The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1894-03-01
ROTT PEANUTS 1G-1IN.
A St. Louis Man Writes
ST. LOUIS, No, Feb 26, 1894.

hands this morning. While the Judge
was probably honest enough, his iGnor-
ance Of the subiec: il 50 obvious his
advice. II followed. would be 80 disas-
trous, thought perhaps you might
like TO present to your readers other
ideas. which to the writer, after ID years
experience in the business, seem calcu-
! lated t. lead to better results.
IN the first place, firmly believe in
concentration, or the syndicate idea
! Either one composed Of the factories or
one made by the farmers, would be
much better for producers than the
present state OF affairs Either would
produce a stability Ct market incompat-
| IDLE with the existence of lot of petty
concerns Of small capital, each compel
| ing with the other In the past fifteen
wears | have been interested in forming
syndicate., at least a dozen times, not
one of which lasted longer than six
months and some not over one not
| because there was not an obvious
advantage, but because Of petty jealous
les and lack of harmony, and / must
say trickery. Only a year and half
ago / offered them process Of cleaning
which ii applied to all their factories
would have saved 100000 year in
labor, if they would form a combination.
They all agreed it would make that
saving but petty jealousles among
themselves prevented and l am salts
fled as long as the present parties con-
tinue in the business they will never
form combination.
That factories are not making money
is evident from prices to farmers.
Handplcks, at . cents for farmers will
not run over 6O% handpicks at 81,
2O9@ G1 q and balance Smelling stock
and dirt. (These are present prices }
There is absolutely no money in the
cleaning business. and has not been for
years. The only profit that is made is
speculation and there has been more
profit in specializing in farmers. To
business has to be large one, and a
capital Of not less than $500 600 should
be organized Such a concern could
control the market. Today there is no
interest capable OF doing so. Besides
the expense of operating large facto-
ry is in proportion to business done,
not half that of small one A large
concern could afford to put in machine
~ that would make profitable use of
the low grades which are now sold for
half the value that could be obtained
if manufactured into oil, feed and meal.
This cannot be profitably done on a
small scale.
Now if the farmers wish to get re-
munerative results let them Or the
storekaepers at local points raise the
money to put in operation such con-
Germ as viii have sufficient capital to
control the crop, use up the refuse, and
conduct the business on a profitable
basis. l am certain, properly conduct
ed, such stock could be made to pay
from IS to 1909 dividend but would
require as manager one thoroughly
c.>nversant with lie business and a
knowledge Of how ID convert the culls
into different uses than are now en-
ployel.
yhen, :he farmers themselves are
I foolish III the way they put up their
crops, picking Of good, bad and indif-
ferent NUS, thereby reducing the grade
when, if hey would only market their
choice stock, It would bring better
prices than tie good and bad mixed to-
gether will bring feed their poor stock
/ to hogs and cattle and it by Itself
will bring more III hog meat than the
mixture viii bring in the market. The
cross-road factory has been tried and is
a failure. The small city factory cor
perations for the past ten years
have not paid 90 dividend on their
stocks. \ syndicate whether composed
by farmers and managed b. competent
men or composed of factories, existing
under one management, is the only So
luton. Respectfully,
| GEO. 3. SPEAR