The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1919-09-04

south Dakota, and Riddick Of Mon
ana.
The following comment on the CON
'erence swtth Barnes was made BY
representative Baer:
I'VE IRE going direct to Barnes
without first wasting time at the de-
partment Of agriculture. Two years
Ego we learned convincingly that the
asst place to get any assistance for the
farmers Is from the department Of
agriculture under,its present admins
ration, and at the same time We
!ound Mr.. Barnes quite willing to. Co
operate. We will strive to bring home
20 him that the deceptive appearance !
IT the northwestern wheat crop this
Vear will result in heavy and most
unjust penalization for the farmers
anless elemental Justice is done in the
way of the payment of relative
values"
We believe" said Representative
Sinclair, that Mr.. Barnes will see the
Justice of our case and instruct his
buyers accordingly. We shall certain
~ bring all possible pressure to bear
on him for that end. II we are to be
eft at the mercy of the Brand grades
The wheat growers will suffer an un-
Justified loss of millions of dollars"
More Facts On Packers.
Hearings on the packer regulation
bills before the senate agriculture
committee r amply demonstrating
The necessity of enacting this legis-
|ation II the Big Five. within a very
lew years, r not to exert an abso-
lutte monopoly on the entire system Of
lood distribution. Federal Trade
Commissioner William B. Colver, the
most distinguished witness to appear
80 far, has summarized for the com
mittee the appalling extent Of packer
domination over unrelated industries,
bringing out also their absolute con
troll of market new reports, whereby
they are able to consistently deceive
the producers.
Mr.. Colver also outlined the central
lied buying system Of the Big Five,
showing that by eliminating competi
ton in the purchase Of livestock they
have been able to completely knock
out the so-called law Of supply and de-
mand.
Through their control of refrigsra-
tor and peddler car service, Lewis H.
Haney, { representing the Southern
Wholesale Grocers' association, told
the committee, the packers are rapidly
eliminating the wholesale grocer as q
competitor in the distributing. end.
Haney strongly urged passage of the
the clauses divorcing the packers from
refrigerator car ownership. eff this is
not done," he said, "the Wholesale
grocer will have been eliminated by
the packers in another five or six
years."
Evidence Of Market Control.
Additional convincing proof that 70
sponsibility for the high cost Of living
iis to be found somewhere In the
.clogged&and unregulated channels Of
distribution has been secured by Rep
r~esentative Clyde Kelly of Pennsyl.
vania. He cites government records
to show that at the present time the
cost Of distributing food products n
from two to ten times that Of produc.
ing the identical products.
In spite of the universal rise In food
prices in the past year, Kelly points
out that there are now, according q,
department Of agriculture figures, s40O,;.
100000 more bushels Of grain. $4,000
more mich cows, $4,000 other
cattle, 1,2s0.0oe more sheep, and 4.e09,.
900 mora swine In this country than
there were a year ago.
Responsibility for the failure Of this
greatly increased production to benefit
either producer pr consumer Mr.. Kelly
lays to three factors: The gambling
Be produce and grain exchanges: the
mss OF storage houses u boarding
houses; and tho present feverish food
consumer may be hsid up IN tits coun.
try. He would entirely eliminate the
produce exchanges, have laws passed
to limit the period Of food storage. and
force . limitation OF distributors' prof
its on feod sold to fAmine-strieksn NJ
lions overseas.