Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1915-10-02
rBy ora williams.l

/ pes MONIES, Oct William L. Car
! penter. 1ho died in Des Moines the
other day, aged "A was one Of the
men 10 whom the public owed q debt
Of gratitude never repaid. The con-
spicuoEs feature OF his life related 10
! one OF those periodic struggles the
people have 10 free themselves from
1.-THE shackles Of greed and to secure
| justice Mr.. Carpenter played his part
we'll He had been a soldier and did
his duty: ne was later the mayor OF
| Des Moines and lowered above his as
sociates: but il was as the active man
ager Of the movement 10 break the old
| barb wire monopoly that MI Carpenter
should be best remembered by all those
| who care for the things of life that are
worth while. Il is true that he simply
did his duty, but many others fell just
| q little short Of even that much.
! The main features of the story OF the
| barb wire fight are easily told The
time Is only little while ago. but
events of recent history are soon for
gotten, and not very many can now re-
| call how the barb wire monopoly was
soundlv thrashed. It was a national
contest. yet outside OF Iowa and some
| of the surrounding states il attracted
small attention
The Patrons Of Husbandry had or
Eanized its oranges all thru Iowa IN
the '70s and the farmers were enthusi
astic over its work, A good many stores
| had been started, or supply houses,
where efforts were made to evade the
penalties Of the rising cost OF living.
To the better handle this commercial
] end % the cooperative movement Of
! that day there was organized. in Iowa
/ the Farmers Protective Association.
| One Of its chief concerns was 10 back
! Up a species Of cooperative work in
I the handling OF grain for the farmers
and the purchase Of machinery and
supplies. Ii was deemed necessary 10
! have general support rather than local,
/ in order the better 20 make the fight
TO keep down high prices.
/ The Farmers Protective Association
soon came up against the problem OF
/ cheaper barb wire. Somebody had de-
vised the scheme Of improving the old
smooth fence wire by having small
haros placed at intervals, and later
me dnuhlestrand scheme vas derel
! oped- Then host Of inventors be-
icame active and many styles OF BARI
wire came before the public. In those
days * was thought that manufacture
ing could be done best in small plants
A good man factories were established
for making barb wire. But two leading
manufacturers had Joined TO contro
the business thru patents. These were
1.-THE El1ood factory at Dekalb, Ill and
the WashDurn & Moen Company, OF
Worcester. Mass. They got together
and insisted that the patents under
which they did business not only con
jtroled all machines for making bart
wire but also were broad enough II
exclude all persons from making bari
wire at ali in other words. the tiiins
itself was patented article, as well az
the machinery for making it. The two
companies had progressed far enough
along to virtually control the marke
and fix prices, with the result that bari
wire was selling at from II to IA cents
a pound all over the country. Every
one knew this was extortionate. ant
how to checkmate the extortion wa.
a problem 10 which the Farmers Pro
tective Association directed itself
The purchasers Of barb wire ha,
, been appealed to for support for Ger
] tain Independent factories, but i
seemed impossible to make the figh
this way. Finally a fund was sub
{ scribed and committee named an,
D decision reached to establish an indie
t pendent barb wire factory for the chic
purpose Of demonstrating that the pat
tents were not such as to shut out in
e dependent makers, thus TO force re
duction in price. 1t was decided tina
, the factory should be established il
Des Moines William L. Carpenter
9 known 10 the farmers because of tn
excellent plows he had made, was EN-
\ ployed as manager of the factory. Ma
chinery was purchased and the factor
y started. Of course Washburn & Moe
brought suit for infringement A for
Y mer chief justice of the supreme cour
was employed to defend. 1t was evi
e dent a gigantic battle was on. Bs
even up to that time 1t seemed improb
e able that 1t would all be fought out
court. The monopolists were resource
I full More than one independent ha
made his peace with the monopoly.
The association was extremely fol
tunate in the selection of Mr.. Cal
g penter as manager Of its plant in De