Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1921-09-30
FARMERS COOPERATIVE
ASSOCIATIONS PROTEST
ExORBITAkT RAIL RATES
By ALBERT F. CoYLE
Acting Secretary. All American Co
operative Commission.

with the Interstate CohhCi'o NSH.
mission against the continuation OF
freight rates and inefficient railroad
management at the cost OF the ami
hilation OF agriculture. There are
now In the United States, according
TO the u. S. Department OF Agricul'
lure. more than 10000 farmers coop
eratlye societies. These organiza'
tions have aided the farmers to re-
duce to a minimum the cost OF mar
keting their products In order TO sc.
ure a fairer return for their labors.
And now the savings affected by CO.
operative organization are nullified by
rail rates which not only confiscate
III the farmers profit. but In many
ase5 the entire value OF their pro-
luct as well.
Here are a few actual Instances OF
ow the farmers work for nothing for
he railroads:
An Arkansas farmer recently shipped calf
70 "A st outs commission agent, and received
n return bill for sls7 due the agent. The
alf brought $3.50. the transportation charges
ere 1883. and the agents commission Doc.
rhe president of the Cattle haisers hssocia-
ton Of Oregon declares that II costs stock
oen Sil6I3, at the very lowest. to raise q
three-year- old steer and pay freight on him
market The stockmcn gets on an aver
ge 1924 sfor his steer. leaving net loss
$3.50 per head. I'VE wonder how long
udge Gary would keep the mills running
; the u. S. Steel Company lost 30 per cent
n every ton of steel II made.)
The farmers at Delta, Colorado. recently
'umped $4,000 bags Of the best Colorado
anions into the Gunnison river because trans
rortation charges more than the price
,ffered for the onions. Hay farmers OF the
Middle West allege that the railroads are get
ting twice rs much from the hay crop as
they are, and that the small balance left them
does not nay for cutting and rakinR the hay.
tp in Maine the Aroostock farmers have
ploughed under for fertilizer $4,000 bushels Of
the best potatoes grown because the soc
bushe that remained after meeting freight
and commission agents ices did not cover
the cost OF digging and hauling them TO the
oars leading Western farm paper asserts
that the grower OF oats actually receives less
than cents bushei after dedueting freight
and costs Of marketing; while in ut least
two western states the farmers are agreeing
10 burn their corn for fuel rather than har-
vest IL at loss.
The most ruinous losses of all have been
Inflicted on the growers OF melons and per.
liable fruits. In many cases producers OF
tomatoes. lemons. peaches, cherries. and
grapes have left their crops to rot in held
nd orchard because the price offered IL less
han transportation charges and cost OF mar
keting Farmers In Hampstead county. Ar.
hogs, since the 80 cents per hundred they get
for the melons will not defray freight charges
Of sl75 per car. The mayor Of Sulphur
Springs. Ark. recently shipped carload
of melons, worth SOS. TO Denver. and paid
1856 freight charges In just one issue Of
a louisiana newspaper the following items
appeared: 847 900 watermelons left to rot
on the tracks in New Orleans because market
N. railroad dumps 4 cars. containing 400 Of
the finest Georgia melons, because the COM
mission agent cannot sell them for enough
to pay expenses; l.. & N. sells for freight
charges 20 carloads t22.000) meions). which
had been sta ndiny for two weeks on the
tracks waiting for market price that would
pay freight costs. Senator Caraway of Ar.
kansas has figures from fruit growers In his
state showing that cantaloupes shipped 10 the
Pittsburgh market brought the grower $bs6.20
per car, from which he paid s36l.i6 freight.
Sl7.3i drayage. 1892 commission fees. sls7 .2s
for crates and packing. leaving him a net loss
Of $3s.17 TO compensate him for long months
Of labor.
II Is little wonder that sociolosists are
alarmed because farms are being deserted and
rural population Is decreasing. while farm
tenantry and farm mortgages are on the in
crease. Figures Just submitted to the Inter.
state Commerce Commission show that the av'
crage farmer. after paying high freight
charges and other fees gets only a sufficient
return for his product 10 pay him l5c AT
hour for his labor. Agriculture Is a basic In
damental industry. without which the rest Of
US would starve. An injury 10 basic indus
| try Is always an injury to the entire nation
Every consumer of food must pay more q
| live because prohbtive freight rates are put
ting the farmers out of business. Finally. tn,
| injury comes back like boomerang uron thu
| railroads themselves. Next TO coal mining. az
riculture furnishes most OF the railway
| freight business. Without the farmers pat
ronage. the railroads cannot pay dividends
| In squeezing the bird for two golden egg:
| instead of one, the railroads are killing tn,
bird. Likewise. they bankrupting them
selves When high freight rates led the Colo
rado farmers TO dump their onions into the
river, the railroads lost n i5-car shipment al
once as well rs many more that might have
come.
| The Association of Railway Executives I,
spending thousands of dollars buying big ad
| vertisements in farm papers to convince III,
farmers that freight rates cannot he reduced
| until the wages of railroad labor IL decreased
But the day has gone when the formers wore
hayseeds in their whiskers. and intelligent
farmers refuse TO give serious consideration I,
this plea. They have not forgotten the whole
sale fraud revealed by the Interstate Com
merce Commission in the management of tn,
| railroads, Every rail company Investigates
WAS convicted of paying exorbitant prices 70
| coal, maintenance and supplies TO companie
| in which the officers of the road and the
| banker friends were interested. The farmer
have not forgotten that the very officials VIII
beating down wages Of labor are themselve
drawing salaries as high Ms Sl25.000 year
although many OF them are merely the dunn
mics of the bankers who own the ronds. an
know nothing about the technique of rail
reading. Nor Is the farmer ignorant of tn
] fact that the stock of many railroads has beel
SO generously "watered'' by the bankers tina
dividends only be paid by robbns bot
the railway worker and the farmer shipper
| Finally, the farmer knows that the industrial
workers Of the country the biggest con
sumers of the farm products. and that the low
| er wages are. the less Of farm products tn
workers can buy. To beat down wages sim
ply decreases the amount of money that raj
workers can spend for the food which tn
/ farmer raises and the materials for cloth
| ing which he produces. The prosperity OF pro
. Queer and consumer linked together b.
inexorable economic law.
| Farmers will also perceive Mt glance thu
labor gets but very small percentage of tn
sli. 44e.4o charged for hauling 40-csr trail
| of melons from Arkansas 70 Pittsburvh.-Ed.
| Farmers the nation over Hre declaring tina
neither cooperative societies nor agriculturr
credits can solve their problem.--thHt wha
! these aids put into one pocket. the railroad
more than take out OF the other. The farme
is beginning to suspect that private OWNERSHIP
and operation OF the railroads has broker
down: that he himself Is paying for the in
| Efficiency and eNpensvcness Of running IN
roads for private profit rather than publ
service. When the well-paid officials of tn
| Pennsylvania Railroad recently permitte
/ $4,000 bushels of farmers potatoes to rot o
the tracks in Cleveland because they wou
not employ sufficient labor 10 handle them
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