The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-08-08
A NEW YORK LETTER.

A NEW YORK LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent.
Farmers Alliance Exchange,
335 Broadway.
Our Sub Treasury Plan.
The Farmers Alliance is indeed be-
coming noted. Business men who
one year ago had never heard of the
organization are now awakening to
the fact that the Alliance is a power
Even Wall St. thinks it of sufficient
Importance to discuss, and their
comments are more or less amusing
Some say that while they object to it
on general principles, so long as the
General Government provides ware
houses for whiskey men, for Silver
men, and for National Banks, farm
ers had as we'll have one. Take for
instance the following, clipped from
one of the dailies:
FACE TO FACE WITH RUIN.
Chicago, July 21.-A special dis
patch from Jamestown, N. d., says:
1T will be a startling peace of news
to the wheat growers Of North Dako-
ia to find out on the eve of harvest
that no elevator in the state will
store grain this year. This radical
change in the handling of the crop
has been kept as secret as possible.
1t was determined upon it is said,
soon after the law was passed this
year which makes all public elevators
and warehouses pay annual license
OF $3.50 per 1000 bushels capacity.
Nine tenths of the crop Of the state
has been heretofore bought by the
elevator companies upon the Duluth
and Minneapolis quotations. A far
mer could store his grain in these ele-
vators for fifteen days for nothing,
and keep it in store as long as he de-
sired to pay a small fee therefor.
'Now the elevators will refuse this
on the ground that they are not pub
lie elevators, and the farmer who is
mortgaged to the ears will this year
be compelled to sell his crop at what
ever price the company chooses to
allow him. In most cases this will
leave him penniless for the winter.
The law was supposed to be q reason
able one, and was in the nature of a
tax not SO easy to evade as the old
tax law has provided, but the COM
panies, in order to evade it, will re-
sort to this sweeping change, which
will bring misery on most of the
wheat grower of this State class of
men having from fifty to five hundred
acres in grain, which represents all
they have in the world and which now
promises the first actual return for
their labor in three years. "By the
plan OF forcing private buyers out of
the small stations and agreeing upon
a price the principl elevators OF the
State will have. as in the past, abso-
lutte control OF the enormous crop
now heading out. This crop will be
SO large that the railroad companies
have stated that all the railroads
combined cannot furnish cars to
move it one-tenth as fast as required.
If the elevators decline to store it the
confusion and dismay that the result
will be something unparalleled. OF
course the demand for cars will be
immensely increased. Farmers hav-
ing had no notice of the elevator
action, will not have time to build
bins or warehouses. They have, as
a rule, no granaries now, and cannot
get money to buy lumber for new
ones to store their own grain in.
MANY of them bought seed wheat of
the elevator syndicate organized by
Gov. Miller this Spring. This wheat
was charged for at 81 a bushel and
a lien taken on the crop, which pre-
vents the farmer from doing any thing
with it except to turn it over to the
company as soon as thrashed. The
plan of the combine will result in an
agricultural panic for this section of
the state"
Now if the above does not meet
every argument advanced against
the passage of the Sub Treasury bill,
what will? Whenever politicians
Jump up and howl about constitution
ality and principles, it reminds me of
an old cracker farmer in Florida.
Mr.. Davidson could not support the
petition OF the Florida farmers, ask
ing for tariff on oranges, on account
OF principle. The old farmers said:
principle be burned, it won't feed
and cloth my hungry tallow-faced
children" Think this old farmer has
struck the key note of success.
About all farmers have been getting
from electing politicians to office is
"principles," until they have nearly
reached the stage OF pauperdom.
But they are awakening, and our
country is ringing with the demands
of our farmer for something more
substantial than ''party principles. :"
Again it is amusing to note how the
politicians work. They tell the rep