Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1905-12-02
Must Change Marketing Conditions.

| Must Change Marketing Conditions.
The delays in getting grain to mar
ket his fall have been the greatest in
4 the history Of the state and the de-
mands on the railroads for cars have
exceeded anything ever known. The
result is that with the present gener-
al snow storm ending the fine open
weather the marketing Of grain will
be still slower process in many parts
of the. state, says the Jamestown
Alert. r. -.
The railroads have handled more
freight in a given time this year than
| they did last, and yet are unable to
handle the traffic. The result has
been that in North Dakota where this
condition generally prevails, some
change in the marketing of crops by
the farmers must be made in the near
future. More granary room will have
to be provided. It is unreasonable to
ask or expect our railroad companies
to haul to market what is practically
the entire grain products of the state
in three months, and have lot Of
idle cars the remainder of the year.
The reason why most farmers are in
rush to surrender all their grain at
one time to elevators and expect the
roads to get it out of the state is that
notes and obligations mostly come due
in the fall. Machinery collectors have
forced the selling of grain in many
cases to pay bills in" the fall. Some
different arrangement, such as max.
ing part of the obligation come cue in
the fall and part in the spring might
relieve the necessity of selling all the
wheat at once, and give the farmers a
chance to market it more slowly dur
ing the winter, and to get more fall
work DONE. ....-s@. ~
President Hill of the Great North
ern road is known to be an advocate
of marketing grain slowly, and has
frequently advised the farmers to do
so as great advantage to them
selves and to the railroad companies.
The scarcity of cars this year has
not only made the marketing of grain
a slow process and caused many store
bills to be unpaid that otherwise
would have been paid, but has caused
| delays and unexpected costs in almost
all other kinds of business. The en-
tire business interests of the state
suffer and there seems to be no help
for it. The same condition is likely
to be repeated next year as the great
increase in acreage and rapid growth
of the state will tax the roads to the
utmost to handle the traffic.
1t looks as if the railroad companies
will not attempt to do the impossible
and that the only thing for a farmer
to do next year is to provide sufficient
granary room to hold the most, if not
all of his surplus grain crops. Unless
he does and makes some arrangement
with those he is Indebted to about the
time of obligations coming due, the
same state of affairs that has pre-
vailed this fall and will prevail all
winter will likely be repeated in 1906.
1t is said that in the future all the
elevators to be built on the Northern
Pacific right of way will have to be Of
large size to provide for more storage.
The small elevator is not wanted as a
storage house where a large one. can
be built on the same site.
There is also no doubt but what a
change in the marketing conditions
OF the entire state as outlined above
will have to be made and the sooner
farmers realize it and go about pro
Viding for it the better. r
| The railroads will do all they can
but can not do the impossible. The
prospect now is that they will be haul
ing grain out of the state until next
July and will no more have cleaned IN
the surplus than another crop will be
at hand.