San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-25
GRAIN FRE|GHT
RATES AFFECT
TOTAL SUPPLY
Montreal Shipments In
crease-Buffalo Move
ment Falls Off.
PUT BLAME ON PRICES
Farmers Successfully Work
Night Shifts in Their
Fields.
PUT BLAME ON PRICES
BY j. c. ROYLE.


New York, Sept. 25.-Grain is
moving in increasing volume from the
head-of- the-lakes 10 Montreal while
q9hipments for tidewater through Buf-
falo have fallen off as compared with
other years.
Grain shippers OF the Northwest
declare the answer was to be found
to large extent, in the freight rates.
Wheat is bein: carried frem Fort
Williams and Port Arthur to Montreal
for II to 10 cents bushel where
as it costs 1876 cents to send q
bushel of wheat from those ports to
New York by water and rail for ex-
port.
For domestic consumption the rate
is almost 3 cents higher. the rail
tariff from Buffalo TO New York for
such shipments being 20.61 cents per
hundred pounds.
Rates on barley, oats. corn. rye
ard flaxseed show approximately SINH
lar ratios.
The st. LawroI &C river was strip
ped of its fleets during the war and
up to this year. the tolls from the
Z hea1-of -the-lakes to Montreal averaged
between l. and Is cents bushel.
Charter Rate Used.
These were fixed by the vessel rate
from Fort William and Port Arthur
to Georgian bay plus the rail rate
from bay ports.
So many small boats have been
put IN commission along the st. Law
renee, however, that a regular char
ter rate now is published.
The present small canals along the
st. Lawrence are being extensively
used and the Great Lakes-St. Law
renee Tidewater Association. with
Headquarters in Duluth. is pressing
for immediate further extension of the
st. Lawrence canal system.
Members of the association say
! that with the completion Of the new
canal, large lake carriers will be able
TO make their way into the st. Law
Fence and that n still larger tonnage
of grain will be carried.
+. Considerable opposition is being
expressed against the st. Lawrence
ship canal project in this state.
This is based on the grounds that
. New York state would be required to
-fay 2S per cent of the cost of the
work rather than because the canaliz-
alton OF the st. Lawrence would tend
to divert traffic from New York wa
terways and from New York har-
Dor.
Farmers Use Night Shifts.
Early 10 bed and early TO rise,
practiced over hundreds of years, has
not seemed to make the farmer
wealthy. so many of them are. trying
night shifts instead of early retiring
10 make their equipment more effec-
tive and their overhead expense less,
Professor Andrew Boss, agricultur-
nj production expert and head of the
farm management department of the
Minnesota agricultural college. said
that while night shifts were not prac-
tical at all seasons, for fall plowing
and harvest emergencies il was a
further step toward efficiency.
Even in the last five years" he
added. "modern mechanical inventions
have increased the efficiency of farm
Ing operations TO an exceptional de-
gree.
might farming is practiced widely
throughout the Northwest.
Might blowing decreases the soil
preparation period by about one-third.
1T docs not appear practicable on
small farms. but with a big acreage
it is a marked step in the changed
order OF. things"
Frequently reaping and shocking at
night is impracticable because Of
dew. but even this has been done in
MANY cases this season.
1T is true that the farmer is be-
coming more intelligent buyer"
Professor Boss continued. "but too
frequently he still buys equipment
which, while practicable, is not need
ed by him.
I'm the case Of the tractor, for
example. research indicates that such
must be used from 400 TO
500 hours per year TO earn money
on the investment and many farmers
cannot use a tractor that much
Quality Of 1928 Wheat.
The quality of the 1923 wheat crop
has been determined by a survey of
50 flour mills in Kansas. Oklahoma.
Texas Nebraska, Missouri and
Colorado.
1t requires four bushels, SO pounds
4 of hard wheat. to produce barrel
of flour, four bushels. 20 pounds. to
| four bushels. 80 ID pounds. Of mixed
| wheat and four bushels. % pounds.
TO four bushels, A. pounds, of soft
4 wheat.
The situation of farmers and stock.
men throughout the west is showing
\ steady improvement, according to
n Frank W. Mondell, former congress.
N man from Wyoming. and now a men,
n Der of the War Finance Corporation.
n who has just completed a tour
n through the inter-mountain states.
n The situation is best, he said, where
Il farming is diversified.
4 He added that "one of the most
n hopeful signs of the present" is the
\ growth of cooperative marketing"