East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1905-10-04
EXPORTERS COMBINE AGAINST FARMERS
PAGL SIX.

w. H. Reed, member of the Wash
ington state grain commission, be-
ieves the Washington Millers' associa-
ton and the exporters of the north
west have combined against the wheat
growers. Mr.. Reed is the man who
introduced bluestem wheat into the
northwest and has. for years, taken a
lively interest in the development of
the cereal industry. In an interview
with the Post-Intelligencer of Seattle,
upon the mill-eXporters' combine, and
also upon the probability of the farm
ers combining for protection, he said:
When the commission gave out to
the public that agreement of the mill
ers-exporters' combine, which bound
each member not to compete in buy
ing grain, to keep the buying price
down, they practically told the farm
ers that there was a conspiracy on
hand which the farmers had to fight
"a conspiracy 10 pay them less than
their grain was worth, and to charge
them more for shutting than they
were fairly entitled to receive.
Farmers Must Fight.
''The farmers can and will fight
that conspiracy, and they are going to
defeat it. How? Meet the buyers
combine with a sellers combine. The
farmers will make numerous COM
bines; bunch up all over eastern
Washington, Oregon and northern
Idaho, and make their offers in cargo
lots. They will offer these cargo lots
TO the combine and TO buyers not in
the combine, and while they are out
cunning they should kill two birds
each shot by saying when offering
their cargo lots: The smutty part not
to be discounted over cents a bushel;
no part to be sold unless the smutty
grain goes at that discount Thatll
do the job.
THE commission proved the injus-
tice of the combines % to 20-cent' dis
count on smutty wheat by citing the
discount prevailing in Minneapolis of
but cents a bushel. Let me read
you a letter giving smutty wheat dis
count from the Northwestern Consol-
idated Milling company of Minneapo-
lis. 1t says: 1t would require dock
age from two to three pounds for
washing badly smutted wheat, and
wheat not very bad would require
about one pound for securing
with such proof of the right of the
farmers attitude in refusing to allow
the combine more than cents dis
count-twice what Minneapolis would
make-they can push their cargo
combines to a winning, sure. Do you
know what that would mean to the
farmers in dollars and cents?
Save Growers s192, 900 Tbs Year.
THE crop this year in eastern
Washington alone is estimated at 32,-
100000 bushels. The state inspection
department figures that 20 per cent
Of that crop is smutty-that would
give 100000 bushels of smutty
wheat. The combines discount is, a:
said, to 20 cents. Call it an average
Of cents At cents there would bt
a saving of 3 cents a bushel, and Of
$4,000 on this one crop.
"The saving these decisions maxi
directly for the farmer, without neces
stating any subsequent effort by him
when it refused to classify 5S, 5S l.
and So ga test wheat as No. 2,
figure at 100000 for this year alone
Figuring that one-quarter of the who'll
crop would test on an average. from
5s to So 3-4, and the price differenc
is cents a bushel between No. an
No. 2 grades.
"Then there is a profit possible