60 



the hands of some broker, and along the first of November 

 when their note comes due, the jobbers all know it and the 

 brokers know it, and of course at that time the 'market will 

 be terrible; they can't sell a thing, they can't do a thing! 

 Well, that is the way they are cleaned out year after year 

 and year after year, and how they live between falls and 

 springs is a question to me. That is the condition of the 

 small cauner throughout the country, and that is what is 

 going to happen if Ave all try to put up stuff on our oAvn 

 farm. (Applause). 



MB.. W. D. ROSS : I plead guilty to being the one Avho 

 told the President that we ought to have both sides dis- 

 cussed, and I think the last speaker has brought out the idea 

 I had in mind. It costs more to do these things than what 

 we realize, and when the speaker this forenoon said there 

 was a margin of ten or fifteen dollars a ton on fertilizer, 1 

 am sure that if he would go into the details which this gen- 

 tleman has gone into here, he would find that cut down to 

 two or three instead of ten or fifteen. I am very glad we 

 have had both sides discussed this afternoon, because I 

 Avanted to hear both sides, and I think when a man hears 

 l)()lh sides he understands a good deal better. It is all 

 right t(i talk of what these things sell for. and what they can 

 l)e made for, but when some of these things have to be put 

 up in glass receptacles, packed and shipped in boxes and 

 sawdust, and there is freight and cartage and breakage and 

 all t!iose things, there is a big difference in the end. 



.AIK. MUNSON: I would like to ask the last speaker 

 Avliat the margin is on fertilizer? 



]MR, ROSS : If you had stock in my company, you Avould 

 find out. 



MR. MUNSON: That doesn't answer the question. I 

 haven't any money to buy stock. 



]\IR. ROSS : I have been in this business thirty-four 

 years, I have been running it over twenty-five, and I say it 

 costs about 15 or 16 2-3% to do business, and if you can fig- 



