Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1858-05-27
From the Baltimore American of the 22d
THE GRAIN INSPECTION LAW

MEssRs. ED1ToRs.-ln your yesterdays ere
port for the Baltimore markets it is said "there
were sold 1000 bushels ofred wheat at "a cents
(which would very readily have sold at one dol
lar if it had not been ordered to be sold under
the new law" I have no knowledge as to the
manner in which these reports are procured for
your paper, or by whom made up. But hay
ing obtained accurate information in regard to
the parcel of wheat alluded to, think you will
be satisfied on learning the aolole truth that the
report is not calculated to put the reader in pcs
session of it. The facts are these The wheat
arrived in schooner of Captain Taylor, from
Chester River, was inspected and sold by the
commission merchant at what was considered
by him fair price. After the sale another
gentleman, looking at the wheat, said if the
wheat had not been inspected he would have
given dollar for it. The purchaser weighed
the wheat after the inspectors weight and found
it by his scales less of weight than the inspec-
tor made it. He then had another to weigh it
with the same result. 1t followed as a matter
of course that the farmer gained by the inspec-
ton the difference in the weight, which in this
case amounted in the one thousand bushels to
three bushels and a hail. This much then was
saved to the farmer in this particular case and
yet the report above quoted makes no mention
of this item in the history of that sale.
But another suggestion grows out of that re-
port. Why should any sane man be willing to
give five or six cents more for particular par
Gel of wheat or corn because it has OF. has not
been pronounced upon by an inspector? It
most certainly cannot advance or lessen the &C
tual value of the article If to be ground into
flour by the purchaser, he will not find it make
a pound more or less of -four, or effect its quail
ity in any respect; if for shipment it will not
effect its price abroad for good or for evil Why
then is more offered for it? Men generally act
from motive Mercantile men-dealers in grain
are like all others-have motives for their con-
duct 1t seems they can afford to give large
price to prevent inspection. No one will i'm
pute to them the folly of pursuing ruinous
system of doing business. Well, how then can
this sort Of trade be reconcled to their sagacious
conceptions of their own interests Why clear
drawn from inspection, the inspectors will be
starved out, as their living depends entirely up
on the profits of inspection. If their perquisites
are so reduced that they must resign and return
to the country or to other pursuits. why, then
the law is a dead letter for the want of persons
to administer it; and if it break down now there
is an end of all hope for the future
Let farmers be ON their guard then. If the
law is against the interest of the buyer, it is be-
cause it is for the interest Of the seller. Give it
trial. If defects exist, as is usually the case
in all new enterprises, then remedy them. It
is the first experiment Of a law for the benefit
of the farmer. 1t operates well elsewhere It
is the law in Philadelphia. Instances have oc-
Cured of parcels of grain being divided, and
part sent to Philadelphia and part from the
same bulk sent to Baltimore, and invariably the
weights and measures in Philadelphia have been
more favorable to the farmer. It is an unequal
game between the widely dispersed members of
the agricultural family and the concentrated
body of grain buyers in city, but the contest
is now fragrant, and let every farmer stand by
his brotherhood and his own best interest at
all euents try 1t. A FARMER