Omaha daily bee., 1917-07-09
OMAHA TO Be
ENC|RCLED BY
A GRAIN ZONE
Plan, 1t Is Said, Will Regulate
Shipments So as to Do
Away With All Com
petition. -

A great grain zone around Omaha
soon may be mapped out by Food
Commissioner Herbert Hoover, be-
yond which the Omaha Grain Ex-
change will not be permitted to go to
purchase grain.
Similar zones probably will be
marked out in other sections of the
country, with central grain market
as the hub of each. The department
of Food Commissioner Hoover is said
to be working on plan of this kind at
this time.
Omaha grain men have had an init
nation of this fact through julius
Barnes, world famous Duluth grain
merchant, who has been appointed un-
der Hoover, to take charge of the
grain situation in connection with the
regulation of food distribution and
price.
Since the matter has not been Off
cially given out from Washington,
grain men in Omaha are retitent, but
It is known that Henry T. Clarke.
commerce attorney of the Omaha
Grain exchange, and Frank Manches-
ter, secretary of the exchange, arrived
in Washington. Saturday morning on
mission to look after Omaha's in
terests in the matter.
To Eliminate Competition.
The official zonation of the grain
belt by authority of the federal food
commissioner, it is said, rs intended
to climate the keen competition that
has existed between the variphs CEN
trail grain markets, and thus eliminate
some of the high bidding. 1t is in
tended further to eliminate entirely the
back haul, which is often due to the
hauling of grain from one market TO
the other under pressure of competi-
ton for business. The plan, would, it
is said, cut out lot of extra freight
charges on the back hauls, and on the
unnecessarily long hauls, and would
throw all grain from any given terri
tory into the central market that by
reason of it's railway facilities and
rates, could best serve that territory.
Omaha grain men are hoping to be
given a zone covering all OIL Nebraska.
the northern half of Colorado, all of
Montana, the southern half of South
Dakota and all of Wyoming, Oregon,
Washington, and Idaho.
There is some possibility that the
Omaha market might have to divide
southern Nebraska with the Kansas
City grain market, on account OF the
similarity of the freight rates, but
Omaha grain men will make the fight
for all of this territory on the grounds
that, while the freight rate is the same
the distance is from 100 to $50 miles
in favor OF Omaha.
Only Even Break.
In the case of the states of Oregon,
Washington, and Idaho, Omaha only
has an even break in the matter OF
freight rates with Minneapolis. Oma-
ha grain men feel, however, that Oma-
ha IS the logical market for the grains
from this belt, because the Oregon
Short Line, and the Oregon & Wash
ington Railway & Navigation COM
pany, the two lines tapping that grain
belt, are parts of the Union Pacific
system, and that for that reason the
grain coming on those lines will pre-
ferably seek the Union Pacific line
to come east, and in doing so will
reach Omaha first.
1t is expected that while this zona.
ton of the great grain belts is under
contemplation by the food commits
sioner, and while assignments OF
Legitimate grain trade territory are be-
ing made to the various big grain
markets, battle for territory will be
on constantly before the commits
sioner- either through the mail OF
through personal visits from delcga'
tions representing all the large grain
centers in the United States. &c.