Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-10-05
IOWA WHOLESALERS
AGAINST LARGER
CARLOADS
&C ,c.as OF STATE PETITION
RAiLRoADs-NEW JOINT RATE
SCHEDULES ARE sEME-
FiclAL.

Des Moines, Oct. IA meeting of
the Iowa Wholesale Grocers' 'associa
ton was held at the Chamberlain this
eek to protest against the change In
carload tonnage recently made by
western railways.
1t was decided to cooperate with the
National Wholesale Grocers associa-
ton in pettioning the Railway General
Managers association to alter or abo]-
ish some of the changes already made.
1t is pointed out that the increase in
the size of cars or rather weight of
carload lots will work a hardship on
the majority of wholesalers and prac :.
tically put the small jobbers out of
business.
The increases in many instances will
be as high as rs per cent For in
stance, In goods Of which 24,00 pounds
now constitute carload, the new reg
ulations will require 10000 pounds In
woodenware, upon which the jobbers
make the greatest protest, the carload
900 pounds AS woodenware is very
bulky, $4,000 will fiji good sized ware
house alone and the small jobbbers'
trade in it does not warrant carrying
such q stock. The medium sized job
bers say that they can arrange to han
die the increased amounts of goods to
get advantage Of carload rates in
TlSl6UL dIlQ Uut luey tdpoo-
lutely draw the line on woodenware.
The Iowa Wholesale Grocers' asso-
citation Is really a branch Of the Iowa
Nebraska Wholesale Grocers assoeia-
ton.
Among those in attendance at yes
terday's meeting were H. M. Reed, G.
F. Fowler and George E. Lichty OF
Waterloo, Mr.. Rice Of Fort Dodge. Ed
Howell of Cedar Rapids Mr. Proctor
the line Of houses Of the Western Gro
Of Dubuque, G. e. ESllis. representing
Gerry company Of Marshalltown; Harry
Hewitt of Des Moines, Charles Hewitt
| OF Des Moines, Captain Howell of Des
Moines, Mr.. Sheperd Of Des Moines
| and Harry Runyan Of Des Moines.
| The officers of the association are:
| President, G. F. Fowler of Waterloo;
vice president, J. w. Howell of Water
loo; secretary, H. M. Reed Of Waterloo.
Early in It's history the association
paid some attention to price schedules,
| in fact fixed the prices on two or three
products which had to be handled on o
very close margin. However, recent
anti compact legislation has compelled
| them to eliminate this feature. Prac-
tically all Of yesterdays session was
devoted to the railroad problem and
mostly the new maximum carload
| weight in this respect.
Advanced Prices Justifiabie.
The recent advance In the prices OF
practically all commodities has caused
some trouble for the jobbers, but they
have Jared pretty we'll, much better
than If there had been a decline. They
claim that the advance in prices is
perfectly justiflable as crops In many
lines have been short this year. Also
that the price Of labor has advanced
materially, leaving the manufactures
or producer no alternative save to adj
vance the prices of his wares.
| The Joint freight tariff In Iowa is
working out satisfactory to the job.
bers. They claim that the so per cent
basis is very satisfactory. but If the
Joint rate had been made up on lower
basis, say 80 per cent OF the two locals,
they would have been seriously incon-
venienced 1t would have practically
revolutionized the territories Of the
various jobbing centers in Iowa.
At present Des Moines is supposed
to have territory, Waterloo a terri.
tory, Sioux City territory, etc. This
territory is fixed largely by freigh
rates and consequently any radica
change in rates would have changed
the territory Of the jobbers.