The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-10-30
MAKE IT 4 MARKET
PRESIDENT A. b. STICKNEY'S AD-
MONITION TO THE KANSAS
CITY PEOPLE.
WHEAT MARKET AND MILLS
WOULD BE ADVANTAGEOUS TO THE
CITY AND THE RAILROADS
ALIKE.
DISCRIMINATION IN RATES.
WHEAT MARKET AND MILLS
DISCRIMINATION IN RAJ
RATES.
Charged With Doing an Injustice to
the State of Kansas and Kan
sas City.

dress Tuesday night before the Kansas
City Commercial club, which is attract
ing wide attention among the railroad
men Of the Northwest.
In his paper Mr.. Stickney explains his
original views upon the grain trade
and the handling of the same, which
created such interest before the inter-
state commerce commission. The pa
per is being widely copied.
In discussing the grain trade Mr..
StiCkney said:
There are facts connected with the
grain trade which L consider pertinent
TO the issues under consideration. No
one can tell in advance where the de-
mand for the different varieties VIII
spring UP. The demand is not uniform
as to localities from year to year. one
year there will be shortage IN one
section and a surplus in another, ana
the next year the reverse. so as TO
varieties and other particulars, the DC
mand changes constantly. These un-
certainties make it economically de-
s!rabie to have the crop held at the
market town nearest the fields of pro-
ductlon, until the localities Of the great
est demands, and therefore the hlgnesI
prices, are developed.
THE advantages of nearby market
towns in these respects may be seen IN
the history of the wheat markets OF
Minneapolis and Duluth. Years ago
Chicago and Milwaukee were the near
est market towns to the spring wheat
fields of Minnesota. AT that time the
hard spring wheat of that locality, and
the flour made from it, were regarded
as of an inferior grade and quality to
the Southern Illinois product. AS long
as these were the nearest market towns
.xrna re hOnrG thus
ranked In course Of time the value
of the hard spring wheat raised In
Minnesota and the Dakotas was dem
0astrated, but still the Chicago market
refused to recognize the fact, and 1t
was not until Minneapolis and Duluth
become market towns that the distinc-
tive grades of No. 1 hard ana NO.
northern, which add from three to five
cents per bushel to the value of the
crop to the farmers, were established.
81 maintain that it was the establish
ment of The market towns which made
the magnificent milling industries at
Minneapolis and Duluth possible. There
We're FIGURING mills at Minneapolis, just
as there are now at Kansas City, be-
fore the market was so established as
to entitle Minneapolis to be regarded
as a market town. But then the output
Of all the Minneapolis mills was prob
ably 1900 Or 5000 barrels per day-not
more than the present capacity Of the
Kansas City mflls-while now, owing
to improved machinery. it is nearly 49,
600 barrels per day. While, under eX-
ceptional circumstances such as then
existed, 5000 barrels per day might be
accomplished without the close proXi-
nifty of the market, 10000 barrels per
day would be impossible.
ITO turn out 40, 900 barrels of -four per
day requires a daily consumption of
70 hTT-1 1D1-, 4N, 80
to 60 million bushels in year Of 300
working days. How can the flow of
this vast quantity of wheat ON it's way
to a distant market be damned up
and held in reserve for the purposes of
the mills without the Intervention of
the market town? Milling operations of
such magnitude can only be carried on
by introducing the essential principles
OF insurance, which is accomplished
through what are known as the cash
and speculative markets. By this
means the burden and the risk Of carry
ing grain from the time the producer
sells it until the consumer requires
it is distributed among a large number,
each acting Independently on his own
judgment as to the future course of
values.
rs there any reason growing out of
physical or natural reasons pertaining
to it's locality which should prevent
the milling business Of Kansas City
from being developed to an extent equal
to the milling interests of, say, ST.
Louis? 1t is my contention that a mar
ket town is essentially different from a
mere junction point Of two or more
railways.
Market towns do not compete with
junction points. The essential feature
of competition in trade is that the
traders stand on plane of substan-
tial equality. So the competition Of a
market town is with other towns of its
same class. or, in other words, with
other market towns.
THE relation of the through rates
and the two local rates in respect to
market towns stands on a different
basis than the relation of through and
local rates into and out of local sta
lions or even junction points Hence,
1t Is my contention that the rate from
an interior station west of the Missouri
river to Kansas City, plus the rate
from Kansas City to the next market
town, should be neither more nor less
than the rate from such interior sta
lions through Kansas City to the next
market town. Any other adjustment of
rates would result In an unjust and
unlawful discrimination in favor or
against one or the other of such
market towns.
Among the improvements which
railways have adopted at an enormous
expense in the last twenty years which
tended to reduce the cost of transpor-
tation are the larger cars. 1t costs the
same to haul a ton of car as it does to
haul ton Of load, hence it results in
reducing the cost of trans portation as
the load in each car, relative to the
weight of the car itself. is increased
IF the railway companies will in
veStigate the facts they will find that
in all country stations where grain Is
loaded, either east or west Of the Mis-
souri, river, these twenty-five and
thirty-ton cars, which they have pro-
vided at such on enormous cost are
loaded to about one-half their capacity
This seems to be unavoidable. The
small dealer, taking in all kinds and
grades of grain, seldom has room in
his Storehouse, or financial capacity, tC
accumulate full car loads of one grade
of one kind Of grain.
Hence as to the grain raised west
of the Missouri river, and destined fol
the distant markets of the East the
anSportation is much more economi-
cal if these small car loads are carried
only to the nearest market town, and
there consolidated into full car loads
for the long haul, than it is to haul the
small quantity in each large car the
additional 500 miles to Chicago, or even
the additional 300 miles to the Missis-
sippi river points.
CAR FAMINES AVOIDABLE.
1.-THE wheat and small grain crop in
the zone south of a line east and west
through Chicago is harvested in June
and July, and in the Northwest in Sep
TENDER. and as fast as it is threshed
seeks the market. In December the
ccrn crops of both sections are ready
to move, and added to this the live