, 1874-01-08
THE GRAlN-TRADE.
Evils Of Our Present System Of Weighing
mud Inspection.

TO the fuifor ~ The Chtc0oo Tribune:
SIN: havo road with much intorost tho MT
nerous artio1oa In your columns on tho inspoc-
tton and weighing Of grain into and ont OF our
Chicago elevators. While an Of them havo boon
written III tho right direction, thlnlt you might
hayo hit tho nail uttla more aquaroly on tho
head in many caacH. Noarly all Of those articles
havo intimatcd that wo havc an incompetent
systom Of inspection, aud lave expressed por-'
ton Of the great dissatisfaction that ia folt at
the way in which tho grain interest Is manlpu-
latod and controlled by tile Elevator Hing Of
this city.
Thoro can DO no''doubt that our .syssems Of
Weighing aud inspecting :
| ARE RADICALLY WRONG. '-'
It is oyidout to every man who la q competent
| judge Of grain and knows anything about the
business. It sooms, too, to be confessed that
| tho operation Of tho system will not boar close
watching. it VIC may judge by the recent State
prosecution Of u man who waB employed by tho
owner OF parcel Of grain to look after hiB ill.,
torosts.
1t was undoubtedly proper, In apolitical aenso,
TINT our Chief Inspector OF Grain should state
III his recent annual report TINT tho prosent sys-
tom Of inspection ia great aucceas. and growing
in popularity throughout tho country. OF
courao, It is expected Of every political
appointeo TINT he shall magnify his Office, as
we'll as himself, 30 ~ to glorify tho appointing
power by implication. This is generally necoa-
sary to reappointnont in which tho business
is.apt to pan out worso than at, first.
| boldly venture the asaortioh and can sub
etantiato 1t by tho unanimous testimony of moo
who ought to know, TINT tho grain trade Of our
city has suffered u loss Of
NOT 1Ess THAN $4,000 BUSHELS DAILY;
l xt-I.-
tom Of inspection, combined with the elevator
management, to say nothing about tito deterio-
ration in quality Of tho grain IL passes through
tho elevator ,oitlot mixing Of. gradoa (so saYs
the law).
milwaukee, wllonr is 81 mined to bo bottor than
Chicago wheat OF tho same grade; and why
Tho inspector, warohousomen, aud their friends,
| may say 1t IL because Milwaukee gets better
wheat thau We do. But, it 1t DO asked why it is
bottor, tue only honest answor is, that tho Mil
is claimed by some TINT tho wheat grown in tho
section tributary TO Milwaukee is naturally bet
ter than TINT tributary to Chicago.
| EMpuATIoALLY DENY ru1s,
80 fas M ae Northern lo~S Wisconsin, eo and Mime;
will uamo tho following lines Of railroad:
The Chicago { Northwestern, in Northern ILL.,
nois and Wisconsin the West Wisconsin !;
Northern W'soopsiu g. Paul + Paeae; st:
Sioux City; St. Paul nnd Saltwater; Lake su-
perior .s hlississippi Winona Il st. Peter !;
Minnesota Southern; Chicago. Dubuque Il
Minnesota Illinois Central aud branches, in
Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. and
in Northern Iowa; and Cedar Valley Branch ;
Dakota Southern Davenport, st. Paul d Min-
ncsota. and branches; burlington, Cedar Rapids
E Minnesota. md branches; Central OF Iowa /;
lows L Pacific gabula 4 Ackley aud, during
navigation, tile MiBsiHsippi Rlyer north Of Ful-
| ton.
| All these avenues Of travel. lying in or between
the statos named, have thoir largest interests iu
Chicago, because nearly oil Of their outward
freight is from this city. Tho managers OF
t4cBe roads would prefer, therefore, to bring
their in.freghtB to this market, other tEingB
being oqual. But, under present conditions,
they
| AnE VIRTUALLY FORCED
to ship to such markesu a. will best pay tho
owners Of tho grain, or lose largo portion OF
tho freight which properly belongs to them and
some lines aotunlly run to Milwaukee ut dis.
advantage, for tho purpose Of competing with
those which must go there; and thus a large
extent Of territory is controlled in the interest
OF Milwaukee. .
All these suos, from which we should expect
at leaat reasonable proportion Of trade, each
! Of which runs through tho best wheat-growing
| sectious Of the Northwest, have shipped almost
wholly to Milwaukec during tho past year. On
the other hand, thu: city has onlv tho Milwaukee
l. st. Paul Railroad aud branchoa, and tho
! Western Union. which nso justly tributary to
! her. From tloge lines we got no wheat. Mil
| waukce has Justly taken from Chicago TINT
| which would como hero by yirtuo of our supori-
or nouition and morcantilo force. il tho rrain
] wcre
PROPERLY HANDLED HERE,
| in the interest Of the people who owl, it.
aoeks other marsets Tor tlo same reason: aud it
is safo to saw that ulne out Of eyery ton Of the
shippers in all tho territory named will soy that
they hayo been forced i1to this by the inspection
| This Is tic happy result that our Chief it,
spector has reference to in lis ablo report to The
| Commissioners: and il thov will take n very
littlo trouhle to m nmono the slinnora who ara
most li};olv to Know thase facta w;li runr-
autco tint they will uot onlv find nina out
Of ton. but ninoty-nine ont of hnndroti.
| that will aRroo WITH me. ANYTHING that
viii servo the sh;nnora will aoryo tho
nroi1ucer NJ cach ;s aifl;o ;,torcstedi. md Tia
teom,nisuion man ri fhicaoo 10 ,scli aspaarv iii
| business men and citizens' ara Like interested
| in Ircwnr hna;noss hcre. to dn w;,ci, ;nst;ca