The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-01-16

hauroad companies, only varying In intensity
" nuinDer, as the case might be. THIS board
lave no otner or further commen to make
upon une conclusions arrived at by this com
nlittee Some of whom We're once railroad
mem, ana who seem to have given to the
consideration OF the subject great labor and
pains, than to say that we fully agree
Win Them therein; and this after the
able to make; both private, and also
70 pubic meetings held az prominent points
on the lines OF these great corporations. par-
uclpated In by the general freight agents
and other officers OF the roads named. and
~ large numbers Of the practical farmers
along the lines thereof. We may say, how
ever, that we were everywhere met in what
we regarded as a perfect spirit of fairness by
the general officers of said railroads. who de-
CARED their Willingness to do everything in
tnelr power TO secure to the farmers of the
territory the full reward of their industry.
THE RAILWAY OFFERS.
AT public meetings held in both Grafton
and Grand Forks, General Manager Maxwell,
OF the ST Paul, Minneapolis 4 Manitoba rail-
read, declared that
The policy Of his road in permitting the erec-
ZION oy Pllsbury d. Hubert and others of the
extensive elevators on the line Of said road was
To promote the interests Of the grain producer.
That the crop could In no other way be handled.
That said corporations had no special privileges,
out PAID the same rates as other shippers, and
were allowed no rebate in any way, but on the
contrary were held to conduct their elevators in
the interests OF the public. These conditions
were such as the elevator companies would
/ gladly relieve themselves of IL the railroad COM
pany would permit them to stay in the market
when 1t was their interest TO do SO, and 90 out
when the business was not sufficient to guaran-
tee their remaining in, One of the requirements
OF the railroad company's rule is that the ele-
vators shall be public and shall afford at all
times a place at which the farmer, large or
small, can store his grain or ship and sell it and
receive his cash.
Further. that the privileges allowed to Pills
bury q Hubert are open to all others on the
same conditions
General Freight Agent Mellen made the
following declaration:
As far as the company is concerned, / can say
to you, II the elevators do not use you right, IL
they donot give you as good grades and prices
as you think YOU ought to have, you need not
use them. Let them alone. Cars will be placed
at your disposal at as low rates as any other
shipper gets, big or little, and You can sell your
wheat where You please and sell it to whom you
please. In this way the farmers can
solve this difficulty very promptly,
The elevator men may think / am bear
ing down on them pretty hard, but / want justice
done to the farmers as well Ms them. IT is to the
interest of the road TO have a fair dee2 on this
business, and we will do all We can TO bring it
about.
These assurances were repeated at other
places.
At a public meeting held in Milbank April
q, 1884, General Freight Agent A. G. Bird, of
the Chicago, Milwaukee & st. Paul road, said:
"The road realized fully the necessity of en-
couraging settlement and OF aiding the prosper
ity Of the people as well; that while the farmers
need the road there is no future for us without
the farmers assistance. We will not refuse any
man the use of cars when 1t can be provided.
There are emergencies when we cannot furnish
them. No general officer OF the road, i think,
knows OF a refusal TO furnish cars. There are
times when the road is crowded with work. and
the freight drifts the cars all in one direction,
onH NJ or1oh fIrooo ~ xryCtald no iunnnGothln m fnr-
nish cars to any one II often happened from
the causes mentioned that they could not obtain
cars 60 move their own property But he gave
assurances that the request OF farmers and IN
1ividual shippers for cars should be considered
md granted the same as other shippers" Mr.
Bird gave like assurances at Alexandria, Red
ield and other points visited by us, at each OF
which public meetings were held.
In every instance we nave found the
.ailroad companies willing and anxious
10 promote the welfare of the producer of the
great cereal which has given TO Dakota 8
worldwide reputation.
THE QUESTION OF AIDE
But neither the most liberal policy tha
night be inaugurated by the railroad com
panies, nor the privilege OF shipment by the
Individual farmer, will give relief to the grea
mass of those who cannot thus ship, nor de
ermine the point upon which rests final.
Ill, or nearly all, the trouble. We refer Il
The question of grades. 1t is of no kind O
use for this board or any other tribunal Il
declare what shall constitute No. : hare
wheat unless some tribunal exists, to whom
disputes arising as TO whether q certain 10
of whea offered for sale be a certain
grade or not In other words, TO determin
whose Judgment, that of buyer or seller q
either Is correct Grading wheat mus
necessarily be largely a matterof indly1dua
Judgment, and where the elevator agent re
fuses TO receive wheat at the grade the pro
Queer believes it to be entitled, the neces
1 ns+;1, - 49, e-~.aar will .ran0rallu nouar1
him in selling at q grade below what he hon
estly believes he should receive. We ma,
perhaps be pardoned for here suggesting tina
a remedy exists for this in the creation Q
some tribunal to whom this matter might b
referred. Pending the appeal. the wheat T
be received by the elevator, a ticket statin
date of receipt, number of bushels, etc, I
be given to the seller. Sample to be carrie
before the board of appeals whose 1udgmen
to be final, and wheat to be paid for at pric
paid for grade determined, on day of ware
housing. We NAV suggest further in TIL
connection. that the interest. OF our neigh
boring State of Minnesota are almost iden
tical with ours In this matter, and that an
action taken by Dakota, looking TO NOR
fully protecting and fostering the various in
terests involved herein, ought to be In lin
with that of our neighbor.
On prolific source of complaint, and i
our Judgment a Just one, Is the preyallln
practice of docking wheat some number 9
pounds to the bushel for dirt We foundt tn
} practice to be general. At some elevators a
arbitrary rule was enforced, TO dock wv
pounds per bushel whether wheat wa
J cleaned or unclaimed We saw at one ele
yator some 3 900 bushels of No. 1 hard whea
that had been cleaned by the farmer by tire
i times running it through q tanning mill x
two pounds per bushel had been docked 70
dirt. We characterized this as q swindle.. \
doubt most of the whea offered for sale
! uncleaned, but no arbitrary rule should Il
the amount of dockage. We saw wheat 9
various elevators IN the territory that IN OF
Judgment contained from eight TO ten pounc
! OF dirt. oats, buckwheat and seeds OF weed
ner bushel. We tried TO provide against III
reasonable dockage by adopting and publish
ing in our aRules for 1884 the followin
nrovisions.