The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-12-02

| ttOl Ill the state, ana SO long as ne
has not the market machinery for
distribution, the price will remain the
same as the price in the Middle West
plus the cost of getting it to South
Carolina. At present corn is selling
ut 5S cents per bushel in the Middle
West, in central Illinois for instance.
The wholesale price in Columbia is
SO cents, or n difference of "a cents.
The difference is greater just now
than at other times during the year
because new corn contains a great deal
of moisture and shrinkage requires
moro margin. On an average, the diff
ference in price between the West and
South Carolina is 80 cents.
The expense Of getting the corn
from central Illinois to South Carolina
is estimated as follows The Illinois
farmer takes his grain to the local
elevator, which receives from to
4 cents for handling. At the local ele-
vatOr the corn is loaded in bulk, about
1000 bushels to the car, and then
Is shipped to transfer elevator at
Nashville or Cincinnati or Louisville,
where it is recleaned and sacked. The
cost of the sacks is cents per bushel.
There is a special arrangement
called a milling in transit rate by
which the grain may be stopped off
at these transfer elevators and thence
dispatched to the ports or the con-
sumers at the through rate from the
original point to the point Of Testi-
nation. In other words, instead of two
local rates, from central Illinois to
Nashville and thence to Columbia,
there is single low through rate, per-
mitting the grain to be milled in
transit without change of the through
rate. South Carolina is making an
effort to get this rate from the farms
to the transfer points in this State
and thence to Charleston. The mill
ing in transit rate from central Illi-
nOis to South Carolina is about 40
cents per 100 or % 4-10 cents per
bushcl as corn weighs Sc pounds to
the bushcl. With the cost of the
sacks and the handling at the cle-
vatOrs, the cost Of handling from CEN
tral Illinois to Columbia is about 80
cents per bushcl.
And all Of the corn that comes to
South Carolina is not from central Illi-
nOis and other grain growing sections
have the same milling in transit rates
to points where the corn is Sold
One trouble in the way of starting
a regular grain producing business in
this State, said Mr.. Smith, is that the
farmers have been purchasers here
tofore, and the only price they know
is the price they have paid. They
expect that same price for what they
sell. Some Of the farmers think they
are entitled to the wholesale price
proposition is this:
If the wholesale price per bushcl
is 92 cents. what ought the local
farmer to expect? If there was |.
cost Of cents per bushcl to handle
it at the local elevator and cents
per bushel to sack it and cents to
ship it to the wholesale buyer, the
farmer should get net SO cents per
bushel, and it is pointed out that
this is 22 cents per bushel more than
the Illinois farmer gets for his corn.
Another outlet for the corn pro-
above local consumption would be in
the export market. If corn were ship
ped from here to foreign markets,
the farmer would have to compete
directly with the corn growers of the
Middle West. The point of competi-
ton between the Middle West and
the South would be at the export
points ON the seacoaSt
Therefore the South Carolina farm
crs would be compelled to place their
corn at the seacOaSt at the same
price as the Middle West could put
it at New York or Boston. In case
the market machinery is available
and freight rates are balanced, the
cost of putting South Carolina corn
in Charleston should be 5 to cents
less per bushel than for putting West
ern corn in New York. This Statt
should reasonably expect a price of
from 5 to cents per bushcl more
than Illinois upon an export basis.
A third outlet for the surplus grain
crop of gain i'm South Carolina would
be i'm the feeding of live stock. When
the price of grain goes down the
Middle Western man goes heavily
into the live stock business.
During the last five years the Mid
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