St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-09-02
IGNATIUS DONNELLY.
Should Democrats Support Hims And,
If Sc, Should Republicans
AIc0o
To the Editor of the Glone.


To the Editor OF the Globe.
A correspondent of the GLOBE some days
since did me the honor to call upon me to-
gether with some other st. Paul Democrats
to define our positions as ''old wheel-horses
of Democracy" upon the propriety of Dem
ocre:s voting for Mr.. Donnelly in our neigh
Dor district. Lest my silence should be con-
strued against Mr. Donnelly,I will reply that
when Mr.. Donnelly ran for congress in this
district voted for him and worked for his
election. l did so cordially, believing that
he would represent my views and policies in
congress better than the other man.
l would vote for him now for the same
reason as against Major Strait. Mr.. Donnelly
was consistent Republican during ali the
years when there was Republican party
made up Of the best elements of
that party. He left them like the best men
OF the party did when the control of the party
fell into the hands of the thieying element,
Had he continued with them no eulogies
would have been too extravagant for the
Pioneer Press and other Republican papers
to apply to him. Had he continued with them
he might to day be in the enjoyment of the
highest honors Of that party in the state and
in the nation. He preferred to quit them and
remain out of office and in hopeless minor
ity.
He is to-day battling for the same princi-
pies advocatedby the Democratic party Why
then should net Democrats vote for him!
He is also hitting for the principles which
every Republican desires to see
carried out. For instance listen at
the st. Paul Pioneer Press--a good Republi
can paper. The editor, on Saturday last,
seems to hate caught the spirit of Donnelly,
and thus sqlarely placed himself upon Don
nelly's platform. You almost conclude that
he wants little brass kettle'' campaign if
any body except Donnelly would only carry
it on.
The great staple of this state is wheat-a
crop wortl $780, 600, 600 or $40, 600 200. Not
only farmers, but all of us, are interested in
it. st. Paul is interested in it, and we hail
the election OF any congressman who will
fight for BUR wheat crop against thieves of
every nane who would steal it.
Are there any evils connected with the
wheat cfop of our state which need correct
ing.
The Press will tell you in the following
words:
That question to state it broadly, is how to
remedy the existing evils arising from the lack
of any uniform standard of grading wheat, or of
any adequate checks upon the mistakes or dis
honesty OF elevator men; and how to enable the
farmer to get not only honest weight and
grade but the highest market price to which he
Is entitled for its true weight and quality How
greal these evils are is testified by the common
experience of the farmers of the northwest, and
theexperience is not confined to them, but is
shared by all honest dealers and elevator men
allie. Their magnitude may be readily inferred
from the fact that the annual product of wheat
in Minnesota and Dakota is from fifty to seventy
million bushels, and that as the case now stands
the farms of the state and territory are absolute
ly without any legal protection against the ra-
pacfy or dishonesty, or even the
honest errors caprices of elevator
mel. They have no protection what
evet against false weights, against unfair grad
ing, or against the numerous devices by which
the grade TO which the farmer is fairly entitled is
locked for dirt dampness or other causes.
There are no uniform standard grades established
and enforced by law either in Minnesota or Da-
kota. Every elevator man is in this respect
law unto himself He establishes his own grades.
AM there is no certainty that what he receives
or the dealer buys as No hard at any elevator
a country stations in the state or territory will
pass as No. ! hard at Minneapolis, St. Paul or
Duluth; unless, perchance, the owner of the
elevator in the country happens to own an eleva-
tor ct the place of destination. y
L is easy to see what a wide range of oppor-
iunties and temptations is offered in this state of
things for dishonest grading at the expense of
the farmer; or at the expense, as often happens,
az the primary elevator or the dealer. The whole
lystem reeks with dishonest practices, from
which in the end the farmer is the chief suf-
ferer.
For example, If his wheat is a little dirty the
farmer is locked perhaps five or more cents q
bushel by the reduction of its grade; whereas
the elevator man can clean it for less than half
cent; and what he bought for No. can thus be
readily transformed to No. hard at this nomi
nal cost The farmer, who has, perhaps, no
means OF cleaning his own wheat, cannot help
himself. He must take what he can get or carry
his wheat perhaps twenty miles 10 another ele-
vator, where he has no assurance that he will
ceiye any better treatment Nor even IL his wheat
i clean and UndOubted No. hard has he any le-
gal protection against its arbitrary undergrading
by the warehousemsn. Nor is this all He must
not only take what grade he can get, but under
the present system he must take what price he
can get from the elevator man or the local buyer,
who is usually the agent who the elevator
For in general the place is not large enough for
the profitable employment Of two elevators, and
il il should be the price is often arbitrarily fixed
ployers and when there Is an absence of COM
petition the local price is pretty sure to be lower
than the legitimate market price at the time
We might multiply indefinitely instances illus
tratve of the great variety Of hardships ex-
perienced and the frauds and robberies per
petrated under the present loose and irresponsi-
bic system Of grading and handling wheat, and
necessarily resulting from the absence Of appro-
pirate legal safeguards for the protection of all
concerned,
Now, here is an acknowledgment by the
leading Republican paper of the northwest
that the evils which Mr.. Donnelly is seeking
TO correct, are real evils--not the imagi-
nary wrong harped upon by "Demagogue
and a charlatan.' The editor out Donna allies
Donnelly in charging dishonesty of the
elevator men, ''hardships, frauds and rob-
beries," ''false receipts - 'unfair grading"
"a system which reeks with dishonest poll
cies,'; ETC., etc. He proves that five cents
per bushel is stolen from the farmers Of
Of Minnesota and Dakota by the dishonest
practices" Five cents per bushel on from
fifty to seventy millions OF bushels''-or, in
other words, two and half to three and
half millions of dollars, by the elevator steal
alone. And he says ''we have no legal pro-
tection.r Let Mr.. Donnelly read this arti-
Gle of the Pioneer Press to all his audiences.
1t is q good DOnnelly campaign document.
There are other robberies of all the people of
Minnesota perpetrated by the Republican
high tariff. Mr.. Donnelly is an able and
eloquent champion of all the people in wag-
ing war upon this tariff.
The Pioneer Press for years past has
agreed with Donnelly in all his statements of
the outrages of high protective tariff. Let
him 20 over the files Of the Press, cut out
those editorials and read them to the Repub-
Hcan voters OF his district. They will also
be good Donnelly campaign documents. Mr..
Donnelly in congress could voice the senti-
meats of his robbed constituents upon the
subject and have them corrected. Major
Strait although a clever gentleman. has no