The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-09-08
Beets, Politics and Progress
By Byrd Trego
Chapter XIX

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In chapter XVIII Mr.. Younie told
how one corporation sometimes
worked to handicap another corpora
tion that is trying to accomplish
something. In that case it appears
to be one power company trying to
prevent another power company
from manufacturing power from the
raw products, the waterfalls.
The Utah-Idaho Sugar company
has been accused of trying to prevent
competitive companies from entering
the field to manufacture sugar,
where they might wish to build
factories at some future time. The
accusation against them has been
proved in the Federal court. Their
letters, written at the time have been
laid in their laps and they have been
asked the question, "Did you write
that letter." and under oath they
have been obliged to acknowledge
that they did, and those letters de-
scribe how they kept the Independ-
ent companies out of the field or kept
them from getting in. This In the
face of the fact that the same men
had said that the sugar industry
brought great prosperity to the peo-
pie of the community affected and
they were working for the benefits of
the people.
The subject of these articles is
Beets, Politics and Progress. have
said considerable about beets, l have
said something about politics and
their connection with beets and
sugar making and have spoken at
times about progress that has been
made and hindered. l have consid
cradle more to say about each Of
these subjects, but before I go any
further with them, I want to men
ton some things that are hindering
the progress of all of us, individually
and collectively. I want to say the,
corporations are not the only people
that takes a mans money away from
him for nothing. If the Utah-Idaho
Sugar company have taken mems
legitimate profits away from them in
the way they manipulate the sugar
industry, there is still another means
Of robbery going on that people
should pause moment to give SER
ious attention to.
The Bankers Statements
In last Wednesdays issue of the
Idaho Republican the three banks of
Blackfoot joined in making a state
ment that none of the men who have
made investments in oil stock, min
ing stock and other get-rich-quick
investments in the county have ever
received any returns on them. That
was a pretty strong statement and I
sat back and did some thinking. l
tried to remember one single in
stance where man had made such
investments and had got his money
back or got any dividends from them
Mr.. Beebe, in an article in the same
issue stated that people had bought
enough mining stock, oil stock and
other wildcat stuff to paper the
rooms of their houses If they would
spread them out with the required
amount of paste. One of those arti-
cles stated that any man who re-
ceives an invitation to come in on the
ground floor in investment to get the
special advantages of investing early,
had better look out. I remember
that in my earlier business career at
Mackay when things were booming
or promising to boom, I had become
the proud possessor Of quite a lot OF
mining stock in places where I got in
on the ground floor and got the stock
for a small amount Of money, or for
advertising or for printing and now
I have quite bale Of 1t. think 1t
might do me some good to paper part
Of my office with it and have it on
that side where / can see it often;
where l can gaze upon 1t every time
a promoter comes in to sell me some
thing. In the eighteen years that /
have been buying this kind Of stuff,
I have received as returns from 1t.
the sum Of $3.50. Can you beat It?
I remember that in 1902 good
many people were investing in some
stock scheme that proposed to manu-
facture rubber out Of sage-brush.
People parted with large
amount of money and have rubber
stock laid away somewhere, but It
has not seriously affected the worlds
rubber market, nor greatly FASTENED
the disappearance of the sage-brush.
A few years ago a potash company
was organized and operated in the
north end Of this county, cleared of
considerable sagebrush, burned itI
and treated the ashes in the manu-
facture of potash. But all the money
that was put into that venture only
brought disappointment to the stock
holders. It was not a success. The