The nonpartisan leader. [volume], August 16, 1917, Image 4

About The nonpartisan leader. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1915-1921

Image provided by: State Historical Society of North Dakota

                
PRODUCERS
and consumers on
the one side, and middlemen
on the other met in a drawn
battle a few days ago, and by.
a far-reaching decision of the
interstate commerce commission, the
middlemen won.
There is to be no more selling of
produce from freight cars. The com
mission decided that it is an act of
pure benevolence on the part of the
railroads to allow shippers to sell po
tatoes, apples or anything else from
the cars, and benevolence is not com
pulsory. No matter if it DID sidestep
the present roundabout method of dis
tribution that puts everything through
the hands of middlemen at extortionate
profits—no matter if it DID put pro
duce into kitchens of poor consumers
at vastly lower prices than they would
otherwise have to pay—no matter if
the cars were turned back to the rail
roads at the end of the "free unloading
time" without any delay—it has got to
stop.
"The business of a carrier is trans
portation, and its property may not be
subjected against its will to a use not
connected with transportation," says
the decision.
Prom this it would- at first seem that
the problem was one of transportation,
and that the transportation companies
were being relieved of a great injustice
by the decision. But in reality it is not
a transportation problem at all that
was involved. It was the problem of
escaping the strangle hold of the food
gamblers, the speculators who control
every avenue through which the con
sumers of the citfes can get the produce
of the farm—the problem of escap
ing that strangle hold OT having it more
firmly set.
WHO THE CHIEF
BENEFICIARIES ARE
That fact is shown by the parties to
the suit. The case was brought by the
Nebraska State grange against the
Union Pacific railroad. The railroad
wanted the right for farmers to sell
direct stopped. The grange wanted it
continued. Thus far it would appear
a transportation problem, but what
happened?
No sooner did the Grange bring suit
to compel the railroad to continue the
practice of a quarter of a century, than
in stepped the chief parties in interest
—the food gamblers, food speculators
and profiteers. Here is a list of them.
The Nebraska-Iowa Fruit Jobbers
association.
Tariff Bureau of the Aberdeen (S. D.)
Commercial club.
Chamber of Commerce, Watertown,
S. D.
North Dakota Fruit Jobbers.
Wiley & Morehouse, produce hand
lers.
Lagomarcino-Groupe company, pro
duce handlers.
Traffic Bureau of Sioux Falls, (S. D.)
Commercial club.
Western Fruit Jobbers association.
Does that look like the matter was
one of TRANSPORTATION? What
transportation interests did these
handlers of fruits and vegetables have?
JThe fact is that the matter was one
..
vital to the middlemen, and they in
duced the railroad perhaps without
much effort to deny independent ship
pers the only avenue left by which they
could reach the buying public direct.
MUST NOT IMPOSE
ON POOR RAILROADS
And the interstate commerce com
mission closed that avenue. Hence
forth the middlemen will wax fat on
profits from the business that has in
the past been done from the car doors.
Every bushel of those potatoes, apples
and onions, every crate of cabbage,
every water, melon will pay toll to the
produce handlers who took sides with
Harvest Machinery Begins to Hum
This is borne out by the history of
Minnesota during the Civil war. In
1860, just before the war started, the
national government agreed to give the
-state of Minnesota all the swamp
lands within its border. The conditions
of the transfer provided that the re
ceipts from the sale of these lands
should be applied to the expenses of
reclaiming them. The "joker" in this
grant was the stipulation that the field
notes made by government surveyors
should determine what lands within the
state should be considered of a swampy
character. Of course, under these
terms, all that" a crooked surveyor had
to'do was to report valuable lands as
"swampy" and the interests scheming
to get them for nothing could secure
title under the pretense that they were
"swamp lands."
The Civil war broke out in 1861.
While the attention of the people of
Minnesota was diverted by the
Harvest is well started throughout the Red River valley, and the low lands are returning some good yields, although back on the high land crops are shy. This is
a 20-bushel per acre wheat field, near Glyndon, Minn.
Save the Food Speculators!
Interstate Commerce Commission Heeds Their Cry and Stops Selling
Produce From Cars Direct From Producer to Consumer
People Bilked During War
Vast Tracts of Public Land Fraudlently Obtained
During the Great Rebellion.
AR times have always furnish
ed great harvests for grafters.
While the people have been
watching the war, the grafters
have made steals that they
would -never have dared to attempt in
peace times, when the people might be
watching them.i
xwar,
which lasted until 1865, the Minnesota
legislature was induced ta make the
following grants:
HUGE TRACTS GIVEN
AWAY BY STATE
1861—Taylor's Falls and Lake Su
perior (now St. Paul and Duluth) rail
road, 91,830 acres Lake Superior &
Mississippi (now St. Paul and Duluth)
railroad, 694,399 acres McLeod county
commissioners as trustees of Stevens
seminary, 4,684 acres.
1862—Madelia and Sioux Falls wagon
roads, 4,684 acres.
1863—St. Paul & Chicago (now Chi
cago, Milwaukee & St Paul) railroad,
462,336 acres.
1865—Minneapolis & St. Cloud (now
Great Northern) railroad, 425,664 acres
Southern Minnesota railroad, 36,778
acres Minnesota Central (now Wis­
the railroads against the producers and
consumers.
For years it has been the practice
of -shippers who wanted to escape the
commission men and deal directly with
their ultimate patrons, to sell all man
ner of produce from car doors, to small
merchants and consumers. Usually
they did this work rapidly, for the pa
trons were quick to see the point, and
as eager to save paying extortionate
profits as the middlemen were to get
them. Usually all such carload ship
ments were well advertised in advance,
and the crowds were at the tracks
clamoring for the produce. Generally
the cars were unloaded inside the "free
unloading time," but in those cases
PAGE FOUR
consin, Minnesota & Pacific) railroad,
275,000 acres Cannon River Manufac
turing company, 24,190 acres.
The total of these wartime grants
was 2,019,585 acres. Nearly all were
made to great railroad systems.
After the war was over and the at
tention of the people had been directed
to the situation, the legislature dared
to make only two of these notorious
swamp land grants. In 1875 the Du
luth & Iron Range railroad was pre
sented with 606,720 acres and in 1881
the Little Falls & Dakota railroad was
given 265,856 acres. This brought the
total grants to 2,892,141 acres.
RECORDS HAVE PROOF
OF THE BIG FRAUDS
And by this time the public was
thoroughly awake to the steals that
were being practiced. There were no
more grants.
The report of the Minnesota state
auditor, 1916, states:
"Attention has been called to the fact
that these land grants were made in
violation of the express provisions con
tained in the grant, namely, that the
receipts from the sale of swamp lands
should be expended for reclamation
purposes that out of 4,711,278 acres of
swamp lands patented to the state,
2,885,635 acres had been disposed of by
the state to railroads.
"A confidential report has been made
to the secretary of the Interior in re
gard to their various charges, but as
yet no action has been taken by the
secretary except that no patents are
forthcoming to the balance of swamp
lands in the state of Minnesota."
The records are full of charges and
proofs of fraudulent surveys. Great
areas which were reported as swamp
lands were in fact high lands. In the
Minnesota state auditor's biennial re
port of 1913-1914 an account is given
of an investigation conducted by the
state auditor which convinced that of
ficial that there were at least 48,245
acres patented to the Northern Pacific
under the swamp lands grant -which
belonged to the state.
when they were kept over, demurrage
rates were charged up to the shipper,
and the railroad companies got aa
much for their cars idle as they did
for them in use. Under demurrage rates
which the interstate commerce com
mission approved last winter, the rail
roads make on idle cars more than
double what they can make by using
them (and this may Account for the
"car shortage" to a treat extent).
But the interstate commerce com
mission throws lall this aside. It says:
"Nor are we able to accept the view
that the 48 hours free time provided
under the carriers' tariff to enable the
shipper to unload the car, embraces a
right in the shipper to open a public
shop in the car during that time or
that its further detention under de
.murrage for unloading or for any simi
lar transportation service, subjects the
car and the carriers' track and station
grounds to use by the shipper as a
place of business with the public."
BLOW AIMED AT
DIRECT MARKETING
There is the milk in the cocoanut—
doing business with the public. The
middlemen don't want anyone who
grows crops to do business with the
public. They want to compel him to
do business with them first. They will
attend to the public later. Doing busi
ness. with the public is so popular,
wherever the public gets a taste of it,
that middlemen who render less service
than they do hindrance in distribution,
are kicked out.
Just now there is a great hue and
cry for economy. Clubs are being form
ed to promote business without so
much delivering. Fashionable women
are touring the "poorer sections" tell
ing housewives to carry home their
spuds and soup bones. Save "man
power," "save the men for war" and
cut out "useless duplication of serv
ices," are the slogans.
The middlemen were afraid people
would really take this seriously. They
were afraid there would be greater
stimulus to direct dealing between pro
ducer and consumer. So they called in
a court—the interstate commerce com
mission is really a court of appeals—to
stun this fad and bury it once and for
all. The commission did' so.
The commission, one branch of the
government, knocked out one of the
biggest results that another branch ot
the government—the Hoover food dic
tatorship—is seeking at enormous ex
pense to accomplish. Under direct car
door selling, cars were emptied by an
eager public much quicker than they
ever are emptied by commission hougfes.
They were returned to transportation
service sooner. Storage space in the
commission houses- was saved. The
labor of the freight hustlers was saved
for other work. Multiple deliveries.
were avoided. The housewives, and
house husbands came with their
baskets and took the stuff home them
selves. The people who produced the
food got more for it and the people
•who bought it got more for their
money. It saved man power and ener
gy, of all kinds—but alas it prevented
tat, fat profits!