St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-03-02
NO COMPETITION.
Hard Row of StumpA for Farmers
About Dalton.

NO COMPETITION.
Hard Row of Stumps for Farmers
About Dalton.
Special to the Globe
DALTON, Mimi, March There
was absolutely no competition in the
wheat market at this place and has not
been for the past five years, although
there are too line houses doing business
here. These houses are the 10000
bushel elevator of the Minneapolis &
Northern and the flat house of like ca
pacity of the Brooks Elevator COM
pany. Both houses bought wheat on
the same grade and dockage and paid
the same prices all through the sea-
son as they have done for years past.
The two companies might have gone
further and dispensed with the SER
vices of one of the buyers. as one man
could have bought all the wheat and
the companies could have saved one
of the salaries. The result of this con-
dition of affairs was that only the
wheat directly around Dalton was mar
keted here. With a good market the
amount of wheat that would have been
sold here would have been a quarter of
million bushels up to the first of this
month. There was competition all
around this place and the prices at
other points from one to four cents
higher, so the wheat went elsewhere
and only 10000 bushels-less than half
OF the tributary production-Were sold
here. There was some talk of putting
in an Independent house, but nothing
was done until representative of a
Minneapolis commission house located
here in January Since he came the
prices have been better and he has
secured the bulk of the wheat, although
but little has been hauled in since the
first Of the year. The farmers of the
town of st. Oloff have held one meeting
to consider the proposition of building
a fiat house here and they will prob
ably build before this years crop is
harvested.
At the commencement Of the season
the two houses here were buying at
II cents below the Minneapolis prices.
This left a margin of nearly SIX cents
a bushel after deducting the freight
charges, which are 81 a bushel. The
farmers were rushed and had to sell
some of their wheat as fast as it came
from the threshing machines, as they
had no room to store it, This was the
elevator company's opportunity and
it reaped a bountiful harvest A
large portion of the wheat was bought
at 40 cents a bushel and the dockage
was exceedingly heavy for the quanty
of wheat produced in this vicinity. 1T
was only the farmers who are located
close by who hauled their wheat here,
for they could get better prices at any
other point than were paid at Dalton
At Fergus Falls, twelve miles north
west the price was from two to four
cents higher. and averaged three cents
above Dalton. At Underwood and Bat
tie Lake, on the north, 1T was always
two cents. and often three cents, high
n Oft
and Elbow Lake, the market averaged
three cents above Dalton, and at all
these points the dockage was from
one-half to, one and half pounds less.
These differences were after the grain
began to move, and after the margin
between the local and Minneapolis mar
kets was reduced to II cents. The
competition of the independent buyers,
A. E. McCarty & Co., of Minneapolis,
has reduced this differential still lower,
and it is now only 1917 or II cents. The
Independent buyer has to store the
wheat he buys and when he has car
load to resack and haul it to the side
track Notwithstanding these disad-
yantages, he has made a profit on all
the wheat he has shipped. If he could
make money on the present margins,
the line companies must have made a
good round profit when they had the
market dS IHelT lHeICy- lie DlOOhS
company has a fiat house that is built
on the high bank, the main line and
sidetrack running through deep cut,
and the wheat is SpOuted directly into
the cars without any expense for haul
ing. All that the buyer has to do is
to dump the wheat into the bins when
he receives it, and to open the spouts
when loading it out. 1t would be i'm
possible to handle grain more cheaply
than is done in this house. Yet the
owners compel the producers to pay
them generous tribute for handling
their wheat
The merchants complain bitterly Of
the loss of business, because the farm
ers have hauled their wheat to other
markets They have discussed the
proposition of organizing cooperative
company and putting in a fiat house,
but the project has not materialiZed,
because of the lack of cohesion on the
part of the merchants. They do not
get on we'll together, and because of
their differences have suffered for
years, and are likely to continue to do
so. At the same time, the farmers
have been the greatest losers, for they
have lost on every bushel Of grain sold
here, while the merchants have only
lost the business of the farmers who
have sold their grain at other points
Now the farmers of the town of ST.
Oloff. the next township east of here
are making arrangements to form a
cooperative company and handle their
own wheat, as we'll as that of Others
The merchants Of Dalton should lay
aside their differences and join in OPEN
ing the market here They would then
be so busy that they would have no
time to spend over petty differences.