Mercedes Tribune (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 43, Ed. 1 Friday, December 10, 1920 Page: 1 of 10
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LINE OP WITH MERCEDES
PRODUCE CO. CARROTS, BEETS
AND SPINACH—PHONE 74
SEED WILL BE READY FOB
PLANTING CARROTS, BEETS
AND SPINACH.—
MERCEDES PRODUCE CO.
PHONE 74
YOLUMN YII
MERCEDES. HIDALGO COUNTY, TEXAS, FRIDAY, DEC. 10, 1920
NUMBER 43
3000 ACRES SUGAR AT RANCROFT PLANTATION
HOW VEGETABLES ARE
MOVING TOI MERCEDES
Besides Solid Car Loading Wednes-
day, Over Five Tons Went Out
in Package Express
THIRTY CASES GRAPEFRUIT IN WEDNESDAY'S MOVEMENT
CARLO! SHIPMENTS OF
YEGETABLES AGAIN
Acker, Jones & Saladino Lead Out
Solid Car Beets
The big packing room of Acker,
Jones & Saladino presented a very
busy scene Wednesday morning with
its crowd of workers preparing for
shipment the vegetables which must
be ready for forwarding by 3:50 p.
m. express train.
A solid carload of beets is the
ature of the day’s business with
Acker, Jones & Saladino—the first
solid car of beets to leave Mer-
cedes this season. Other items this
firm forwarded Wednesday were car-
rots, turnips, pepper, tomatoes, cab-
bage. The fine cool weather we are
now enjoying seemed to have im-
arted its crispness to the vegetables
handled Wednesday, so much so that
hey would whet the appetite of any-
ne.
On Wednesday Acker, Jones &
aladino were paying 60c for beets,
SO cents for turnips, 60 cents for car-
’ots. These prices are paid for the
etables in bulk—that is net to
farmer.
Besides the car of beets the
ther ai'ticles constituting the
nenu already mentioned were for-
varded in packages.
<$><$><$>
SUSY WITH THE
FARMERS’ CO-OPERATIVE
'abbage the Heavy Item in Wednes-
day’s Business.
Cabbage was the big item with
the Farmers’ Co-operative associa-
tion at its packing shed Wednesday,
where Mr. G. O. Turley was in charge
of activities. The cold weather re-
cently helped cabbage wonderfully
and that seen Wednesday was hard
and crisp. It came from the farm of
Wm. Dameron. In Galveston the
market was paying 5c per pound for
cabbage Monday.
Other items being forwarded by
the farmers Wednesday were carrots
redishes, turnips, okra and pepper.
The farmers are shipping in pack-
ages, but expect the movement to
be heavy enough with them next
week to begin making car shipments.
<§><$><$>%
Mason Produce Company.
The Mason Produce Company notes
an increasing demand for our veg-
etables and is filling ^orders for
a large variety of stuff. The Mason
concern is a cash buyer and Wednes-
day was paying the farmers as fol-
lows :
Peppers, per hamper ........$ 1.50
Eggplant, per hamper........80
Tomatoes, per crate......... 1.50
Beans . 2.25
Beets ............ 80
Carrots ......................80"
Cabbage, per ton ............ 15.00
A nice variety is offered by the
Mason Produce Company and Mr.
Mason says that the quality is very
fine. Also the outlook for remuner-
ative prices for vegetables is good.
Besides the car of vegetables load-
ed Wednesday, more than 11,000
pounds were forwarded by local ex-
press.
Besides the vegetable express ship-
ment Wednesday, thirty cases of
grape fruit were forwarded.
etting Ready to Increase
Capacity of Ice Plant from
Thirty to Sixty Tons a Day
WATER, LIGHT & POWER
COMPANY EXPANDING
Getting Ready to Extend Light and
Power to Parts of City Not
Yet Covered
A car of red cedar poles consign-
ed to the Mercedes Water, Light and
Power Company reached the city
Tuesday which will be used in ex-
tending light and power service to
certain sections of the city that here-
tofore have not enjoyed electric il-
lumination or power. Palm Heights
the newest residence section, as
well as South Ohio avenue, the new
school house, and that section of
the city south of the new. Baptist
church are to be included in the new
improvement. Also the service on
the north side of the railway tracks
or Mexican portion of the city is to
be given enlarged service commensu-
rate with its growth and require-
ments.
The company now maintains a
twenty-four hour service, that is the
equal of that supplied anywhere and
is shaping up to meet all demands
that the rapidly growing city may
make upon it.
The carload .of poles, by the way,
represents some money. They are
red cedar, cut away up in the state
of Idaho, and cost the Mercedes cpm-
pany an average of thirteen dollars
each. There were a little better than
140 poles on the car.
MEETING OF RETAIL
MERCHANTS ASS’N.
Banquet at Busy Bee Cafe and Trans-
act Much Important Busness
Thursday Night.
PROMINENT PEOPLE
LOOK US OVER
Railway Managers and Directors
Here on Visit,
Old buildings which have stood for
ears near the ice factory uf the
lercedes Produce Company on the
•ailroad right-of-way, abutting the
■abroad tracks, are this week be-
ng removed to make room for the
xpansion of the ipe factory of the
lercedes Produce Company which
tends to enlarge sufficiently to
ouble the present daily capacity,
thus giving Mercedes a 60 ton per
day plant.
Work on the plant will not be
commenced immediately as certain
details have to be closed up, but
the clearing of the lots incidental to
the carrying cut of these plans has
begun and there is no doubt that the
plant will be commenced in due
time.
ILL LIKELY NEED ALL
THE NEW TRACKAGE
Present indications are that the
tdditional 2800 feet of new trackage
dded to the Mercedes railway yards
ast year will be needed this season
take care of the winter vegetable
usiness that will be handled here.
It is declared by some who have
een over the tract that the fields
long the Mercedes canal never ap-
eared more beautiful or more pro-
uctive than now, which may be
ken to mean a record breaking sea-
n is possible considering the
rgely increased number of plant-
rs on the canal.
Last season some loss to farmers
as occasioned by reason of a lack
f trackage and shortage of cars but
e lack of trackage has been over-
rule by the building of the 2800
•et mentioned and it appears to be
irdly probable that an acute short-
;e of cars will occur again this
ason. .
GOOD PRICE LIKELY
FOR VALLEY ONIONS
The smallness of the onion uplant-
ings in the Aalmo community and in
other Valley communities seems to
presage a good price for next sea-
son. Slightly less than 200 acres
of land in the Alamo tract have been
set out to this crop, which means
quite a bunch of money for the
growers at that if nothing happens.
Henry F. Rubel Dies.
The death of Henry F. Rubel oc-
curred at the home of Roy Lumbard
one-quarter mile south of Llano
Grande Saturday evening. Mr. Ru-
bel was in his 58th year and had
resided her© about three months.
His body, accompanied by his
wife, was sent to Prairie Depot,
Ohio, Monday afternoon by H. T.
Stotler and Company.
Following the recent meeting of
the board of directors of the St.
Louis, Brow'nsville & Mexico Railway
at St. Louis some of the directors
expressed a desire to see the Valley,
and under the guidance of Mr. W.
B. Choate, general manager of the
road, Mr. Singleterry of St. Louis
and .Mr. Berger of Virginia, reached
Mercedes in their private car Wed-
nesday noon. At this point Mr. W.
F. Shaw, general manager of the
American Rio Grange Land and Ir-
rigation company took charge of the
party and showed its members over
the proposition which right now is
at its best—a veritable garden, in
fact—of the most succulent winter
vegetables. Such a beautiful sight
cannot be witnessed in any .other
place in the United States at this
season, and no doubt the visitors
felt that what they saw on the Mer-
cedes canal was fully worth the time
required to make the trip.
•-o-
THE MERCEDES RETAIL
MERCHANTS ASSOCIA8ION
Establish Offices in Menton Build-
ing-Select Secretary and Ap-
point Night Watchman
Fifty members of the Mercedes
Retail Merchant Dealers Association
banquetted at the Busy Bee Cafe
Monday night and transacted busi-
ness which means much to the fu-
ture progress and development of
Mercedes.
President E. E. Johnson was un-
able to be present and Vice Pres-
ident F. E. Hadden presided over
the. meeting.
R. E. Kern, chairman of the exec-
utive committee reported a recom-
dation by the committee that the
dues of members be fixed by. the
assessment committee, the amount
of business transacted to be used as
a criterion to fix the amount which
each member will pay towards the
support .of the organization. - The
recommendation of the committee
was adopted by a unanimous vote.
The committee reported that H.
E. Hager, the temporary secretary,
had gone to San Antonio for the pur-
pose of employing a secretary for
(Continued-on page 3)
At a called meeting of the execu-
tive committee of the Retail Mer-
chants Association, held Thursday
afternoon at the Community House,
arrangements were made for office
and furnishings for the association’s
headquarters.
Room number 9 in the Menton
building was rented, and the furni-
ture will be moved in as soon as pos-
sible.
The association is ■ now in a posi-
tion to take immediate action on
over-due accounts and worthless
checks with which the merchants
have been burdened, and in regard to
matters of this kind, it was decided
that the secretary should take what-
ever action necessary to bring the
merchants books up to normal.
Some few people are under the
impression that the Retail Merchants
Association is an organization thai
will jump on a man when he is
down, and push him down further,
but this is a great mistake. The
real object of the association is to
protect the merchants from negligent
and dishonest people in order chat
they may be financially able to ex-
tend credit to those who deserve it
and are entitled to it.
It is the intention of the associa-
tion to pull together not only for
the betterment of credit conditions,
but at all times to co-operate in
pushing, pulling and boosting the
Queen City of the Valley until it
is universally recognized as the
greatest business center in this part
of the state.
A motion for the engagement of
R. P. Britton as night watchman was
seconded and unanimously passed.
It is believed that Mr. Britton will
accept the position and start on his
duties by Saturday, however no def-
inite date has yet been set.
The R. M. A. is composced of the
live, sensible business men, and as
an organization they are confident
that they can do big things for Mer-
cedes, and are especially anxious to
have the co-operation of the gener-
al public assured.
CONFIDENCE IN NEW
Money Bags of the East Are Loos-
ening in Advance of Inaugu-
ration
Mr. W. F. Shaw, vice president and
general manager of the American
Rio Grande Land and Irrigation com-
pany' returned from St. Louis Tues-
day, where he went last week on
business for his concern.
Asked as to general financial con-
ditions in that part of the country
by the Tribune man, Mr. Shaw re-
plied that there is ncted a consid-
erable loosening up in the money
centers of the Eeast, largely due
to the confidence of the country in
the new administration.
West of the Mississippi, however,
money is still tight. But the
view is optimistic and there is no
question, it would seem, that the tight
times now being experienced will be
of short duration.
In regard to his own company and
its great undertakings Mr. Shaw
said there would be no interntesion
in the program now in process of
execution until its completion.
President Elliott, who went with
Mr. Shaw to St. Louis, is not ex-
pected to return for some ten days
or more.
Plans and Specifications Completed
for $1,250,000 Sugar Mill
and Refinery
THESE TO BE COMPLETED IN TIME TO
WORK UP THE 1921 CROP OF SUGAR CANE
More than Half of the Big 7,000 Acre Plantation Is
Now Under Cultivation, and Work Is Being
Rushed to Cleatf Up the Balance
Work on the Llano Grande Plant-
ation in the planting of the big acre-
age of sugar cane is being rushed
successfully and it looks now as if
the prediction of a total .of 3000 acres
will be verified before the season
ends. Considerable difficulty was
| TO EXPERIMENT WITH
£ long staple cotton |
I — i
X Mr. A. B. Connor, acting di- £
*> rector of experiment stations *j*
X of the A. and M. College of |
X Texas will speak at tlie regular X
jt* weekly meeting of the Merce- *j*
♦j* des Farmers Co-operative So-
ciety to be held at the Comrnu-
X nity House Tuesday evening, X
*t* Dec. 14, Mr. Connor will give
us seine valuable information *|*
X concerning "the cotton situa- X
X tion.. He wishes to do some £
demonstration and experiment- ❖
•j* al work in this county with |
♦}* various, long staple cotton va- X
X rieties which will be oil great ***
X importance to the farmers of »j*
I this Valley. X
X
FARMERS REGIN OAR!
SHIPMENTS NEXT WEEK
Valley Produce in Good Demand.
News of Meeting Held Tuesday
Night.
Edison perfected a number of use-
ful inventions during the war, but
ho could perform a greater service
for hi snative land should he in-
vent, before the next war, some ma-
chine for separating the natural
grafter from bis war-time profits.
The Mercedes Co-operative Soci-
ety held its regular meeting Tues-.
day night at the Community House.
Interest is steadily increasing in the
organization and fourteen new con-
tract signers secured. This makes the
local membership over a hundred.
The association is handling the
produce of its members very satis-
factory and will probably ship its
first carload of mixed vegetables
next week.
Very encouragaing reports were
made concerning the progress of the
organization throughout the Valley.
It is estimated that 75% of the
growers of the Valley have signed
the five year contract and have join-
ed the marketing associations being
formed.
Mr. Freeman made a very interest-
ing talk concerning Durango long
staple cotton.
The local association meets every
Tuesday night at the Community
House.
-|-o-
ELECTION VOTE WAS 488,706
DEMOCBATS 289,688-
encountered in obtaining sufficient
Mexican labor to clear the land but
that has been overcome and the real
planting is now being made at the
rate .of more than fifty acres a day.
All of the cane grown on the orig-
inal 500 acres is being used for seed
for the new acreage and a perfect
stand seems to be now assured.
Plans for the new million dollar
sugar mill are completed and with
the cane acreage assured work on
the actual construction of the mill
will be commenced during the early
part of the year and completed in
time to grind the crop now being
planted. A refinery will also be
constructed and ready for operation
at the same time as the mill.
Mill Capacity 1500 Tons per Day.
The mill will have a capacity of
1500 tons per day or 133,000 tons for
the ordinary grinding season .of 90
days. The 3000 acres of cane planted
should yield an average of 30 tons
per acre or a total of 90,000 tons.
The estimated yield seems assured
by reason of the modern and effi-
cient electrically operated pumping
plant a full description of which,
was published in the Tribune a few
weeks ago. With this complete canal
system there will be no question
about always having an abundant
supply of water for irrigation which
is so necessary for the successful
growing .of sugar cane in the Valley.
A Big Proposition.
The Llano Grande Plantation is
the biggest proposition in this entire
section and one of the largest in
the country. More than 4000 acres
of the 7,400 acres comprised in the
plantation is now under actual cul-
tivation and nearly 1000 employees
are at present at work there. The
clearing of the balance of the land
(Continued on page 3)
Austin, Texas, Dec. 7.—A total of
488,706 presidential votes were cast
in Texas in the general election on
November 2, according to the offi-
cial announcement today by the sec-
retary of state. The vote was di-
vided, democratic 289,688; republican
115,640. The American Party, the
Blacvk and Tan republicans and the
socialists ranked in .order.
Austin, Tex., Dec. 6.—Excellent
condition of schools in the Rio
Grande Valley is reported by Miss
Annie Webb Blanton, superintendent
of public instruction, who today re-
turned from a visit to Donna, Wes-
laco, Mission and other towns in that
section of the state.
TRAFFIC TO MEXICO
VIA BROWNSNILLE
IS TOBE RESUMED
After being closed for more than
ten years railroad transportation in-
to Mexico cross the International
bridge at Brownsville is to be re-
sumed on January 1st. Definite an-
nouncement has been made to this
effect by C. W. Strain, General
Passenger Agent of the Gulf Coast
Lines, upon his return from Mexico
this week where the final negotia-
tions were concluded. Through Pull-
man service will be maintained be-
tween Houston and Tampico and also
to Mexico City without change of
cars. The route will be from Mata-
moros by way of Monterrey. Ten
Pullman coaches will be used be-
tween these points. Upper Valley
residents can cross the river at Hi-
dalgo, eight miles south of McAl-
len, and take the train at Reynosa.
Trains now leave Matamoros at 6:30
a. m. and arrive at Monterrey at 6
o’clock the same day but with the
installation of the new service this
time will be considerably shorten-
ed, in fact, it is believed that the
schedule will be less than eight hours
between these two points. An im-
mense tourist travel is forecasted
by the .opening of this gateway'. Not
the least important is'the resumption
of freight transportation through
this port.
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Hoyt, L. T. Mercedes Tribune (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 7, No. 43, Ed. 1 Friday, December 10, 1920, newspaper, December 10, 1920; Mercedes, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1017406/m1/1/: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.