The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-12-04
A PICTURE WITH TWO SIDES.

spread discomfort among Une people,
distort the truth in every way in an
attempt to prejudice labor against
capital and generally to champion
wreckage on every side, tangled itself
up in hornets nest the other day,
80 to speak, by attacking the milling
interests of Minneapolis. AS feeble
echo of the p. P.'s wall, the Mankato
Reuieac also deprecated" the grasp
ing monopoly" held over the farmers
by the great millers of the metropolis
in particular and the lesser lights of
the combine" in the country. AS is
too often the case with these journals
that exhibit such patronizing inter-
est 10 the "dear people," they tell
only half the truth and that half
which leads to mlsconception and
wrong conclusion.
Hon. G. A. Pillsbury, manager of
the consolidated Touring mills of Min
neapolis, gave it out some days ago
thatthe interests he representedwould
this year divide profits amounting to
some S5OO,OOO This is of course a
large sum in itself, but read what Mr..
Pillsbury says in his published letter
in the Penny Press Of Nov. 9th,
and any fair-minded man will admit
that it was fully earned and worthily
bestowed. In the letter referred to
Mr.. Pillsbury says:
/ would have been glad to show
YOUR editor how excessive, or
moderate the profits are. And I will
now attempt to do so briefly, in this
Communication. In the first place,
tine profits represent not only the pro-
fits of our flour mills, but of two
water power companies in this city;
also of two hundred country elevators,
and one big elevator in Minneapolis.
They represent the profits of over
$S,O0O,0O0 of investment, and are, as
you see, less than per cent on the in
VeStment.
1 ask you, in all fairness, if this is
excessive, considering the fact, that,
during the past five years the stock
holders have received no dividends at
all, except during one and one-half
years of the time above named. Dur
ing that time we must have ground
over 100000 bushels of wheat.
Now as to the profits of last year.
The profits in our milling business are
but the very smallest fraction Of more
than cent a bushel on the amount of
wheat ground. Don't that look like
robbery? Perhaps we ought to have
paid cent bushel more for our
wheat, and have kept the small in
flnitesimal fraction for our profit.
Now as to what we have beat out of
the workingman. / think you were
very unfortunate in bringing that
matter up. In the first place, the
flour mills of Minneapolis have
for years paid higher wages
than any other mills in the world, by
quite large per cent. In the next
place, the wages of the men in the
mills today are practically as large as
they ever have been, Notwithstanding
the immense depression we have gone
through with, and the growing de-
mOraliZation of labor elsewhere
Wages were reduced a paltry 10
per cent for about six months during
the worst of these hard times, and
then were voluntarily put back. How
many laboring men in the country
have Jared better than this?
Then again, through panics, hard
times, or anything else, the men have
received their wages regularly every
week. Now that wheat is up to eighty
$3.50 cents per bushel, and in my
opinion is sure to go to a dollar, l
expect this coming year will show a
great deal better profits than we made
last year, as we Away do make good
profits when wheat is around a dollar
a bushel, and never make any profit
to amount to anything when it is
around fifty cents.
Whenever our profits get so that
they will pay our stockholders s per
cent and leave any dividends, we
divide a portion of the profits with our
own men, and l am quite sure we
shall do so at the end of this season.
If Minnesota had more Charley
Pillsbury's and r. D. Hubbard's the
farmers of Minnesota and the entire
northwest would be better off. The
milling interests of Minneapolis and
Minnesota have been worth millions of
dollars to the farmers of this terri
tory over what they would have
realized on their wheat product had
these mills not been in existence. No
one will claim that per cent is an
excessive profit for any business, and
especially so when it is known that
for three years previous to the present
not dollar of profit was realized by
these great Industries.
1t is a simple and easy matter for
an editor to write down great in
terests like the Touring industries of
Minnesota, which has done more to
advance the farmers financial condi-
tion than any other agency in the
northwest, but it is a cowardly thing
to do where there is not a better
reason than in the present instance.