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Show , BUREAU HOLDS UP ; COWTRflCT SIGNING Sugar Beet Growers De J mand Time to Consider Conditions Offered - IS TEST OF STRENGTH Organization Intends to , Take Stand in Defense of Farmers of County Special to The Tribune. OGDEJT Dec 11 Unless the Amal I gamated Sugar company acts in direct opposition to the wishes of the "Weber County Farm bureau no more contracts for 1916 beet acreage will be 6 gned in nnd sputed d stncts of th s terr tory until the growers have had t me to con s der and pass on the two forms of con tracts that are being presented th s year Such is the result of act on ta i ken by d rectors of the bureau who at tendea a special meeting here this aft t ernoon In the fact of oppos tion from a rep resentat ve of the con pany and even some of the bureau directors them selve a majority of the central body took a firm stand on the quest on. The proposit on has to do with the flat rate and sliding scale prices offered by the company for sugar beets to be grown next year and several arguments were presented against the bureau attempt lug to act on the question th s year Accord ng to D D McKay pres dent and others of the bureau it was the cruc al test of the new organiza tion s ability to have a part and take a stand m matters pertaining to the welfare of farmers of Weber county It may develop that the organization will not suggest changes in the con tracts but according to the off cers the action taken today places the bu reau in the position of having de manded recogn t on Was Oversight On the part of the sugar company it was argued that the failure to take into considerat on the farm bureau or its committee on sugar beets when the new contracts were drawn up was purely an overs ght and not intended as a re buke to the organ zation J F Barton a f eld superintendent represented the company at the meeting It was in a spirit of fa rness to the company that the bureau d d not re quest the discontinuance of s gning con tracts in so called disputed territory Mr Barton issued notice to the diree tors that his company would under no cons deration cease s gning beet sugar acreage in the southern and western sections of the county where competi tive companies are now taking growers who formerly have grown beets for the Amalgamated In order that the local companv be put to no disad antage in compet tion with other companies, the privilege of s gn ng contracts in those disputed ter ntonea was granted The bureau gave addit onal protection to the malga mated companv bv pledging its mem bers not to sign beet contracts with any other company pending the outcome of consideration of the new contracts Bue to the importance of the ques t on and the fact that other companies are seeking to take growers away from the Amalgamated e ery director at tending today s meet ng was nstruct ed to call a meeting of all the beet growers in h s d str ct at once The quest on of the new contracts w 11 then be put up to the growers themselves and the d rectors nstructed as to the stand they desire h m to take A spec al meet ng of the central bureau w ll be held in th s c ty neit Saturday alter noon at 2 o cloc c to detern ne the f nal dec s on of the bureau in the matter No cons deration was given to the form of beet contracts when the beet ind stry comm ttee of the b rcau met with representatives of the sugar com gany several days ago accord ng to W Hunter county comm s oner and chairman of the comm ttee He sa d the company had agreed to present two con tracts one pro iding for a flat rate of $; per ton beets on board cars at load ing stat ons or delivered to the factory the other providing for a si d ng scale depend ng upon sacchar ne content The latter contract, he sa d was ideut cal with that offered th 8 3 ear by the Utah Idaho bugar con pany Mr H n ter told of the mprovements wh ch the company had proposed to make Other Questions Discussed , Several Quest ons perta n nD to dates of beet del ver es load ng a d p ng were d scuseed when Mr Barton representa tive of the sugar company was asked to speak to the d rec ors After dispos ng of hese subjects he exp alned the con tracts offered the farmers this vear He did not hes tate to b and the s Id ngr scale of the Utah Idaho compan con ract as offering the growers noth ng lou will notice that only under cer a n condit ons the compan wl 1 give something said Mr Barton, and the pnnc pal rea on for putting out a contract of th s kind s so the company wont ha e to give an thing T e sect on referred o by the company representative is that in wh ch the com pany w pay 10 cents add t onal per ton tor beets averaging 15 50 to 15 39 per cent saccharine flnd an nn im hut em payment w 1 be made accord ng to the contract, onlv In the e ent that congress siall pro Ide by law that the dut on imported sugar eftec ve until May 1 1'18 shall be ma nta ned without reduc t on for an add tional period of at least one 3 ear Mr Barton explained that under the flat rate contract the grower is guaran teed $5 per ton If h s beets contain 12 per cent saccharine whl e under the s id ng scale he w1 l not get Jo nless his beets ana yze 15 per cent. Under this contract Mr Barton said he stood small chance of gett ng more and might get ess than $5 Denies Slap at Bureau In replj to quest ons from Mr McKay the company representative den ed that the s gn ng of contracts at this t me was a s ap at the bureau He added that the company would be glad to hear from the organization on the subject It was then that he argued for the immediate act on due to the in aslon of Amalga mated territon on the west and south J R. Beus. director from Hooper and Mr McKay declared hat the company had not in the past seemed to want to meet with the farmers col ectlvely and for this reason a spirit of antagonism had grown up It was their desire, they said to meet with the company on a bus ness bas s weigh the points at Issue and decide In fairness to both sides. Mr McKay said The mere question of what form the contracts shall take may not make a part c e of difference Tbe thing is this That Weber county will never be what It ought to be until the su gar company and the farmers work together Then If Hooper Plain City or any other d strict goes ahead and takes some act on Independent of the ba ance of the countv that die tr ct Is to be blamed The company will make friends among the farm ers by saying We will give jou a chance to make jour posit on clear To Be Held in Abejance The Issue had been under d sc salon for more than two hours when T R Jones a d rector from Ogden val es offered a motion that the compan be requested to cease s gning beet contracts until the directors could get an expression from individual growers in their dlstricta The motion was later amended to exclude the d sputed districts and the pledge that no farmers shou d s gn contracts until after this express on had been obta ned was added The motion prevailed without a ; A though there were several other Im portant matters to be aken up at the - meeting these were postponed until the I next meeting as most of the afternoon had. been devoted to the sugar beet I problems |