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Show $86,000,000 Wrung From American Farmers DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IS POWERLESS . Food Administration Now Grappling With Mexican Government Profiteering Monopoly The price of binder itwine Is an important im-portant matter to the grain farmers of the United States. Interesting light on the reasons why it has soared to its present dizzy height Is contained con-tained in an Interview with Mr. Michael Mi-chael J. Smith at the firm of Hanson & Orth, fibre , merchants of New ' York City. "My firm has been in tho fibre bus- . Iness for a great many years, and until the fall of 131") was actively engaged en-gaged in the Importation from Yucatan Yuca-tan of Sisal Hemp, which .Is the .material .ma-terial out of which approximately 90 per cent of the binder twine used in the United States and jail .over the world is made. In September, 1915, General Salvador Salva-dor Alvarado, the military dictator of Yucatan, issued an edict proclaiming a government monopoly of the Sisal Hemp business of Yucatan, whien produces over 80 per cent of the world's sisal. .At that time the price of Sisal Hemp in the New York market mar-ket Was 6 1-4 rents nar nnn-nA n a were not available for binding it. Consequently the monopoly Is in a position to snap its fingers at the government of the United States, and to do exactly what it has done exact the payment of an unreasonable price for the sisal for the binder twine sup-Ply sup-Ply of the United States. ' In October, 1915, when the monopoly monop-oly grabbed the sisal business by the throat, there existed in Yucatan and in this country a great surplus of the article. The prospect of the enormous crops of 1916 led to the absorption ab-sorption of this surplus, but the disappointing dis-appointing 1916 crops caused enormous enorm-ous quantities of binder twine to be carried over into 19i7. Meantime another an-other accumulation of unsold hemp in Yucatan had taken place. , Therefore m 1917 there was not only an enormous enorm-ous stock of binder twine, and of raw material, but the price was maintained maintain-ed by the monopoly at the top notch figure in the history of the trade. Coming down to the present day with a price of 16 cents per pound for sisal, or about 300 per cent of its value before the monopoly was established, es-tablished, there is enough sisal to the United States and Yucatan today to bind a crop equal to what the 1917 crops were. Notwithstanding this the American farmer is un aeainst a 2.1 cents price for his binder twine which price the food administration has been forced by this (Mexican monopoly monop-oly to countenance. : Although the-price of sisalwas advanced ad-vanced nearly 300 per cent in the United Status by the monopoly, (and Is now maintained at more than 200 per cent in excess of Its pre-war value,) val-ue,) the unfortunate sisal farmers of Yucatan has not been paid by the profiteers a pflce high enough to even cover tho cost of production, and con-seqjently con-seqjently the plantations are deteriorating deterior-ating and are threatened with extinction. extinc-tion. Owtng to the military despot-Ism despot-Ism which has existed in Yucatan tht farmers there have been helpless. Those who endeavored to oppose the dictatorship of Alvarado were either forced to leave the country, rad their properties seized or were put in Jail. Although Ap.erlcan efforts to kill (he monopoly huve failed, the latest news from Yucatan indicates that the Unfortunate sisal farmers may help themselves.' Recently an association of sisal farmers, representing over 60 per cent of the production, succeeded suc-ceeded in getting an appeal before President Carranaa. They said that the monopoly was illegal because the ' contracts imposed by it were signed under duress; that the monopoly hnd not paid the farmers the money which It had contracted to pay. They also charged graft and the expenditure of huge sums for Socialistic propaganda In Mexico' and South America; also for the furthering of the aspirations i of Alvarado to be President of Mexico. Mexi-co. It also appeared that American agents of the I. W. V. were actively working in Yucatan with the Socialists. Social-ists. The appeal wound up by reciting recit-ing instances of outrage and assass ination which have gone unpunished, and which had their origin in the uories of advances which culminated In August, '117, the price was incrias-ed incrias-ed until it reached 19 1-4 cents per pound In New York. The price of binder bin-der twine necessarily followed emt . . The less than carload price of binder bin-der twine was as follows: Jn 7 3-4c per lb IniSi'"-'-"""-9 5-8c Per lb' . taw!!:::;;; 2cperib- The WfiWfiOO 'represented0 bTthis' advance have gone chiefly into the ' WIS YUCatan omental tTn8'1011 was T(rded by the 1 C,d .Sutatea "enate 48 8 serious that in the spring of 1916, 1'. instituted institut-ed an nqulry. A mass of testimony ,- was taken by a sub committee of the senate committee on agriculture, but a long delay ensued before this subcommittee sub-committee announced Its findings, which briefly stated were to the following fol-lowing effect: "That an oppressive monopoly exists ex-ists which holds in its grasp our importations im-portations of sisal, that it is costing the Amerienn farmers many millions - of dollars aHnually, and that the power pow-er held by this monopoly to fix the - prices regardless of the law of supply and demand Is most dangerous Th renate committee urged that the Department De-partment of Justh-e take such action , as the law and he facts warrant In view of Ihe fact that the American people are being forced to pay for one of the necessities of life many millions mil-lions more than tho fair value there-, there-, of, the committee referred the matter to the state department with the suggestion sug-gestion that it be taken up through diplomatic channels to see If some measure of relief could not be ob-tainel. ob-tainel. The committee also urged the farmers of the country to make every effirt to find a suitable substitute for eisal." . . In 1917 the United States Depart-. Depart-. ment of Justice Instituted a suit t ' against the Yucatan monopoly, claim ing that it was in contravention of the antl monopoly laws of the Unit-. Unit-. ed States. The hearing of this suit also draeged, but in 'August. 1918, . Judge Hough gave a decision adverse - t the Department of Justice. ' ' " The food administration has been struggling with this monopoly for some time past, but the Mexicans are! jware that the grain crops cf the! United StatVs vr?,,,'l - be thrci;tvn(l i with total loss If sisal from Yuc!"ai ' ngnt ror the slsai business. President Carransa has promised an Investigation. If he makes it the way may be opened for the deliverance deliver-ance of the American grain farmer from the exactions of a vicious foreign for-eign monopoly. Every farmer In the country should do what he can to help himself and the food administration In this serious seri-ous matter." Note This article Is issued by Hanson & Orth. Hemp Merchants, 27 Cedar Street, New York, N. Y., who vouch for the accuracy of the state ffientB contained therein. ' |