The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1922-09-14

gust, as soon as the crop began tc
reach the terminals.
! On the other hand, is the farmel
|getting as much for his grain as is
possible, even under adverse condit
ions? Ninety percent at least do not
and it is nobody's fault but his own
For instance-the farmer brings his
wheat to the elevator and sells if
getting the card price, as set by the
Chamber of Commerce for his district
or maybe a few cents over if the com
petition is keenamong the elevators
or if the elevator is badly in need ot
premium wheat for mixing purposes.
At the terminals millers pay lib.
eral premium for fancy wheat, which
by the way, constitutes large por.
ton of the North Dakota crop. Loca
elevators and especially the Farmers
Cooperative elevators" do not get the
benefit of this premium price, ARD
hence cannot pass it on to their pat.
rons. But the commission men, thru
'resales, with whom the elevator deals
do get it, and thus with little cleri-
cal work take the profit which is due
the grower, and which the grove,
must receive if he is to continue to
feed the world.
Is there a remedy? Decidedly So
and a simple one at that! The farm
'er can sell his own wheat, but he must
do it comparatively with selling or
ganization at the terminals. TIC N
D. Wheat Growers association, and
similar organizations operating in
other states fills this need. For in
stance-five carloads Of pooled wheat
handled by the association was recent
ly sold at Minneapolis at premiums
ranging from IS to 80 cents per bush
ell. The latter price was 2 cents over
the top of the market at the terminal
that day or $1.29 81 cents per bushel.
On that day the card price at the
point from where this wheat was ship
ped was SO cents for No. L Dark
Northern, direct profit to the grow
,er of As ga cents per bushel, without
deducting freight charges. With these
deductions it would be 80 81 cents.
On Saturday, September 4, the as
sociation sold a car of No. = Dark
Northern sprin gwheat for $1.24 So
per bushel. That same car woulo have
brought only rs cents per bushel if
sold at the local point, making a p1of-
it to the grower of 80 So cents per
bushel, allowing for freight charges.
Besides this increase in selling price
there was an additional saving Of 5
cents per bushel in handling charges,
thus increasing the profit in the for
mer case to IS ga cents per bushel,
and the latter case to 81 SIS cents per
bushel.
This latter profit is easily explain
ed. When the committee of the Cham
Der of Commerce, which sets the price
for the local elevator every day, and
which are sent out through the mails
and by wire to elevator managers, it
allows the elevator profit Of 7 cents
per bushel for handling, as we'll as
deducting freight charges from the
Minneapolis price, based on futures.
:. The grower pays only two cents TO
the elevator for running his grain
through the plant, when he ships Ill
rect, and thus saves cents of the
seven cents, which is allowed to the
elevator as profit when the price is
set in Minneapolis.
!, M. s. Blair of Grand Forks, N. D.
who has made practice of shipping
direct for the past twenty-five years
said that he has made as much as sc
cents per bushel and not less than
cents as result of taking advantage
Of the premium price by this method
The difficulty with most grower,
is that they either do not have SINH
lar kinds of grain in car lots, or else
are ignorant of the benefits of the
practice. The North Dakota Whea
Growers association with its pooling
plan, has solved the first problem. ant
only education will remedy the latter
The association, of course, combine!
the grain of it's members at eacl
: point, and only car lots are shippe>
out, except in case of a small hold
over at the end of the selling season
l The association sales agencies at Du
luth and Minneapolis do the selling
and hence members get the advantage
: of the premium prices paid by millers
= In accordance with it's orderly. mar
keting plan, only small percentage o
l the grain is sold each month; that i
the pool will be sold over period 0
:. ten months. Hence as a general 1'ul
e one car out of every eight will be sol