The San Francisco call., 1898-01-12

 ordinary action of the board related, Calcuttas were quoted at $4 1212, when San Quentins were $4 65, $4 75 and $5. After the State Prison Board set up the price to s5 40 with a depleted stock, Calcuttas jumped to s 75.
 This law respecting the quotation on sacks is not drawn solely from the ex- perience of last year; 1t is applicable to other years, and has been noted in the State of Washington, which imi- tated California in eQuipping Its Walla Walla Penitentiary with jute mill. While precise figures as 10 the cost of Calcutta sacks laid down in San Fran cisco are not readily obtainable, it is generally known that the margin of the importations Is such that the import CTS are at all times prepared to sell at prices fixed on the prison product, or for less
 It remains to be seen, therefore. whether the prison board were justi- fled in pushing up prices arbitrarily as they did-an action beneficial to the importers and injurious to the farm CTS. It should be remembered that be- fore they fixed the $5 40 rate they had contracted for the delivery of the sur plus product They were virtually ad- justing price on the output of 1897.
 Now the law expressly provides that "at no time shall the price fixed be more than 1 per cent per bag in excess of the net cost of producing the same exclusive of prison labor" This is plain enough in lettered intent. Going beyond, 1t was not the purpose of the jute mill acts to create a convict labor industry of profit to the State. The income to the revolving fund was ex- pected simply to cover the actual eX- penditures made on the product. In the nature of things, a season might come when the product would be sold for a little less than the actual outlay in money, and to recoup this loss the lati- tude within which the price of a suc- ceeding season might be fixed was linn ited to 1 cent per sack in excess of the cost of production.
 It does not seem from an analysis of the jute mill record that any such emergency had arisen. The cost of pro- duction per sack, laid down in San Francisco, in the fiscal year of 1884 was 46S; in 1S94-5, 4.SS; in 1S95-6, Al {; in 1ss6-7. 4.24 Thus the average cost of the four terms would be less than the 4.75 price fixed for the 1000. 900 sacks contracted for delivery under the first February resolutions. In other words the average cost per sack for the four years was 4.55A.
 Then came the sale of 1,250,0 at 5, which increased the average receipts above the actual cost, and finally when the possibilities of sales were reduced to the running output, the price was marked up to s5 40. It Is represented that the board fixed the latter price after an estimate had been made, show ing that the actual cost of production was $4 40 Thus they sought to force the price to the limit textually allowed by law, instead of pairing it down to the minimum intended. Even here they manifestly made out the case to suit their wishes, for their own official record states that the actual cost of production, with the bag laid down in this city was 4.24. In this respect, while boosting the market against the farmer, they violated the law to the extent of 16 cents on every hundred sacks; that is to say, they fixed price 116 cents per sack on the product of the last half of the 1S96-7 fiscal year in excess of the actual cost of producing it.
 Was this done In the interest of the farmer? Certainly not.
 The evil effects have been traced through some of the wheat raising counties by The Call; and, let it be said, with no malice against the board, and with no design to make them the objects either of defamation or sensa- tional attack. It was found that when 1t came to the period of the delivery of State sacks the Calcutta prices had advanced from s4 121a to s5 %. The large majority of storekeepers and dealers had both lines of sacks for sale, and in many instances left the selection from either stock to the option of the small purchaser. They were enabled to do this by the high water quota ton fixed by the State board, approxi- mate to which the importers sold the Calcuttas, inasmuch as the supply of State sacks, controlled by the middle men, though superior in quality, were represented in cost at the quotations of February and March, namely. $4 75 and s5. In other cases the cost of both Calcutta and State sacks was advanced by adding the freight rate to the 8 40 quotation. In every aspect the action of the board on February 20 and March 13. in making up the price, was in- furious to the interests the State jute mill is supposed to advantage.
 How in the world could middlemen get possession of State sacks, is asked ? The Call will cite merely the known method of a single operator, and in do- ing so may add that his dealings must have been familiar to at least one mem Der of the board. This man handled last year no less than 1500O0 State sacks, procured by him under the pe- cuiiar dispensations of February and March, as related. His case will serve to illustrate the immoral and degrad- ing practices involved with the many