The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1902-02-13
STARCH FACTORIES.

made by those who ought to be able to
|''speak by the CARD that there was
little or no profit in#the manufacture
of potato starch in Minnesota. Alb.
Kerlin Of Park Rapids, Mimi, who re-
Gently made a tour Of inspection
through the potato belt securing data
on starch factories has come to the
conclusion that there is very little, if
any, profit in starch made from the po-
tato belt spud. The. Park Rapids En-
terprise of last week prints Mr.. Ker-
Inns report ON his Investigations and
also some letters from parties inter-
ested in starch factories. Hon. H. F.
Barker, president of the Cambridge
Starch Co., and also r. L. Hall & Co.,
'of:Anoka, do not give very rosy pros
poets for starch factories. Mr.. Barker
says that during the first few years of
the Cambridge Starch Co. that the
share holders had to assess themselves
to carry on the business. Since that
time the plant, however has paid good
dividends up to last year. Mr.. Barker
says:
''During the past years, large quanti-
ties OF starch have been shipped in
from foreign countries, Holland, Ger
many, etc., and the amount shipped
has been increasing. That has hurt
the starch business. To-day foreign
starch is laid down at New York and
Boston ports at about 81 per hundred.
l do not believe any factory that made
starch last fall, can sell it to-day
against the foreign trade and make
any money. The starch market is very
uncertain. The tendency is for few
large concerns to get control of the
bulk of the starch and establish the
price,"
The Cambridge Starch Co., is CO.
operative company in which many
farmers hold considerable stock and
are interested in the success of the en-
terprise so that the company under
ordinary circumstances seldom fails to
pay good dividends.
r. L. Hall & Co., of Anoka, in their
letter to Mr.. Kerlin say: 1.-THE potato
starch industry is overdone in the
number of starch factories now in oper-
alton in the western states and Maine
and so much so that there is an &C.
emulation of starch in the warehouses
that cannot be disposed of at first cost
and some OF it has been held for two
years. Next, the consumption of po-
tato starch is gradually growing less,
for the reason that they are substitute
ing sage -four, corn starch, rice starch
and other kinds of starch that are
much cheaper than potato starch and
yet fill it's place. AS far as I am con-
cerned I would not put dollar into a
starch factory unless I could get con-
tract from farmers to raise potatoes for
term of years not to cost over 10 cents
a bushel."
Here in Princeton Mr.. Galley says
that last year he put in lot of new
machinery into the starch factory. He
ran four weeks and only made forty
five tons of starch which he still holds.
He was offered $50 per ton for the pro-
duct in Boston, but holds it for that
price f. o. b. in Princeton. He claims
that Aroostook county, Maine, can
make enough starch for the whole of
the United States and thinks the east
ern factories are greatly helped by
their nearness to eastern markets
where the starch is consumed.
It would seem from the foregoing
that potato starch factories were not a
paying proposition, much as they have
aided in the development of the potato
raising industry. There is no question
but what the profit making capacity
of starch factories is very uncertain
from year to year but this fact does
not seem to have deferred many from
establishing new factories. It was not
long since that two prominent indi-
viduals interested in the potato trade
and starch factories tried to effect
combine among several of the factories
in the potato belt but failed to make
the proposition work. .
Potato starch like various other
kinds of starch is used in the process
of sizeing and calendaring in the man
ufacture of cotton fabrics, and the COT
ton manufacturing industry is increas-
ing rather than diminishing in this