The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1910-04-06
COMBINE
AMONG FARMERS
PRESENT Low PRICE or Tu5ERs
AND LOSS TO FARMERS CAUSES
CREATION or UNIQUE ORGAN
IzATIoN--FARMERs WILL BAND
TOGETHER.

with potatoes selling from is to 25
cents a bushel and the demand light
at that. farmers of Minnesota have
probably lost thousands of dollars this
year. says the st. Paul Pioneer Press.
Many withheld their product from the
market last fall and now find the
spring market glutted. Reports from
various potato centers received today
indicate that thousands of bushels are
in storage and in some cases, 1t is
said, farmers are feeding them instead
of taking them to low market.
AS the first step in securing fair
price for their potato crops, and mar
keting the same through twin city
office direct to the consumer, about
twenty members of the State Society
of Equity held a produce meeting In
the old capitol yesterday. a. committee
of six farmers was appointed by Presi-
dent John Dawson of the state organi~
zation, who will have charge of an
elaborate system Of estimating the am
nual crop similar to that used by the
grain growers association.
The six men will meet May is in
Minneapolis and establish q branch
Office there. Through the agency of the
local unions, which will receive blanks
for the purpose, a preliminary census"
of the acreage will be compiled during
the summer months, and before Sept.
/ the actual yields in bushels will
be tabulated and totaled by the Min
neapolis Office by means of similar
A. oV,S0
tions.
The cost of production has been fig
ured pretty closely at $50 per acre.
From this cost, together with that of
handling, shipping, ETC., 1T will be pos
sible to estimate a fair price for the
product Through it's branch unions
the society will then hold for the price
fixed.
1.-THE reporting of the potato crop is
the beginning of similar system for
other crops" said Secretary c. r.
Whitaker of Hastings yesterday.
Some effort will probably be made
this year to estimate crops other than
potatoes, the 3ystem being the same as
that used by the grain growers asso-
citation in the Red River valley, also a
branch of the State Society of Equity
The elimination of the middleman
was one of the topics which received
good deal of attention yesterday.
The sentiment expressed was to make
the additional profit through the di-
rect selling rather than by squeezing
the consumer. President Dawson said
in this connection:
''What we want to do is to have our
own union agents take orders in every
large city in the country. The Mime
sofa union now has agents at Chicago,
Indianapolis and st. Louis. The agen-
cies dispose of large quantities of po-
tatoes. but they cannot handle the en-
tire crop.
Most farmers get is cents per 100
pounds for potatoes, which cost them
over 40 cents bushel to raise. We are
friends of the consumer. but we want
to cut the middleman's profit
Anoka, Mimi, April 6.-Buyers have
estimated that farmers have about
100000 bushels of potatoes on hand.
with few thousand bushels in ware
houses. The market price now is Is
| cents bushel,. but the farmers are not
hauling in any, as they are busy in
the fields. The starch factory will
start grinding April Is, paying 12 cents
bushel for inferior stock. This report
applies to Anoka and northern Henne-
pin counties. Marketing of potatoes
except seed stock, has been very slow
for the past month.
GAINESVILLE, Mimi, April 6.-Barnes-
vile has come to the front this year
as a potato center. The growers, as
we'll as the buyers, have cleared UP
their stock at fairly good price. -Four
or Ave cars might be marketed here
besides what the farmers are retaining
for seed, which is of the best quality.
Any one holding seed potatoes will de-
mand Is cents and upward per bushel
Prospects point toward big acreage
this year, owing to the early spring