The Montana nonpartisan., 1919-02-08

milling Of high grade flour, and
it would establish the principal of
state ownership and control in
Montana.
Stock and Dairy Industry.
Further advantages are easily
seen when the dairymen's feed prob
lem is considered. It is we'll known
to millers that the greatest percent
age Of profit arises from the sale Of
what is known as by-products; bran
etc. These lesser products appear az
the result of the process of milling
flour and they are almost, if not en-
tirely, clear profit with the subtrac-
ton Of the fractional running ex-
penses incurred. Yet so "highly de-
veloped" has the milling industry be-
come in the hands of private corpor-
ations that into these by-products are
swept all the tailings Of the cleaning
mills and the dust which accumulates
in floor sweeping. Wild oats, must
ard, buckwheat, bind-weed and the
rest, all contribute their share to the
millers profit and to the undoing of
the unfortunate consumer of cattle
feed. The laxative properties of bran,
the heating and life giving elements
of shorts, are so adulterated and thin
ned out that pine wood sawdust would
be about as beneficial, if fed to stock.
Aside from this the price demanded
does not rest on the value Of prod
uct at the mill door, with the neces-
sary increase, for transportation and
storage as the distance from the mill
increases, but is based upon the aver
age cost of production over the Amer
ican continent, plus the ability to
stick the consumer for all the traffic
will bear, consequent upon the power
of monopoly.
With the mill once established un-
der state control and ownership, the
monopoly would be broken and the
sale of the products would proceed
according to the laws Of industry
shorn of the instinct to plunder. With
the profit instinct eliminated the de-
sire for adulteration and price goug-
ing disappears also, so that dairymen
and stock growers would have a posi-
tive guarantee that what they ask
for, they would get, and that the label
on the outside of the sack would be a
sure indication of the contents there
of. Dairy and cattle raising would
be so stimulated that it would take
its place among the most prominent
industries of the state.
Location.
One of the Objectionable features
to the contest has been the sordid en-
deavors of certain elements to fix the
location of the elevator at points
which would be disadvantageous to
the state as whole, providing it
stimulated their own particular real
estate or property interests. The
Nonpartisan league does not take a
localized view of the situation, but
plans,once they have control of the
legislature and have amended the con-
stitution to provide for the erection
of these mill terminals at every point
in Montana adjacent to sufficiently
large grain raising center. Thus
Montana grain will be ground by
mills owned and operated by Mon
tana's people and there will go out
into the world stream of high grade
flour and milling products, guaran-
teed under the seal of Montana,
whereas, do the opposition succeed
in erecting only storage elevators, one
of two things becomes certain. Either
these elevators will be mere collec-
tion agencies for privately owned and
controlled mills at more or less dist
ant points, or they will become ad-
juncts to the local machinery Of the
Washburn Crosby Milling Trust
Against these two latter propositions,
the League sete is face and the fight
is on.