St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-12-27
GRAIN INSPECTION.
IL Is Given. Some Attention by II.
j. Smalley.

To the Editor OF the Globe.
The patient Is evidently sinking. He
has been treated strictly according 70
the formulas OF the medical school to
which his doctor belongs. He has been
assured by the whole council of the doc
tors of that school that their remedies
only could save him, aud that they
would cure him. and he has taken the
medicine and paid the bills and gets
worse. AS last resort the chief OF the
dispensary lin which his boluses and
plasters are prepared, is called In, and
he goes into an exhaustive explanation
,of Just how the pills are compounded
and how they work, how skillfulIy they
are prepared, how sure they are to
cure, and the PATIENT turns away wearily
and groanS. 1t boots him little TO know
how medicine is made that gives him
no relief. Some friend should suggest
to the sufferer that he change, not only
his doctors, but their school.
} The Pioneer Press of the 10Th inst.
contains circular which the chief in
spector of grain of this state has pre-
pared and sent out in response, that pa
per states. to countless letters" which
Jhe has received from farmers and 9TH
5ers. The contents of these letters are
not stated; but, as the tone OF the circu-
: lar is eXculpatory throughout, it is in
ferable that they contained complaints
against the working of the present
grain inspection act'' which, IF honest,
is stupid; and, If not, malevolent." I'm
doubleday they tell of dockages. OF un-
degrading, of s'drawS" taken from the
writer's at the country elevators, for the
remedy of which this eumbrouS act was
designed. and the chief Inspector thinks
TO satisfy them by telling them how
the law works at the terminal points
several DAYS after they have sold their
grain to the local elevator. 1t must be
very satisfying to them to know Just
now the grain that they have c ased 10
have any interest in is treated by the
inspectors and deputy inspectors, ana
weighmasters and deputy weigimas-
tiers when it reaches Duluth; just how
much fees are charged and how the
man to whom they sold it can get re-
dress if he thinks the several guardians
of somebody's interest, not his. have
erred in grading the grain. All that
the farmer on the prairieS will now have
to do when he takes load OF grain to
the elevator to sell is to show the buyer
the circular of the chief grain inspector
and there will be no more docking, no
more undelgrading, no "draws," and
the act of 1885 will be indicated in its
every section. If this will not be
the result. then of what. good is
the circular? And if the same
old complaints continue to be
made after four years of this "eum.
brous and inefficient piece OF legis-
lative machinery, will Commissioner
Gibbs deem it impertinent to ask OF
what use is the act itself? Possibly the
Pioneer Press, which just before the
election warned the farmers against the
diabolcal purpose of the Democrats TO
overthrow this wonderfully benefieent
law, which, it assured them, has
proved most satisfactory i'll practice,
might assign some one of its talented
young men to the subject of these
9.cOuntlesS letters" with view to con-
vincing the writer's that the law is all
right, that there is no cause for COM
plant, and that no one is complaining
except lot of Democratic farmers who
wouldn't be satisfied with Paradise,
anyway. Possibly Farmer Gibbs
might be induced to have his speech
of the last campaign put into
a circular to be sent IN reply
to any further complaints that
may come in. | refer, of course, to his
speech scoring the Democrats for dar-
ing to question the divinity OF his grain
law, and not 10 that tariff speech In
which he told that gaping crowd that III
1866 the government collected S50O,000
600 from imported goods, whereas the
year before it had collected but S2l7.-
600, 900. Some allowance might be made
for the partiality of the commissioner
for law to aid in the execution OF
which he gets $1,000 year, but making
reasonable deductions, dockage,l might
say. for this, that speech Should quiet
as inveterate gr0wler as Mr.. BOwSer
himself. MIR. ClauSen and his corps are
undoubtedly trying to do their duty
Honestly and with conscience. 1t IS
not their work which these countless
letters from farmers" contain COM
plants of. 1t is the wrong done at the
country elevator, and this MIR. Clausen
and his staff, and the Grain and Ware
house Commission and its staff, and the
law itself are helpless to correct. The
patient is not only not helped 10y the
treatment, but the disease is aggravated
by it in precisely the manner indicated
by the Democratic platform of 1883.
This masterpiece of Legislative stupidity
or deceit & Injuries the class 1t
assumes to protect by adding another to
the usual uncertainties of the market,
against which the local buyer can only
guard by diminishing the price"
p. j. SMALLEY.
Caledonia, Dec. 20, 1889.