Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-03-15
4 Farmer on Binding TMine.

/ merS throughout the country TO hOli
meetings and pledge themselves no
to purchase any binding Irvine for tn
harvest of 1889 at a price exceeding
twelve cents per pound. Let farmer
/ generally pursue this course, The Ru
raj says, and the great trust which
/ controls the price of Irvine must com,
to their terms. Only a few weeks agt
a resolution embodying this suggestion
was unanimously anOpted by YER
large number of farmers assembled a
the City Hall in Mineral Point. Be
/ lieying this action to be of very doubt
full expediency, to say the least, tn,
Democrat set about obtaining some
bottom facts" etc.
What surprises me is that you char
acterize the resolution adopted by thu
convention of farmers held in you
city a few weeks ago, as of " doubtful
expediency." You are fully aware
that supply and demand are the prime
factors, in determining the price OF
any product. Should the supply be
ample 50 as to leave a surplus, nc
matter how small, the price will un
der normal conditions be low. Now
what are the facts in the case before
us: They are clearly set forth in the
article you copy from the The St
Louis Journal, Farm Machinery
Previous to $780," says the writer
in the journal referred to, 1.-THE i'm
portation Of siSal from the Central
American States and manila from
the PHILIPPINE Islands was largely in
excess Of what was required for the
manufacture Of rope, etc. But fifty
tons were used in 1880 for binder
twine. Now it has grown to the
enormous amount Of. 10000, and this
has drawn SO largely on the production
of the raw material that it is now
estimated that there is not enough
grown to equal the demand"
1t is evident from the above that the
chief reason of the present high price
Of binder Irvine is scarcity of the raw
materials of which it is manufactured.
Were the supply Of sisal and manila
sufficient, the price would undoubtedly
be reasonably low; but the supply
being short it must necessarily be high
unless some restriction of demand
takes place Is it possible to restrict
the demand SO as To limit it to the
supply? Certainly. The harvest of
1888 consumed in the neighbornoOd Of
10000 tons of binder Irvine. The
amount required in 1889 will probably
be a trife larger than last year. We
viii suppose the output Of sisal and
manila fully equal to that Of year
ago. This being the ease enough, or
very nearly enough Irvine will be pro
duccd to supply the demand. Should
the farmers use as much or more
Irvine than during any previous season
the supply will be exhausted. But if
4 considerable number, say a third or =
ronrtb. conclude to do their bindino
by hand the supply will become eyces-
siyr and the price forced down. In
this event the fate of the binder
Irvine trust will be similar to that of
the copper trust. After having Sc
cured the worlds supply of conner it
ran up the price until il found no
bnyrrs and the nutrnmc was = Grand
coII,rsc
It will be claimed. pprbaps. that the
remedy / nronosa would cost the far
mrrs much time and Labor and result
in loss of grain rs we'll Sucb = thing
is possible. but hardly probable. The
most of ms have murh less Grain now
than we had before splf-biuders came
into common use. We succeeded in
saving our crop then and we shall sue
ceed again if we make the attempt.
Depend upon it. this is a very safe
way in which to free ourselves from
some of the baneful effects of the
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