Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-05-16
HIGH LEVEL Of
FREIGHT RATES
CURBs SH|PP| INC
Kansas Farmers Have
Practically Quit Moving
Hay, Straw, Hides and
Other Low Priced Stuff.

Topeka, Knas,p May 15,-Be-
cause of the present high level of
freight rates and low market prices,
Kansas farmers have practically
Quit shipping hay, straw, hides and
{ tner low-Valued agricultural con-
niodities, according to information
received by j. e. Mphlcr, secretary
of the state board Of agri, ulture,
from a special mes5ioAhai"e 10 crop
reporters in very county IN ta2
state. For the sdma reasons farm
1rs have also materially reduced
kcir shipments of grain and live
seek, the reports rnd'cate.
Beef hides shipped by Rush
county farmers do not any more
than pay the cost Of transportation
and in some cases do not do that.
Other farmers report their returns
come back in the form of a few
one-cent stamps A RaWlins coun-
ty farmer shipped a hide and re-
ceived as remittance the informa-
ton. Skin didn't bring price of
freight charges" a farmer near
Hays was asked to send II cents to
pay the deficit on a hide, while
another hide shipped to the st.
Louis market brought $3.50 with
freight amounting to $2.12.
A Reno county man relates his
experience in selling a calf hide at
Hutchinson for 40 cents. On the
same day he purchased two pairs
of leather shoe strings, paying As
cents.
Professor C. W. McCampbell,
head of the animal husbandry de-
partment at the Kansas state agri-
costs now represent from 5 to 10
per cent of the gross receipts from
various classes of livestock ship
ped from Kansas points to the
nearest market.
One Farmers Experience.
The experience of q Rush county
farmer is typical of others reported.
He said: 1T used to cost $35 to
ship a load of cattle to Kansas City
that would sell from $500 to
$4,000. Now it costs 500 to ship
the same class of cattle that will
sell for 81 900 to $1,000 and the cost
to raise the latter has been more"
Sheep apparently are hardly
worth shipping at all. A Sumner
county farmer shipped 100 head of
sheep to Kansas City and the
| freight and commission amounted
to more than the returns from the
sheep. Another shipper reports a
met return of 40 cents head for a
sheep consignment, another re-
ceived 4 cents a head.
- YNA t.slf rfItt
high rates for short distances, a
Lincoln county cattleman will drive
his cattle to pasture, a distance of
seventy miles. A Riley county pre-
pure bred cattle raiser reports it
formerly cost~$S.S0 to ship a male
calf from Leonardville to Colby.
| Now it costs $44.
I A Sheridan county grain grower
reports it cost Is to 20 cents to
ship a bushel of 81 wheat and Is
cents to ship a bushel of 40 cent
| barley. Other reports from the eX-
IRENE western part of the state in
dictate the freight on wheat in some
instances reaches % cents a bushel
or one-fourth of the, price at the
terminal markets.
Cost of Ocean Traffic.
| One grower compares the cost
of ocean transportation on wheat
from Argentine to New York, which
he says amounts to about IL cents
! a bushel, to cost of 20 to 80 cents
a bushel from Pawnee county to
Kansas City and about SO cents to
New York.
| Because of the unusually low
price for corn, the freight takes a
large percentage of the selling
price. in some instances more thar
one-half. When corn was selling
at Nortonville, Jefferson county
for IS cents, it was selling at Kan
sas City a distance of about 100
miles, for So cents. The difference
of 1S cents represented freight and
commission. The freight rate from
Stark, Kansas, to Houston, Texas
! is reported to amount to Is cents
~ bushel on corn, practically max
ing it impossible TO ship to the gulf
| Testimony is unanimous that the
grain sorghum, kafir and mile
maize, will hardly. 1t at all, pay tho
freight to terminal markets.
Hay is reported rotting on the
ground or baled and stored away