Daily globe., 1878-10-11
The Test Of Grinding Wheat Into Flour
Applied.
DEVELOPMENTS MOST STARTLING
Instances Where Farmers Made From
80 to 50 Cents Per Bushel by
Grinding Instead of Selling
to Washburn's Ring.
REPORTS OF THE "GLoBEu ENVOY
Which Ought to Satisfy Bill Kings
Desire for Information.

Especial Correspondence of the Daily Globe.
DAssEL, Oct. 8, 1878.-The further up ]
go, the greater appears to be the indignation
of the farmers over the villainies practiced
by the wheat ring. have conversed wi b at
least twenty tillers of the soil, and every man
is satisfied that he is being cheated out of
his just rights, but how he can't exactly un-
derstand. The general opinion is, that the
fraud is in weighing the wheat in that little
Joker, the brass kettle, coupled with the fact
that the Millers' association at Minneapolis
Is party to the steal
Thomas Mcclure, of Waverly, farming a
short distance from Howard Lake, informs
me that the farmers in his neighborhood are
terribly aroused on the subject and are hold
ing back their wheat, determined to know
why it is that No. wheat is graded No. 2,
and No. wheat is graded No. 8, and why
also they are Obliged to lose fifteen cents on
every bushel, because the weight of their
wheat falls one quarter of a pound below the
standard established by the agents of the ele-
vators and the Millers' ASSOCIATION at Mime
apolis? He is satisfied that the wrong exists
with the associated millers, and he says he
and his friends intend to give the thieves a
determined fight. Mr.. Mcclure is an intel
hgent gentleman, and gives me perfect lib
erty to use his name, as in fact have all the
other farmers whose names have been used
In my correspondence.
Charles Smith is large boned, well-in-
formed farmer residing at Albion. I met
him at the point where his wheat was being
inspected, and be was very outspoken in his
bellef-as were half dozen other farmers
who were with him-that every farmer was
cheated IN both weighing and in grading
wheat. He had No. grade, and had been
we'll received by the agent, but that did not
lesse his belief of combination that exist
ed to rob the farmer of his just rights. He
was satisfied that the little ioker-the brass
kettle-played an important part in the pro-
gramme, and that a good deal of wheat grad
ed at No. was sent into the elevator as No.
2, the combination making thereby Is cents
on every bushel, and the farmer losing that
amount, SO that upon crop of 400 bushels
ss0 would be realized, enough to make the
farmer comfortable through the winter-if
the wheat king hadn't stolen it from him.
Charles Bean, opposite Howard Lake,
brought load of wheat to market, but,
disguised, both with the grading and the
wei sht, had it wheeled home again. Farm
ers are now talking of selling by the pound
that is, so much for 60 pounds, so much
for SO, So, 81, Sc, and SO down. A very
general feeling of dissatisfaction exists, and
the feeling is gtowing more intense every
day.
John Gibbin, of Waverly, measured a
bushel of wheat on Fairbanks standard
scales, and it went sixty pounds to the
bushel. He carried it to the elevator and the
agent graded it as No. 3, just six pounds
less than the real weight, as No ranks at
81 pounds, and No. 1 at So. What made the
difference in the scales; or what caused the
loss of them six pounds?
+. Frogner, of Herman, carried to the ele-
vator thirty-six bushels of wheat, which was
graded as No. 8. He took the same thirty
six bushels to a mill, had it made into flour, :
and it netted him $2050 more than he would
have received if he had sold it to the elevator
company; and herein lies the uilk in the
cocoanut! The Millers' association reaps
the difference in the price which they get for
their flour, made out of wheat graded as No.
8, which really makes a good -four as No. O.
and, in some cases, as good as No. 1; hence
the policy of grading down, for just in pro-
proportion as they do this, just in proper
ton do they make money.
A Cokato the feeling is almost universal,
showed alike by the merchants and by the
farmers, that the wheat ring is trying to
get the farmers by the throat, and they, the
farmers, ale determined it shall not be done.
Mr.. A. Leming, well known in st. Paul, in
forms me that the feeling here is quite in
tense on the subject. All classes express
the belief that there is not only cheating in
the gradi, 6, but in the weight, and the ex-
element is so great that the wheat trade
has been almost stopped at this point, parties
drawing the grain somewhere else, and other
parties would ship it in cars, if the cars
could be procured. The blame is laid di-
rectly at the door of the Mllers' association
at Minneapolis, and unless something is done
to remedy the evil, widespread desolation
will follow. Of course people who know
that Mr.. Washburn shares in the spoils of
the millers' ring are indignant at him, and
will not vote for him; but good many
don't know this fact. Make it plain to your
readers.
Ho,v Farmers are Ssoi.edted.