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About The Sumpter miner. (Sumpter, Or.) 1899-1905 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 17, 1904)
.mzsEsz- THE SUMPTER MINER Wednesday, February 17, 1904 BAKER GITY FIRM WANTS MONOPLY IN MEAT TRADE Secret of Its Violent Opposition to Burnt River Farmers Coming to Sumpter. The Mornlug Kuookor, which In the dally'edition of tho Amorlcau, hav ing finally realized that it made h business blunder In applyiug ita handy, uvnr ready hammer to tho liurnt river tohiI and ranuhora' trade propoHitlon, tills inornlUK endeavored to aquaro Itself with this town, to shift Ita position of oppoHltiou, hh a prollmltiary atep to coming out strong In ndvouaoy of encouraging that trade. Hut the Kuookor la hh dovold of liraliiH hh It Ih of chiiruotor, ao ita luteal nlfort placea It In evou a moro emhurraslug attitude than was Ita previous open opposition to tho on- tiro ontorpriso. It now wauts to foroo the liurnt river farmers to soil their produuo to dealers only. This la exactly what they will not givo a bond to do, The Miner has Riven ooualderablo attention to tbla matter duiiuR the past few weeka, aud It la worthy of the continued attention which It will rooelve. The people of Sumpter ahould understand the situation thor oughly. It la hocause llaker City baa adopted the policy advocated by the Morning Knock, which ia the dally edition of the American don't forget this fact that the residents of the liurnt river country aro uuxiotii to trade in Hiunpter, aud If thla town piirsuoa it, they will go elsewhere to trade; good road, or no road at all, Thla ia thn way one of these farmers, than whom a 110 more lulolllgeut claas of people rail be found any where, explained the altuatlou to The Miner. Herald: "For yean wo have taken our farm product! to lluker City for Bale. Most of tho people there aro small farmers thomaelvcH, Wo could only sell our atulf to tho merchants, for trade. We hud to accept any price they olfered, and It was tint an uncommon thing fur us to have to tuko It buck borne. Thuy would either not buy it all, or ol ho would not pay what It was worth to us as food for tho funi ily. The uhiitIiiiiiIh of Sumpter mu only human, and if they cau Ret us in the same box, thoy will apply the screws to hh In the sumo way. After years of this kind of treatment, we were driven largely into the stock business, thinking we uuuld secure a ready market for boot. "Now let me tell you about this beef business. Of course, wo would rather drive up In front of a meat market aud sell out in oue trausuo Hon, If we cau gel a fair price, rather thau sell to a dozen dilfereut people. Tho mauager of the Sumpter Meat market says ho offered us u half cent more than we wero soiling at. He dldnt do anything of the kind; it was a half a cent less. You see, thla Sumpter Meat market Is owned by the llaker City llrm that is seeking to monopolize the meat busiuess of eastern 'Orbgnu.'" They control every- thing in' 'linker Citt, and will here if the people' pornllt them to do so. Controlling the retail trade there, tbey also control the price of beef on the hoof, being the only buyers. Their purpose ia to dictate both the buying aud soiling price of beef. It is not because we sold a few beeves hero, that the manager of tho Sump ter branch has mado such a kick and endeavored to work up a boycott against Tho Miner, but because he knows that it .Sumpter and Houme furnish us I' market for our beof, his firm cnu'i longer force ua to soil to It, at Ita o"ii price. In tbla con nection, tell llio people this: That us this llrm has progressed In Ita elfnrts to obtalu a monopoly, tbe prico paid to tho farmer has do creased aud tho prico chargod the consumer has lucrcasca auu so 11 will ever be. "Hut this ia not tbo worst feature of tbe monopoly, ao far aa we aro concerned. They buy only fat cat tle. Tbey buy only aa tbey need tbe beef, force the stock nieu to keep tholr beef cattle fat for months, feed lug away our bay aud our profits. Tbey have had a ciucb, have worked it to the limit aud are whining be cauao Sumpter ia giving ua on even break. We wlll'sive tbe people of this town many dollars during tbe course of a year In tbe price of farm products, by eliminating freight charges from distant poiuta, if tbey will stay with us on thla meat deal, en that we can get a fair price for our cattle. Aud the merchants of the town, lu every line, will also bo the gainers, for wo buy a whole lot of goods, of one kind and another. Furthermore, If they wish to handle our other stuff, a relatively email item, there will bo no trouble ou that score." Now, every roador will recogulzo the good sense aud justlco of theso remarks. Uu tho nthor hand, tho prosperity of Sumpter ia not wrapped up lu tho Sumpter Meat market, tbla brunch house of n lluker City monop oly. It' Is u detriment to tho town, lufact; it doesn't even pay out tho wages for slaughtering hero. It pays tbe rent of ope room, tlio wages of a manager who is noisily, porsistoutly working against tho interests uf Sumpter, Hud of thu driver of a de livery waguu. It draws from Sump ter teu dollars for every oue it brings here. Does any resident of Simpter, who has tbe Interest of tho town at boart, feel it encumbent upon himself to toady to this concern, to give it his money, to aid it lu its boycott of The Mluer? a success, but eastern Oregon, all things considered, Is good enough for him. Mrs. Raht did not accompany him to Mexico, but remained In Seattle, from wblcb point Mr. Raht has just come. He will "resume business either here or In Baker City. ALAMO 0FFIGERS ARE WELL PLEASED C. f. Raht Back From Mexico. C. F, Hunt, who waa an assayer here foi several years, and left for Mexico last spring, to take charge of a initio for a Seattle syndicate, ar rived in town toduy. He says tho .Mexican in In lug veuturo bus proved Tbe party of Alamo officers who went out to the property tbe other day returned thla morning, and left for Spokane on this afternoon's train. Tbey were, N. B. Nuzum, vice president, J. R. Casin, aecretary and treasurer,!?. D. Trenbolm and M. C. Dunne, directors. A meeting was held while tbey wero at tbe mine but no changes were decided upon. Tho officers ex press themselves as highly satisfied with tbe management and tbe oper ation of tbe now mill. WORK AT THE AUBURN PLACERS Joo Reed, superintendent of the Auburn Deep Mining company, will leavo Monday to look after tbe work at the company's placers, operated near Auburn. Tbe machinery waa started up tbe early part of tbe week, and operations resumed in accord ance with tbe plans previously out lined In Tbe Miner. The new policy of tbe company la to be carried out aa speedily aa possible. ROMANCE OF EARLY MINING DAYS IN CALIFORNIA The newa of tbe serious Illness of Alvinza Hayward. tbe aged San Fran cisco capitalist, will recall another romance of tbe mines. Mr. Hayward waa born in Northern New York. Hia father died when be waa quite young, and aa bis mother waa uuable to support blm he was, in the custom of the day, "bound out" to a farmer. Arriving at the age of 21 be received tbe customary 1 100 and "freedom suit" for bis services, aud went as far west aa Minnesota, whore he married. Tbe California gold fever aoou swept him further west, where, toiling with pick and spado bo was, after niuoh hardship, the lucky tinder of a rich mi no. Tbe rest wiis easy. Mr. Hayward waa associated with Flood, O'llrion, Mackay aud Folr lu certain mining ventures, and his for tune was not far behind theirs. So long as the farmer lived to whom Mr. Hayward was "bound" lu youth, he made frequent trips to tbe oast to visit his old borne and stir the minds of farm youngsters by tales of wonderful things in the land of gold. Exchange. YOUNG ROGKFELLER GUT HIS EYE TEETH ON GOPPER. Ihe Spokesman-Review's Wall street correspondent writes: The prediction made In tbla paper several weeka ago that the price of crude copper would work' lower, alleged to come from a prominent man identi fied with the Amalgamated company, was tbe opinion of William U. Rockefeller, the treasurer, and it came true to the letter. Mr. Rockefeller baa passed through a varied experience in copper and has unquestionably "cut his eye teeth." He Las at his command all tho ex perts that the country affords aud ultbouuh be' found that copper could uot bo held at L0v or 17 cents, bo has discovered some things tbat can be done. It is said that the active management Is now largely in his hands, although H. H. Rogers took a principal part wben tbe price drop ped from tho high level and tbo figbt began iu earnest. William U. Rockefeller knows tbe coppor business from mo suinapoiut of tbe mining expert and assayer. He is a close student of tbe business situatiou and can read iu tbe signs of the times huw far demand for copper la likely to improve or fall off. He Is tbe son of William Rockefeller, and while he does not make a spe cialty of Sunday school Bible classes, aa does bia cousin, John D. Rocke feller, Jr., he can give the latter many points on practical affairs. WILLIAM WELLS ELMER CONSULTING MINING CNGINCIR ORic Hottl Sunpttr. SUMPTER, OREGON BCOrONO MoNIILL'S CODE C A. E. STARR. MININO INVESTMENTS Ovtr Auitln Mtit Mtrkt I Supt . Oretoa PHILBRICK Sr FENNER MINING 4 CIVIL ENCINEERS U. S. DEPUTY MINERALSURVEYORS EXAMINATION AND REPORTS ON MINES N KILL SLOG. SUMPTER OREGON. 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