The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1921-04-15
WHAT ABOUT THAT WOOL?

Oh u detrimental CHARACTER concern
ing the wool pool and the high sala-
ries paid the imam in charge of woop
that we print the following letter:
March 7, 1921.
To All County Agents:
No doubt your attention has been
called to newspaper accounts of re-
cent attack on the farm bureau by
Representative H. j. Coleman of
Marshall, in which he charges that
the officers drew last year $142,898
in salaries, that the man in charge of
wool gets $4,000 in salary and one
cent on each pound marketed, which
Mr.. Coleman claims adds $4,000 to
the salary, that it has cost those who
placed wool in the pool TO cents
up to this date, and on June 1st CSC
pound was refused for $4,000
pounds of wool, now selling at &c.
After an investigation of Mr.. Cole
man, we decided to correct his mac
curacies. The facts in the case, with
the books of the farm bureau as
proof and open to inspection are as
follows:
Salaries paid farm bureau officers
in 1920 totaled $44,966.68 says j.
Lee Morford, auditor, according to
the financial statement for the fiscal
year ending January 80, 1921 as fol-
lows: administrative and office sala-
ries $36,287.11; executive committee
salary and expense $8,058.93; special
committees $620.64. These figures
appeared in the financial statement
distributed at the annual meeting at
M. A. c. Feb. ga.
In regard to the salary of imam in
charge of WOOL" the Hawkins broth
ers get no salary whatever for handl-
ing wool. When the wool pool was
organized it was agreed that they
should get 3/5 cent per pound as
handling fee. This was to include
not only the salary for Mr.. Hawkins,
but also two others. The money he
gets out of this will come over a pc
riod of a year and half. 1t should
be remembered that he took full re-
sponsibility for financing the wool
pool and advanced close upon $780,
900 personal credit to swing the pro-
position. In addition to handling the
pool he was made marketing director
without salary and was instrumental
in financing and setting upon bust
ness basis the seed, elevator ex-
change, and purchasing departments,
particularly the purchasing depart
ment. He organized the department,
secured the purchasing agent, and
effected many of the purchases him
self. 1t was through his efforts that
fertilizer prices in Michigan were
knocked down from SO to 81 per ton,
making a total saving of close upon
100000 to farmers of this state.
brothers is not at all private, but was
included in the very complete report
sent to every one of the wool grow
ers with wool in the pool. These men
represented by so selected delegates
at meeting in Lansing on Jan. 7th.
Knowing fully the situation in re-
gard to- costs of handling their wool
and the pay of the handlers, they not
only voted to pool their 1921 wool
clip but placed entirely in the hands
of the wool department the dispo-
sition of their present pool. On the
other hand the management wanted
to be so closely in touch with the
farmers themselves in the disposition
of the wool that they requested the
delegates to authorize the appoint
ment of two representatives to work
with the department which was done.
If there is any objection to the man.
ner in which the wool pool has been
run it seems that it should come first
from the wool men themselves and
not from an outside source. Mr..
Coleman handles wool himself, by the
way.
In the matter of wool handling
costs, the wool departments books
show that 3,630,834 pounds were
handled at cost of $751; ,212.35 an
average of 4.16 a pound. That in
cluded grading on 100000 pounds.
1t was estimated that grading the re-
naming 1,73O,574 pounds would
average 85/100 cents a pound, max
ing Sol cents as the average net
cost per pound to the farmer for all
expenses, as against the 7.6 cents
charged by Mr.. Coleman on wool
handled to date. 1t cost the college
more than 13 cents a pound to get
it's wool graded and sold.
Mr.. Coleman charges that on June
1st the wool department refused 68
cents pound for $4,000 pounds of
wool. At that time other organiza-
tions and farmers themselves were
doing the same thing. Also $4,000
pounds is a small parcel when COM
pared to 100000 pounds in the
pool, more than a million pounds Of
which have been sold for the farmer
on it's merits, something that has
never happened before. The return
thereupon, it is reasonable to believe,
is larger than the farmer could have
secured by bargaining for himself |
with his local buyer, who naturally |
would be interested in giving as
little as possible for the wool.
These are the facts. The state |
organization does not care to lend
any credence to Mr.. Coleman's |
charges by officially recognizing him. |
Plans for the 1921 wool pool in
clude the establishment of about rs |
warehouses for wool weighing and
grading in as many different parts of |
the state. Dates will be fixed for |
wool assembling and the farmers will |
be able to see their wool weighed and |
graded. The idea will be educa-
tional and will save lot of money |
on freight. Additional educational |
exhibits will be offered by the extern
sion department of the college. Wool |
continues to move from the 1920 |