St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-23
MERRIAM IS SCARED.
Farmers Force a Re-InveSti-
cation of the State Twine
Scheme.
The Prison Managers Are Car
peted and a New Commits
sion Appointed.
Certain Officers of the Farm
ers' Alliance Make Sensa-
tional Discoveries.
The Governors Futile Attemt
to Keep the Public in
the Dark.


The Farmers alliance, through its in
defatigable chiefs, President Hall and
Secretary Lathrop, has again brought
Gov. Merriam to his knees, promising
to do better if he is given another
chance. The last legislature, it will be
remembered. in passing law providing
for the employment of the convicts in
the states prisons, recommended that
the matter of manufacturing binding
twine from fax should be looked into
with view to its manufacture at Still
water. The board of managers of the
state prison, to whom the matter was
referred by Gov. Merriam, appointed
two of their number. Edwin Dunn,
of Eyota, and f. w. Temple. of Blue
Earth City, to investigate the matter
thoroughly and report the results OF
their investigation to the board and to
the governor. The committee jour
neyed to Chicago, saw William Deering,
of the twine trust, and took his views of
the project. They then passed on to
Paterson. n. J.. and other Eastern
points, centers of the great twine trust,
and, on returning, rendered a report,
an abstract of which will be found
below, which declared the project I'M
practicable.
This ''riled'' the farmers. who pos
sessed information which led them to
believe that it would not require an in
Vestment of anything like the $1,000, 900
stated by Gen. Dunn and Inspector
Temple as necessary to establish
plant for the manufacture Of tWine at
Saltwater. to make the experiment.
This feeling came out at the annual
meeting of the alliance in March, when
Gen. Baker exposed the faTcical inveS-
tigation of the committee appointed
bv the prison board. Even then,
however, the governor, MeSsrS.
Dunn and Temple, and the organ of all
mOnOpolies, the Pioneer Press, pooh
pOOhed Gen. Baker, and those members
OF the alliance who were kicking on the
report of the committee and their junk
citing investigation.
But what a change has been wrought
in the last six weeks!
Immediately after the adjournment of
the alliance convention President Hall
and Secretary LathrOp set to work in
Yestigating the matter for themselves,
and so pronounced was
The Evidence They Collected
in this short time that Gov. Merriam
yesterday summoned Gen. Dunn and
Inspector Temple before him, and asked
them why they did not secure the same
testimony. Their answer is not to be
obtained. but they showed considerable
confusion when they learned that the
officers of the alliance were in posses
sion of evidence showing that
reputable and responsible
party had agreed to put in
plant that would turn out 500 pounds
Of binding tWine per day for the sum of
S25, ZOO, and not the 81, ,000 900 or $2,000,-
600 as reported by this committee.
The governor was himself astonished,
and promised to order a reinvestigation
at once. The governor, however, with
his accustomed tinesse, requested the
alliance officers to keep the matter
quiet, and at once proceeded to appoint
a new committee to proceed East to Pat
eTsOn. n. j.. and reinVestigate the mat
ter. In order to square" himself, the
governor has made up this committee
as follows: President Hall and Secer-
tary LathrOp, of the alliance, and In
spectors NorTish and Temple, of the
prison board.
The officers of the alliance were de-
cidedly nOn-communicative yesterday
in regard to their discoveries, owing to
the pledge eXacted from them by the
governor and it certainly looks as though
there were several members of the
prison board who are placed in deuced-
ly uncomfortable position by this action
of the governor. That the officers of
the alliance are in possession of some
racy and sensational information is
pretty certain, and only the prompt ac-
Cf haC nh re
being given to the world.
The Investigation Farce.
1t was in July last that Prison Mana
gers Dunn and Temple journeYed East,
having been appointed a commission by
the prison board to investigate as to the
advisability of starting twine factory
in connection with the state prison.
The two gentlemen were absent several
weeks, their expenses, of course, being
betrayed by the state. Upon their re-
turn to Minnesota they cogitated for a
week or so and on Aug. II presented
their report to Gov. Merriam. The re-
port was unfavorable to the starting of
a twine factury in the state prison. and
the reasons given are as follows:
First-The amount of capital necessary.
In order to employ seventy-five men, CAPT
tai of from S1,OO0,00O to 50, 100000 would
be necessary.
seeond-Character of the labor The man.
ufacture Of tWine is carried on CHIEFLY with
the labor of women and girls, and it is the
opinion of the managers that the labor forms
so small q portion of the product and is
already carried on with such cheap help,
that ii would be hopeless TO expect to make
1t profitable.
Third-The amount of room required.
The tWine manufacture requires great deal
Of rOom, both for the operation Of the ma
chinery and for the storage of material and
the finished product In the judgment of
the managers there is neither the shop room
at saltwater nor the available room to locate
the shops.
Fourth-source of supply Of the material.
The investigating committee was advised
that the new process had been perfected,
making practicable the manufacture OF bind
ing twine from fax, but they were unable to
learn of any being so manufactured. They
found one man who claimed he could profit
ably manufacture twine from fax, but he
wished TO be appointed superintendent at
S., 900 per year and have the state furnish
the necessary capital TO put into operation a
process which he believed might be made
successful.
The prison board of managers en-
forced these conclusions with the
words:
eve do not believe that it would be pru-
dent to invest capital in manufacture
which is to so great a degree speculative and
uncertain.
In the action which the prison board
then took, the members acted solely on
the information" CLEANED by the COM
mission which had junketed around
the country for several weeks. From
whom was the ''information" obtained?
Here they are:
W. Deering, of the Harvester Cordage com
pany; Frank L. GerWig, of Bentley -GerWig