The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 7, 1915, Page 2

PAGE TWO The Jobbers Orgamze for Their. . Interest. . Why . Not. Fa.rm-- - ers Organize? Here is an intere_-st‘idng story: by the Washington..correspordent of the St. Paul Dally News, showing why job- interests that spfint money- dm'mg the |- bers orgaitize. Producers and cmsumers have here- | got™ in“return for then expendltures tofore’ neglected to' protect thems:l- | and: who got ‘the ‘money, can now.: P . e told approximately : with the expim- ' This. is jpublsked: 'with the/'-lopa of] tion of the time limit for filing- ex- inspiring farmérs with the-advantage| pense: accounts. ° ves -in_this’ manner: of organizations—Egitor’s ‘Note. * Clubs of jobbers of farm imple-’ fments in Knnsa; City, ,Omaha, St.| .Paul Minn=apelis,. Baltimore; Hes Moms, Peoriag St.. Louis, :and other cities-are . given a promi- nent -place .in the-report:upen: the farm machinery. trade- which was: be- gun by Jeszph Davies :while ‘he was. still commissioner of corporations:but has only been- made ‘public since-his. installation as a member of the fed- eral trade-cemmrission. “Their purpose “to operate in rem- edying unratisfactory conditions of |- . common interest’” is not denounced:-by ‘Pollows: Mr. Davies ‘as unlawful, but -he- finds that the: clubs.’at Kansas Cit and Omaha took part in.a movement in 1908 at the instance of<the.Nztionai Plow Association, to get -their com- petitors to insjst. upon skorter terms of payment in 1969. Question: Quer Terms: Attemgts were made to interest the club at. Minneapolis. -In.1910.tke secretary ;of the: plow asscciation:re- ported that the terms in force at Omaha compared “v:zry favorably” -with. the terms of the plow assocja- tion. One field in which the commissioner " find$ that the associations have had -a thoroughly legitimate activity is in mutual fireinsurance one of the note- .. worthy successes: in this line bzing the association in-Minnesota. “Indeed,” says:Mr. Davies, “the sec- retary of the.company, who is glso . secretary.of 'the Minnesota.Retail Im- S ouz-Fal s/ curiously enough, in the amount of. THE NONPART ISAH LEADER Szgmficant Thlngs in Events of the )ay ‘ ‘Big Money to- Get Favomble : Laws. - Madi'son, Wis, Olct‘ '6—~What the| cost of legislation was to the various Fought Bill Passage . The _insurance companies lead the| list in amount of money spent, and, good things they got, It required tke expediture - of $14;274.54 by the fire and" life insurance companies to get what they wanted out of the legisla- ture.’ The record shows that they got everything they wanted. The-fire insurance companies spent $3,705.57 to prevent the rassage of the bill to give the insurance com- missioner the right to review insur-| ance rates. The money was spent as National board of. fire under- 1 WEREBTS . o cvnnis ks ahilainn $2,658.06 -Milwaukee board of fire un- - derwriters ...... ....c... 538.62 Concordia. Fire Insurance company, Milwaukee, ......- 133.33 Milwaukee Mechanic Ins. Co.. Northwestern National In. Co. ‘Surety Underwriter’s Co. .... i 133,33 133.33 105.00 $3,705.77 | The National Board of Fire Under- writers, with. offices in New York, is jthe head of the:fire insurance com-| bination that controls fire insurance rates. The item they filed is for ex- penses only for two men, divided as | follows: J0 B, Ryon: ashis vinn i 1,363.£8 George C. Williams .......... 1,294.58 The: Concordia, M:chanics and thz Northwestern Natioral pa‘d the to- tal of $400 to J. T. Drought, as lobby plement Dealers’ A:sociation, asserts| .that the .interest of the ‘mambers-in the association-is chiefly in the. in- " surance feature: Insurance-Best:Feature: . ‘In short, the,insuranece- branch - of - assoeiation-activity. is looked ugon as. one of the stromgest inducements to | .membership~in--dealers’. a-sociations, witheut. which;the: latter-would:loze one: of their hest drawing:cards.” Mr: Davies: has: followed-the organi- zation of:the retaili trade:to its éar- liest and:unsuecesssful-efforts; one: of _the. earliest:'being:an- associaton: of dealers : in: Nerthern: . Iowa;. whizh| adopted:a-schedule:of retail prices as|- early as 18%6., The Red River valley:in Mxnnesota and North Dakota-had .an:association.} as early as:1889; im which: years“alko the Northwesfiem]mplement Dealers’ association ‘was.organized at:St. Paul. When-Clubs Formed: Iowa. and ‘Nebraska: organz-d stats associations 4in.the early 90’s: North- eastern- Nebraska: had:a district: as> sociation-:in - 1894, - Ssutheastern: ‘Ne- braska in71895;: North Dakota alseiin’ 1895. - Northetn Iuwa orgammd in. 1897' and another in 1898; Montanain 1893 and-Southern:Nebraska in- 1900 Theze were -thei humble -beginnings: of the present: Natioral Federation:of +Tm- |- plement and -Vehiele Déalers’ Auocxa- / tion. In spite of all:these:organizations Il‘oney Does Work The money was well spent, however as the- bill to permit control of insur- ance rates was defeated in the assem- bly by a margin of five votes, after ving passed the senate unanimously The death of the bill meant that the fire insurance companies were sure of .continuing for two years more to charge Wisconsin policy lFolders a to- tal of $2,000,000 annually above what would. be paid if the rate were the .same ‘as-the -average for the rist of the United States. Life -insurance companies spent a total of" $9,6568.97 divided as follows: ‘Mutual Life, New York .....$7.010.41 Northwestern Mutual ...... . 1,162.81 Life Insurance President’s as- . _sociation - Wisconsin Llfe : Old Line Life :...... R 054 its money to get the law amended so that it would be easier to get back into, the state There didn’t appear 1o be any serious objection to ‘the bill proposed from any source, and why ;he company should: spend - $7,010 is a mystery. There’s a2 Reason There is no mystery as to why tl‘e Northwestern-Mutual Life of Mllwau- kee 'spent. $1,162.81 of which amount : $9 £68.97 The ‘Mutual Life of New York spent | reached, Mr. Davies-finds: that' from::1880 to[H. F. Tyrell, the company Ilobby'st, 1890 the-‘average- price- of 10 imple,| spenf. $1,006.60 for exppnses alone, to ments: in: gezeral ute declined: morefsay nothmg of his salary. The North- than" 50 per-cent:” Nevertbelasa Le ['western Mutual Life is one of the tax-. firgls: thati‘there: wers*exceptom, and | payers in this state which had its that a euly wl&&&»& local &mcm- taxes: teduced by over: 3100,000 annu- Corporatlons Spend StOCk Speculator S En";;} . danger Safety of “the Amerwan People. : & (By Samuel H. Barker) In Phlladelp}ua North American, . Such' a: gigantic and wild- specula- tlon as that which began in the Am- erican’ stock market early this. year nd. .has since rushed forward with ver‘accumulatmg :‘force the bworld has not before known In- the headlong buying of this :|stock and that reason and common judgment as to values have been toss- ed aside-as impediments. been generally ignored, while the most obvxously false rumors have been siezed umn as substantial bazis for: heedless buyinlg of stocks. - Immense war supply ‘contracts bave been placed with American industrial concerns. They amount to a total of $750,000,000 to $1,000,C00,000 as near- ly as can be estimated. The profits on this business wrdoubtedly will run big. If they average 38 per cent the result will be net income of $225,000,000 to $3000,000,000 for the companies doing the business. Speculation Adds a Billion g " Such is ‘the strong tangible basis for accretion in the value of the stock of corporations enjoying war busl- ness. In stock market terms thijs prospective profit of $225,0C088@mto $300,000,000 is -now “being accommbed worth more than $1,000 ,000,000.% ulators and manipulative tactics raised the market valuation of’ ty-eight stocks with a total par of $1,366,650,700 by the stu amount of$1,026,814,016. . : How these startling figures are the accompanying. table shows in detail. It“illustrates in a striking way how the stock market Frices now express a valuation of the stocks which include more than the whole gross amount not the. profits merely, of all the war supply con- tracts which have so far been placed in this country. Courting Financial Disaster It is full time that a halt was call- ed. As things are going there will come inevitably such rout in the spec- ulative market as will sweep away paper values, suddenly turn - book profits into cash losses and carry thousands into financial disastsr. Danger signals should be set red against the mad gambling which is going on in the stock market. H the speculators will. not heed, there -are ways in which they can be compelled to bring their - operations within bounss.- g The - publie weal-is threatered by the wild trading in stocks, many- of which are being bought at prices far and away -above any present or pros- pective value. Sppeculators are-buying tips, not:securities. The doings now call to mind the great tulip-specula- tion which held its-course in 1636-7 in Holland. 'The: craze there ran to bulbs, as now to war stecks; and women, bought and.sold with the same feverish excitement that now prevails in the stock mark:t. The climax. came. when '$6,500 was: ra‘d for a single bulb “Then. came a. big smash which stread ruin about. ' Abetted by Stock Exchanges Stock ‘exchange au'thqrities owe & duty to the public in the presant situation. They are not performing it. Where they shculd be .act’ve and kgen to protect all those who use the _}nghly perfected machinery of ths stoch exchange they are insctive. - By their course the governors of the stock exchanges are now aiding and abettmg, mdeed,' they are rot conniving at, opera ‘which’ Facts have: Men | Butlt is Pushmg Ahead Seward, Alaska —Now that the government is: actually in: possession fo ' the” ‘Alaska’ "Northérn Railway, which it bought for $1,150,000; that all lawsuits and. threatened suits have been. settled and” that ships laden with: construction equipment’ are ar- riving weekly. from Panama, things in ‘Alaska_are plckmg up. The change for the better is being followed by ecriticism of the commis- sion and- the: government generally. A large part of this is due directly to reaction, Alaskans knew they were to have a rzilrcad but just what kind, where it would run and who would | profit “most by Ats bhfldm@ewele the problems. First Line from Anchorage " All that is known definitely at this time- is that a railroad will be first constructed from Anchkorage, the new town at the head of Cook Inlet, to the Matanuska coal fields. "All the energies of the commission are-now centered on that work. The road will undoubtedly be continued to Fair- banks: next summer. ; The big problem to those residents of the Kenai.peninsula is whether the ocean terminal will be. Seward or Portage Bay. - Oriticisms Lack Ground. But theére is'little real merit to . any of the objections heard to the - policy or conduct of the commission. A few accidents have occurred; some minor plans have been announced and then reconsidered; wages paid by the commission have been lower than the Alaskan standard, ncesssitating the employment of many foreigners, agd considerable indecision and uncertain- .}y of “purpose have now and again been apparent. But considering the magritude of the undertaking and the observations to be overcome, the commission has shown as great a de- gree of efficiency as any 1mpart1al observer could expect. Opponents UtiN:zi Mishaps. The idea of government cwnershap has been forced to the front. Those who advocate that doctrine sieze up- on‘every favorable incident as’ proof of the wisdom of their theory; whi'e those ‘opposed are cqually ready to avail themselves of every accident, mishap or error of judgment as evi- denee of its futility. . Recently a scow was overloaded with rails from -a shin off Anchorage and -upon being cut- loose from- its moorirgs spilled several hundred -tons of steel rails into 40 fathoms of: wa- ter. The incident which proved no- thing beyond the mcompetence of the foreman was instantly siezed upon * siczed upon by many as demonstrat- ing the impracticability of govern- ment _ownership and by others as a basis of attack upon the commission, GIRLS TO WED c'\nmu-:s' Hundreds of English girls have volunteered to aid - tteir country’s ' ¢ause ' by wedding crippled Brmsh soldiers®and caring ‘for them,’ = " ‘The offer followed a snggestxon that plucky glrls might be of ser- vice in this way. Now the only thing that stands in the way is maidenly shyness.. “Of course,” said one, “we can’t walk up to ‘the first one-legged soldier we se&and ‘tell h:m we’'ll mar- : ry him” - So meetings are to be arranged for. certain’ women of the London: West: erd where these self-sacrificing girls © ' will be®intreducsd to the: life-long ions a .I'burdens tI:ey' ‘e gteed 2 lare mttmg thousands o Anmieriean |z sbai people in Jeopardy of financlal cala.m-'