All the centers are service stations for the farmers. In some places the old, deep-seated antagonism between town and country is noticeable. There is the feeling that the merchants overcharge, that big business sets the prices, that capital is to be distrusted. Most of the merchants have been of the old individualistic type which places the dollar higher than the community, an idea which the Commercial Clubs are altering. This is especially noticeable in Union County, where the feeling between country and town has been very bitter. The farmers unfortunately are unfriendly to and distrustful of the merchants and business men. Each group is really interdependent, but 'such' a feeling retards progress and development. As one leading farmer put it, "The prejudice between the farmer and business man _must_ be overcome. There is no limit to the results if we can just get together."
The farmers feel that the average merchant in buying farm products has not discriminated between a good and a bad product so far as price goes. In short, the honest farmer does not want to sell bad eggs or sandy maize, but he doesn't like to get a poor price for a good product. Farmers feel that the merchants have overcharged them for goods and obtained high profits and they are undoubtedly right to some extent. The farmers believe that the fact of their charging goods on credit with the merchant gives the latter an unfair advantage over them, that the merchant thinks he can pay any price he wants when purchasing from the farmer.
Chambers of Commerce and Commercial Clubs are working toward a better understanding. Get-together meetings have been started. The first Union County meeting prepared the farmers by letters and visits, in order to suggest a more friendly and constructive meeting ground. In Sheridan and Pierre, the Commercial Clubs have been very ready to coöperate in any movements that would benefit the farmer. An example of happier relations between farmer and merchant is the rest room for farmers' wives maintained in Dillon by the Good Government Club.
[Illustration: UP-TO-DATE REAPING ON THE PLAINS
Answering the World's Prayer for Daily Bread.]
In the history of this Range area the last three years have been the most difficult for farmers and ranchers. They have suffered acutely from the sharp drop in prices of stock and farm products. Part of the Range section has had a severe drouth. Beaverhead has had several dry years. Last year (1921), thousands of dollars' worth of hay had to be shipped into the county as feed, and much livestock had to be sent out of the county to graze. In addition to drouth, grasshoppers, fairly plentiful before, became a scourge in part of Sheridan the summer of 1921. The farmers, helped by the Farm Bureau, worked hard to exterminate them with poisoned oats. Simultaneously with the drouth and grasshopper scourge in certain sections, the decrease in prices has led to hard times and much suffering. Whereas a rancher was "well off" a few years ago, he now considers himself lucky if he is "in the hole" for only a few thousand. The farmers are bitter. They feel that something is wrong with the "system." One can hardly blame them when crops bring no profit, while taxes seem to be higher than ever. The hard times have made ranchers and farmers do more serious thinking about taxes, farm conditions, and the marketing of farm products than they have ever done before.