Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-04-19
VOICE OF THE PEOPLE.

The GLOBE will be glad to receive and print
'hort letters from the people on local or cur
:ent topics. Make your communications brief
md to the point and you will secure their pub
ication.
Kniekerboc'cer Liquidation.
To the Editor of the Globe:
The following lines may be interesting to
some of your readers about these days. 1t |
is related by the early historians of the city |
of New York that once upon a time the hon.
eat burghers of that town became wonder
fully alarmed at a threatened Instruction of |
the negro population of the place, and as |
measure to prevent such a |
the common council of the city |
in their astute wisdom ordained that no ne
gro should appear abroad after 8 o'clock at
night unless he carried a lantern with him.
The next night after the PRONUNCIATION of the
ordinance every negro the police stumbled
upon had fully complied with the law, each
carrying the prescribed lantern, but there
was no candle in it The astute council was
fairly headed off; so at the next regular meet
ing the city fathers cautiously amended the
ordinance by providing that each lantern
should have candle in it. As before, every
negro had complied with the amendment,
but the candles were not lighted! The ag-
gregated wisdom of the imperiled city was
circumvented again. Something more must
now be done to save the city from the evil
designs of such cunning rogues. So, for the
third time the august board of aldermen en-
acted that the negro should not only carry
lantern, but it must contain candle, and
that candle must be lighted. 1t took three
sessions of the wise men of the city to head
off the negro. The legislators of Minnesota
are about as wise. A few years ago, in order
to aid the grangers, they amended the law
appertaining to weights and measures
of ga deputy scaler of weights and measures
for each railroad station and wheat market
in his county"-but they provided nothing
by which said deputies could test the pom
derous warehouse scales of the wheat buyers,
and as the county treasurers were the only
ones provided with standards at the public
expense, the deputies found themselves to-
tally unable to accomplish anything for the
benefit of the farmer. Note the following
price of legislative wisdom. The statute re-
lating to weights and measures provides as
follows: It shall be the county treasurer g
duty to s'try and prove all scalebeams, steel
yards and weights and measures brought to
him for that purpose! Brought to him
Shade of Solon!-the ponderous hay scales
and warehouse scales drought to him. up
/ into the county treasurer's Office to be
scaled !-'and for each trying and proving
he shall receive a fee of five cents for every
scalebeam." No wonder the Changers hest
tated, and no wonder county scalers did not
take much pains to solicit jobs. When that
law was enacted we had no public examiner
at salary of $3, 500 per annum, otherwise
the county treasurer would have been al
lowed more than five cents for testing hay
or wheat scale, when ''brought" up into his
Office for that purpose. But Knickerbocker.
ism has not been confined to the law relative
to testing weights and measures. It was re-
peated last winter in response to the peti.
tons of tens of thousands of grain produc
ers all over the State. The farmers unani
mously and most emphatlcally demand
ed protection from the greatest swindlt
of modern times-a swindle that cheats
more money out of the honest and hard
working farmers of the State than the ag
greeate of all the thefts, robberies and swim
dies besides. They demanded the total an
initiation of the detested "brass kettle" Oh
yes That must be done. Every Senate
and Representative in the State, whethe
farmer or layman-(by the latter term
mean lawyers, millers, merchants, ETC., wer
jealous in championing the injured farmer
cause. They were gong to fix things. Thes
rascally wheat buyers were now surely to b
headed off. The State was aroused an
public opinion must be needed. The ''bras
kettle'' was doomed. No Japanese eve
trampled upon the cross with more zealou
detestation than these ardent, earnest, ma.
vindictive legislators were going to set the
feet down on the ''swindling brass kettle.
And they did it by enacting the following
"Sec. 4. If the parties to the sale of an
wheat, shall consent, it may be lawful
use too quart measure to determine II
grade of wheat,'' Now, that was all tt
, wheat buyers wanted. They wanted legi
, lative permission to use the quart 'brat
kettle,' and they got it. They have recent
met, and in order to get the s'consent' {
these tens of thousands of petitioners, wi
wanted the ''brass kettle'' totally abolished
they, the wheat buyers, resolved to buy I
3 wheat of the non consenting farmers. Knic
I erbocker legislators, you have established t!
Q 'sbrass kettle''-not abolished it. Toler
ton is not abolition.
The wheat buyers, like the negros of Ne
York, have headed you off, Try again, tv
Q years from now, end provide that the cal
I dies shall be lighted next time.
EBENEzER AYERS
Co+taoe Grove Anril IA 1919