The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-11-28
THEY MAkEIT PAY
One Institution Which Defies
The Grain Trust.
Dickinson County Farmers Sell
Direct to German Buyers.

If the movement recently inaugurated
by the Farmers Cooperative associa-
ton of Solomon, up in Dickinson coun-
ty, becomes general among the farm
ers of the west, it will revolutionize the
bushes of handling grain by driving
commission men out of the business and
removing the market entirely from the
influence of board of trade speculation.
The Solomon farmers have recently
made arrangements to ship all the
wheat which they do not sell direct to
American mills to cooperative associa-
tions in Germany. The wheat is billed
direct from Solomon to Berlin, and it is
therefore sold direct from the producer
to the consumer without passing
through the hands of a single middle
man. 1t goes by rail from Solomon to
New York, where it goes, through an
elevator which has been leased by the
German associations, and is then
shipped by steamer to Berlin
The farmers association at Solomon,
which was organized only last spring
and began business in June, has been
making a marked success in it's fight
against the grain dealers trust for
which it was originally formed, and has
been attracting the attention of the en-
tire wheat producing region of the
country. But the exporting idea is an
innovation that was scarcely contem-
plated a f6W months ago. ears ago
farmers alliance agitators talked about
the farmer selling direct to the con-
sumner, but only the most visionary
thought such condition would ever be
brought about.
There are in operation in Germany
number of large cooperative societies
These associations cooperate in all
kinds of work. Among other things
they own their own mills, but they are
compelled to purchase imported wheat
J. H Johns. the manager of the farm
erS' elevator association at Solomon
formerly worked in the mills of the
German societies, and consequently un-
derstood their entire business, and it
was through his efforts that the ex-
porting scheme was brought about. The
Solomon farmers have to pay local
freight rates on their wheat from Solo
mon to Missouri river points, but from
there they get a through rate of Il cents
a hundred pounds to Berlin. This rate
makes it possible for the association to
pay it's members a price for wheat con-
siderably in excess of what it has been
paying, for it does away with all COM
mission charges, both locally and for
exporters, and also with elevator
charges and insurance, as we'll as all
the profits of the middlemen
During the entire summer the associ-
alton has paid it's members an average
of three cents per bushel more for
wheat than the regular" or trust deal
ers have been offering in Solomon, but
this exporting arrangement enables
them TO pay SI1il more Tor all LndL tQey
can export.
Heretofore the association has dealt
only with mills. 1t has found a ready
market for all the wheat it has hand
led without selling it through commits
sion men, and for a greater part of it
the mills have paid premium because
of it's superior quality and because it
was unmixed in the elevators with in
ferior wheat or rye.
There have been about fifty cooper
ative elevator. associa tons organized
among the farmers of Kansas since the
Solomon associa ton organized last
spring. A number of them have been
selling all their grain through the Solo
mon association, and others will do SO
now that it can dispose of a greater
amount of grain to advantage.
If the exporting idea spreads. as it
seems probable that it will it means the
elimination to a great degree of specu-
1ators, commission men and exporters
from the grain market. Tt will make
the price depend entirely upon the sup
ply and demand, and remove the possi-
bility of market manipulation.