The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1878-10-31
The Anti-Ionop01ist.


crumple up the paper and attend to the valves.
| more laughser.) Every little while Washburn
goes down to- this little buileing holding his
nose, and hands Castle his pay on the end of a
stick. daughter and applause.)
HOW wAsHBURN MADE HIS MONEY.
Some good people find fault because reference
has been made to Washburn's failure. He did
not consider it dishonorable settlement. But
he did blame . man for failing and compelling
his creditors to receive forty to sixty cents on
the dollar while he had S30O,OO0 left, with
which to take his family to Europe the same
| year. Mr. DOnnelly then referred to the man
ner in which Washburn made his fortune-how
he procured his appointment as surveyor
general by stealth, through the influence OF
his two brothers, and how he used it to gobble
up all the best pine lands in the State. He
characterized in fitting terms the assaults Of
| his paid organ and monthpiece, the Mime
apolis Lumbernadn, upon Secretary Schurz for
| his attempt to punish the pine land thieves.
and illustrated his points by appropriate and
telling anecdotes.
| THE WHEAT QUESTION.
Coming to the wheat question, Mr.. Donnelly
declared that every man, whether he lived in
! town or country, is interested in it. In 1851.
when the crisis came, we did not raise enough
wheat to feed our own people, and were COM
PEELED to see steamboat after steamboat coming
up the river loaded with -four. But when it
was discovered thar our soil was adapted to
wheat raising industry received an impe-
/ tus. Wheat has built our railroads, our manu-
factures and our towns. We are now raising
from 80, 0OO 600 to So, 900, 600 bushels of wheat
annually. Surely our prosperity ought to be
great. But ask your merchant or your
banker and he will tell you
that business is dull and collections
slow. What is the reason? The wheat is not
moving. The farmers have discovered that
there Is gigantic conspiracy to rob t EN- of
| the fruits of their industry-a ring of millers,
who by their swindling brass kettles de-
termined to reduce the quality and the price OF
their wheat. The result is the farmers will not
market, and as consequence times are hard.
money scarce. people idle. The only men who
are prospecting are the millers, and they are
coming fortunes-immense fortunes wrung
from the hard earnings of the tOiling farmers.
When he was in the State Senate he proposed a
system of wheat inspection which would be
free from all objections to the present
system. He proposed to measure it by
a standard half bushel which could not
err. and to have inspectors appointed for each
town by the county commissioners of the sew
eral counties, and responsible to them. If
that bill had passed-it did get through the
Senate once-we would have a better condition
of affairs than at present. How do you in
| spect wheat now? These little brass buckets
are very tender little things. They are SO sus-
ceptible that if You pour the wheat into them
| straight you can make a difference Of one
pound on bushel on the same wheat if poured
into it on its side. If you tapped the tester
ever slightly and fill it up again, you could
make difference of two pounds, and if you
unscrewed the lever little you could make a
a still greater difference. He then proceeded
| to give instances in which the same wheat
| had varied in weight by the
same and by different testers.
THE swINDLING BRASS KETTLE.
Mr.. Goodsell, formerly q miller of North
field, had charge Of the elevator. He told me
that he was glad to get out of the internal
thing. He found that the ring would not buy
ON an honest basis and 50 he stepped ont Of it.
He told me tina. the beam Of the tester has q
square block which can be nnscrewed and taken
off and the plates of lead removed. and in this
way made to weigh whatever you please. Lam
guage can not paint the horror and cruelty Of
such a system-a system whose rapacity il
worse than the grasshoppers. The millers'
ring give SIC, Acc and Soc for bnshel of wheat
The millera made statement that nearly all
the wheat was paid for a. No. q don't be-
lieve it, and l refer to article in
the Pioneer Press quoted from the Minneapolis
Tribune, which states that the bulk Of the
wheat received is No. 3, and the millers were
paid for No. 2, perpetrating swindle on the
people. The next day the millen issued .
statement that the great bulk of the wheat re
ceived Was No. 2.
A farmers meeting 1t Minneapolis tried The
tester with the sealed half bushel, and in ever,
case the result was that the tester weighed Less
than the half bushel. Three or four days
elapsed and the ringin agony got . part Of the
49, -
Five tests were made; in two the tester was be
low and in the other three equal to the hall
bushel. The wonder il that they did not make
them weigh more than the half bushel. The
wheat il graded down by this infamou,
..indle: The n people Of =
The heartless buyers have farmed ont parts Of
the State. slice of it here and > slice Of n
there, and 60 where you will you will find M
competition exists- They have divided mn tbs
State ~ q farmer might divide up turkey; T.
one Is given the breast to another the side
bone, and il would seem that the st. Paul A
Pacific got that part Of the bird which get
over the fence last. The millefn pool fnr
nishes one msn who buys and handles Ill ths
wheat and divides ont the wheat on : scale Of
50 much to each stone The only exception T.
this il the line Of the Northern Pacific where
buyers for the New York and Ohio mills com
pete to supply their milIs, bid
ding against each other. The consequence
il that prices have ranged from 10 cent
to 20 per bushel higher. Il u . we'll known
fact that It Sc. Cloud wheat waa selling Zoe and
20c less than q the far Oh frontier town 81
Fargo. This has been demonstrated Dy tn
Pioaosr Prsss-and You all know thst candid
honest paper cannot lie A few yean ago il
took . smart. close bosinen man 70 maka
milling pay and to make money = il. but nov
any fool can Be . miller and make money
then George Brackets failed; now : W. ID
Waahburn can grow rich tell rou, gentle
men, they are not grinding doU but grinding
the people The people have. by this com
hined ring Of parasites. become 20 impOver
ished that they ore almost on the verge Of in
surrectson- In Wright county almos
one-third If the wheat hauled was taker
back again. In 8teaxna county : farmea
was offered BY the ring agent Sc per busheI
He was advised to take il home again for th,
sheriff could get more than that ont Of il. Tht
result of it AL II that the wheat i mot sold
debts are mot paid trade i paralysed, and ID,
State Is on the verge Of collapse.
WHO = KHRONunGR
charge mot this On the people Of MinDeap
oils. bat on the ring and W. D. Waahburn
fApplauseD The money with which be hire
the miserable little Castle over the WV -
taken ont Of the farmers poeksts- fLAaxhte
and sppsanse.1 He replies that - i not ONE o
the ring and be = mot miller, but be W. ane
u . member Of milIisR firm
and takes his share u III sesal
inez- (Great applanse-1 tell 700
1w0f1nAn0 IL II = <.nIn>s<v a..