The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1911-12-27
BINDER
TW|NE
WORRIES
TIMES BUREAU,
At STATE CAPITAL.

At STATE CAPITAL.
Indianapolis. Ind. Dec 27.-Unless
the farmers of Indiana come to the
rescue of the binder Irvine Industry al
the Indiana state prison at Michigan
CITY there is great danger that the in
dustry may be abandoned by the state
authorities. 1t is being operated at
loss and the authorities say this Is due
to the fact that the farmers do not buy
prison made Irvine in sufficient quanti-
ty to make It paving investment
Governor Marshall and Warden Fogar-
tv. of the state prison. held a confer
ence at the office of the governor yes
terday. at which the matter was dis
. cussed, and this was the conclusion
Preached BY them
The binder Irvine industry at the
| prison was started by the state in 1905.
| The sum of sf25, 900 was spent by the
state in putting in the plant for the
manufacture of Irvine. and the institu-
ton was supplied with 100000 work
| ing capital. The thresher trust. which
controlled the binder twine industry
throughout the country. had been
charging 12h cents 8 pound for the
Irvine. and the farmers were complains
| ing about the exorbitant price. Loud
| complaints came from the farmers Of
1 Indiana. They felt that they were be-
/ Ing held up by the trust. 1t was this
| agitation on the part of the Indiana
/ farmers that led to the establishment
of the binder Irvine factory at the
prison. The state sought to relieve the
farmers of the burden of the high price
As a result of the establishment of
the binder Irvine plant the price of
| Irvine has gone down in Indiana until
last year the state sold Its product at
~ lot
pounds or more, and at 6A cents a
pound in lots. The price for 1912
| will be the same This of course.
| forced the trust 30 reduce its price to
| compete with the prison made Irvine,
| and the farmer has been benefited
through reduction of fifty per cent
in the cost. But there is where the
trouble comes in. Farmers have been
| buying trust made goods instead of
patronizing the prison factory. The
governor and the warden take the po-
sition that since the binder twine plant
] was established for the benefit of the
farmers they ought to support IT,
Figures compiled for the time since
the establishment of the plant. show
that. computing the cost of labor en-
ployed in 1t and interest on the invest
ment at the rate of per cent the
binder Irvine industry has lost the
state ss9.607.14. This Is placing the
price of labor at The PRICE at which II
could have been contracted for to pris-
on labor contractors. Without count
ing the value OF the labor the loss has
been $37,903.s5. and without counting
the cost of labor or interest on the in
vestment thes-fgures show profit te
the state of only s2,756.75 for the five
years
lts that sixty five men are employed In
the binder Irvine factory and tha
these men could be let out to con
tractors a e5 cents day each. If the,
were not employed in the Irvine fac
tory
1t has been given out by the gov
ernor that the state does not nropos,
to stand this loss much longer 1t hal
been agreed by the governor and tn
warden that the state will try it ons
more year, and that if the farmers d.
not buy more Irvine of the prison I
will be abandoned and the farmers vii
again be at the mercy of the thresh e
trust far as binder Irvine prices ar
concerned
This last season the Irvine factor,
made only one million pounds OF bind
er Irvine, while the capacity of tn
plant is three million pounds Il year
It will be up to the farmers to bu,
their Irvine of the state prison if the.
| want the competition TO continue. TIL
coming year the state will sell TIL
twine directly to the farmers.
Warden Fogarty says the trust di
many things to diseredit the priso
made Irvine. 1t even sent men out t
harvest fields where its harvesting ma
chinery was in use. under the pretex
of seeing how the machines wer
working If the machine was usin
prison made Irvine the trust man, whe
no one was looking frightened up tn
tension of the machinery as t
break the Irvine The farmer would nc
know what was the matter and TIL