help on the part of the women is rendered freely, ungrudgingly, if not cheerfully. True it is that it is distasteful to the young girls as a rule, but they seem "obliged to help because hired men are not to be had for love or for money"; or it seems that "the only way to save and lay by any money for old age," or "to give the young ones a start," is for every one to "pitch in and dig for all they can stand."

In spite of these facts there are those who wail: "They don't make the kind of men and women that they used to any more. Our young men are getting to be weaklings and our women, pampered idlers." It is true that women no longer do so much outdoor, field, or barnyard work as they used to do. There seems to be a growing sentiment that "a housewife can not do field work, help choring around the barns, and at the same time keep the house the way it ought to be kept." On the large majority of farms, however, as we have seen, there is little evidence of "pampering and idleness."

These facts lead us to the consideration of the effects of these changes in the conditions of country work as regards the present, as well as the growing, generations, the efflux of the youth of the country, and the labor problem as it confronts the farmer. All these things, however, are further affected by other influences than work; hence we shall postpone the consideration of them until later chapters.

BUSINESS RELATIONS

The early settlers of this township had to do their marketing at river ports. Red Wing and Hastings, about thirty miles distant, were the nearest places on the Mississippi River to which supplies of machinery, clothing, and groceries were brought up from Chicago, St. Louis, and other primary markets on the river below. To these places farmers brought their staples, such as wheat, potatoes, onions, and whatever salable articles they produced. It is estimated that Winona, Wabasha, Red Wing, and Hastings shipped an aggregate of three million bushels of wheat and flour in the year 1861. This was before the milling industry had fairly begun up the river at St. Anthony Falls, so practically all the wheat was shipped downstream to be milled at St. Louis or eastern cities.

Thus we find that the early settlers of this township had to haul their products thirty miles in order to get them to a market. To get his load. on the market early in the morning the farmer would leave home at about four o'clock the preceding afternoon. Following the winding trails along the divides, he travelled all night and got to the market place at about three o'clock A.M. the next day. After feeding his oxen, he might sleep

until four-thirty when it was time to look up buyers. Brokers or commission men from eastern mills and exporters were on hand in great numbers. This was before there were any deals in futures to steady and govern prices; hence, there were often great fluctuations from week to week and wide disparities between prices received by different farmers selling in the same market-place. Considerable time would be spent haggling with the various buyers, before the load was finally sold. By this time it would be daylight, and the farmer would yoke his oxen, draw the load to the wharf or wherever the buyer wanted it. The grain was unloaded and piled away on a river barge or stacked in large heaps along the bank until such a time as it might be "toted" down-stream. These were before the days of grain elevators and warehouses, and grain was kept in sacks both in storage and in transit.

Such was the market condition until the railroad was built into this country. Although the grading had been done from Mendota to Faribault "before the war," it was not until 1865 that trains were run. That was the beginning of a big change in market conditions. Naturally, elevators and warehouses were soon built and grain could be gotten to market more easily. Since that time marketing of the farm produce has been done in much the same way as it is done to-day. There is this difference, however, that, while in the seventies and the eighties the farming was pretty largely of the all-grain type, and, hence, the crops were marketed soon after threshing was done, to-day most of the grain is fed to live stock and thus marketed on hoof. There is no longer that "fall rush" to sell the grain in order to meet financial obligations. Nearly all of the farms to-day have ample granary room in which to keep their crop as long as they care to. Only twenty-one per cent of the farmers sell early in the fall and seventyeight per cent of these are renters. Half of the renters, however, market their spare grain in the winter or spring according as market prices and roads seem to be satisfactory. Most of the grain is sold in the winter. Only thirteen per cent of the farmers keep their grain to be hauled in the spring after seeding is over.

There are now five local railway stations to which the farmers of this township take their products to be marketed. Two of these towns are located on the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, and the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroads. N., the largest of the local towns, is also connected with Minneapolis by a regular service of four trains a day on the "Dan Patch Air Line," as well as being on the Chicago Great Western, and the two aforementioned steam railway systems. Along the eastern side of the township runs another branch of the Chicago Great Western. On this line at distances of four and a half and five miles are the other

three stations, which draw supplies from farmers of this township. All five of these stations are within two and a half or three hours' distance from St. Paul and Minneapolis. And, as has been seen, the various great railway systems put the farmers of this township as well as the towns

Map showing territory from which grain is marketed to various stations. people of these stations into the best of connections with Chicago and other great primary markets towards the South.

Thus it is that, while the Twin Cities are the natural market for the products of this farming section, Chicago and Milwaukee are competing markets within easy access to the farmers or shippers. Both of the older towns on the Cannon River still have flour and grist mills in operation. Although they find it hard to compete with the big mills of Minneapolis, they manage to keep running and for high-grade blue stem, No. 1 Northern wheat, they pay several cents more per bushel than the elevator companies offer. Their flour is mostly sold locally. Dairy business in this country

offers a ready market for bran, shorts, and middlings. Both N., in the northwest corner of the township, and D., in the middle of the eastern township line, have farmers' elevators which handle most of the grain. Local prices are thus kept near what they ought to be in view of central market quotations. As to just which elevator gets the most grain depends quite as much upon the contour of the surrounding country, and accessibility according to the condition of roads as it does on managerial ability and prices offered by the competing companies. A glance at the preceding chart will show where the grain is usually marketed.

The cost of hauling grain to the elevator has been computed by taking distance travelled, time, and cost of man and horse labor, as follows: For this township the average distance hauled was three and one-seventh miles; the average size of load was one and one-fourteenth tons in winter and two tons in the fall with good roads. Time required in winter is three and two-sevenths hours; in fall two and three-fifths hours. Figuring man labor at fifteen cents per hour and horse labor at eight cents per hour, we get an average cost of thirty and three-tenths cents per ton mile where grain is hauled in winter, and a cost of only twelve and eight-tenths cents per ton mile where it is hauled in the fall by good roads. As the average number of loads of grain taken to market is fifteen per farm, and hence an average of ninety-four ton miles of traffic with grain, a considerable saving might be figured. Thus, on the farms from which these averages were computed, the cost of marketing at thirty and three-tenths ton mile in winter is twenty-eight dollars and fifty-two cents and on the basis of what they hauled in the fall by good roads, the cost at the rate of twelve and eight-tenths per ton mile would have been only twelve dollars and nine cents. In other words, on the above basis sixteen dollars and forty-three cents might have been saved if crops had been marketed by good roads. The farmer does not figure it this way however. In the winter his horses have not much other work and they need the exercise. He has to go to town once or twice a week anyhow, and he might as well take the grain down little by little. In that way he does not figure labor at much either. Hence, to him it appears cheaper to market in the winter time.

Just as the farmers took a hand in marketing their grain, so they have made various attempts to handle their dairy product, and look after its final disposition. There are farmers' creameries throughout the country doing a flourishing business. Owing largely to the excellent shipping facilities and the nearness to the Twin City market, the farmers of this township have found it difficult to compete with centralizing plants and local depots within easy access of the farmers of this township. These local farmers' creameries seem to find the odds pretty much against them on account of not having the marketing equipment in the cities that the big

milk companies have, and being thus compelled to manufacture cheese and butter. The milk companies established cooling plants and local depots easily accessible to the farmers of this township. There is a cooling plant

Diagram showing method of disposal of dairy products.

at both N. and D. and between Ds. and N. is one depot, or milk station. On the east are two more, between Ns. and D. and D. and S. These milk depots or stations are mere platforms or old box cars beside the track. In the busy rush of the summer work farmers find it very convenient to take their milk to these near-by depots. (See map showing how the territory is divided among the various stations.) The average distance of hauling milk or cream is two and seven-ninths miles and the time required is two and five-ninths hours. Hauling to local depots requires but little time. During the rush reason, in forty-five per cent of the places, the women or children haul the milk. A special milk train gathers up the milk at these depots and cooling plants, and gets it up to the centralizing plant in the city where it is sterilized, cooled, and kept until the next morning, at which time it is distributed to the patrons of the milk companies in the city. The farmer gets his empty cans back the next morning at the station where they are left by an evening local train, the cans being returned that were taken up in the morning. In spite of the advantages of the city milk companies there have been farmers' creameries in operation at both N. and Ns. for a number of years and another one has just been started at D. this last summer. The farmers near that town had been getting a cent or two less per gallon for their milk than did the farmers of N. and S. So they concluded that the only way to get equitable prices is to "force the situation through coöperative organizations."

In the selling of live stock the farmers of this township all seemed satisfied with existing conditions. No coöperative live-stock marketing associations were in operation at any of the stations. A few of the farmers who had a carload of hogs or steers had shipped them to South St. Paul or Chicago at various times, but as a whole they felt that rather than take any chances on a drop in the market, they would sell to the local buyers. "Of course, they are making their living off the farmers, but they lose once in a while too." This sentiment of wanting to be safe keeps the farm