The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1907-03-15
Farmers Exchange Seeks
Proper Legislation.
SOCIETY CALLS FOR A C. OF C..
Wants the Commonwealth to Put the
Wheat Raisers in Position to Do
Business.

| ST. Paul, March 9.-The Minnesota
Farmers exchange will ask the Mime
sofa legislature to establish grain and
produce markets at the two chief term
inal points, Minneapolis and Duluth, to
be open and at the disposal of any
person who may have grain or produce
of any kind. These markets, the eX.
change would place under the control of
a commission to be named by the leg.
| islature, and payment of small fee
by the seller would be charged, max
ing the markets self-sustaining.
This request is embodied in resolu-
ton introduced at todays session of
the Farmers exchange in the assem-
bly, room of the courthouse, and was
hailed by the $50 stockholders of the
association present as a means toward
overcoming the necessity of having to
allow the Chamber of Commerce at
Minneapolis and Duluth Board of
Trade handle the grain of the exchange
and its patrons.
j. H. Schneider of White Bear,
Mimi, introduced the resolution. He
declared the Minneapolis and, Duluth
grain markets are closed to all compe-
tition and asserted that the farmer
who has carload of grain to sell must
first employ commission merchant,
before he can sell his grain. He crit
icized such a system and dint see the
necessity of the farmers of the north
west submitting to the payment of !
cent bushel commission for the priv
ilege of selling their grain.
Resolutions were also passed favoring
the interchange of cars as against the
reciprocal demurrage bill; the reduction
of freight rates; and the buying and
selling of grain by weight as against
the measure system.
The vexing question of allowing
vote for each share of stock, instead
of vote to each stakeholder, irrespec-
tive of the amount of stock held by
him, having been decided in favor of
one vote per person, the closing session
was devoted to resolutions and the cleo
tion of board of directors. The elec-
ton of directors for the coming year
was held late this afternoon.
The proposition of the Farmers" ex-
change for markets under state super.
vision is not taken very seriously at the
Chamber of Commerce.
"The whole trouble" said prominent
member of the Chamber today, lis that
some of the radical members of the
Farmers exchange do not understand
that boards such as ours exist as much
| for their benefit as for the benefit of
the buyer of grain. With the sort of an
| open market that the exchange is NOV
| ing fo" | believe the losses to the grain
producers as class would be many
| times what they now pay in commits
siOns for having their grain handled
promptly and under what might be call
ed guaranteed supervision.
Our marketing organization here is
not fifth wheel in the machine which
| handles grain from the time it is
threshed till it is ground. 1t is for the
convenience and protection of the pro-
ducer just as much as for the buyer of
grain. The financial standing of the
men who are permitted to do business
| on the floor in Minneapolis is carefully
| scrutinized before they are admitted,
and any digressions from the strict
laws of the state governing commission
| deals or from the rules of the chamber
| which are even more strict, puts the Of
fender into hot water at once. We
have tried to keep the trade clean and
to make the handling of grain a good
faith proposition from start to finish.
ut costs money to maintain all the
conveniences for the quick handling of
grain and for this reason we feel that
the small commission charged is rdic-
| ulously low price for the facilities and
protection which it represents. Some
such exchange is a necessity; that is
shown by the fact that practically all
the grain of the country is handled
through boards of trade. But there is
nothing in the world to prevent a grain
grower from selling his product at pri-
vate sale direct to the miller if he so de-
-sires. There is as much of an open mar
ket' now as there ever can be, for the
history of commerce shows that the
middleman is one of the strongest fac
tors in trade. Until the middleman, or
the broker as we. call him, is entirely
eliminated we shall continue to have pc
riodical agitations for the kind of an
open market which the Farmers ex-
change is now calling for. However, l
don't believe that the day will ever