Omaha daily bee., 1889-02-23
CLUTCHED BY MONOPOLY
Grain Men Strongly Oppose the
Presidents Combine.
WHAT ONE OF THEM SAYS.
Rumor That n. Campbell IL to BE
Brought Here From Port
land to Succeed
MunrOc.


That the presidents agreement will be in.
furious to tho interests of the west IS the pre-.
valling opinion among the representative
grain merchants in Omaha \ vigorous pro
test was made against 1t by each merchant
seen. They state that it has already dealt
the producing element Of not only Nebraska,
but the entire western belt a blow from
which il will be hard to recover, Last year,
they claim, that corn was 10 cents higher per
bushel than II IS at the present time and at
the very time that reasonably low
rate should shout prevail; In Nus tbs. sense S',
reason of the presidents agreement having
been entered INTO, have increased the rates,
while the market IS on the decline, thereby
making II impossible for the western pro.
duCcr to obtain a price for his products suf.
hcicnt to rCmuuCratC him for his labOrs II
is also stated that, AT the prevailing prices
and high rates, the Nebraska farmer could
not realize enough profit from his product To
warrant him in the handling Of it for trans
portaton, to say nothing of producing 1t. The
rate to the scaUOard on export corn under the
presidents agreement is 10 cents per 100
pounds while last year il was 30 cents, and
at times lower stil. Along with this, the
bushel in the New York market than
it was a year ago. y prominent
grain merchant said: at is an outrage per
petratcd on the western producer and west.
ern enterprise. The presidents agreement IS
only combine OF eastern sharks formed for
the purpose of monopOlzing our product at
extremely low prices. We are the corn pro
ducers of the country. The corn crop of Ne
braska can safely be rested at -, OCO, 600 bush
els, and fully 12,OOO, ,0O0 of this is exported.
At present, about onc-haf of the 'SS crop is
in the hands of the producers IN Nebraska,
and fear that the outlook is not very prom
ising. This state of affairs is brought about
by the presidents combination. AS soon as
l.t1t N..lt tg
the seaboard virtually went up and are now
about7 cents per 100 higher on corn than they
were last December One year ago we sold
corn to Mississippi river points II cents per
bushcl higher than we can get for 1t to-day.
Before the presidents agreement was formed
we were handling about one hundrc cars of
grain per day, ana since that time our bust
ness has fallen off 80 per cent Why! BE
cause we cannot offer the producer anywhere
near what his corn was worth, and what is
the resultt The producer owes the country
merchant for groceries the latter owes the
wholesale houses for goods and the latter III
turn are indebted in another source upon all
OF which payment must be deferred, which
is attributed to the high rates on rail and u
low price on corn in the market This is
what brings about a financial crisis and we
have right to resist such an undertaking
as has Just been entered upon in railway
circles when our commercial resources are at
stake. know of cases now where the Ne
braska farmer has concluded to burn his
corn rather than sell it for what it would re
alize for him in case he accepted the low
market and paid the prevailing high rate.
The oat and wheat crop having failed at all
other points, now is the time that low rate
should be given us for our corn product in
order to reach a good market But no the
eastern sharks have centercd on the opposite,
and the western producer, and especially
that of Nebraska, will experience serious
loss 1t bchooves the railway commission of
this state to turn its attention to the gross
wrongs that are being perpetrated on every
producer of Nebraska