The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-09-18
HERE'S The TW|NE'
Kansas Has 100000 Pounds to
Spare.
Demand for Prison Product
Was Curtailed.
TRUST WAS ACTIVE.
Made Low Prices and Very Easy
Terms.
Prison Directors Also Raised
the Price in Kansas.

At the Kansas penitentiary warehouse
there is on hand about 200. 600 pounds of
binding twine, manufactured for the re-
cent wheat harvest, and unsold because
no market could be found.
In order to find a market for the
twine, the probability is that the state
will reopen the doors and sell twine in
Oklahoma, Nebraska, and other neigh
boring states. Last year the supply of
state twine was insufficient for the
state of Kansas alone and the prison
board voted to allow no more twine 10
be sold outside the state.
Since then new conditions have arisen,
chief among which is the general use
of headers in the wheat harvest. Head
ers dispense entirely with the use of
binding twine.
Another condition which has cut down
the sale of state twine was the fact that
the penitentiary board raised the price
this year, while at the same time, the
binding twine trust made more liberal
terms than ever to merchants handling
the trust tWine. Those who sold trust
twine were allowed to order whatever
they pleased, and if they happened to
have any left over, they were allowed
to keep it until next season, without
pay lOl II u1l4l II SAlOulQ 4IlQ d llc1I
ket. The trust also made liberal terms
for payment, and the result has been
that many merchants have preferred to
handle trust twine instead of the state
twine, which had to be paid for in spot
| cash and which could not be returned
if unsold.
Last year the state sold it's twine at
812 cents a pound in carload lots, and
cents pound in small lots. This year
the price has raised to 8sz cents and 9A
fr7nr 80 & "a IN no
| to an increase in the price of siSal. Some
people claim that the real reason was
to make a better financial showing for
the twine plant, and turn bigger rev.
enue into the state treasury. If that
was the case, the plan has failed utter
| ly. The state is left with such big
| load of goods ION the shelves" that its
invoice and financial statement is likely
to be unsatisfactory. us
Up to this time the state binding
twine plant has been a conspicuous ex-
ample of successful state ownership.
The plant has not only sold it's entire
output at such prices that it has turned
back to the state a profit of from five
to twenty-five thousand year, but it
has forced the binding twine trust to
reduce it's prices in Kansas to a low
figure. Last year, Kansas sold lot of
it's tWine in Oklahoma, much to the dis
gust of the binding tWine people, but
there were so many demands for twine
in the state which could not be filed
that the board decided to limit the field
of its operations to Kansas markets.
The indications are that the binding
twine which the state has on hand this
year will represent about all the profits
of the years work. No report has yet
been made but if the reports as to the
quantity of twine on hand is correct,
the state has about $4,000 tied up in the
stock.
Warden e. B. Jewett, who was in
Topeka Saturday, was asked concerning
the conditions of things, and said:
THE state has good deal of twine
on hand; 1 don't know exactly how
much I should say more than hun
dred thousand pounds, a good deal
more. This is due partly to the In
creased use of headers in the harvest,
and partly to the higher price, which
gave the binding twine manufacturers
a chance to get in their work by offer
ing extremely liberal terms of dealers,
which the state could not meet. We
also refused to sell twine in Oklahoma
this year. which shut off quite a heavy
source of demand.
"I was opposed to increasing the price
of the twine this year. as was also one
other member of the board, but the
majority decided that a raise should
be made 1 want to be fair with every
body, and therefore 1 say that this raise
in price was not wholly the cause of the
large amount of twine which the state
had leStA on it's hands"
The twine plan has again been start
ed up and is manufac cturing more twine
which indicates that the penitentiary
board is confident that 1t can find
market next year for all the twine 1T
can manufacture. The chances are,
however. that the price of twine for the
next harvest will be put back to the old
figure. unless there should be a decided
change in the sisal market.