Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1916-12-01
VINO IS 70 BLAME7

articles of food-climbing higher anu
higher, people naturally are looh,hs
around for the cause and the mlddie-
men seem to be getting the blame LOT
most of the increases. They deny tnat
they are entitled to this blame anu
are beginning to resent the charges.
w II. GruDe of Burlington, men,
her of the Lagomarcino-Grupe GO. de-
liyered an address on this subject be-
fore the Commercial Exchange In Bur
lington recently and he charged thar
the middlemen were the victims OF
Misrepresentation and erroneous re-
ports. Touching on the charge una
the high price Of potatoes is the re-
suit of an agreement among the JOY
bers and the wholesalers, ne clteo N
stances to the contrary.
'.In Cedar Rapids" he said, "a story
was printed to the effect that peo.
der from South Dakota offered 70
bring potatoes into the market 1or
s1,35 a bushel when storekeepers there
were charging considerably more tnan
that The council voted him license
without cost and invited him to get
busy. In very few days, however,
he sent word >from the jDakotas that ne
conldn't make good because potatoes
there were selling as high as 81 a
sbushel But in the meantime the
story had gotten out that potatoes at
81 AZ bushel were to be sold in CEDAR
Rapids and soon papers in other parts
Of the state were printing the news
that POTATOES really were being sofa
at that figure"
This furnished an instance. accord.
Ing to Mr.. Grippe, of the reliability OIL
most of the stories about low prices.
Continuing, he said. There are no
combinations among dealers here, as
far as my knowledge extends. but
there are plenty OF reasons for the
high prices.
MANY laws have been made by state
legislatures and by the government
which hamper rather than aid busl-
ness and this is one reason Tor the
high prices. There has been q car
shortage which has cut a great hgure
as well. and this, coupled with short
age in supply. has forced up the mar
ket. In Burlington at present our
company has but five carloads OF po-
tatoes on hand, not more than q three
days supply"
Excerpts from his speech follow:
For number of years there has
been constant agitation against the
hus.ncss interests of the country.
Large corporations were particularly
the target for shafts of criticism. What
accustomed this cannot be stated auth
joritstiyely. The constantly increasing
cost of merchandise gave opportunity
to c& IN
isfaction among the people at large
and this agitation probably arose from
a desire to divert attention from other
matters.
Frequently a man comes into our
place and wants to know the reason
for the high price of apples, when he
saws there Is an orchard fifty or &
hundred miles away which is loaded
with large fine fruit and which the
grower is unable to sell. because he
cannot get enough for it to pay for the
trouble of gathering and packing. We
dispatch our apple manNto buy this or
chard. He finds half dozen decayed
trees with few gnarly, wormy apples
the size of English walnuts, fruit that
IA unfit for human consumption. This
mans story is reported from house to
house and is generally believed; evil
.dence to the contrary could not shake
faith in the story.
"The other day man wae declaring
In a barber shop that the wholesalers
were buying potatoes up in Minnesota
and Dakota for twenty-five cents q
bushel and selling them down here for
81. so a bushel This story was like the
old lady's soap-most all I've. The
wholesaler at that time was paying
s1.65s per bushel delivered in carload
lots. and the farmer was receiving
$l.40 per bushel. To this must be add
ed freight and sacking expense.
Newspapers and magazines took up
the campaign against the middleman.
The most glazing misstatements were
printed. II made entertaining reading
the public was delighted. Most peo-
pie believe whatever they read in the
papers. They do not investigate, even
refuse to hear evidence of contrary
nature"
LET THE CITY GROW.
AL &. ~.