The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-05-15
A TRUST IN PEANUTS.
Probable Effect It viii Have On Pea
nut Eaters.

nut Eaters.
The latest thing in trusts is the peanut
trust. Peanuts are small things to be
controlled by trust, but in Virginia and
North Carolina the peanut crop is by no
means a small thing. The Virginia pea
nut is the article usually handled by the
corner fruit stores and the pushcarJ vend-
ers. That trust has been formed to
regulate the price of the peanut will be
sad news to the small boy, the colored
brother and the occupants of the bleach
ers at the base ball games, whosefavorite
provender is the peanut.
The trust is called the Virginia Peanut
Association and it is composed of the
twelve largest handlers of the product in
that state The ordinary consumer of
the peanut has little idea of the extended
and expensive process required to put the
peanut in marketable condition after it
has been dug from the ground. The
peanut must be cleaned and polished be-
fore it is ready to put on the market and
large plants are maintained for this pur-
pose with expensive machinery. The
peanut crop is practically controlled by
the cleaners and warehOusemen, who
make advances to the farmers and handle
the crop pretty much as the cotton crop
is handled by the factors.
A wholesale dealer said yesterday that
the competition between the large houses
in the business had been very sharp, with
the result that they had made no money.
To put an end to this they have entered
into a combine and selected one broker
to handle all their product. Prices will
be regulated by the association. AS
result of the com pine, prices have already
been put up half cent pound.
The dealer said that there were no
fears that the trust would attempt to place
any eX tortionate prices upon the product.
There are many reasons why this is not
likely to be the case the chief one being
that other states would Immediately put
their product on the market in COMPETE
ton with the Virginia product. The
peanut is largely grown in North Carolina,
Georgia and Florida as a stock food
and its growth is on the increase. The
North Carolina peanut is much smaller
and more compact than the Virginia pea
nut and as an edible it is fully equal fnot
| superior to the Virginia product. 1t is
not favorlte with the retail dealers for
this reason The Virginia peanut is much
| larger with rough shell, and the beans
| fitclosely inside the shell. The result is
that it is a much bulkier product than its
North Carolina congener, bushel of the
latter weighing afnlly 80 per cent.
more than one of the former. The
retail dealer can afford to give a full
| quart of the larger peanut for ) cents,
which he could not afford to do with the
smaller article because of the weight be-
| ing so much greater in proportion to bulk
| The larger nuts, too, are more attractive
to the eye of the purchaser.
Mr.. w. D. Simkins, who deals largely
in peanuts of 10th varieties, said yester-
day That the planting Of peanuts for
stock food in this section is on the in
crease, the North Carolina variety being
preferred for this purpose He did not
think the price of peanuts to the retail
purchaser would be increased by the rea-
| son of trust