Willmar tribune., 1900-10-31
If They Want Honest Taxation and Other Re
forms They Must REFLECT Lind and
Officers to Sustain Him.
To Fail to Do So Would Setback State Reforms
for Many Years---Let the People
Answer Weli---It Is Now
Up to Them.
"In connection with the inventory fo1

aug. l, l9OO. IL is explained THAT Iuc
valuation of the twine raw material on
hand at that date is lower than the cur-
rent market value at that time, but it
was taken as basis of estimating the
profits of the institution, as it was
what in the best Judgment of the board
was fair price, fibre prices for some
time having been raised by temporary
causes, chiefly the war in the Philip
pines"
The inventory on hand Aug I, 1899,
plus the expenses OF the entire year up
to Aug. I, 1900, amounted to $685.
o3oo7. The inventory of stock on hand
Aug. I, 1000, plus the amount of sales
made during the year equals $685.
o5o.58, leaving net profit of $16.-
o1I.5I for the year.
THE TWINE TRUST AND THE
COST OF FIBER.
Last spring the Fibre Trust and the
Twine Trust between them had corner
ed the market of fibre and raised the
price several cents per pound. In this
connection the report says: ''The raw
material for the year 1900 cost $559,ooo,
as against $314,ooo for the year 1890,
an excess of $245,ooo." And now the
opposition would blame the admins
tration for being obliged to pay $245,-
600 more for the raw material this year
than last and the previous, when the
notorious fact of it is that -Repnbli-
can trust had cornered the market of
fibre and had raised the price to suit
itself, and in this way robbed the farm
ers of the state of several hundred thou-
sand dollars, and now the trusts have
sent their Republican lackies abroad in
to the land to tell the people that thery
are no trusts, and that they should he
given a chance to run the country so
as not to interfere with the interests of
the trusts.
THE PRICE OF TWENE.
The law requires that the price of
twine for the entire season shall be
fixed by the 1st of March and shall not
be changed at any time during the sea-
son. In this connection the report
says: THE price of twine had been
fixed on Feb. 9th, 1900, at 10 cents per
pound for sisal, at which time the price
of raw material in New York was 9
cents pound, to which was to be add
ed freight, cost of twine, oil Increased
| in price 200 per cent from the previous
year), the allowance of 50 cents day
for convict labor, and all expenses of
the manufacturer" Almost the entire
output of the plant for the season was
sold to farmers during March on or
ders for future delivery at 10 cents per
pound, while at the same time the
price of the twine made by the trust
was from ~ to 2H cents per pound
higher. During harvest time the
trust did indeed cut prices and throw
some inferior grades on the market at
great reduction, yet no twine of the
same grade as that made by the prison
twine plant was sold at lower price
than that fixed by the Prison Board
THE ~.TWINE TRUST, ITS PUR-
POSE AND ITS HENCHMEN- :
The prison twine plant saves to the
farmers of Minnesota thousands of dol
lars every year. AS long as the prison
plant sells twine to farmers at rea-
sonable price the trust will have to sell
its product at the same price. If the
trust could sdiscredit the prison plant in
the eyes OF the people and get pre-
text for having it shut down, the farm
| ers would have to buy all their twine of
| the trust and pay whatever the trust
saw fit to ask. In pursuing this object
the trust can well afford to hire orators
and buy up newspapers. If the trust
could only get the prison twine plant
back again into the hands Of its Re-
publican friends, it would soon manage
to have it run in such a way as not to
interfere with the interests Of the trust
or even have it shut down, completely,
as the Republicans did with the prison
| irvine plant in Kansas. sa. 5s.1 r.. s.
The farmer will find that nearly every
Republican politician and dealer il,
twine, is hoWling about the way the
Irvine plant at the prison has been mis-
managed. BY selling directly to the
farmers the prison twine plant has in
Cured the i'll will Of the dealers, and it
is their object to destroy this competi-
ton SO that they can help the tWine
trust to rob the farmers as it was done
in former years. 4. 5Ii-5.s is
There is, however, one thing that the
farmers Of this state would like to know
they would be very much interested
to hear Tan1s Biixby tell how much
money the twine trust has contributed
to assist Republican orators and news
papers to destroy the prison twine
plant. 5;.=