The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, September 2, 1918, Page 12

than 16,000,000 pounds of rice, thus. becoming at a single move, on the statement of the vice presi- dent of the company, “the great- est ricé merchant of the world.” During this period the wholesale price of rice increased 65 per cent. Armour is the only one of the big packers who appears to be interested in the grain trade, although James A. Patten, a large stockholder of Swift & Co., is also one of the important factors in the cereal markets. The Armour Grain company is a close corporation, in which J. Ogden Armour owns 64 per cent of the stock and other members of the family 22.9 per cent. Directly or through its sub- sidiary or trade-name companies the Armour Grain company operates over 90 country elevators. Its eight terminal elevators at Chicago and its two ele- vators at Kansas City constitute 25 per cent of the total elevator capacity of these cities. IN 1917 IT HAN- DLED 75,000,000 BUSHELS, OR 23 PER CENT OF ALL RECEIPTS OF GRAIN AT CHICAGO, the greatest market in the world, and its business is rapidly growing. Nearly all of this was directly merchandised and only a small fraction sold on commission. In the manufacture of breakfast foods and stock and chicken feeds the Armour Grain company is expanding, especially in the line of producing re- tail brands. Within three years it has Colorado Leaguers Go Over the To undertaken the manufacture of Ar- mour’s Oats, has taken over the Buf- falo Cereal company, with its many brands of cereal foods and animal feeds, and within the present year has taken over the Maple-Flake com- pany of Battle Creek, Mich. * In connection with its line of country elevators the Armour Grain company merchandises fer- tilizer, feed, coal, fence posts, wire fencing, builders’ hardware, binding twine, lumber, millwork, cement, lime and plaster, brick, sand, gravel and roofing. The fertilizer industry lies at the base of American food production. The packers, controlling the disposal of more than two-thirds of the offal produced in the packing industry, have become the most important factors in the manufacture of animal fertilizer ingredients and have strongly entered the field of production of mineral in- gredients. In mixed fertilizers they produce 19 per cent of the total. HIDES, LEATHER AND WOOL, TOO In addition to the far-reaching ownership and control in the various branches of the food industry out- lined above, the Big Five also occupy an important position with reference to the clothing of our civil and mili- tary population through potential con- trol of the hide and leather markets of the United States and of a consid- erable proportion of the total wool production. There is no question of their domi- nant position with reference to hides and leather. The Big Five not only handle more than three-fourths of the hides and skins produced by interstate slaughterers, but directly, through their subsidiaries, or through leases and contracts, tan a large part of the leather produced in the United States. The big packers occupy an even more important and profitable position in’ the hide and leather industry than these statements indicate, because of - the fact that -their hides receive a higher grading than those of inde- pendent packers and butchers, whose hides are arbitrarily classed as “coun- try hides,” and that they control a large share of hide imports. Finally, - the packers’ storage facilities and strong financial posi- tion make it possible for them to manipulate the markets and dis- pose of their product without re- gard to supply and demand. It is admitted in correspondence of the big packers that during the past year, when leather was in enor- mous demand, certain of the Big Five hoarded hides in such im- mense quantities for the purpose of inflating the already unreason- able prices that (to quote their own correspondence): “We are forced to pack them in our cellars and outside in the open but have - reached the point now where we have no place to go with any more.” The actual and potential powers of. these corporate groups and individuals are far greater and much more menac- ing to the welfare and true prosperity of the nation than this enumeration of industrial possessions would indicate. This greater menace lies in the fact that the BIG FIVE HAVE IN- TRENCHED THEMSELVES in what may . be called THE STRATEGIC POSITIONS OF CONTROL OF FOOD DISTRIBUTION. These strat- egic positions, which serve not only to protect the controls which the big packers have already acquired, but to insure -their easy conquest of new fields, are: Stockyards, with their collateral institutions, such as terminal roads, cattle loan banks and mar- ket papers. Private refrigerator car lines for the transportation of all kinds of perishable foods. &5 Cold storage plants for the preservation of perishable foods. Branch house system of whole- sale distribution. Banks and real estate. The Big Five do not control banks in the same sense that they do stock- yards and car lines, but they possess overwhelming advantages over com- petitors. * Farmer Candidates for the Legislature Insure a New Deal in a Corporation- Ruled State—Who the Men Are and What They Stand For ZIN COLORADO the Non- partisan league has greatly excited both the elephant and the donkey. As is well known, these animals joined in a queer team and pulled Burnquist out of a muddy hole in Minnesota and defeated the League candidate for nomination there. In Colorado these same ani- mals attempted to work as a team at the primary caucuses, but the polit- ical harness broke. COLORADO HAS ENOUGH LEAGUE MEM- BERS IN ITS AGRICULTURAL SECTIONS TO MAKE IT PRAC- TICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR POLI- TICIANS TO HANDPICK THE OLD- STYLE CANDIDATES THIS YEAR. Go through the list named in an- other column. ‘Each of the men has pledged himself to the League pro- gram. Not only that, their record in the past has been clean. Backbone, intelligence, moral courage, are their distinguishing characteristics. For years the farmers of Colorado have been struggling for better conditions, struggling against the powerful mill- ing trust, sugar trust, packing trust and other allied combinations.. These struggles have developed manhood on the farms. Farmers have raised their eyes “beyond their fence lines, fol- lowed their crops to market and there met their farmer brothers and thus joined forces to face the profiteers. And in many, many cases they have bested the profiteer, even in Colorado. ORGANIZED LABOR WITH THEM So, when the North Dakota farm- - ers.invented the Nonpartisan league, their brothers in Colorado were ready to adopt the invention. Through it they expect to clean out the Colorado -legislature. Every candidate for the legislature will be asked to state his position on the League program. To.the ‘aid of the League comes the . Colorado State Federation of Labor. Its annual convention, held in Salida August 12-15, passed an enthusiastic resolution pledging our farmers the support of labor at the November election. There are 40,000 to 50,000 labor votes in the state. Labor has long been looking and voting for good men and welcomes with open arms the farmers’ organization, which " is pledged to public welfare legisla- tion. In the eyes of labor the Non- partisan league fills the bill. And when farmer and labor strike hands in Colorado, Big Biz becomes affected with a bad case of political “chills and fever.” So do the elephant .and donkey, if their present antics are any symptom. THE INDORSEMENTS OF THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE IN COL- ORADO TO DATE APPEAR ON THIS PAGE. OTHER CONVEN- TIONS WILL BE HELD LATER FOR THE SELECTION AND IN- DORSEMENTS OF CANDIDATES. WATCH THE NONPARTISAN LEAGUE GO -OVER THE TOP IN COLORADO THIS FALL. WHAT THE FARMERS’ PRINCIPLES ARE The patriotic position of the League farmers is illustrated by the follow- ing two resolutions: “We, the undersigned farmers of Prowers and Baca counties, in mass- meeting assembled, again reaffirm our loyalty to our country in this war for democracy. We believe in the principles and doctrines as set forth by our president, Woodrow Wilson, and to the end that these principles ' may be established, ‘we pledge our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor’ to our country in this, our war. “We believe in the honesty and in- Morgan and Washington......... "Logan, Sedgwick, Phillips, Lincoln, Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Colorado Farmers Choose Candidates Indorsements by League Reported to Date REPRESENTATIVES Counties— ! . Nominees— Baca and Prowers.............. Sam M, Dean, Westola (Democratic) Bent and Kiowa..... Pt Henry Fingado, Arlington (Independent) Boulder.. v ou. ciiaaimsmin, V: H. Hamilton, Longmont (Democratic) Logan and Sedgwick............ ...Joe Dillon, Sterling (Democratic) Isaac Bollinger, Brush (Democratic) Lincoln, Cheyenne and Kit Carson...A. H. Shuffler, Vona (Independent) Elbert and Arapahoe.......... W. G. Foster, Elizabeth (Independent) Otero and Crowley............ J. M. Shaulis, Rocky Ford (Republican) J. H. Craig, Olney Springs (Democratic) Delta, ooiiwm s sdnBiion, Fred 8. Hotchkiss, Hotchkiss (Democratic) Montrose......... vevesseeeee.. . W, F, Wilcox, Montrose (Republican) Weld i oo in i niaie diols KON B e E. R. Bliss, Greeley (Independent) 3 Frank Ballilfger’, Stoneham (Independent) SENATORS Yuma and : : A. C. Scott, Haxtun (Independent) Elbert and Douglas.:........... -Grant Bentley, Elizabeth (Independent) ..C. W. Burke; Wiley (Démocratic)- ++-J."A. Dunn, Olathe (Republican) Washington., .~ ........ue... Bent, Baca, Prowers and Kiowa. ... Montrose, San Miguel and ‘Dolores. . - Cut this list out and take it to your: voting b ooth at election, o Zof % E. Porterfield, J. G. C; B S e e tegrity of the Amgricafi people as a “whole, and the unquestionable 'loy- alty, integrity and devotion of the . American farmer, in line with the leading officials of the government, we - denounce as worse than a German spy 3 the PROFITEER who will take ad- vantage of the critical conditions of our country. “We realize and appreciate the many problems laid before our presi- dent to solve, besides the financing of this great struggle. “BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that we, farmers of Prowers and _Baca counties, further declare our al- !eg"iance to our country and the Amer- ican farmer by assuring President Woodrow Wilson and Treasurer Me- Adoo, that we will accept in pay for - our farm products national script, the same as issued by that great_lover of liberty, Abraham Lincoln. “We request that a copy of these resolutions be sent to President Wil- son, Treasurer McAdoo, the United States congress and a copy sent to: the Nonpartisan Leader. “GEORGE R. WILSON, “J. R. HAWES, “C. E. ROBB, Secretary, “Committee on resolutions. - . “J._W. Nemier, D. B. Downey, Henry Paul- sen, J. A. Snyder, L. G. Rice, C. 'N. McMulle:.r e Jedsen,"P. N. Schroeder, George K. ayton, F. . L. Evans, B. E. Patton, C. H. Howell, A. H. Tischer, Fred L. Parker, B. W. i G: Goor, C. E. Robb, C. W. Burke, J. O. Buck, Basil - Buck, J. E. Gruver, J. T. -LB]lbI;e:; !é Vlgnlkexia J#‘. (\;fgheeiler. J. M. . Fox, M. W. , W, M, ertson, Frank Myers, J. R.“fifi‘fiu.?-v o ke HOW MESA COUNTY SPEAKS OUT The meeting of the Mesa connty delegates of the Nonpartisan league was called to order July 81 at Apple- ton by T. E. Heward, organizer. L. M. Rogers was chosen chairman and R. Frohm secretary. e lows: | “We, the delegates of the ‘Nonpar- i gisag"league; Mesa county, Col., in“our 2 b -~ * “Resolutions were drawn up as fol- Y é‘ - Ay & b - R . R BT = &