Mercedes News-Tribune (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 37, Ed. 1 Friday, September 26, 1930 Page: 2 of 12
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1
MERCEDES NEWS-TRIBUNE
Page 2
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1930
FARMING AND COOPERATIVE MARKETING
1
set about their farm tariff and the
iness in 1664-65.
9
\,
The Time Is Here
Only 4 More Days
The Proof Is Here
VAV
NN
ATURALLY you want every penny
6
g
Call Us Today
Telephone 339
♦
Cooperative
Selling Agents for
1
Q^Iercedes, Texas
MERCEDES, TEXAS
4
2,
Export Of Valley
Citrus Hampered
By Smaller Crop
Meaning Of Borah-
Summers Bill To
Rio Grande Valley Citrus
Growers Association
Development Shown
In Citrus Growing,
State Of Nueva Leon
i
I
organization which is grower owned and grower controlled, in which each
member has an equal vote in selecting officers and determining policies,
and which cannot be dominated by any one individual, and which returns
to its members all monies received for produce above the actual cost of
operation.
I
I
Some organizations make a big showing on the net returns per
box, and yet the orchard run returns have been in some instances, as
small as half as much as that received when the grower was a member
of the Rio Grande Valley Citrus Growers Association.
Much has been said up and down the Valley each year about the
price per box returned to the grower, and while the Citrus Association
has obtained as good or better net returns per box, yet the grower is
chiefly interested in the net returns for his entire season’s crop—and here
is where the Association has proven its merit.
-----------------------------------)------------
Problem Of Farm
Relief Since The
War More Acute
MERCEDES COOPERATIVE ASSOCIATION
RIO GRANDE VALLEY CITRUS GROWERS ASSOCIATION
Solution Is Difficult and
Not Easily At-
, tained
In just four more days citrus begins moving from the Association
plant. You will want to market some of your fruit early so join
today!
California V edetable
Union
If you are not taking advantage of the opportunities offered by
the Rio Grande Valley Citrus Growers/Association and the Mer-
cedes Cooperative Association you should do so today. x
I
[Mercedes
Association
I
3
* A
Shipments To Foreign
Countries Not Yet
Likely
A HERE is a demand for
Rio Grande Valley Vegetables, but the nor-
thern buyers want to know what they are
getting and will not pay the price unless they
do.
possible for yourfruit and vegetables, and in order to get this there
is only one sure way—market through the cooperatives. This
will insure you
RUE COOPERATIVE MARKETING is only Obtained through an
Satisfaction
deal possible this season. Don’t wait!
I
Fraternally yours,
’DR. E. G. SMITH.
--2
--Let’s Go
The shipping season is here. Fruit is being picked and placed in
the curing rooms preparatory to shipment October 1. You cannot afford
to wait any longer if you are interested in receiving the best marketing
The shipper who is interested only in
“His” profit does not need to watch his pack,
for regardless of what he pays the farmers,
his profit is the same. The cooperative is
interested only in the income to the farmers
because the association makes no profit. In
order to insure a just price for our members
the association has established a quality pack
which it maintains and in this way is fast
establishing a steady market at a premium
price.
In a very short time we will be in the
midst of the shipping season. Everything is
in readiness for going ahead at our shed.
We will have a few more members added be-
fore the । season begins-—but, not many—so
if you are interested ....
any and all violations of price agree-
ments and then compel the city buy-
ers to pay. That is what the tariff
on imports and strict organization
enable shoe manufacturers to do;
that is what organized labor does in
all the skilled work which its mem-
bers deliver to the community. But
when all the farmers organize thus
and set their own prices, say 50 per
cent higher than the present rate,
bread, milk, shoes and clothes will
simply raise in price everywhere';
and the majority of people who now
live in the cities will demand of the
government that it serve the pur-
pose of democracy and cease its fa-
voritism to farmers.
Everybody cannot be favorites,
and promptly the beneficiaries of
the system which has been building
these hundred years will return to
their privileged position. Organized
The second method of making! .
farmers prosperous is to show them l Shipments of Fruit And
how to set their own prices, punish | Vegetables To Be
Affected
only in its infancy in the lower Rio
Grande Valley. Some Valley can-
ned grapefruit probably will be ex-
ported this year, and there seems to
be very splendid prospects for an
export trade in this product as the
production increases.
straps, that all classes might be
aided by all'classes; that no class
needed to be poor, as if poverty
were not necessary to riches. Un-
der the accumulating weight of these
The citrus growing industry in
the Montemorelos district of the
State of Nueva Leon and at other
points along the line of the Na-
tional Railways of Mexico between
Monterery and Tampico is showing
a rapid development. It is estimat-
ed that a total of more than 1,200
carloads of oranges will be shipped
from Montemorelos and adjacent lo-
calities during the season, which
opens about the middle of Septem-
ber. This will mean an increase of
approximately 500 carloads over last
season’s shipments.
Due to the fact that there is a
quarantine against the shipment of
citrus fruits from Mexico into the
United States, the bulk of the ex-
ports from Montemorelos are to
Canada, where there is a ready mar-
ket. The domestic consumption of
the fruit is large, and the demand
===---====o=
York being stabilized, the overplus
must be destroyed. The farmers
must follow the same philosophy. It
may not' help us, but every states-
man of 1930 ought to know that all
■
(From New York Times Magazine)
(Continued from last week)
With the coming of peace and the
failure of the United States to enter
the concert of nations, which alone
promised some remedy for the an-
cient, and now terrible, ills of Amer-
ican farmers, the industrial leader-
ship was restored to power. They
had learned nothing; privileged
groups have never been able to
learn. And President Harding simp-
ly set back the hands of the clock
—raised tariff rates so that Euro-
peans could not buy American farm
products, sustained the Wilson trans-
portation act in the hope of guaran-
teeing profits to railway owners
and wages to railway workers, and
maintained the policy under the
Webb law whereby American asso-
ciations of business men might cap-
ture the trade of the world, which
would still further) weaken the pow-
er of Europe to pay debts—all the
while lecturing Europe about their
wicked armaments, their vicious pa-
yer money and their dole systems.
The clock continued to strike the
hours and Hading’s successors con-
tinued to think that the United
States could continue to sell and not
buy, continue to collect debts and
at the same time weaken the re-
sources of the (ebtor nations.
But the farmers were in worse
plight than they had ever been; only
the declining rate of immigratioil
enabled the broken farmers and
farmers’ sons to find employment in
the cities. The arm population was
now definitely less than half of the
whole, and farm leaders cast about
desperately to control the politics of
the majority vhich they ha l never
been able to control when they were
in the majority. But industry, fi-
nance, transportation and labor were
all prosperous. Why was the farm-
er* broken and helpless? Something
mtst be done. It was 1928.
Mr. Smith promised to solve the
1 problem. His manager promised
also not to lower the tariff protec-
tion to privileged business. Mr.
Hoover promised to aid the farmer.
He also promised to aid all those
' classes which had been aided at the
expense of the farmer. He thought
« a nation could lift itself by its boot-
The only reason for low prices on Valley
vegetables is poor pack. Even with our
high quality produce it is impossible to fool
the dealers into buying haphazard packed
and graded vegetables. Uniformity of qual-
ity must prevail if we' are to get a just price
and market our produce profitably to the
producer.
industry and organized labor and
organized finance will simply re-
vert to the now threatened, order;
and the farmers /who have been be-
fuddled and slowly reduced to the
verge of peasantry will simply face
their future and take their medicine.
There is one possible laternative.
***
VI—The Alternative
There is one alternative, and that
reeds to be considered, as doubtless
the members of the Farm Board
have considered it: After all the
leading groups of farmers shall
have been duly organized and sup-
ported by the government, there will
appear great wheat growers, cotton
planters and stock raisers; or these
may organize into great farm cor-
porations. These will obtain the
best tracts of land, set forest trees
on their less valuable areas, - supply
themselves with farm machinery
and engage laborers who can hard?
ly be allowed to organize. These
will be the planters of the new sys-
tem, great men and great estates
like those of South Carolina and
Mississippi in 1860. *
Such men might control plantings,
fix prices, hold their (own against
industrialist organizations and main-
tain high tariffs against foreign
competitors. They would then en-
ter the association of industrialists
and financiers and have their prop-
er shape in social and economic con-
trol. But that would mean day and
week workers all over the farm dis-
tricts or share tenantry for the bet-
promises the members of Congress' these devices were tried and proved T/ g • A • ।
failures in the Virginia tobacco bus- Varketne 6IV H
. (From the Kansas City Packer)
The Borah-Summers Bill, the new
fruit and vegetable marketing act,
now in effect, gives the Secretary
of Agriculture at Washington, or to
men under his jurisdiction, author-
ity not even possessed by the courts.
Under it powers are granted, going
far beyond anything heretofore
dreamed of. Briefly, the Bill gives
the Secretary of Agriculture author-
ity to go into the records of any
firm engaged in the inter-state hand-
ling of perishable fruits and/vege-
tables where a complaint has been
made, and if it is found, according
to the judgment of the Secretary, or
of those working under him to
whom he may delegate authority
that wrong doing has been prac-
ticed, he may withdraw a license and
thereafter the party complained
about would be out of business.
Heretofore, parties, having a com-
plaint pould go to the court and the
court would apply the remedies,
giving judgment if warranted, or if
Mr. Legge was not Walter Page.
He saw the real cause; he even had
the courage to tell the assembled
business men of the country in
Washington last Spring what the
matter was. He procured great
gifts from Congress to stabilize the
prices of wheat and cotton, as the
prices sof reapers and shoes, beef
and clothes were stabilized in every
city of the country. The warehouse-
men and the millers, the cotton fac-
tors of the South and the produce
gamblers in New York must yield;
the buyers of wheat and cotton in
Liverpool and Antwerp must pay
prices which he would set. The
world must obey the Farm Board.
It was a noble conception in so
far as purpose was concerned; it
was utterly futile in so far as eco-
nomics were concerned. The price
of wheat fell; the price of cotton
could not be kept up. And Con-
gress, after a year of group bar-
gaining, after the manner of 1928,
enacted a tariff which would help
Mr. Legge. But the tariff, ap-
proved at last by Mr. Hoover, hard-
ly stayed the downward trend of
farm prices for a day; it was the
occasion of a crash in Wall Street,
where men were already dizzy un-
der the long and arduous effort to
maintain “American standards of
living for all” and vast profits for
most.
At the present moment, jneither
Mr. Hoover, nor Congress, nor even
the herculean Mr. Legge, has solved
the farm problem, which began
a hundred years ago and became a
burden and a danger in 1928. Is it
possible to make all classes rich at
the same time and keep them so?
It is not possible; but the govern-
ment must try to. accomplish the
impossible or confess failure—a dan-
gerous confession.
And the means which they must
try are somewhat as follows: Or-
ganize all the wheat growers into a
vast federation like the Federation
of Labor; do the like for the cotton
growers and the rest. When these
organizations are complete, the
amount of plantings must be strict-
ly limited, for in the United States
there is arable and fertile land
enough to feed and clothe the whole
world. When the Commission Mer-
chants’ Association of New York
finds it has an oversupply of vege-
tables on the market, the vegetables
are simply thrown into the river.
The price of vegetables in New
the industry from a far reaching
standpoints
It is to be presumed that the law
"was not passed primarily to punish
any one, but to force a house clean-
ing upon those who could be induced
under the threat to clean up and to
put out of business entirely that
class of operators beyond the possi-
bility of redemption.
is far greater than the present sup-
ply. Many new orchards of orange,
grapefruit and lemon trees have
been planted during the last few
years and these are now just com-
ing into bearing.
It was more than 35 years ago
that the growing of citrus fruits
on a commercial scale was started
in the Montemorelos district. The
first large orchard was set out by
Col. J. A. Robertson, who promoted
and built the Monterrey & Mexico
Gulf railroad, which is now a part of
the National Railways of the Mex-
ican system.
a criminal act, the offender would
be punished. But courts cannot put
people out of business except by put-
ting them in jail. But now the
wrong doers can be put out of busi-
ness.
While appeals to the court are
permissible, yet that kind of pro-
ceeding means a long drawn out af-
fair with lots of expense attached,
combined with appeals from one
court to another and possibly an at-
tack on the Borah-Summers Bill on
constitutional grounds.
The Bill was passed, backed by
conscientious motives, and designed
to clean up and rid the industry of
evil, vicious practices. It had the
support of a very large number of
operators connected with the indus-
try. . They believe that if the law
'stands a constitutional test, and if
the authority granted to the Depart-
ment of Agriculture is exercised
cautiously, that its operation will
prove of untold benefit to the indus-
try.
There is a’ feeling that before
very long some aggrieved party will
bring legal proceedings to test the
validity of the law on constitutional
grounds. It may, therefore, be ex-
pected that in , its enforcement the
Department will be exceedingly cau-
tious as to the rendering of decisions
and the taking away of licenses,
for first of all, there will not be a
desire to work a hardship unjustly
upon any one, and secondly, it is
plain to be seen that an unjust, un-
reasonable decision might give
grounds for a constitutional attack
On the law itself.
With these things in mind the
trade has the assurance that where
complaints are made against any
one there will be no condemnation
and there will be no punishment
awarded until a complete hearing is
had; bringing out all of the facts
relating to both sides of a contro-
versy.
Of course, it is believed by many
that the big benefits that will ac-
crue from the enforcement of the
law will come from the influence of
it more than through the actual op-
erations of it. That is to say, a
man who might ordinarily be tempt-
ed to take advantage of others in
his business operations will be re-
strained from doing so, becuse of
the probable punishment that would
face him. It may be, therefore, that
those who have heretofore been
turning down cars where there is
no actual excuse, except that the
market was off or who may have
been shipping cars of junk for first
class goods and representing them
as such, will mend their ways be-
cause they will be afraid of the op-
eration of the Borah-Summers Bill.
If so, the effects of such restraint
should prove very wholesome to
ter laborers—the system under
which feudal Europe lived for half
a thousand years.’
When such associations of master
farmers made their peace with the
other great associations in Ameri-
can economic life the organizations
of industrial workers would be com-
pelled to yield their high price, high
wage system. There might be com-
moition in the cities. But in /the
end the city workers would be com-
pelled to give up their “American
standard of living/’ as the farm
workers would likewise be compelled
to give up theirs, saving always the
possibility of general birth control
by the poor as by the rich—but this
raises other and equally serious
problems which it is not th© pro-
vince of the historian to diSCUSs.
If Mr. Hoover and Mr. Legge
really mean to solve the farm prob-
lem, they might as well face the
grave facts of economic and social
evolution through which the Unit-
ed, States. has passed and frankly
say to themselves, if not the country,
that widespread, wholesale and dras-
tic changes must be made. The time
has come for statecraft, and state-
craft is the most difficult of all arts
and philosophies.
---------o----------
CARD OF THANKS
As we travel down life’s pathway
we come to the' place we must say
goodby to our friends and loved
ones. That time came to me Septem-
ber 8 when my dear companion bade
me goodby and I could not go with
her any longer. “We came to the
parting of the ways” as it comes
to everyone sooner or later. I want
to thank each and everyone who had
any part directly or indirectly in
assisting us in our time of need.
Kind words, deeds and floral offer-
ings were all so nice. We shall nev-
er forget our friends and words can-
not express our thanks. So may the
richest blessings be with all.
farm board began its travels, al-
ready referred to.
• 1. The full value of your product.
2. . Everything above cost returned to you.
3. No middle man profit.
4. Lowest operating costs.
5. Best packs, assuring excellent prices-.
According to a report recently re-
ceived by 'Ernest L. Tutt, district
manager of the United States de-
partment of commerce at Houston,
from Benjamin J. Wilson, the de-
partment’s representative at Galves-
ton, this year will see very little ef-
fort towards exporting Texas grape-
fruit. )
Mr. Wilson has just completed a
personal survey of the Texas citrus
section in lower Rio Grande Valley,
interviewing grapefruit shippers, ex-
changes and cooperative associations,
growers and government officials lo-
cated in the lower Rio Grande Val-
ley section. The consensus of opin-
ion, Mr. Tutt said, is that the crop
will be smaller than that of last
year, although it is quite possible
that shipments will total about the
same, because a part of last year’s
crop was destroyed after the freeze.
Estimates vary from 50 per cent to
80 per cent of last year’s produc-
tion. "
The United States department of
commerce devotes" *a considerable
portion of its activities to the pro-
motion of foreign trade. Offices
are maintained in more than 60 of
the principal foreign markets " and
the department has one trade com-
misioner traveling throughout Eu-
rope, who devotes his entire time
to furthering the sale of American
citrus fruit. This trade commis-
sioner, G. E. Luebbene, made a trip
through the Valley* last December,
just before returning to Europe.
Many of the Rio Grande Valley
grapefruit shippers have expressed
interest in export markets for the
reason that they believe such an out-
let will be useful, through not en-
tirely essential, when ’the Valley’s
production reaches the quantities ex-
pected within the next few years.
This applies also to canned grape-
fruit, the production of which is
" Telephone 365 and one of
our representatives will call.
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Prince, A. E. Mercedes News-Tribune (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 17, No. 37, Ed. 1 Friday, September 26, 1930, newspaper, September 26, 1930; Mercedes, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1571607/m1/2/: accessed July 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.