay to the i (name of trustee) '^r Nebraska, ilio aum of Sis Dnllara and 72 oenta In lawful money of the United Stalee. da the day of 101... (^Ot being alx montha' Interest 00 (66.00 end (4.T1 aa payment on the prindpai- aum of Ita Flnt Mortgage Six Per Cent Bond No Treasurer. « being paid, the prindpai aum due on thla Bond No Is (86.00. Ho. 7K~ „ -. I$6.7a Company wiu pay t« tha I (name of trustee) of Nebraska, the sum of Six DoUara and 72 cents In Iswful mrney of the UnUed States, on the day of 191... (2.27 being alx mintha' Intereat on (75.03 and 14.15 as payment on tbe prindpai aum of Its Flnt Morlfage Blx Per Cent Bond No Treaaurer. Prinr coupons twing peld. the nrlndpa) aum due on Ihts Bond No Is (75.83. No. 5 „ „ ($6.72 I Tho Farmers , Company wUl pay to tbe | bearer nt the offlce of (name of truatee) of Nebmska, Ihe aum of Six DoUots and 73 cents In lawful mcney of the United Slates, on the day of 191... (2.53 being six moniha' Interest on (B4.43 and (4.19 aa payment on the prindpai sum of Its First Mortgnse Six Per Cent Bond No Treasurer. Prior coiipniig being paid. Ihe principal sum due on thla Bond No-. ... la (84.43. No. 3^1 bearer at the offlce of.. of Company wUl pay m tha I (name of trustee) ..Nebraska, the sum of Six Dollars and T2 cents In Iswful mrney of the United Slates, on the day of ,...101... (2.77 being alx moniha' Interest on (92.15 end (3.95 as payment on the prindpai sum of Us First Morigage Six Per t>nt Bond No Treasurer. Prinr eoupnna being paid, the prlnrlpnl »um due on IJila Pond No la (92.45. I The Fnrmcra. bearer at the odlce of. Company wUl pay to the * (name of trustee) ..Nebraaka. the sum of Six DoUara and 72 cenla In lawful aum of Ita First Mortgage Blx Per Cent Bond No.. APPENDIX C THE AGRICULTURE COUNCIL OF NEBRASKA At this date the following associations have reported official action by their respective organizations and accepted adherence to the Constitution of the Council. No. 1. Nebraska Farmers' Congress. No. 2. No. 3. Nebraska Dairymen's Association Nebraska State Gange. W. S. DELANO. Secretary-Treasurer. Agricultural Council of Nebraska. 1872 MONTGOMERY WARD & CO. ONE SMALL ROOM w:^m. NEW YORK ecu ^ ; "^ tec i;^ ; From one small room up over Wright's livery stable, to one of the largest mercantile cor- porations in the world. This is the history of the growth of Montgomery Ward & Co. Such a growth in less than half a century — within the lifetime and memory of men now living — has only been possible through high ideals and living up to them by the strictest business integrity. From the very first Montgomery Ward & Co. have dealt wiih their customers on a basis of old-fash- ioned, sixteen - ounces - to - the - pound honesty. They have been honest, not because ''Hon- esty is the best policy," but be- cause it is right. i Montgomery Ward & Co. ' " — - ■ have given honest goods of hon- est weight and measure; and their prices have always been as low as could be named on goods of similar quality, and still leave a small profit. l-^^ J offer. ^ forma Send coupon for Prize Plan Book Over a hundred practical, sen- sible plans. Other books not nearly so good are sold at 50c to $2.00. All we ask is 10c to cover cost of postage and mailing. More than likely you'll find just the plan that suits you. Ciniplete plsois, $2 This applies to any plan In the book. With plan you' 11 ^et complete specifica- tions, gfuaranteed estimate prices on lum- ber and millwork, hardware, paint and heating plant delivered your station. This sfuaranteed estimate means enough materials for all needs, and no extras. Hewitt-Lea-Funck Co., Quick shipments m>ni our stock Wecarrylargestocks of lumber and millwork. We are always ready for your orders. Ship- ments made regularly within 24 to 48 hours of receiving. Seven ri^l roads rush shiiK ments to destination. Points West of the Mississippi reached within ; average of two weeks. Send for estimate I Send us your carpenter's bill of mate- < rials,lf youcan, evenilyouaren'treac^ : to build. No charge or oblisatloD foe this work. Also send for the Plan Doolc. our catalog and price list. Use coupon. 483Crury BuildiBg, Seattle, Wash.