The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 30, 1916, Page 7

’ THE NONPARTISAN LEADER PR SEVEN PAY THE FREIGHT Nprth' Dakota Rates Designed to Help Twin Cities; Little Discovers Chief Obstacle to Packing Plant (By Staff Correspondent) Bismarck, March 20.— Cooperative packing plants or mills would have a scant chance in North Dakota under prevailing railroad rates. That the farmers 'backing such movements must take notice of this fact and at- tempt to right it is the assertion of Rate Expert J. A. Little of the rail- road commission. It may be neces- sary for the railroad commission to take a hand. On request of some of those backing the proposed Equity packmg_ plant Mr. Little has gone into the subject. He finds that one of the first fights this or other cooperative efforts of the kind will have is one to get railroad rates that will enable such enterprises to compete with sim- ilar, privately owned institutions at St. Paul and Minneapolis. Mr. Little’s study of railroad rates affectmg acking plants and mills in North Dakota has been a revelation. NO SAVINGS FOR NORTH DAKOTA PLANT “I have gone into rates affecting all possible points in the state where a packms plant or mill could be estab- lished,” he says, “but as far as I have gone I find the mill or plant might Jjust as well be located in St. Paul or Minneapolis, so far as advantages in rates go. Being nearer the places where’ livestock and grain are pro- duced, under present rates in most cases, would not benefit a mill or packing plant, especially the latter, in North Dakota. And, for those points regarding which I have made a study, rates on the finished product would be the same, largely, for consumers in North Dakota as they would be should the factory be located in the Twin Cities. “For instance, a packing plant in St. Paul could ship in livestock from North Dakota as cheaply as one al- most anywhere in North Dakota, re- gardless of the fact the plant in North Dakota”would be hundreds of miles nearer the place where the livestock was raised. The same is true of the finished products. Consumers could in most instances get these products from St. Paul for the same or less freight charges than from the North Dakota plant.” Mr. Little points out that every point in North Dakota is over 200 miles nearer Fargo by railroad than the Twin Cities, and the distance be- tween any two points in North Dak- ota is shorter than the distance from either oné¢ of those points to the Twin Cities, except between points at ex- treme opposie ends of the state. Therefore a mill or plant located al- most anywhere in North Dakota ought to have an advantage over a Twin City plant in railroad rates on the raw product produced in North Dak- ota and on the finished product ship- ped out for consumption in the state. Such is not the case, however, accord- ing to the following figures Mr. Little submits: FREIGHT RATES FRAMED TO HELP “TWIN CITIES” . . Wheat originating at the primary market of Devils Lake or Minot can be shipped to St. Paul as cheaply as to Fargo—the rate is the same, 16 cents in the case of Devils Lake and 13 cents in the case of Minot. There- fore a mill-in Fargo would have to . pay as much for the raw product as one in St. Paul, regardless of the 200- mile extra haul to the latter place. Then, if after being milled at Fargo or St: Paul, the wheat is sent back as flour to Devils Lake or Minot, the freight would be the same for the mill in both cities. The rate on flour from Fargo to Devils Lake is the same as the rates from St.Paul to Devils Lake, and the same holds true in the ship- ments to Minot. Therefore a Fargo mill, having an advantage of over 200 miles on St. Paul, has no advantage in freight rates in many cases. The rate on flour from Williston to Fargo or flour from Fargo to Willis- ton is 18 cents, while it is only a half cent more from Williston to- St. Paul, despite nearly twice the haul to the g\tfier place. . The rate on wheat from essenden to Fargo is actually higher than the rate to St. Paul, the rate being 18.2 to Fargo and only. 14.5 to St. Paul. The same rates between . these places” would apply to flour. milled at Fargo and St. 'aul, shgwing_ Group of Live Equity Leaders Here is a group of live Equity boosters—two from this state, one from Montana and one from Minnesota. These men are representative of the great cooperative organization of farmers which has organized the Equity Cooperative exchange, a fzrmers’ terminal selling organization for grain, and which is now back- ing a cooperative packing plant for North Dakota. In the top row on the left is James E. McAdoo, manager of the Farmers’ timber yard at Turtle Lake, who became identified with the Equity movement six years ago and was on the board of direttors of the state union of the Equity until the recent meting at Minot, when he resigned. Next to Mr. McAdoo is C. J. Lee of Valley City, president of the Equity Rural Credit association and active in the state union. In the bottom row, left, is C. F. Lowrie, president of the Montana union of the American Society of Equity, who was a speaker at the recent Equity state meeting. The Equity in Montana operates a string of farmers’ cooperative stores. To the right of Mr. Lowrie is Magnus Johnson, well-known Equity booster, on the.board of directors of the Equity Cooperative Exchange. Mr. Johnson farms near Kimball, Minn,, and is a fighter for farmers’ measures. that Fargo flour would have a big handicap at Fessenden. There is only one cent’s difference between the rate on wheat from Bismarck to Fargo and from Bismarck to St. Paul, although it is only 194 miles to Fargo and 445 to St. Paul. And there is only a cent’s difference between the flour rate from Fargo to Bismarck and from St. Paul to Bismarck. If a packing plant were located at Minot railroad rates would prohibit it selling fresh meat or packing house products in Chicago or further east. The rate from Minot to New York on fresh meat is $1.45%; from St. Paul to New York 65% cents. The rate on packing house products from Minot to New York is 97 cents; from St. Paul to New York 47% cents. From this it is seen that while St. Paul is given rates to compete with a packing plant in North Dakota for North Dakota business, North Dakota is not given rates to the east that will enable it to compete with St. Paul. REVISION OF RATES IS BADLY NEEDED Not in all cases, of course, does the rate favor St. Paul over North Dakota points for the location of a packing plant. But it is the opinion of Rate Expert Little that it does in enough cases to make it necessary for a revi- sion of rates if North Dakota plants are to compete on an equal basis and be successful. Mr. Little has worked out the following rates on hogs in car- load lots to Minot and South St. Paul: Oakes to Minot, per car, $565; Oakes to South St. Paul, $46.75. Wahpeton to Minot, per car, $60; Wahpeton to South St. Paul, $33.15. Mayville to Minot, per car, $44; Mayville to South ° St. Paul, 43.835. Langdon to Minot, per car, $48; Langdon to South St. Paul, $54.40. Mandan to Minot, $53; Mandan to South St. Paul, $51.85. Lisbon to Minot, $57.20; Lisbon to South St. Paul, $42.93. Cooperstown to Minot, $50; Cooperstown to South St. Paul, $44.20. “Dickinson to Minot, $80.60; Dickinson to St. Paul, $69.50. Jamestown to Minot, $59.20; James- town to St. Paul, $51.85. Mr. Little says the same situation would be found to exist regarding other points in North Dakota and the above figures are not given as an ar- gument against a packing plant at Minot as opposed to other North Dak- ota points. He makes the same ex- planation in regard to the following rates: FINISHED PRODUCT RATES ARE SIMILAR Rates on packing house products, carload lots, including smoked and salt meats and lard: From Minot to Oakes, 35 cents per 100 pounds; from South St. Paul to Oakes, 31 cents. From Minot to Wahpeton, 32 cents; from South St. Paul to Wahpeton, 22.5 cents. From Minot to Mayville, 26 cents; from South St. Paul to May- ville, 30 cents. From Minot to Lang- don, 30 cents; from South St. ?aul to Langdon, 38 cents. From Minot to Jamestown, 31 cents; from South St. Paul to Jamestown, 31 cents. From Minot to Lisbon, 82.6 cents; from South St. Paul to Lisbon, 29 cents. From Minot to Hettinger, 76 cents; from South St. Paul to Hettinger, 51.5 cents. Rates on dressed pork, carload lots: From Minot to Oakes, 58 cents per 100 pounds; from South St. Paul to Oakes, 51 cents. From Minot to Wah- peton, 52 cents; from South St. Paul to Wahpeton, 36.5 cents. From Minot . to Mayville, 44 cents; from South St. Paul to Mayville, 50 cents. From Minot to Jamestown, 50 cents; from South St. Paul to Jamestown, 57 cents. From Minot to Lisbon, 53.3; from South St. Paul to Lisbon, 48 cents. From Minot to Hettinger, $1.23; from South St. Paul to Hetting- er, 87 cents. “Too Fast for the Politicians” League Movement Took Them A£L~"'by Surprise, Says John Hanson Visitors to-the Nonpartisan Leader office have been bringing in the same reports of enthusiasm, success, and increase of numbers lately, that have been reaching the Leader and the League headguarters through the mail, some adding that they would ‘like to have more meetings in their neighborhood: “It seems as though all the farmers . are in favor of the methods: of the Nonpartisan : League,” said John Hanson of Alice, the other day. “When we held our précinct primaries in February there were 21 at our meeting, and flmre were ‘19 and 21 in the township on.each side of us. have sent; in some names and I think we ‘have some more neighbors who will join, I think there will be enough farmers to make the program stick. This 'is going to be the best chance we ever had.. S “This.movement gained headway so fast that the politicians didn’t. have time to get onto it. When they first heard of it, they thought it wouldn’t amount to much, and by the time they woke up it was past the point where they could control it. Now some of them would like to get inside and undermine its influence, but I think we are strong enough that they can not hurt us.” Martin Larson of Preston, Ransom ° county, and Carl Moe of Nome, Barnes county, were also visitors a week ago at the Leader office, and brought sim- ilgr news. “We're all keeping up in- terest,” was Mr. Larson’s comment, [\ mecans