The Northwest Flour Trust Proposal

A movement has been on foot to organize a trust among the millers of Oregon and Washington, but it seems to have fallen through. It is estimated that about 90 per cent of the total output of all flouring mills in the northwest goes to the markets of the Orient. Millers claim that heretofore flour has been delivered in China for $2.75 per barrel, about the same price charged here. The theory on which the trust scheme is based is this: prices at home are satisfactory, but millers seek better prices in the Orient. By forming a trust, they hope to raise prices abroad and stop ruinous competition among themselves. The promoter, James Barnes Jr. of Boston, has canvassed all millers in Oregon and Washington, proposing that each miller sell to the trust in exchange for half the property value in cash and half in stock. L. T. Bragg, the Colfax miller, told a Gazette representative: 'I would rather not pay anything until I hear something more definite. Millers generally now think it is all a fake, but the organizer promised to let us know by July first.' Proponents argue that if prices rise in the Orient, millers could pay more for wheat, benefiting the local producer.