THE MEDEORD DAILY TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, OREGON, WEDNESDAYJtf AYJG.jm
ROBBING THE HAND THAT FEEDS
Rascality Practiced by the Commission Man Fully Exposed by Writer
in June Everybody's Grower at Mercy of Man Consigned to.
In all iirlic-lu in Juno Kvor.vlmly' J purt f grower mid sliiors, unci
entitlHl "ItobliiiiK the llnml 'i'lml Ihu )iiswis;e uixl unJorvc-inont of cor
FbimIk," Hi" riiKculily ni(!licd I'.V rwlive lcKiKialimi in the viirinus
tlm inmiiii man i' fully exuKil, hliil. Those nticMicic are Hlill in
mid (lie cxlent to which the fruit mi ainniKl infiiiililo slale of develop-gniKi-r
mill the pii.duwr is ill the . laenl ; tliey liave gone far enough to
nii'iev of the mini he consign" to, is deiimiistiatc the eom-etness of the
hliown. Il is to protei-t themselves priiuiple of i-o-operation, 1j lit they
onainst sneh raseality that fruit are, as yet, no niatcli for Hie senson
(.Mowers liave organized iissoi-iutioup ed funning and tlie trained rcsouice
nnd exehaiiKes and iiiainlaiii their j fulness of the erooked commission
njrencics in imirkel eilies. The article jineivhaiil. who has taken a post
wiicIh in part as follows: jirradunte course in the school of
The uiai-kel places to which the ! -Im-kiin; the cards and londin-: the
grower sends his goods represent as 'dice m;iiin.t the small shippers.
: usistently low an order of eoimncr- Prevailing Practices.
cial morals as may he found in the,
entire country. I It is in the effort to arouse and in-
Prowlers In the Garden. j-1';""' '" !'"'!'''.''!r
(he men who wink m the soil Hint the
To tin; tender menues of Iho nn I n,s( i(f us IIIIIV he well nourished -so
Bpcaknhlo Hpmwlrs in the iirden" j ,M, (hf.y wj ,.js U, , US(; Hie
who detrude these market phices. ev- )mv(.,.r ieVcr tty rn-opcrution for
erv one of (he hundreds of tliou- : ,H.jr owl, ,,i(.l;ction, that these iirti
nand of Americiin growers must Kub- (.,(.s im, w rh Hmi. Should this he done,
mit himself he In re lie can rcneh ,(,..IIl,diucu of America would he
ThfiHO ffroweiH are in every portion I ,.;,.).,. (m.j, V(,ri ,v ,jiris of dol
of the country. Tlie'nH lire Ihu npple , n,.Si jt, tln" pi'4-.-fii't nrliele it is ucc
orehards of Washington find Nowj,,,. Ut HVVVii ,u JU, umlerstuiidintf
York; the pencil or-haids of Oeorin n, ,(.V(liiinif prn.-tices of the
nnd of Michigan; the onion fields of - (,nMi(.(. market .-Meet, to learn how
Texns and the cranberry mnrshes of ,.,.,,,.,,, j,.,, 0r trirks mid frauds
Maine. To New York city alone they h)H 0VOV(M (l,MM II1H mlis-
Bond hotter to the market value of tljs(l( mliin to a system of nmnip
$28,000,0110 annually; eirs, ten thou- ull(inlls muuinuly devised to keep
pand enrlouds of them, to the market ,(. )nnniMIatnr out of prison and
value of $25,000,0110; potatoes, sev- a( ,h(t HI1 ljim. u, Hu ,,hiu fiiT
cuty-fivn ciiiIoiuIh a day, or 3.057.- sjn,.(1 u. iiipM.r p,r(eds in the
f39 barrels a year; apples, 2.112,- JIHS nt- .tH, house."
717 barrels. And of apples, the
Produeo News, analyzing last yeur'H
erop an applied to New York, ways iiilNiw this exhibition of the
that the treat balk of the common .(H(.(. commission conjuror's Img
nnd cold Ktorne jinnies went into nf tricks, ihe-e facts should be honte
the eooleiH at two dollars a barrel. j tj,M: That there always will re
bat that Haldwins are "selling at min a smell pmior(iou of dishonest
$1.50 and $5, while Kings bring .$1
and $5.50." And aain, "Most of (he
greenings nre moving at $1 ami $0. A
ear was sold Monday which brought
$7 (a barrel)."
Helpless Growers.
These figures merely hint nf lliel
total voluuie of the business in the
country. Other renters, reat and
small, buy pmpnrtiomilclv, and. see
int: merely the fiure-i. urn- inihl he
inclined to cry "(Irenl is the American
Ijiisbandaiaii !" Ittit what is ibe fuel? ;
The lM'rtwer. scattered all over tbet
fount ry, is fur the must purl withmit ;
organization, and his markets are j
miles to Ihoasiiuds nf miles from bis j
fields. He caninil reach us or know
us who consume bis product. Iml the j
middle man, the enmmissiun merchant I
centers i 1 1 tbn cilics, it railway ,jnne- j
(ions, nnd ut pi hi I where freight ;
Fbips uulniid. He -ends hi nirenls '
nnd his nlluring circular- into farm-
ing districts, prnmi-ing the hiu'hc-t 1
iuarkel prices fur crops bcn they
hluill be bare-lcil. ;md even payini:
Pomi'lbing in advance to make cer
tain of dcdliverirs. And Ibis would hi'
gnud and useful business I'm all eon -eerned
if the emnmisinn man were
tt might. Hut only too often lie is
crooked. 1
Few Honest Dealers.
There are. of course honest com
mission men in the produce business, !
many of them, but their standards are
not the simulant of "the market
stt t." ami their practice- are not
represeulnue of the practices which
have prevailed for many years lo the
extent of dominating the business.
The -hipper, as di-tind from the
grower, is a locul nuiii who buys from
glowers w1iom product not of suf
ficient bulk to make independent
shipping pro I itablc. He on the
ground and can c. licet -mall lot- and
tuakeibem up into carload- .r iraus
porlalion to any ioinnn--ioii rcr.tfi.
And a- he ileal- direct with the i; row
er, there i- -mall chance of di-bone-t
practice. His intcrc-ts, i here I ore.
generally, lie with the grower m
aguiuM the coinmi---ion auent.
Co-Operation the Remedy.
A shipper today stand- a better
chance of gelling an honest return
on his nninib -due mainly to the fael
that eompiil-ion ht driven the com
mission mei'-liatit from t he obi time
undisguised fraud to more refined
and le-s obvious methods of "whip
ping the devil around the stump."
The causes which have done most to
bring about this compulsory improve-
motif in the methods nf. commission !
Tricks of the Trade.
i m svii wnm u vi Mm xa. m m iai m m n irii am n ri i mj i w d
ns mi m w-4MK w art mw mn rm h h h. tm mj m w& mm n H' mm ma mm. a i s mm mm m.i r a m mm m i
I 1 1 14 el 1 1 1 B 0 .BB M fil Vi I .1 ilvfl r 11 111 III y A" 1
I JLTX LAHJUA AAU A VlAiajVlj VVlflA 1111 III R- CD O
men in nil brnnche of human endeuv
or. That a eerUiin tnimber of grow
ers nnd shipper not only fail to live
up to contractu when rival commis
sion merchants offer them higher
prices, hut even resort to such tricks
us putting ji core of grnvej nnd coarse
sand in a barrel of potatoes. And
that there are many honest men in
the business who abhor the fraud by
which they are surrounded, arc hard
ly representative of its prevailing
spirit.
Conuaission men themselves have
done and are doing something toward
cleaning up their own game. They(
(have organized the National League
of Commission Merchants of the
; I'liiled States, which declares its
foundation to be "the personal in
tegrity and the financial responsi
bility of its individual hiembers."
New Devices to Swindle.
The reason why the simple and
direct process of "knocking down"
of returning to the shipper a falsi
fied statement as to the proceeds
from the sale of his shipment is not
so general today as it was a few
years years ago, is that the? larger
and more constant shippers have ris
en in revolt ngainst the practice of
sending goods upon consignment. To
a very considerable extent shippers
of this class, suffering under the
flu grant and well-nigh universal
abuses of I he consignment system,
have demanded and compel let I at
least the form of outright sales. Hut
:he crafty commission merchant has
proved himself ciual to the situation
and has invented new devices to
checkmate this move on the part of
the growers.
In its simplest form, one of the
favorite schemes is to refuse a ship
ment bought ut a stated price mid the
ground that it is in -some particular
"off quality" or defective.
Quick Action Forced.
The more perishable the goods the
more completely is the shipper at the
NOUNCERfl -
Terrific Unloading Sale
Commences Saturday Morning
at 9 a. m. Sharp
STORE CLOSED ALL DAY
Thursday and Friday
$3
9
Stock is to be thrown
ON SALE
- Watch for Further Developments -
merey of the cominission man ; he
feels thut he must net quickly or lose
the nr'jor part of his returns. There- 't
fore be is inclined to accept n greatly
reduced price or order his goods turn
ed over on consignment to some oth- j
er house for what they will bring. It
is a notable fact that n declining'
market is invariably accompanied by ,
a great volume of damaged, spoued,
and off-quality produce, while the
produce received on a sharply rising
market is conspicuous for its stand
ard quality and good condition! Re
jections and refusals are the stock
weapons, in other words, against
losses iimii goods received on n de
clining market. In the disposition of
rejected shipments the conniving com
mission men are often able to play
into each other's hands, one commis
sion merchant turning his "rejects"
over to a friendly house in which he
has a direct interest or which makes
a satisfactory division of the spoils.
Systematizing Fraud.
This game is subject to many in
genious and interesting variations;
and certain cities of the south and
we.-t have become so proficient in its
practice as to command the admira
tion of the seasoned adepts of South
Water street. An important element
in the game is the fact that in most
states the laws permit the agent of
a transportation company to make a
forced sale of any rejected shipment
and that without recourse or rem
edy so far as the shipper is con
cerned. Naturally, so serviceable and effi
cient a devi'ce for outwitting the ship
per is not left lo haphazard opera
tion; il is really brought under sub
jection to the ruling spirit of the
times and systematized. Take a city
of 250.000 inhabitants as an exam
ple. Its leading produce buyers or
ganize a corporation to buy "perish
ables" for them. Great care is taken
to have the capitalization and the lia
bility of this corporation held down
to the lowest point consistent with
0 00
practical operation. Now suppose one
of the constituent members notifies
the management that he needs a car
load of apples. The corporation
places the order ut a fixed price, and
the goods come forward.
"In Poor Condition."
If the market for those goods is
advancing, they will probably be re
ceived "in good order," paid for. and
the transaction will be closed.
Hut if the market lias meantime de
clined, the probabilities, under the
commission practice, are that the
-hippcr will be asked for nit allow
ance on account of "poor condition'
If this is not granted, the guilds will
be refused, and the' agent of the
transportation company that has de
livered them will put them up nf
forced sale, thus giving the stock
holder in the buying corporation his
opportunity to get the goods nt his
own price. This practice has been
reduced to a science, nnd the shipper
who can "beat the game." ns it is
played by these groups of organized
buyers, cannot afford to waste bis
talents .short of Monte Carlo. With
the principal buyers winking togeth
er in organized collusion, the situa
tion, as to supply and demand, i--seldom,
if ever, beyond their control.
Forcing Concessions.
Still another powerful weapon in
the bands of perishable produce is
that of allowing goods received by
them to stand on the track while
they dispose of stock already on
band and unloaded. This is effective
either in forcing the shipper to make
a concession on account of a spur
ious claim of damage or in creating
an actual deterioration in the goods.
Occasionally the produce commis
sion merchant who. in the vernacular
of the market street, hands bis coun
try customer a "raw deal," strikes
fire and uncovers a fighter: but this
occurrence is so rare that he com
placently takes his chance of trouble
(Continued on page 7.)
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