Salt Lake Tribune | 1918-03-10 | Page 3 | Stewart Accuses Commission Men

.STEM AMES S coiffloi men Cleaning Up $40,000,000 a Year on Wool Contracts, He Says. WASHINGTON; March 9. S. W. MeCluro of Salt Lake, secretary of the National Woolgrowers' association, charged before tho senate agricultural committee today that the Boston wool dealers prevented tho growers from getting money in Boston to finance their organization ami that they finally final-ly got it in Chicago with the aid of tho Union stockyards. Ho denied, however, how-ever, that the meat packers were interested in-terested in the association, which is a marketing organization. J. A. Oelfelder of Eiverton, Wyo., urging measures to reduce destruction of "sheep, declared a million sheep were 'destroyed every year by dogs, wolves coyotes. r C. B. Stewart, seeretarj' of the Utah r Woolgrowers' association, declares that i the wool commission men in Boston have been cleaning up $-10,000,000 a year from the government and the wool producers of the' country through their manipulations of tho wool market. Mr. Stewart charges that the commission com-mission men of Boston prevented the woolgrowers from raising money in Boston to finance the National "Wool Warehouse & Storage company and plant, by means of which the wool producers pro-ducers hoped-to eliminate tho speculation specula-tion and enormous profits of the speculators spec-ulators in the wool trade. He states that the wool producers were forced to go to the packers in Chicago to get the money to finance the warehouse and that "they got tho money, though the packers, he declared, are not interested in the concern further than this. "The ' woolgrowers," Mr. Stewart said, "realizing the necessity of eon-trolling eon-trolling their own marketing organization organiza-tion if they were to make money on woolgrowing", decided to build the National Na-tional Wool Warehouse & Storage plant and organize a company composed com-posed only of woolgrowers. When they attempted to obtain money in Boston, however, they found every effort balked by the commission men. It was found necessary to go to Chicago for the money. "The plant was built, however, and proved a huge success. A branch plant will soon be built in Salt Lake. By opposing the plant the commission men endeavored to stop the woolgrowers from dealing directly with the government, govern-ment, which is purchasing tho greater part of the wool. They were paying woolgrowers from 25 cents to 50 cents abound for their wool, while they sold to the government and to private 'r concerns at prices ranging from 55 to 70 cents, some of them making more than 100 per cent, and were holding the government up. Not only did they make such demands of the government, Vbut they discourage production by the very unfair, prices to the woolgrowers."