The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 7, 1921, Page 12

State-Owned Sugar Mills in Australla Government Markets Pr1nc1pal Crops for Farmers— Helps Both Producer and Consumer Washington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader, z]ORTH DAKOTA'’S indus- trial program looks ‘rather tame, though emi- nently sensible, to Ed- ward G. Theodore, the premier of Queensland, Australia, who was in Washington re- cently on his way to England to ar- range for the sending of a large num- ber of English settlers to his state. Premier Theodore is leader of the Labor party, which has controlled the government of Queensland since Au- gust, 1915, and in that time Queens- land has won many of the benefits which the organized farmers of North Dakota are still fighting to obtain. Charles Edward Russell, who visited Mr. Theodore in Brisbane some years ago, arranged for the Leader corre- spondent to meet this marvelous young man—he is only 35 years of age—who has been metal miner, head of his union, Labor member of the state legislature, member of the cabi- net, and then premier, with the possi- bility of heading a Labor party minis- try in charge of the commonwealth government before he is much older. “State control of the marketing of - our chief products is not considered a radical policy in Australia,” said Mr. Theodore. “Under the war powers conferred by our states upon the com- monwealth government at the begin- ning of the war, the government was able to take over the wheat crop, the wool clip and the minerals, and to handle our entire dairy. output. These war powers will lapse in a short time. ‘We shall then have to make some new arrangement between the states and the commonwealth in order to keep our marketing system intact. But for five years we have handled these products as a national matter. “On the other hand, due to the loca- tion of the sugar mills, chiefly in my ADVERTISEMENTS own state, Queensland, the sugar crop has been handled and will be perma- nently handled by the state. And for all.the packing plants in Queensland we shall continue to exercise state con- trol. That is in no wise dependent upon the war powers. “The British government purchased . our .wheat from our commonwealth government. The farmer delivered his wheat at the railroad and received about 90 per cent of the total payment in the form of a draft. He received also a certificate of receipt for the bal- ance, which was paid when the wheat was delivered in Europe. Government railroads carried the wheat to sea- board, and government ships carried it to its destination. Before the war our’ farmers had been getting around 75 cents for wheat. The first contract with the British government called for $1.25 a bushel, and during 1920 it was $1.67. Our butter was sold by our Australian government agency in CENTS a day invested in a DE LAVAL may save you from 25 cents to $19%a day NS s '\ IIIII ulll TP uct, time and labor. est things you can buy. there was a year ago. than it.was a year ago. NEW YORK 165 Broadway DE LAVAL Cream Separator is the best paying invest- ment any cow owner can possibly make. It saves twice a day, 730 times a year, over any other system or inferior separator—in quantxty and quality of prod- - Its cost represents an investment of about 5 cents a day for ten years, including cost of operation and interest on the investment. With simple care it will give good service for 20 to 30 years; it practically never wears out. Such an investment rhay save you from 25 cents to $1.00 or more a day, according to the number of cows, returning from 500% to 20007 profit on the investment. Today 2 De Laval Cream Separator is one of the cheap-~ With cheaper feeds and butter-fat at present prices thefe is more profit today in butter-fat than Relatively, a De Laval is cheaper See the nearest De Laval agent. Even though you have only one good cow, it will pay you to own a De Laval. The De Laval Separator Company CHICAGO 29 East Madison Street ° SAN FRANCISCO 61 Beale Street Sooner or later you wnll use a De aval Cream Separqtor or Milker Mention the Leader When Writing Advertisers P S T R T AT B AT GRS PAGE TWELVE igh . London during the war at about 45 cents a pound. The British govern- ment paid Denmhark considerably more for their supply, which England was obliged to have.” With Australia’s great wool clip it was the same way—+the wool growers "delivered their clip at the railroad and * the government gave -a receipt which’ was paid 1mmed1ately upon the 3p-: praisal of wool in the depots-in ‘the chief markets in ‘the island. " The . growers are safeguarded in the grad- ing of the wool in these depots, since the government is not interested in making a profit from the transaction. The wool is then sold abroad, on gov- ernment account, and slnpped to the foreign market. “When we came into power in Queensland,” Mr. Theodore said, “we were ready with our plan for handling the sugar crop. Most of Australia’s. sugar supply is grown in our state. There are .42 mills, each supplied by the cane fields of that particular dis-. trict. Until we came in the farmers Jhad been obliged to accept whatever prices the mills offered them for their cane.. And the workers on the planta- - tions—all of them white men—were . controlled in their wages by that price. And the mills themselves and the con- sumers of sugar throughout Australia were all at the mercy of the private monopoly in the refining business—the Colonial Sugar Refimng company. The refiner set the price for raw sugar ?.nd for refined sugar, thereby dictat-- ing to producer and consumer and fixing its own profit as it pleased. SUGAR MIDDLEMEN ALL ELIMINATED “We passed an act declaring raw . sugar the monopoly of the state. .We arranged to sell it to the common-: wealth government at cost, and the commonwealth government proceeded to put the refineries on a basis of no profits. They are allowed the interest on their investment, and all reason- able operating costs, after which the commonwealth distributed the refined sugar at cost to the trade. For nearly five years we have had sugar in Aus- tralia selling at retail at 7 cents a pound. “Our method of administering the “state monopoly of raw sugar was sim- - ple. We had wage arbitration bhoards, representing . the men employed, the farmers and the publie, to determine the fair living wage to be paid the men in the sugar industry. Then we had fair-price boards representing the farmers, the sugar mill' owners and the govérnment, with technical ad- . visers, to determine the price to be paid for cane at each mill. This in- volved the grading of the cane accord- ing to its sugar content, with a scale " of values above and below the normal. There was a surprxsmgly narrow mar- gin of difference in the price paid for cane, through the season, as between any two of the 42 mills. Four of these mills are owned and operated by the: state. 'We were able to judge what was efficient operation of a mill, and the price paid the millers for makmg the raw sugar was based on normal efficiency. Those that operated with special efficiency received a premium.” -It was explained that the state built these four mills as an inducement to settlers to go into & new reglon. par- ticularly adapted to cane growing, and to develop the land. Two of the mills that cost $2,600,000 each are now