Evening journal., 1920-08-17
TOMATO WAR
SINPROGRESS
Gamers, Farmers, Bankers
on Shore Alarmed Over
Situation
1918 AND 1919
PACKS ARE UNSOLD

EASToN, Nd. Aug i7.-The tomato
war is now on in Talbot county, and.
according to reports, all over the
Eastern Shore. In the face OF oondl-
lions bordering on a. panic, the pack
eis and The growers say they are
each determined TO stand by their
point OF view. There a. several
lllngs IN ule way Of an amicable
agreement between an concern Il,
onlei among which Is the finances
Many OF the packers have a larg part
OF their 1918 pack as we'll as most OF
last years in storage. and notes car
ried by The banks on this stock can
not De paid until II Is sold.
some or the largest packers In
THIS section Of the State say they don't
know whether they will be able to
open or not. Unless the money can
BE- raised some way 10 finance their
plants this year they say they will
remain closed Some Gamers have
contracted with the farmers for %
cents basket Several Of these can
not possibly open, IL is said, because
u Is held impossible for the Gamers
price.
Brokers and commission merchants
are circwtzlng the peninsula with
letters describing the condition OF the
market today ae denlorable one
packer instructed his broker 10 sell al
90 cents case below what u cost 10
pack the tomatoes and then the bid
ders made no reply. Som dealers are
desperate and hard pushed. The hesi
price now offered is 81 80 for No. IS
with few buyers. There Is can
shortage. One OF the largest packers
hnwn NnannN 10 n.N D..
and although he has a three-yeaf
contract for cans, could get no as
surance OF a shipment any time soon
The situation is held to be desper-
ate. With the market completely
ilat and the wage problem increased
over that OF last year, the packers arr
in a quandary.
The growers have issued a call foi
meeting next Saturday, at which
time 1t is planned to agree on Ger.
tain price for tomatoes. IF this !.
not 10 be had II Is planned 10 let IN,
crop rot In the fields. A very prom.
does not get 30 cents a basket for hi.
crop he viii not remove a tomato
from the fields He is comfortably
situated and POSSIBLY can afford TO dl
this. But the small farmer who il
depending on his tomato crop TO SCI
him through needs the money an,
must sell. II he were TO adopt tn
same method as the well-to-do farm
er he would starve. The meeting
next Saturday Will try and get farm
crs 10 stick together and hold ou
for a fair price, lt Is said.
In the adjoining counties som
packers have started. and Will
meetings were held there by IN
farmers, many OF the smaller one
have been compelled to sell at % cent
basket A large canning house q
Dorchester county has boats plyln
the Choptank river buying tomatoes
Il Is said, for D cents. Other packer
say they will not pay more than
cents and some are paying 10 cent
The farmer wants everything an
Is not willing 10 take a gamble"
the way a big packer summed up IN
situation. Last year, when tomatoe
were selling for 20 cents, those grow
ers who had contracted for consider
ably less became dissatisfied and aske
ms 10 increase the price In spite
lie agreement. We did this In mo:
,1ses and this year the farme
auld not be made TO contract at an
Ice. And now that the bottom