The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 17, 1918, Page 9

Al - . goes on to explain how this is done. - things, want their money, and they - * get after him and he puts it on the ~market, and then these fellows meet ~'empty elevators, and yet the price will “-go down. ~ furmshed by the: board of trade of Wh1psawing the Men Who Grow Gram Facts Concealed From the Farmer Prove That Speculators Grow Wealthy From Keeping Prices Down Until the Produce Is in Their Hands IS highly important that the that monopoly or the closed market takes two dollars out of every three away from him, but it is- imperative that he should understand in each par- ticular case just how this is done. Only then will he com- prehend just what the remedy must be and just how it must be applied. One hears a great deal how the farmers are robbed by gambling or speculation in farm produce, but speculation has come to be merely another side of monopoly—it means merely that monopoly has come to be so complete and thorough that it extends over future as well as present products and that the monopolists have a cinch in trading and copping off profits on imaginary crops that have not yet been harvested. There is another important phase of monopely. That is downright, ‘The Conquering Spirit “I can’t get labor, machinery -is high. my -acreage.”—AN AMERICAN FARMER. * * , k * “My left wing is broken, my right wing is crushed; we are attackmg in the center.”—GENERAL FOCH. \. arbitrary price-fixing on produce that HAS been produced and is in the clutches of the monopolists. Speculation is supposed to determine the prices. producers get and consumers give for produce. This has been in the past much more of a factor than it is now. Monopoly has become so .complete that the monopolists are coming more and more to depend on direct price-fixing to take what they * want from the farmers. After the United States entered the war, boards of trade and chambers of commerce were temporarily closed and speculation in futures forbidden, but no one noticed that prices dropped; on the contrary, they went up. FARMERS LOST $340,000,000 IN ONE YEAR While it is estimated that gamblmg in futures or speculation robs the farmer of’ 7$200,000,000 a year in values on staple products, and it is known that the Chicago gamblers get at least $75,000,000 of this annually, this ig a drop in the bucket com- pared to what the farmers lose through the entire monopoly system. Referring to the “price-fixers” in the items of _ _grain and mill products, John E. Kelly of" South Dakota testified on the hearings on food production and conservation before the.house of representa- - tives committee on agnculture at Washington, 'D\C., May 29, 1917: “1 have made the statement openly that in the fall of 1915 on the solitary point of price-fixing - alone they have taken from the farmers of the United States $340,000,000. No man' has ever challenged the correctness of those figm‘es, because they are founded on facts.” Mr. Kelly “Before the farmer threshes the ° price is usually fair. That is to cause him to thresh and to get on the mar- l\et in order to get a good price. He is owing everybody. Fifty-six per cent of the farmers of South Dakota and 53 ‘per cent of the farmers of Illinois are tenants. They are owing everybody and they have to have money to pay their debts. The price then is usually fair and he is in a hurry to get his grain on the market. He gets a machine to thresh his grain. ‘Then his creditors,”~who have carried him, perhaps, for groceries and other him, often times with empty cars and “1 prepared docum’ants myself from the best obtainable’ market reports farmer understand not only - Chicago. That is why they do not question them. I find that in 1915, when the farmers of the state of South Dakota got their threshing done and put the grain on the market, oats were bringing only 24 and 25 cents a bushel. A reference to this document will show that at that time the ultimate consumer in Liverpool was paying from 73 to 75 cents a bushel. During that fall the grain gamblers in the different market exchanges in the United States took an average of from 20 to 23 cents a bushel on oats, or from 86 to 92 per cert of the price which the farmer received at the local market.” PUBLIC OWNERSHIP FAIR TO ALL In seeking the remedy we must first find the cause. We do not have to go far to see that the reason we have a closed market and fixed prices is because a small class of private owners own and control the facilities for finishing, storing and disposing of farm products, such as elevators, flour . mills, etc. It follows, then, that the remedy is for the public to -own and control these things and handle the sale of the crops on a basis fair to all. In Australia they saw this shortly after the war broke out. They have since made a com- plete success of state ownership of marketmg facilities. The government has been serving for over two years as middleman and has been hand- ling the wheat crop for a few cents a bushel, or just what it cost to cover expenses. The people are satisfied and will never go.back to the old system. The farmers have realized prices under I am increasing * which they have prospered as never before and prices to consumers have been cut in two. The Labor party of Queensland established state owner- ship of the markets two years ago and has just been returned to power by a majority of almost two to one. THE DODGES OF THE GRAIN EXCHANGE The Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce is one of the biggest branches.of the closed market in the United States. Denjamin Drake, a Minneap- ‘olis attorney represcnting the farmers’ co-oper- ative exchanges' of the Northwest, produced facts before the rules committee of the national house of representatives a few years ago showing: THAT THE MINNEAPOLIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IS AN ABSOLUTE MONOPOLY. THAT IT IS CONTROLLED BY A FEW POW- ERFUL MEN OWNING THE GREAT MILLS AND ELEVATORS. 4 That its operations are exclusive and secret un- der a special law. This law was passed in 1881. BY ITS PROVISIONS THE COURTS HAVE NO POWER TO SET ASIDE CHAMBER OF COM- MERCE RULES AND REGULATIONS. ' The leg- islature only has this power and the legislature has See this-_tia;for pnlling' three dme& It indicates that the farmer imows how to. produce crops by the' most modern methods. But unless he is a League farmer_ he m neglectmg the other lmportant end—modern, eflic;ent n;arketmg. o never exercised it. It was passed when John S. Pillsbury, one of the biggest mill magnates in Minnesota, was governor. That the powers controlling the chamber of éom- merce forbid competition in bidding for grain on track at country points. That by selling to themselves and to one another they take repeated commissions on the same grain. That grain consigned to themselves as commis- sion men they sell to themselves as elevator men - in another name, charging a commission. Then, as elevator men, they doctor the grain, raising its grade and its selling price, and in turn sell it to themselves as commission men. Then again they sell it at an increased price to a miller, who often is themselves, and charge another commission. That they have the power to control the prices of grain, make arbitrary rules for dockage, subject to no power but themselves, and juggle the grades of grain as they please. That the prices paid farmers for real grain are dictated by p1t trading of gamblers dealing in imaginary grains only. THAT THE PRICE OF GRAIN FUTURES DE- PENDS MORE ON CONTROL OF GRADING AND STORAGE BY THE GRAIN EXCHANGE MONOPOLY THAN IT DOES UPON THE WORLD SUPPLY AND DEMAND. GET IT COMING AND GOING The dockage steal by this monopoly amounts to millions yearly. .Dr. E. F. Ladd of the North Dakota Agricultural college has shown that there is almost 232 cents worth of wild oats, mustard seed and other valuable foreign substance in "a bushel of wheatt THE MONOPOLY EXTRACTS THIS AT AN INSIGNIFICANT COST AND SELLS IT AT A GREAT PROFIT, BUT. IT DOCKS THE FARMER FOR IT, INSTEAD OF PAYING HIM FOR IT, THEREBY CAUSING HIM TO LOSE NEARLY 5 CENTS A BUSHEL" THROUGH A PURELY SWINDLING TRANS- ACTION. When the farmers sell their grain at the ele- vators, the monopoly arbitrarily grades it on the assumption that the monopoly is judge, jury and prosecution. Here’are the comparative profits to millers from handling the various grades; No. 1, 21.4 per cent; No. 2, 27.5 per cent; No. 3, 25.8 per cent; No. 4, 41.1, per cent; A feed, 57.5 per cent; B feed, 78.2 per cent; C feed, 92.8 per ctent; D feed 1199 per cent. BY BUYING IN MOST OF THE WHEAT AS LOWER GRADE STUFF AND MILLING IT AS HIGHER GRADE WHEAT, THE - MONOPOLY LITERALLY STEALS HUN- DREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS FROM THE FARMERS. DOCTOR LADD HAS PROVED THAT THE MILLERS MAKE FIRST CLASS FLOUR OF AND GET FIRST CLASS PRICES FOR FEED D WHEAT. ‘Myron W. Thatcher, formerly general manager of the Osceola Mill & Elevator company, and now president of the Equitable Audit company of St. Paul, has compiled figures showing that the profit realized by independent mills. per barrel for flour in 1917 was $1.46; the mills owned by the monopoly made $7.19 a barrel. This was when“wheat was selling for $2.78 a bushel and. flour was selling in bulk for $14 a barrel AND FOR $19 A BARREL WHEN “SOLD IN SACKS TO CONSUMERS. The profits made by distributors ON. THE $14-FLOUR WAS $5 A BAR- REL. Such condition is worse than out- rageous:” It is insult added to injury. In simple justice to himself, his , family and the free institutions for which all true Americans stand, the farmer can not afford to let it go on. A NEBRASKA BOOSTER -~ Editor Nonpartisan Leader: I am a member since last July and like your paper fine. by a .neighbor to write to you for your terms for the paper, as there has been no organizer in his locality. He would like to hear from you soon. _ He would get others to join. : G W. CB‘OOKS 3 Elwood, Neb. - I was requested | R 5 3 S T NGy D SR R Al e e