Jamestown weekly alert. [volume] (Jamestown, Stutsman County, D.T. [N.D.]) 1882-1925, 1915-07-08


ers of this state, and other residents
as well, began here Friday and Sat
urday last. Treadwell Twitchell OF
Cass county opposed the plan of es.
tablishing a terminal elevator anG
George Lotus took the affirmative
side. A large audience was present
the occasion being the holding of the
Nelson county fair. The subjects Of
debate were:
Should North Dakota estab-
lish a state-owned elevator in
the city of St. Paul?"
Should the last session of
the legislature have established
a terminal elevator in St. Paul?"
Twitchell's Argument.
Mr.. Twitchell began his argument
by saying:
,,"Those in favor of a terminal ele.
vator in St. Paul are advocating the
plan because they desire higher pric.
es for the products of their farms.
1T is also possible there may be a
few favoring the St. Paul plan who
desire to wreak vengeance on the
Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce
"A terminal elevator is, in general
terms, big warehouse located in a
terminal market or at some terminal
point, where for some. reason it is
natural and advantageous to unload
for use or to transfer for the purpos-
es for further transportation"
Terminal elevators existed by ad.
vantage of location or in centers
where manufacturing of grain prod
ucts was done. Duluth and Superior
as favorable shipping points and Min.
neapolis as milling center were H.
Illustrations. Terminal elevators han.
DIE and ship out grain belonging tC
their patrons and issue grain receipts
which are negotiable and used as col
lateral. Mixing Of grain is the prin-
cipal source of profit and it would not
seem consistent that North Dakota
farmers go into the elevator business
to take advantage of the practice OF
which they complain.
The influence of the terminal ele-
vator on the price of grain is meas
ured by the volume of it's transac.
tiOns.
"A state owned terminal elevator
would always be seller and never a
buyer. The value of any commodity
is never advanced by an offer to sell,
but by an offer to buy above the cur
rent market price. An offer to sell
a given quantity of wheat by state
owned terminal elevator would have
the same depressing influence on the
market as a like amount offered by a
private individual or firm. It's offer
to buy would have no greater inf1u-
ence on the market than that by an
individual or firm. The connection
of the state of North Dakota with a
terminal elevator would in no wise
increase or diminish it's influence as
price factor.
THE worth of terminal elevator
proposition or any selling organiza-
tion created for the purpose of secur-
ing better prices for its customers de-
pends on the ability to get purchasers
to give more for the grain the pro-
ducers have to sell. BY what line of
reasoning is it fair to presume buy
er of grain, now located in MinneapO-
lis, would go to St. Paul to buy grain
at a higher price and grain that may
have been mixed, when he could Sc
cure grain direct from the farmers
and in the actual condition from
which it came from the threshing ma
chine and unmixed.
The speaker argued that the only
way to create a new industrial COM
petitor and a new grain center in St.
Paul is to have that city compete with
Minneapolis in it's milling and grain
buying advantages. He said:
'The only way that the farmers Of
North Dakota can establish a market
in St. Paul is to make it attractive to
purchasers, and that certainly will
not secure higher prices. Surely no
individual or firm could expect to re-
ceive a larger clientage by openly
claiming the purpose of the individ-
ual or firm was to get higher prices.
II an individual could not win out
along those lines, how can the state
of North Dakota more easily influ-
ence the purchaser to part with his
money?
III it is the theory that the state
owned terminal elevators could hold
up its grades and establish higher
values in the worlds markets, what
reason can be given for the location
of terminal elevator by North Da-
kota in st. Paul? Such a terminal
elevator would be cut of from ex-
port by rail rate either to the sea-
board or to the head of the lakes.
As to river transportation, Minneapo-
lis, not st. Paul, is the ohicial head Of
navigation"
Mr.. Twitchell also said state
owned terminal elevator at st. Paul
could not benefit the farmer in the
matter OF prices. The establishment