The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1921-04-09
Yours very truly,
A. H. QUATMAN.
BULLETIN "R"
Sacramento, Calf,
March 24th., 1921

10 All Members of the ASSo-
citation:
AT a meeting of the Board of
Directors of the Pacific Rice
Growers Association, held on the
22nd day of March, the Special
Committee appointed by the asSo-
citation on the Oath day of January
to take over and market the rice
crop of our members for 1920
made report as to its activities,
the essential points of which are
as follows:
Your committee, consisting of
E. L. Dow, S. J. Hawkins, C. l..
Donohoe and J. H. Stephens, ex
officio member, was appointed on
the oath day of January 1921, and
given full power by the Board of
Directors to do all and everything
necessary in their judgment to
facilitate the marketing of the rice
crop for the year 1920.
The committee entered upon it's
duties and proceeded to make a
thorough investigation of the sit
uati0n. The committee discovered
that at that time California paddy
rice was selling for S1.25 per hun
dred and fancy mi1led clean rice
was selling as low as $500 and
|$3.05 per hundred. 1t will be re-
membered that for several months
prior to that time numerous of the
growers had been shipping their
rough rice to various mills in the
state on a control milling plan
whereby the miller was making
certain advances to the growers
and charging the growers 60 cents
a hundred milling charge and the
bran and the polish.
The first work the committee
undertook was a survey of the
stocks of clean riceS in these mills
the growers having shipped to
them in the aggregate about $780,
900 bags of rough rice. The COM
mittee had not proceeded far with
its investigation until it was dis
covered that several of the mills
engaged in this control milling
plan had been selling the growers
milled rice contrary to their agree
ment with the grower and long
before any of the advances which
had been made were due and pay
able and in thus selling the rices
of the growers, contrary to the
milling contract and contrary to
the growers desires, they had
beaten down the price of clean and
paddy rice to disastrous figures
as above quoted, doubtless intend
ing to buy back paddy rice at a
much lower figure and replace the
rice thus sold, converted and APP
propriated.
Immediately the committee got
busy with these mills and as a
matter of compromise, adjusted
differences with two of the mills,
one of them paying 4 cents a h..
warehouse receipt, for 10000 bags
of paddy rice shipped to the mill
for milling and this 4 cents lib.
has been collected by the commit
tee and transmitted to the owners
of the rice thus appropriated and
other of the mills have settled wit,
the growers ON rice thus appro-
priated at satisfactory terms to the
individual growers and proceed
ings are now pending, criminal
and civil, against two other mill
Ters who, ii was found, had appro-
priated and converted in this man.
ner, rices of the growers.
The committee has no hesitancy
in saying that the disastrous re-
duction of prices of rice in Calf
ornia at that time of the appoint
ment of this committee was due
to this appropriations conversion
and sale of the growers milled
rices by these various millers.
In this connection is only fair
to say that four of the millers en-
gagged in this control milling plan
were absolutely clear OF any ap-
preparation or conversion of any
Of the rices shipped to them by
the growers for milling.
As a part of tn ecompromlse Ell
fected by this committee we went
to the millers who had appropriat-
ed and sold the rice of the grow.
ers and an agreement was made