Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-04-18
THE MILLING BUSINESS.
Especial Telegram to the Globe. ]


CHICAGO, April 17-MilIers. for con.
siderable time past, have bought very
little of the wheat stored in Chicago eleva-
tors. And from the fact that the -four
trade is very dull and mills shutting down,
complaints have been made about the
Chicago system of inspection: For the
purpose of finding out something about
this matter, two Chicago millers were in
terviewed by your correspondent, with the
following results:
Mr.. Norton said: Gas soon as wheat
gets into the Chicago elevators under the
system of inspection now in use, that
wheat is perfectly dead for milling pur-
poses. The different varieties of wheat
are mixed together, either in the
country or here, and inspected under our
system according to weight and cleanness.
Hard and soft winter wheat, for instance,
are both put in the same bin,
and the result is mixture
which miliers often find they
cannot use. Our Touring mills have es-
tablished a certain grade of -four which
their customers have become used to, and
the consequence is we have to pay par
ticular attention to the quality of the
wheat we use in order to make this flour
uniform in grade. III buy elevator wheat
1 am not certain that the grain delivered
to me will make this established grade
Wheat is as likely as not to be a mixture
of Kansas, Missouri OR Iowa wheat, some
soft and some hard, and may not be able
to use it all 1t is partly for this reason
that millers are drawing very little on the
elevators for their supplies. They are
afraid they will get something they cannot
use. and SO they go into the market and
select according to variety, and
afterward make their own mixtures
Here is sample lot of wheat
bought at $1.O4 per bushel on track. The
same would grade about No. in store anG
sell for 96c, but miller prefers to pay
the difference because he knows he is buy
ing such wheat as he requires in order tC
turn out the mills brand of four'''
''What do you think of the Chicago in
, spection of wheat?'
81 think it has been gradually loweredsinc
last fall. The receipts have been light tn,
last winter, and small arrivals seem to b,
a temptation to lower the inspection. Th
wheat stored here is in good condition
but there have been more of a mixture o
varieties this year than usual. We ough
? to have more rigid rules of inspection
! and more grades if we expect whea
is to be drawn out o
the elevators for domestic consumption
Millers cannot pay present prices fo
storehouse wheat to put into low grad
e flours. The demand now is chiefly fo
! high grade winters"
} Mr.. Briggs said:
s'We have been handling a promiscuou
crop of wheat coming from all parts c
the northwest and southwest. The whet
is sound, but we have been getting grea
L mixture of varieties. There is not muc
: of demand now for elevator wheat fo
!, milling purposes. One leading reason
2 the over production of flour and the cons
S quent depression of the trade. The e2
: port business is dull, and so long as it T,
i, mains so there is not likely to be larg
! milling demand for elevator whe6t, whic
J makes fair export -four. Son
S of the mills are purchasing graf
i in store partly owing to Il
K light receipts of samples, but those rul
:, ming on uniform grades are likely to g