3913. 
T/'fclEi; KUKAb KSW-YOKKKK 
478 
TEETH IN THE COMMISSION MAN’S BILL. 
Fix It So It Will Bite. 
The people at last understand that 
fraud in the commission trade is large¬ 
ly responsible for the high cost of liv¬ 
ing. The legislators at Albany have 
been impressed with the demand from 
both producers and consumers for the 
Roosevelt-Cole bill, and ex-Senator 
Travis and his commission merchant 
interests, realizing that the bill is going 
through, are now busying themselves 
to strip it of as much of its merits 
as they can induce the sponsors of the 
bill to eliminate. The pretense now 
made that commission interests would 
accept a reasonable bill is shown in 
the fact that they fight every provision 
in the present bill that would be of any 
value whatever. They are willing to 
accept a bill that could not be enforced 
against dishonest commission men, and 
that would leave the abuses uncor¬ 
rected as before. Ex-Senator Travis 
is the accredited spokesman of the 
commission interests generally, and he 
is using his most persuasive eloquence, 
and his most alluring and plausible 
arguments, to strip the bill of the only 
features that would make a bill worth 
anything in the regulation of dishonest 
commission men. 
One provision that Mr. Travis in¬ 
sists upon is that every complaint made 
by a shipper to the Commissioner of 
Agriculture must be certified to under 
oath before the Commissioner can act 
upon it. The shipper may get a return 
for four cents a dozen less than the 
market price for a crate of eggs. The 
pilfering would be $1.20, but before 
the shipper could make any effectivt 
complaint he would have to make out 
a legal paper, hunt up a justice of the 
peace, and pay a fee, before he could 
ask the Commissioner of Agriculture 
to consider his complaint. There 
could be no reasonable objection to a 
sworn complaint before the Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture would proceed 
with a legal examination of the com¬ 
mission merchant under oath, but there 
is absolutely no reason why the Com¬ 
missioner and his agents should not 
make inquiry and investigation of the 
transaction on the complaint of the 
shipper. 
Another essential feature of the bill 
that Mr. Travis wants to strike out 
is the provision that the commission 
merchant must keep the name and ad¬ 
dress of the purchaset- of the produce 
on his books subject to the examina¬ 
tion of the Commissioner of Agricul¬ 
ture. The commission merchant is an 
agent of the shipper and unde^ com¬ 
mon law would be obliged to keep this 
record now. Why should not an 
agent be obliged to give his shipper a 
full, true and honest account of the 
transaction performed on behalf of 
the shipper? It can do the commis¬ 
sion merchant no harm to give the 
Commissioner of Agriculture the name 
and address of his buyer when a com¬ 
plaint has been made about the justice 
of the transaction. It would seem that 
the commission merchant, if doing an 
honest business, would keep this in¬ 
formation for his own protection, 
especially in cases where goods seem 
to have been damaged in transit or not 
up to the grade claimed by the shipper. 
The fact that such information is not 
kept, and the fact that Mr. Travis and 
the commission interests are fighting 
the keeping of this record, would in 
itself justify a suspicion that the true 
prices were not returned to the ship¬ 
per. 
We, however, do not have to rest 
this assertion on any suspicions. We 
have abundant proofs that the true re¬ 
turns are not made to the shipper. A 
reporter of the New York World has 
been investigating market conditions 
for some time, and a liberal part of 
his investigation has been pursued on 
information furnished by The R. N.-Y. 
On February 11 the World reporter 
went into the commission market and 
bought eggs that had been shipped by 
Mr. Fred W. Dean, New Milford, Pa., 
to. the S. Blick Company, produce com¬ 
mission merchants, at 346 Greenwich 
street, New York. He paid 25 cents 
a dozen for a crate containing 30 dozen 
and got a receipt for it. He then had 
Mr. Dean send him the returns which 
he received from the Blick Company 
for this particular shipment of eggs, 
which by a previous understanding had 
been carefully marked so that there 
could be no error. The account sales 
rendered by the Blick Company to Mr. 
Dean on the same date, was for 21 
cents per dozen. 
Under the same arrangements ship¬ 
ments had bf'en sent to J. P. Satier & 
Company, 293 Washington street, New 
York. These eggs were sold for 33 
cents a dozen to the World reporter 
and the returns made for 30 cents. A 
second shipment was sold for 28 cents 
per dozen and returns made for 26 
cents. The third purchase was made, 
but the salesman expressed some sus¬ 
picion of the World egg buyer, and in 
that case the correct report was made. 
Solomon Adolph of 26 Harrison 
street, was also arrested on similar 
complaints and held in $1,000 bail on 
an indictment charging petty larceny. 
These facts were presented before the 
Grand Jury and an indictment was 
promptly returned against Samuel 
Blick and Joseph P. Sauer. The .re¬ 
porter gives a very detailed account 
of his experience and sums it up with 
the information that he found this 
condition was not confined to a few 
individual cases but to a system, which 
pervades the commission business. The 
commission men first refused to give 
him a receipt in his own name. It 
was receipted cash. The name and 
address of the shipper was removed 
from the cases, so that the buyer 
would be unable to learn in ordinary 
cases what had been returned for 
eggs. In the investigation of the case 
a representative ,of the commission 
merchants’ organization asserted that 
the Association would help the Dis¬ 
trict Attorney prosecute a case of 
fraud, but when asked if he would 
prosecute one of his own members he 
evaded by saying that none of his 
members were dishonest. Mr. Sauer, 
who was indicted on the reporter’s evi¬ 
dence. is a member of the Associa¬ 
tion. 
There is nothing new in these ex¬ 
posures to men familiar with the pro¬ 
duce commission business in New York 
City. Commission men make no bones 
about admitting that they do not re¬ 
turn the selling price to the shipper, if 
the goods sell for a price which they 
call above the market, and they are 
the judges of the market prices. Any¬ 
one can see the opportunity for rob¬ 
bery in this plan of selling. Once 
establish the right to return in any 
circumstance a less price than the 
buyer pays a commission merchant and 
the whole thing is left to the consci¬ 
ence or avarice of the merchant. And 
that is where it all rests now. The 
shipper is helpless, and the con¬ 
sumer is equally helpless. The specu¬ 
lators control the supply, and dictate 
prices to the consumer. After fighting 
the battle practically alone for a 
quarter of a century. The R. N.-Y. 
welcomes such efficient work as the 
World is doing. It is especially valu¬ 
able because it brings the high cost of 
living directly home to the city peo¬ 
ple who can be reached only through 
a city daily paper. 
With such a public record Mr. 
Travis and his associates yet maintain 
assurance enough to go to members 
of the Legislature and ask them to take 
out of the Roosevelt-Cole bill the only 
provisions that would be of any help 
in the supervision of this dishonest 
traffic. 
FARM BILLS AT ALBANY. 
Here is a brief statement of the standing 
of bills affecting agriculture at Albany up 
to the last week in March. 
Assembly Bill 10T2.—This provides for 
the creation of a Bureau of Supervision of 
Cooperative Associations, the superintend¬ 
ent to be appointed by the Commissioner 
of Agriculture. This passed the Assembly 
March 11, and has been reported out of 
the Senate Committee on Agriculture. 
Assembly Bill 914.—This amends the 
agricultural law by including certain defi¬ 
nitions to the term “adulterated milk.” 
March 7 this was before the Assembly and 
amended. 
Assembly Bill 1175.—This authorizes 
the Commissioner of Agriculture to appoint 
four deputies, and such other employees 
as he may deem necessary. It legislafes 
out of office the present civil service assist¬ 
ant commissioners, and provides for deputy 
commissioners. This is called by the Al¬ 
bany papers a “ripper bill.” as it rips up 
the old system tlirough the middle. 
Senate Bill 164 appropriates $200,000 
in the payment of indemnities for horses 
and cattle condemned and slaughtered by 
order of the Commissioner of Agriculture. 
This ought to be put through without de¬ 
lay. so that farmers who have lost their 
stock should be promptly paid. 
Assembly Bill 19 appropriates $25,000 
for the organization and support of country 
farm bureaus, no bureau to receive more 
than $600 a year, and the county super¬ 
visors must raise at least $600 more. This 
passed the Assembly February IS. 
Senate 7S7.—This amends Section 2 of 
the banking law, and provides for the in¬ 
corporation of agricultural cooperative 
banks. The same bill in the Assembly is 
numbered 107”. 
Senate 740 appropriates $5,000 to the 
Geneva Experiment Station for an inves¬ 
tigation of hop production and diseases. 
Assembly 913 provides for the licensing 
of the manufacture and sale of oleo and 
similar products not made from pure mini 
or cream. The annual license is $500, for 
a manufacturer, $300 for a wholesale deal¬ 
er, and $20 for a retail dealer. 
Asseebly Bill 923 provides that any persons 
or firms selling fruit bearing trees must 
attach to each tree before delivery, a tag 
stating the name and variety of the tree. 
The bill also provides damages and penalty 
of $5 per tree not properly labeled, to be 
recovered by the purchaser in a civil action. 
A hearing was had on this bill, and neither 
side was satisfied with it. A committee 
was appointed to draw up a new bill that 
would be more satisfactory. As we go to 
press, this bill has not been reported, but 
an effort will be made to take care of both 
buyer and seller in the tree business. 
EVENTS OF THE WEEK. 
DOMESTIC.—Fire destroyed the Happy 
Hour Theatre, the plant of the Elmira 
Telegram and several other buildings af 
Elmira, N. Y., March 13. It also damaged 
adjoining blocks. The fire loss will total 
$150,000. 
A bill has been introduced in the Penn¬ 
sylvania House by John McClintock, of 
Philadelphia, prohibiting any person allow¬ 
ing any horse, mule or ox to work more 
than 12 hours a day in cities of the first 
and second classes. Fine and imprisonment 
are provided as penalties for violation of 
the act. 
The Nebraska House March 12 defeated 
a bill for a constitutional amendment grant¬ 
ing the ballot to women by 47 for to 51 
against. Sixty votes were necessary. 
More than 90 persons were killed, scores 
severely injured and great property loss 
inflicted in the disastrous electrical storm 
which swept parts of Georgia, Tennessee, 
Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas 
March 13. The damage to property can¬ 
not be estimated, but probably will he 
computed in millions. Twenty-nine persons 
are reported to have perished in Georgia, 
and damage to property is roughly esti¬ 
mated at $1,000,000. In Tennessee 23 
persons were killed. The loss of life in 
Alabama is estimated at 14. although sev¬ 
eral persons still are reported missing. Five 
Negroes were killed near New Decatur, 
three persons perished at Calera and two 
each at Hokes Bluff. Gayesville and Duke. 
In Texas five were killed. Reports from 
Louisiana and Mississippi say the death 
lists remain at seven In each State. Other 
sections of the country from the Great 
Lakes to the Gulf and the Eastern sea¬ 
board to the Rockies were swept by gales, 
rain and snow. A 50-mile gale that passed 
over Chicago and other parts of Illinois 
the night of March 12 caused damage esti¬ 
mated at $1,000,000. Great damage was 
caused in Wisconsin by cyclonic winds. 
Thornton F. Williams, an Alaska pros¬ 
pector, was found by fox trappers March 
14 on a Bering Sea island, where he had 
been marooned for 45 days. He was out 
in an open boat when a storm which de¬ 
stroyed the boat flung him up on the island, 
lie let his tire go out after he had been 
on the island 10 days and thereafter kept 
alive by eating seaweed, crabs, mussels and 
fish which he found on the beach. He 
was barely alive when the trappers found 
him. 
Mrs. Ella Wilson, Mayor of Hunnewell, 
Kan., won her long fight against hostile 
members of the city council when the State 
Supreme Court March 15 ousted from office 
three councilmen against whom charges 
had been filed by Mrs. Wilson. The court 
held the three guilty of willful misconduct 
in office and of persistent failure to perform 
their duties. Mrs. Wilson alleged the mfen 
refused to cooperate with her in adminis¬ 
tering the affairs of Hunnewell. 
The money obtained by get-rich-quick men 
and other fraud operators doing business 
through the mails and arrested during the 
year which ended June 30, 1912, was ap¬ 
proximately $52,000,000, as compared with 
$77,000,000 for the previous fiscal year, 
says Chief Inspector Robert S. Sharp of 
the Post Office Department in his report. 
The decrease was due to the activity of 
the Post Office Department. There were 
over 4,000 cases bearing on fraud schemes 
alone and the Department arrested 572 per¬ 
sons and has convicted 263. with numerous 
cases undisposed of. The report says the 
discouraging feature to the Department in 
its fraud crusade is the leniency of the 
courts. 
WASHINGTON.—President Wilson sent 
five appointments to the Senate March 13 : 
Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York to be 
Assistant Secretary of the Navy. James 
A. Edgerton of New Jersey for purchasing 
agent of the Post Office Department. Bev¬ 
erly T. Galloway of Missouri, Assistant 
Secretary of Agriculture. Edwin F. Sweet 
of Michigan, Assistant Secretary of Com¬ 
merce. John Skelton Williams of Virginia, 
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. The 
new Assistant Secretary of Agriculture 
served under the Taft Administartion as 
chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry. 
The appointment was based on Secretary 
Houston’s knowledge of Dr. Galloway’s effi¬ 
ciency in this bureau. Assistant Secretary 
Sweet of Grand Rapids. Mich., was a mem¬ 
ber of the Sixty-second Congress. 
Chairman Fitzgerald of the House Com¬ 
mittee on Appropriations issued March 14 
a statement acknowledging that the appro¬ 
priations authorized at the last session of 
the Sixty-second Congress reached the enor¬ 
mous total of $1,098,647,960.21. This 
amount ror the fiscal year 1914 is approx¬ 
imately $72,000,000 in excess of the ap¬ 
propriations of the last session of the 
Sixty-first Congress, when the Republicans 
controlled both branches of Congress. Ex- 
Speaker Cannon, ranking minority member 
on the Appropriations Committee in the 
last Congress, also issued a statement that 
the appropriations were the greatest in the 
history of the government. Ho agreed with 
Mr. Fitzgerald as to the total, but Mr. 
Cannon points out that, in addition to the 
amount admitted by the chairman of the 
committee, the session levied authorizations 
against the Treasury amounting to $76,956,- 
174, “making in all a grand total of 
$1,175,604,134.21.” which must be allowed 
ultimately. 
Repudiation by President Wilson of the 
Knox policy with regard to the proposed 
six Power loan of $125,000,000 to China 
was announced at the White House March 
18. A statement by the President sajs 
the new Administration has declined to re¬ 
quest the New York bankers Interested to 
continue their participation in the six 
Power negotiations. He has taken this 
action because he does not approve of the 
conditions of the proposed loan or the re¬ 
sponsibilities implied in governmental In¬ 
dorsement of the proposition. The Wilson 
declaration does not mean, however, that 
the way is blocked for the lending of 
American money to China. Now that the 
six Power combination is dissolved any 
group of American bankers will be at lib¬ 
erty to negotiate with China independently 
of the bankers of the other five nations. 
This is what is expected to follow. 
FARM AND GARDEN.—The President 
appointed March 17 Senators Fletcher of 
Florida, and Gore of Oklahoma, Represen¬ 
tatives Moss of Indiana. Col. Harvie Jor¬ 
dan of Georgia, Dr. John Lee Coulter of 
Minnesota, Dr. Kenyon L. Butterfield of 
Massachusetts, and Clarence J. Owen of 
Maryland, members of the commission au¬ 
thorized In the last Agricultural Appropria¬ 
tion bill to cooperate with the American 
commission, assembled under the auspices 
of the Southern Commercial Congress to 
investigate and study in European countries 
cooperative rural credit unions and similar 
organizations devoted to the promotion of 
agriculture and the betterment of rural con¬ 
ditions. The same men also have been 
designated as delegates to the general as¬ 
sembly of the International Institute of 
Agriculture in Rome next August. 
The Ohio State Board of Agriculture is 
arranging for Boys’ Apple Growing Contests 
with a free trip to Washington for the win¬ 
ners. An effort will be made to raise suf¬ 
ficient funds to send at least one boy from 
each county. It requires only 10 trees and 
is limited to farm orchards. The trip will 
be made on the Buckeye Corn Boys’ spe¬ 
cial trains. Send at once to the Depart¬ 
ment of Agriculture, Columbus. Ohio, for 
entry blanks and rules governing contest. 
FOREIGN.—King George of Greece was 
assassinated March 18 while walking in 
the streets of Salonica. The assassin was 
a Greek of low mental type, who gave 
his name as Aleko Schinasl He shot the 
King through the heart. The King was ac¬ 
companied only by aide-de-camp, Lieutenant 
Colonel Franeoudis. The assassin came 
suddenly at him and fired one shot from a 
seven-chamber revolver. It is believed that 
the assassin is mentally unbalanced, and 
that the crime was not the resnlt of any 
political conspiracy. King George I of 
Greece with the exception of Emperor 
Francis Joseph of Austria-Hungary and 
King Charles of Roumania, wa3 the oldest 
of the sovereigns of Europe. He was not 
Greek by birth, being the second son of 
King Christian IX of Denmark, a brother 
of the Queen Mother of England and ot 
the Dowager Empress of Russia. In 1862 
a military revolt broke out and a National 
Assembly pronounced the deposition of King 
Otto, who was the son of King Lonis I 
of Bavaria, and who had been placed on 
the throne under the protection of Great 
Britain. France and Russia by the conven¬ 
tion of London in 1832, after the long 
struggle for Greek independence. The 
throne made vacant by the deposition of 
Otto was offered to Duke Nicholas of 
Leuchtenberg by the Assembly. The duke 
was a cousin of the Czar and the mass of 
the people desired a constitutional govern¬ 
ment patterned after that of Great Britain. 
In a plebiscite Prince Alfred of England, 
second son of Queen Victoria, was elected, 
but the three protecting powers had bound 
themselves to the exclusion of any of their 
ruling houses. Great Britain then came 
forward and designated Prinoe William 
George of Schleswig-Holstein, Sonderburg- 
Glucksburg as a suitable candidate, and he 
was elected in 1863, with the title of 
George I, King of the Hellenes. The change 
of dynasty was sanctioned under the 
Treaty of London (July 13, 1863), and 
Great Britain undertook to cede to Greece 
the seven Ionian islands under British pro¬ 
tection since 1815. King George is suc¬ 
ceeded by his son Constantine, whose suc¬ 
cesses during the present war with Tur¬ 
key have increased his popularity. The 
new Queen Consort was Princess Sophia 
of Germany, sister of Emperor William. 
Beef cattle on foot from four to seven 
cents. Hogs, 7% to 8%. Hay, loose clover, 
$8 to $10; Timothy, $10 to $12; cows, 
$50 to $75; oats, 35 ; potatoes, 30; onions, 
nothing. One onion grower has 4,000 
bushels extra fine Southport Yellow Globe 
and he cannot sell them or get a good re¬ 
liable commission house to take them and 
guarantee the freight, while 75 miles north 
of here at Manistee, consumers are held up 
for $1 per bushel. We do not need farm 
experts to show farmers how to grow more 
produce, but we want some who are expert 
enough to got the produce more directly 
to the consumer at a less price, and a little 
better price to the producer. Potatoes are 
well out of the farmers’ hands; but very 
few fat cattle to be had, and we see no 
reason why beef will not advance in the 
near future, and continue until grass cattle 
begin to come on the market. o. N. D. 
Shelbyville, Mich. 
Quotations from city markets are made 
according to quality and condition from 
grades or‘ classes of products. Our local 
market cannot have the wide range found 
in city markets for obvious reasons, and 
being a small town not much is consumed 
at home ,so that produce must be shipped 
to larger places. Now a place of several 
thousand people only 10 miles away pays 
from 10 to 25 per cent more for many 
of the common things, such as eggs, but¬ 
ter, potatoes and hay, because the demand 
is greater than the supply and has to 
be filled from other sources. Of course 
better roads and transportation would help 
to even things up. It is my opinion at 
present that city quotations are generally 
the more reliable. Produce has been sell¬ 
ing here as follows : No. 4 yellow corn, 40 
Timothy hay (loose) $12 to $16; good 
Timothy hay (loose! 112 to $16; good 
draft horses, 1400 to 1600 pounds, $200 to 
$250: milch cows, conimou to choice, $40 
to $80: purebreds, $100 to $1.50: butter, 
dairy 25 to 30: creamery, 33 to 36; eggs 
(at present) 16 to 17 ; potatoes, 50 to 70. 
Waterman, Ill. r. s. 6. 
