The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-08-20
The
ct f the the F. u. C. T. A.
Grain Trade Kicks
Writes Senator Ball
Makes a Hole in One
They're Not Building
Murder, 1t Is!

Murder, 1t Is!
If there is one thing, more than any
other, that the grain producer needs
at this moment it is space in which
to store his grain. Lack of that space
is causing what TONY Weller de
scribed as backing into the palms
and all manner of unpleasantness.
1t causes the embargo, the difficulty
in getting federal loans and loss OF
money to the farmer. You can ina
CINE, therefore, the state of mind Of
a farmer up in Roseau County, Mimi.
when he received a letter from U. S
Senator Jos. H. Ball, in which the
senator advised him that the grain
trade of Minneapolis had filed a pro
test against the building by farmers
of a new elevator in that county, on
the grounds that there already was
adequate space and that the farmers
were simply duplicating facilities!
So flabbergasted was the recipient
of that letter that he felt incapable of
response. SO he sent it to M. w.
Thatcher, general manager of the
Farmers Union Grain Terminal Asso-
citation, with the intimation that Mr..
Thatcher might have few words to
say on the subject. He did-and this
columnist thinks that letter to Sen
ator Ball was one of the best that
NJ w Thatcher has written in long,
long time He acknowledged Senator
Balls integrity and honesty OF pur-
pose in this way: II am positive you
have no other interest but the welfare
of the people of the state you repre-
sent and, generally, the welfare OF
all the states of this nation" aid adj
mits that he may have been bit
delinquent in not placing before the
senator the facts in the case for his
information and study, long before
this. These are among the facts he
gives the senator-and you'll enjoy
reading them:
Quoting from Mr. Thatcher's letter:
Three years ago, when we began to
expand the cooperative movement in
the spring wheat area, as the grain
trade publications of that day and
later are now mute evidence, we were
charged with over-expanding market
ing facilities. The private grain trade
has never been right on one single,
important national matter, in connec-
ton with the interests of the grain
producers, during the last 25 years
in which | have given so much time
to the subject of grain marketing"
That's making hole in one" as the
golfers say. After the passage OF
the 1888 Farm Act" Mr.. Thatcher
continues, "any ordinarily intelligent
man connected with grain marketing
should have known what that act con-
templated and should have begun to
prepare his service and business op-
erations to fit such national leg1sla-
ton. The legislation arose out of the
bankruptcy of the private grain
trades distributive system, in failing
to meet the grain producers problem.
We helped create that legislation; we
were aware of it's detectives and what
would be required in the way Of mar
keting facilities to attain its purpose"
In other words-you can't have an
ever-normal granary without provid-
ing granary!
Because of that Indifference on the
part of the grain trade, Mr.. Thatcher
tells Senator Ball: 1.-THE farmers suf-
fered a recent partial embargo, arts
ing out Of the movement of the 1910
crop, to say nothing of the 1941 crop.
Can you imagine anything more hope
less than that? Farmers today are
storing grain in barn stalls, chicken
coops, even in bedrooms, because OF
lack of facilities to meet the break
down in marketing" Then he points |
to practically the only effort to rem
edy this-the building by the Farmers
Union Grain Terminal Association OF
six million bushels new storage at
Superior, Wis, at LeWistoWn and |
Shelby, Mont, and adds significantly:
Our competitors in the private field
are not building this type of facility"
Take this as a threat or a promise:
Still quoting from Mr.. Thatchers let
ter: Because of the lack of facilities,
The present receipts of grain and seed
into the market places OF Mlnneapo-
is, st. Paul and Duluth are literally
suffering 'murderous' treatment by
he buyers. We are very seriously
linking of asking the Commodity Elk
change Commission to make an in
of marketing conditions III
he use of the contract markets IN
connection herewith; also, we are
linking of asking for legislative
INVESTIGATION. so that members of The
of the United States can
earn of the loss being suffered by
he producers of grain and seed arts
ng out of the fact that there are IN
dequate facilities in the hands OF the
private grain trade, to handle the II
rop with any interest at all IN the {
Which is the right an !
wer to the protest of the private T
rain trade against farmers of Roseau {
,ounty, Mimi, for daring to increase II
he storage space that same private E
rain trade has restricted 50 care E
lilly!
'Paytriots" !
fCon+in,ad from, pare Threel Z