St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-09-20
RAISE MORE WHEAT,
The Agricultural Editor of the
Des Moines Register Has Ex-
periences and Views.

periences and Views.
There is general move among mill
ers and wheat spectators to induce the
farmers of Iowa to raise more wheat.
This is a subject that needs little
plain ventilating. The wheat business
is as completely controlled by cOmbina-
ions as is the beef, the pork. the sugar,
or the whisky, ETC.. and millerS may as
well make their calculations now as any
future time, that the sensible farmers of
Iowa will not increase the wheat pro-
duction until there is some radical
changes in the treatment of the wheat
market. There must not only be an in
crease in the price of wheat compared
with the price of flour, but the millers
must make better grade of flour so as
to be able to pay better prices for wheat.
Farmers cannot afford to raise first
class wheat for fourth-claSs mills.
Look at the situation. The average
price of wheat at Des Moines, and we
believe it is a good average for the state.
is 60 cents per bushel. The price of
-four is $3.50 to $3.50 for 100 pounds
wholesale. Thus they charge the whole
sale purchaser the price of four and
three-Quarters bushels of wheat for 100
pounds of flour. And the consumer is
charged the price of five bushels, or the
price of ten bushels for an old-fash-
Toned barrel of flour. Is this le-
gal swindling or only old-fash-
toned extortion? Wheat ought to
bring as much as the price
of all of the flour that Is in it. The
bran and shorts are ample to pay for
manufacturing, and when -four is 50 per
hundred wheat ought to bring at the
mills S1.20 per bushel. just double what
it does now. Counting that there are
forty pounds of -four I'm bushel of
wheat, that leaves twenty pounds of
sale s14 per ton. This would give the
miller ID cents for manufacturing each
bushel of wheat, but if he gets his
wheat at 60 cents he gets at present
twenty pounds of flour and fourteen of
bran out of each bushel for his toll,
which is "A cents.
But some will contend that there Is
not forty pounds of flour in bushel of
spring wheat. We have not been in the
milling business for some years, and
are not as we'll posted as the millers of
the present day. But fifty years ago,
when we were interested in milling when
machinery was not near as good as now,
and when the bolt was run by hand,
when the wheat was good. barrel of
flour was obtained from little less than
five bushels of wheat. but five bushels
was considered an average. Now, with
their far better machinery they want ten
bushels of wheat to make barrel
of flour, as ten bushels at 60 cents just
costs as much as 200 weight of flour.
But rashly suppose that it does take ten
bushels to make barrel. which would
be twenty pounds of flour to the bushel,
which LObOdy believes, then the miller
would have left of Offal 400 pounds of
bran and shorts, worth at wholesale
$3.50, which the miller would get for
manufacturing 200 weight OF flour. But
this is nonsense for any miller to claim
any such thing. But the truth is, the
millers are grossly Swindling the farm
ers in giving 60 cents for wheat when
flour is retailed at 50.
No wonder they are clamorous for the
farmers of Iowa to raise more wheat.
We took to mill at MarShalltown over
thirty years ago forty bushels of good
wheat, weighing 2,40O pounds. The
wheat was manufactured into flour,
had tolled it, the flour. shorts and bran
delivered to US weighed just 1,062
pounds. We went home thirty miles
with lump in our throat, and it wasn't
Adams apple, either. We recollect the
amount, as we put it down then in our
books. and refer to it now to be exact.
In this case the miller took 1883 and
gave us 1,062. And yet this is no worse,
and not much better than millers are
doing at this day. But they do it in
more roundabout way, SO the
farmers cannot see it. But they
do see that it does not pay to raise
wheat, and so long as the millers' COM
bination conducts business in the pres
ent way it is useless for them to talk to
intelligent farmers about raising more
wheat. The millers of Iowa, to our GER
tain knowledge, have held regular
yearly conclaves at Des Moines for ten
years to regulate their business. And
they have regulated it, so as to stop
almost the wheat-raiSing business. And
the farmers will never resume it until
millers abandon their combinations, and
until twice as much is paid for wheat as
| now.
This will probably make some of the
| little, old, hardscrabble mills, not su-
perior to the old-fashioned corn crack
| ers'' to whine little. But nothing but
plain words will release the grapple
which the millers have upon the farm
| erS' Threats.