The Northern Pacific farmer., 1880-09-16
TIE WHEAT QUESTION.

EDITORS FARMER:~-Can you en-.
tighten the farmers in regard to the
why's and wherefores Of grading
wheat? Last week No. l hard was
81 .O6 in Milwaukee,. Do we have any
such grade here? Do we have any
such wheat here? Is it just ''Fife'
wheat full weight, or some equally
hard wheat? Don't the best wheat,
or rs good as the best, come from Wa
dena county? Is 73c fairly relative
price here, to $l.08 in Milwaukee or
Duluth! Couldn't our religious farm
ers afford 4 quarter to some profane
urchin to damn the grain dealers
tricks? How long will it take to ruin
the agricultural community, with
wheat at 70 to 73 cents, self-binders
at 1900; seeders, harvesters, plows,
etc, ETC., bearing the nose onto the
grindstone-compelling sale to pay
for them? AGRICOLA.
We are informed by a Wadena
wheat buyer that there is no such
grading as No. ! hard at this point.
but why there should not be is, just
at present, beyond our actual knowl-
edge. When we consider, however.
that the wheat that comes to this
market is us good, to say the least, as
that raised in Dakota, where the No.
l hard grade is given, we are led to
surmise that there is a ''niggar in the
fence'' somewhere. A gentleman,
who raised wheat in the palmy days
of Iowa's early history, and knows
what wheat is from Il lifelong eX
perience with it, and who visited this
week, for the first time, the great
wheat growing belt Of the Northwest,
without prejudice, remarked that the
wheat he saw in Wadena warehouses
was better than any he had seen in
Dakota. And it has been demonstra-
ted that if any wheat raised in this
section of the U. $. is entitled to Il
grading of No. l hard. which; accord
ing to Duluth quotations, is worth IL
cents more than the No. l, the f;rm-
ers in northern Minnesota, who take
the pains to raise hard wheat, are, in
simple justice, entitled to the same
grading.
We do not claim that all our wheat
should be graded No. hard, and we
do not believe there is any section Oh
the face Of Gods earth where all the
the wheat raised is, in fact, No. l
hard. according to the schedule, but
we do contend that us large propor-
tion Of the wheat produced III this
section is entitled to highest grading
us that Of any country.
But we are Informed that the prices
given here, as well as at other stations,
is based upon the highest grade price,
but that the grading is technically
symplified by leaving out the ''hard."
We are also informed that the price
paid in Wadena is generally kept with
in Is and a half cents OF that in Du-
luth, the l8 and a half cents being the
cost per bushel.-l4 and 1-2 of which
is freight, and four cents in various
commissions. AS we publish the
quotations of Duluth and give dates,
the comparison may be made by ref
erence to our market reports. Curios-
ity, however, prompts us to make a
slight comparison right here. A
Duluth paper OF the 10th, inst, is be-
fore us, and the following is Il verba-
tim copy OF it's wheat quotations:
I1aIu, TlUo.
~ -
4>o. o,.... cO::.
Take our market for that date, and
according to our information. that the
price paid here is on the basis of the
highest grade, allow for the Is l-2 or
IL cents, and we have what should
have been our market for that date:
10. !....... ......................... o4
~"' ~''''''''' '''''. .... '...-...... ~
But II we leave off the s:hard" grad
ing and claim that we do not get the
benefit Of that grade here, the markets