Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1884-12-10
Wheat Grading.

Farm Stock AMI Home: Some
changes must soon be made In the IN
terest of the Northwestern farmers in
the method of grading wheat, or wheat
raising will be practically abandoned.
Under the present elevator system,
the farmer delivers his wheat To the
elevator, the agent grades and gives II
ticket for we will say No. !. This
ticket, if it means anything, means
that the farmer has delivered wheat
which, in the best judgment OF the
agent of the elevator company IN NO.
|. wheat, and worth corresponding
price in the market, and ought to
have a real fixed value, and to pay
grocery bills as so much cash, ana
such was the case formerly. Now,
the value of the ticket is just what
the Miller's Association choose To say
No. l wheat is worth Oh that day. No
outside buyer can safely purchase the
ticket, because when he calls for his
wheat the elevator company may give
him No. |, No. 2 or rejected, as suits
their convenience, and disclam any
liability or obligation to hand over
the same grade of wheat their agent
took in. For example: A farmer has
900 bushels of wheat. He takes 1t to
an elevator, gets ticket calling for
900 bushels of No. hard wheat. He
brings his ticket to Minneapolis and
goes to the Miller's Association, and
they will buy the ticket ut the associa-
ton, price of the day. He goes to a
wheat broker and finds that he can
get three or for cents higher price for
the wheat if it is here and holds up
grade, but no wheat buyer will buy
the ticket, because, as he says, he
don't know whether the elevator COM |
pany will grade No. l or not. The
farmer decides to ship his wheat him. |
self, and sends his ticket in to the |
elevator agent who took in the wheat,
and orders it shipped. The car ar
rives in Minneapolis and is inspected
No. ,. The farmer protests to the |
elevator company that he turned out
to them No. l wheat They took 1t
mixed it with Tom. Dick and Harry's
wheat, and now propose to deliver an
inferior Crude, and infiict a loss on
him. The reply is, that the elevator
did not agree to deliver
wheat that would grade No. in Min
neapolis. The upshot of it all is that
the man is worried into accepting the
wheat which grades No. for his No.
l, or decides to sell to the Miller's AS
ISOLATION, and end his troubles. Thus
it is no wonder that the elevator sys-
tenn and Miller's Association are
cursed by the whole farming fraterni-
ty, constructed to prevent q free mar
ket, for wheat, or in other words to
place so many difficulties in the way
of any outsider who would like to buy
and sell wheat, that the Miller's AS
ISOLATION has a practical monopoly.
We say apparently, because, we rec
ognize the fact that the elevator BUSH
ness has its difficulties, and that
there are objections against any sys-
tenn yet devised. If the Miller's AS
ISOLATION and the elevator companies,
were fair minded individuals, instead
Of soulless Operations, it would be
easier to reach them, but as the facts
exist, unless careful legislation, based
on a fair and common-sense looking
over the situation, and a careful sift-
ing of facts, can be devised by the
legislature, the wheat area
will be decidedly curtailed, and the
costly elevators along the railroad !
lines themselves will cease to be the
profitable property they now are.