OCR Text |
Show A FARMERS' UNION. The fanners of a certain townnhip of Haakon county, South Dakota, recently recent-ly foregathered at their most conveniently conven-iently situated center and talked about crops and marketing nd tha best means of cultivation. After they had completed the serious buines of the meeting, tLe taJk drifted to organization organiza-tion in general and the plan of labor unionization particularly. Some one suggested that tho farmers, in order to keep abreast of the times, should by all means form a union. They had the same right as other folks to establish a union, it was pointed out, and a much better right than some. The idea was discussed spiritedly, and at length a committee on resolutions was appointed. In due course, the committee reported report-ed as follows: (1 Hereafter the farm working: day In this tpwnahlp ahal! be S)libt hours in length, with Saturday afternoon and Sunday off. (2) no farmer In this township shall hereafter work more than forty-five hours tn one weak. Extra, work shall be Adequately paid for by the public AA overtime. Milking cows before 8 o'clock In the morning nnd after & o'clock, time nnd a ha.f. Milking cows before a o'clock in tho morning or after 1 in ihe evening shall count as dout'lo time. (3) The pr Ico of sll farm products grown In thin township shall be advanced 20 per cent after .November 1. (4) Tho r'rht to collective hanrslnlng shall bo preserved. HTcsfi er the price of farm products In tho township shall bo determined at a meeting; of farmers themselves hold nt the t'-wn hnM, and not bv grain dealers In Minneapolis or packers pack-ers In Chicago. (6) Tho sanitary conditions under which farmers hnvo been working In this township must be Improved The unsatisfactory unsat-isfactory condition of cat t le shed n nd barnyard must be remedied, The public pub-lic must attend to this. The resolutions were adopted unanimously, unani-mously, and the wholo matter was voted a ram good joke. It develops, however, that the germ was planl"d t that meeting, and now tlsere are forces at work looking to the organization of Hie farmers In fact. One of t ho agriculturists who thinks there is more food for serious thought In the resolutions than tho jolly meeting meet-ing saw In Itj is quoted as saying tbttj with modifications, thn "platform" would fit the ease of tho farmers very well. |