The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1913-04-28
CONTINUED on Page Two)
MORE FOR TWINE
Kansas Farmers Suffer From
Prison Fire.
Loss of TWine Plant Makes
Quite a Difference.

Kansas farmers will pay the penalty
for the destruction of the penitentiary
twine plant by fire, according to w.
L. (Ironjaw) Brown, who declared
that farmers in the wheat belt will be
forced to pay eXorbintant prices for
twine this summer. Already the price
Of twine to farmers in western kansas
has advanced cents a pound. says
the Kingman man.
Since Its esta blishment by legislative
enactment, the prison twine plant has
stood between the twine trust and the
farmer. Twine manufactured at the
Lansing prison has been sold by mer-
chants at a profit of 1 cent pound
and the wheat raisers have been able
to buy twine at a price far below that
demanded in other states. But just
as the prison officials were preparing
to load and ship the years output of
binder twine, a fire in the prison de-
stroyed the twine plant and equipment
and two million pounds of manufac-
tured twine was lost. The loss oH this
twine alone meant nearly S175,G to
the state. To the Kansas farmers it
meant thousands of dollars.
Farmers in western Kansas are
hopelessly at the mercy of the twine
trust for this year. said Speaker
Brown, who is in Topeka today.
''Twine which the prison plant was
selling at eight and a quarter and
eight and a half cents, is costing the
farmers eleven and a half cents a
pound because the twine trust has
control of the situation. Before the
season is over. / believe that the farm
ers will be paying from } to 1 3 cents
a pound for twine. That means thou
san Is of dollars to the Non in the
wheat belt. But the benefits of the
prison twine to the farmers of the
state will never be more clearly shown
than at this time"
State May Act.
In event prices for binding twine
are advanced beyond proportion to
cost of production, it is probable that
the state will take action. However,
the price to consumers, it is believed,
means only added profit to retailers,
as it fs-hard1y expected that the
manufacturers will try to advance
the price too far beyond figures quot
ed before the Lansing blaze.
Shortly after the prison fire, Attor-
ney General Dawson foresaw the pos
sibIe action of the twine trust in ad-
prices and declared at that
time that if the twine manufacturers
put prices beyond those of reason
able profit, that the state would take
steps to investigate the matter. Daw-
son is not in Topeka today, but it
question of advanced prices for twine |
will be called to his attention.
Small Supply Twine Left.
The state prison plant at this time |
has about a half million pounds of |
twine which was in a
building not destroyed by fire. Yet !
orders for twine are for five times !
the amount which can be supplied. /
One firm had placed an order for 1 5 1
cars of the prison output. That firm |
will get three cars of twine- None !
of the orders which had been received (
before the fire will be filled in full.
Work of rebuilding the twine plant /
is progressing rapidly. Independent I
store houses for sisal and manufac- /
tured twine will be provided and /
every precaution taken against a pos
5ible repetition of the trouble of two !
weeks ago. The capacity of the twine /
plant will be practically doubled, ac- |
cording to members of the prison !
board. In the old plant, about sixty !
spindIes were used. The board will /
install 100 spindles in the new build |
ings. All of the new equipment will |
be more modern than the machinery |
lost in the recent fire and it is be- |
lieved that when the plant is re- |
stored it will have a capacity prac- |
tically double that of the old institu-. |
ton.