Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1906-02-01
OMAHA GRAIN EXCHANGE
WHAT IT HAS DONE TOWARD
MAKING a MARKET.
Address Delivered by Gurdon w. Wat
ties, President Of the Exchange, at
the Third Annual Meeting OF the
Farmers Cooperative Grain
and Live Stock Assocla-
toin at Lincoln, Jan. II

In Lincoln, Jan. 18th, there were $50
present. President ]. s. Cassidy OF
Minden presided
G.. w. Wattles, president of the
Omaha Grain Exchange, at the even
Ing meeting addressed the co-opera-
tive men on the subject of the Omaha
grain market He said:
1t is indeed pleasure for me to at
tend this meeting of the producers of
the state and address you on a subject
of much interest to myself. and ] am
sure, of great Importance to you-The
Omaha Grain Market. Fortunately for
me my early life was spent on a farm
IN the new and growing west. l was
there taught by experience those les
sons of frugality and economy which
must be practiced by farmers and their
have never since forgotten, that the
farms are the source of all the wealth
In the nation. and that those policies
of government or customs of commerce
which affect the producing classes are
of the most vital Importance to the
general business interests of the coun-
try. SO that when the proposition was
made to establish a home market for
the grain of Nebraska II met with my
most earnest support In It's establish
ment l saw the opportunity to increase
the value of the grain produced In Me-
braska, and incidentally to increase the
commerce. of the c-.y in which / live.
Inc ADVENT OF an independent line OF
railroad to Omaha from the markets OF
the north and east and the encouraging
words of its president inspired the
grain merchants and business men Of
Omaha to organize the Omaha Grain
Exchange and 1t was opened for busi-
ness on February LIST, 1904.
1t was the firm purpose OF the pro-
motors of this exchange to compel the
recognition of this market by the
transportation companies and to get
readjustment of railroad rates on grain
oh m hA IN hnt Ia VNVf mi to
to Omaha and from Omaha on to other
markets could be made for the same
tariff as the through rate from place
of origin to those markets. In other
words, we demanded that the sum of
the two locals should not exceed the
through rate. This demand was re-
fused by those roads which had lines
running to the east and west of Omaha.
and the war was begun by one of these
roads cutting their through rates to
This cut was met by the Great Western
Railway and all succeeding cuts, until
the rates from Omaha to Chicago were
and ~ cents per cwt, for wheat, At
the same time a suit was commenced
by the officers of the Exchange in the
| Federal Court to enjoin this road from
| further discrimination against the
Omaha market. The jobbers and large
shippers of merchandise In Omaha
S roSe and tfr Tsg6t saG nS
Omaha over those roads that were
friendly to our market. BY such de-
termined efforts an, and o0 With tightinag
battle was soon won. and on May 10,
1904, rates were adjusted by all roads
entering Omaha in accordance with
our demands. Briefly stated, local
rates on wheat from Omaha to Chicago
We're reduced from 81 cents per cwt.
to II cents per ewt, ana the propoTrcs
cents per cwt. The local rates on corn
We're reduced from Is cents per cwt.
to 10 cents per cwt., and the proper,
cents per cwt. A similar reduction
was made on other grains to Chicago
and on all grains to other markets. At
tributary to Omaha were reduced from
29S stations and through rates from
1875 stations. While this general reduce
ton of rates has been very beneficial
to the producers of Nebraska there
have been frequent special rates to
gulf ports and to eastern markets
lishment OF the Omaha Exchange. Dur
ing nearly all of last winter a cut rate
from Omaha to the gulf of IL cents per
cwt. on corn was in force, while for
rate from Omaha to Baltimore OF IS
cents per cwt. on corn This Is the
Omaha to Chicago before our Exchange
saying that the advantages in railroad
Grain SeS urnE the
| two years been equal to 2 cents per
bushel on all the grain shipped from
only advantage Of this Exchange to the
state. No less than ten terminal ele-
vators have been built or are in course
Of construction: These elevators range
900 bushels capacity. The present
storage capacity of our terminal ele-
vators is about 100000 bushels, and
this will soon be increased by the Nye-
Schneider elevator with 100000 bush
els capacity. The storage of large
quantities of Nebraska grain near at
home makes IL possible to sell to ex-
| porters or large consumers to better
| advantage than before we had home
market. Until recently no such large
purchasers came west of Chicago for
| grain. Since the Omaha Grain Ex-
| change was started many such pur-
chases have been made from our grain
| merchants, and rates direct from
Omaha to Liverpool and other foreign
markets have been secured In some
cases these rates have been very ad-
vantageous to our market.
1t has been conceded by close OBJ
servers for many years that the soil
and climate of Nebraska are admir-
marketable corn. Our corn is always
well maturcd and generally grades
higher than the corn of other western
states. BY storing our high-grade
keeping II free from the lower grades
from other states. we will soon estab-
| llSn a BpeclHl lot NeDTdSRH
corn at an advanced price. The lee
turers, who have been sent out by our
State University for the past few years
to instruct our farmers In the import
ance OF careful and intelligent selec-
ton OF seed corn, have done an invalu-
able service to the state. In promoting
this worthy work the railroads of Me-
braska are entitled to credit and
| praise. believe that within "a few
years Nebraska corn will be sold at a
premium throughout the world
The Omaha Grain Exchange was or.
ganized to increase the value OF grains
produced in Nebraska and to increase
the commerce of Omaha. There car
be no question as to the benefit II has
brought to Omaha, the metropolis OF
our state, OF whose commerce, enter.
prise and greatness we are all so just
| ly proud. Every man, woman or chile
in that city who has seen the great
elevators spring up as by magic. oil
the busy scenes around the Exchange
building, crowded to overlooking witt
commission merchants and brokers
knows of It's benefits to our city. The
great banks there that hold the surp-
lus funds OF the smaller banks through
out the state have had the opportunity
unknown to them before, OF loanine