The Collapse of the Hop Corner
Ezra Meeker breaks a massive market manipulation scheme that threatened to hold Pacific Coast hop farmers hostage.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Ezra Meeker, the father of the hop industry in the state of Washington, is in good spirits regarding the improved outlook for the crop. The financial stringency and the scant supply are counter forces, but Meeker & Co. has secured the authority to make advances to growers. Until this moment, there was a 'corner' on all the hops of the Coast, amounting to approximately 100,000 bales. The combine planned to take advantage of the financial stringency, keeping money away from producers to compel them to sell at 10 to 12 cents per pound. Meeker succeeded in breaking a hole in the combine, which allowed the market to stabilize. With the European crop 100,000 bales short, this move secures the ability of Pacific Northwest farmers to sell their product at fair market rates.
“Had it been successful, the combine would have realized $4,000,000 on the turn.”
This 1893 financial struggle over the control of Washington's agricultural output mirrors modern concerns regarding corporate consolidation in the food supply chain and the volatility of global commodity markets. Ezra Meeker's role as a powerful intermediary fighting 'combines' reflects a classic civic battle over who profits from the land: the person who harvests it or the entity that controls the credit.
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