The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-07-17
BINDING TwlNE.
From the Retail Dealers Poibt of
/ View.

From the Retail Dealers PoiBt of
View.
To The St. Paul Globe:
There is letter in yesterdays Globe
that was written in bayfield, The letter
Is evidently syndicate composition because
the writer expressly states that he writes
with large crew Of men," His heated argu-
ment would also indicate that the temperature
was somewhat near the boiling point in the
vicinity of his hay cock-dotted landscape.
If the writer would leave off hayng long
| enough to investigate the binder Irvine situa-
ton, and sit down in his library long enough
to cool off, he might arrive at different coli
illusions.
In the first place. if the warden or prison
board have erred. it has been on the side of
the farmer. They did not do as any in
dividual or corporation whose expenses are
not paid by the state would be obliged to
DO. They did not advance the price of Irvine
when the price of raw material advanced,
because when the price of the raw material
declines. and Irvine goes down, the great state
OF Minnesota pockets the loss, and the tax
payer makes the loss good
Other firms and individuals not so fortunate
are obliged to recoup their losses by judicious
buying. and by taking advantage Of any rise
in price that may follow. These chances
come but seldom in the ordinary business
life. The most careless student knows that
the period Of declining values is far greater
than that of rising values.
$S5.0G0 in its Irvine this year. but there is
| another rumor that it could have sold It's
raw material for $4o, 900 more than it has
| received for its Irvine.
what institution not fostered by the state
| could have been as generous?
| The result Of this generosity will appear
| this winter, when the prison board, in order
| to purchase more material, will have to in
! vest its cap:tal-furnished by the sta.e-its
profits, made by selling Irvine below the cost
of the raw material at the time of selling
| large part OF its output, and probably a good
round sum In addition from the state treas
| ury. This will be the result of one years
| Ia nac opdu
| there are farmers who complain. The farmer
| had the same chance to purchase as the
tage OF being able to purchase long after the
| merchants orders were being turned down
Does the writer Of the "hay field letter.
| wish to advocate establishment Of bureau
to hold merchants off and round up the farm
| er to compel him to purchase? The farmer
should be aware that he will probably need
| investigate matters at the prison, as the
| storekeeper. II all farmers used ordinary
business 6n less sagacity as Mr. ;. Rahil,y evidently
cept in regard to the capacity Of the Irvine
Plant, for if its entire output were sold to in
diyidual farmers. only small proportion Of
wrote to the warden for prices on car of
| twine but too late to purchase. l suf-
| still enabled to buy outside Of the state at
the same price, and for that matter so could
any farmer. at that time.
| There seems to be a theory on the part
of many farmers that the nearer they wait
to harvest time the cheaper Irvine will be,
and they act on It, Nc assurance from the
the case this year. will induce them to pur-
chase. Tell one of these doubters that Irvine
is going up. and he will tell you flat-footed
| that you don't know what you are talking
about. There hundreds of farmers at this
late day who are calmly waiting for the de-
cline that they so surely expect, before they
purchase There seems to be no difference
| between farmers and any other class of men.
| The broad-guage, liberal. sagacious farmer
has bought his Irvine long ago; if by some
| chance he has overlooked its purchase 4e
blames himself only. One, factory in state
as large as Minnesota cannot overcome the
! law of supply and demand, although at times
| it may interfere with it's full effect. All the
malignant <criticsm that can be brought to
| bear on the subject can't make it do SO,
| either.
| Mr.. RahilIy also speaks in rather strong
terms of the merchants who have bought
| in saltwater. Now these men could have
bought elsewhere at the same prices at that
time. Si:al Irvine they could have bought
| even cheaper. Many of them thought they
were quite patriotic in so buying, because
tire product of the Irvine plant would be
quite problematical were it not for the as
sistance of these same merchants. In re-
gard to the statement that the prison broke
! the Irvine trust and the exorbitant prices that
ruled at that time, there seems to be little
to say. except that it did nothing Of the sort.
ness-like ambition, and dumped enough Irvine
| on the market to ruin many individual manu-
| facturerS outside OF the trust. IL TOOK SIX
years to finally dispose of all that twine
which became known to the trade as bankers
| twine The last Of it went last season, and
| the menace of a twine sold at SO per cent
of it's cost thus finally removed from the
| market.
When the prison Irvine factory was started
| 1t was the intent Of Its promoters and of the
people in sympathy. to manufacture as cheap.
| iy as possible and to sell at very small
margin. No one intended that 1t should sell
it's product for less than the iber was worth.
and because a part of 1t was SO sold this
| year. there is big holler on the part Of
many who think that. because the farmers
use this product, the law of supply and de-
mand and all business axioms must be
thrown to the winds. while any merchant
| who takes advantage Of such condluon. and
! who bases his price on the market may be
called all kinds of names.
! When these same storekeepers, through
competition or a falling market. are obliged
| to sell at loss, these fau.t-hnders are SUI
premely Indifferent. When there is a boom
| in wheat from 60 cents to 81. % one doesn't
see very many farmers hunting around to
get so cents, either.
The only fault that business man can
find with the prison board is that conditions
vary; while their price remains nxec. fhis
operated all right for the lucky purchaser