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Show Valley Growers Slow ! In Signing Contracts Less Than 2,500 Acres Contracted for and Officials Declare Plant Will Be Idle Unless Tonnage Is Guaranteed. A mass meeting of the farmers of the Gunnison " valley and the business men and Others interested interest-ed In beet growing in the Gunnison Gunni-son valley, will be held at the Relief Re-lief Society hall tomorrow (Saturday) (Satur-day) evening', beginning at 8 o'clock. This will be one of the most important meetings ever held in the city, and it is imperative that every beet grower and "booster" be present. All want the sugar factory to run, and if beets are not supplied it will close for this year. Be there strong. Will the beet growers and farmers of this valley support the distribution distribu-tion of more than a half a million dollars in this section by maintaining maintain-ing and supporting the Gunnison Valley Sugar company "with sufficient products to run the million-dollar factory, pr will they close up one of the big industries and. one that will eventually make the valley one of the greatest in the state? These are two' vital questions that are not only concerning the factory officials, but every business man and every farmer in the valley. Since President W. Harvey Ross made the beet growers of the valley, an offer of $6 a ton for beets, on a basis that 5,500 acres be planted, just about half of the amount has been signed for. At a meeting at the company's offices of-fices yesterday and when a report was read by the field men, it was found that only 2.295 acres had been signed for. Of the amount already signed Gunnison valley, north of Axtell, had signed for 600 acres,, about one-third less, than that signed last year. "We have exhausted our ability at persuasion, and it looks rather bad for a campaign for this year," said President Ross to a News man just before his departure for :SaltLake yesterday. "We have our money invested in-vested and we have played square with the growers of the. valley in every way. We have made concessions conces-sions that no other factory in the state has made. We have given bonuses, bo-nuses, paid prices, given free pulp and done everything we possibiy could. But there is an evident inclination in-clination on the part of the growers to regard the matter with little anxiety. anx-iety. We have decided that we will accept contracts and of course we want to see the factory go through with the present campaign. But if we cannot get sufficient beets the factory fac-tory will not run, and next year the farmers can draw their own conclusions conclu-sions as to what will result. "Owing to the unsettled conditions regarding the beet contracts, every I man at the factory has been laid off. This will be effective until a final de-! de-! cision is made. We had just started Ion improvement work at the factory. ' entailing a cost of $70,000. The. I money that (ho company intended to expend in improvements will not be circulated should the company bo forced to ship their beets to some other factory for grinding. "Clarion will be included in the j factory district while the beets j grown, if any, at Westview, will be delivered at the Extension station. Regarding the situation on the west side the eompany will willingly and gladly co-operate in building a short cut road from that district, making the haul from Clarion two miles I shorter. The beets at Mellor and Hayes stations will be delivered at Fayette. This will leave but two inland in-land stations Iwhich the company will operate in the future, being the Extension station and Fayette. "When the offer of $6 for the beets of Gunnison was made it was with the view that a concession was being be-ing made. Since agreements have been reached in the northern beet growing section we find that the Gunnison Gun-nison valley fanners received about 50 cents a ton better than the northern north-ern growers. This has been admit- ' ted by state farm bureau officials who have looked into. the situation in this valley. We have made concessions no other company has, and we are always willing to meet the growers more than half way, and if we have the co-operation of all interested in the running of the factory everybody will come out winners." Before Mr. Ross left he announced his intention of leaving for the cast to confer with the company officials at Chicago. When the sugar factory was erect- ' ed in the valley some four years ago ' its building was heralded all over the West. The time of building was during dur-ing the period of depression, as was the first and second campaigns. That j period of depression has not entirely passed with the company. Not in one instance has the company met cur-i cur-i rent expenses. An important meeting of every man in the valley, whether a beet grower, business man, stockman, or capitalist, will be held at the Relief Society hall tomorrow (Saturday) evening. The meeting will be called promptly at S o'clock. At this time the important question will he studied stu-died from all phases. Gunnison valley val-ley needs the sugar factory and the factory needs every beet that can be grown throughout the Gunnison valley val-ley in order to make the big instituV tion a success and to insure its operation. |