The Green Forest tribune., 1910-09-02
WHO SECURES RATE BENEFlT7
Does It Help Farmer When Freight on. Cotton to Galveston Is Re
 duced ?-Ouestio Discussed.

Every once in awhile there comes up a proposition to change the freight rates on various commodities, writes l A. w. Grant in Coopera.or When i the commodity involved IS somethih i that the farmers raise, the farmers l interest is invoked either to secure a reduction or a raise as the case may l be. Like the tariff freight rates are a species of auegei protection. For i instance, a higher freight rate on l farm products intended to be sold m | Texas is considered beneficial to | Texas farmers. If the rate on flour from Kansas were raised few cents ii would be considered to the adyan- taGa of Texas farmers who raise wheat because the higher freight rate will enable Texas millers to charge more for their flour, and it is | assumed. pay more for Texas wheat
 On the other hand. a reduced freight of any farm product from Texas to market is considered to the advantage of the farmer on the the ory that it will mean a higher price to him for the product.
 The purpose of this article is to inquire whether the farmer really is benefited by the protection of freight rates. Does it help the farmer when the cotton rate to Galveston is re- duced or when the rate on flour from northern mills is raised?
 The farmer should consider this question carefully because time and again he is called upon to exercise his right of petition to the railroad commission on one or more rates. The men who ask the farmers for their petitions have much at stake. Does the farmer get the benefit those who ask for his influence say he will?
 The truth of the matter is that if the farmer shipped direct to the spin ner and had to pay his own freight, a reduction in freight rates would help him. If the farmer milled his own wheat and sold flour a raise on the four rates from other states com ing in would also help him. But so far farmers neither mill their own wheat or ship their cotton direct to the spinner
 Yet everybody is in favor of lower freight rates. Where does the farm CT have a chance to get off?
 He has only one, and that is in the ownership and control of warehouses. Owning warehouse which can ship his products direct to the consumer without the chance of a middleman's handling the product, gives the warehouse the benefit of the reduced or increased freight rate as the case nay be. If the farmer is stock holder in the warehouse he gets the benefit. In a warehouse of which he is a stockholder the farmer can hold his cotton until the price suits him and the warehouse can then ship it and get lower rate. If the spinner bought direct from the farmer the farmer could ship it himself, but spinners don't buy that way. In an elevator of which he is stockhold- CT farmer can hold his wheat until 
 vator can sell to the miller and reap the benefit of the protective freight rate to come back later to the farmer in dividends. Better still it would be if the elevator also controlled a flour mill to manufacture the grain it con- trolled into four
 So long as middlemen get their hands on the farmers products freight rates can be juggled to reduce. but it is gambling against human na- ture and human selfishness to think they will ever be juggled to raise them The only remedy is ware houses and cooperative control of products until they are ready for ship menC