St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-09
MERRIAM IS in A FIX.
A Report Which Knocks Out
the So-Called Business
Administration.
Farmers Are Favorable to the
Establishment Of a State
Irvine Factory.
What Will Gov. Merriam Do?
Ignore or Indorse the
Report.
His Excelleney Politically
Damaged by the State
Prison Board.

satanic majesty and the deep blue sea.
Whichever way he turns he is confront
ed with danger. And why? Simply
because of the failure to grasp the I'M
portarce of the establishment of
twine factory. Let us retrospect lit
tie, and ramble over this business adj
we are said to be enjoy
ing.
For many years farmers have COM
planned of the excessive price of bind
ing Irvine, but their complaints lntensl-
fed about the time of the session of the
last legislature, when combine-trust,
if you like it better-was made among
by which the price OF
Irvine was increased. This increase
was like the last straw to the camel; at
all events it nearly broke the financial
back of the farmers, who, owing
to failure of crops, were IN a dire con-
dition. The Legislature was petltoned
to take some action. Hon. Henry Kel-
Ter, in the senate, was requested to in
yestigate. and he reported to that body
the necessity for something being done
to cireumvent the operations of the
Irvine trust. 1t was suggested that
Irvine could be manufactured by the
state and sold at profit at half the cost
which the twine trust was demanding.
The suggestion was well received by
the legislators, and owing to the
necessity of providing some work for
eonvictS in the state prison, 1t was
thought that the manufacture of Irvine
should be introduced. The employment
of convicts in this way would not COM
pete with free labor in the state. In an
act passed recognizing the prison, the
board of managers were empowered and
required to provide for the employment
of such convictS in one or more OF three
different systems of employment. These
were the state account system, the con-
tract system, and the piece price sys-
ten. 1t was specially provided that the
convicts be employed as much as prac-
ticable under the state account system.
The legislature having made a request
that Irvine should be one OF the
products manufactured by the state
that u.s. it were found possible to do so
after the adjournment of the legisla-
ture Gov. Merriam appointed COM
mission to investigate. The commits
sion was composed of MeSSrS. Dunn and
Temple. members of the prison board:
The commission junketed East, had
the usual good time for two weeks, re-
turned and in due time filed their re-
port.
In this report the commission, in their
own minds, completely Squelched the
bare idea of establishing a Irvine factory
at the state prison. They declared that
81 ZOO, 900 to $4,000, 900 capital would be
required to provide the machinery,
which would thereby employ seventy
five men, and enforced their conclu-
SiOnS with
We do not believe that il would be prudent
to invest capital in a manufacture which is
to so great degree speculative and uncer
tain.
Failed to Act.
What did the head and front of the
boosted business administration" do
do with this report?
He caused it to be pigeonholed.
The providing of cheaper Irvine to
farmers did not appear to trouble him
much.
The commission reported their con-
illusions were unfavorable; it seemed to
be matter of no concern to Gov. Mer-
riam how the state cOnvictS were en-
ployed. The fact that the commission
interviewed, almost exclusively, men,
bers of firms interested in the Irvine
trust did not excite any comment
from the man who was giving the state
business administration" Oh! no.
The laying of political wires for sec
ond term and his ultimate rise to the
United States senate were more at
tractive to him. And thus the report
was allowed to remain in the archives
of the state.
But the farmers were not inclined to
let the matter drop SO quietly. Some of
the prominent leaders privately lnveSti-
gated the manufacture of Irvine. Their
conclusions were widely different to
those of Merriam's commission. At the
annual meeting of the Farmers ALI
ance the question was thoroughly dis
cussed. General indignation was ex-
pressed at the Merriam commission
combining its investigation on Irvine
manufacture to members of the tWlne
they expect but unfavorable infOrma-
ton? Was it likely that sharp business
men would voluntarily provide these
commissioners with such details as
would induce them to establish a rival
Irvine mandatory, and which, in the
end, would burst the trust! Suffering
Rebecca!w
The Farmers alliance appointed a
committee to further investigate and
see if something could be done to eS-
tabliSh the manufacture of Irvine III
either the state prison or the state re-
formatOry. The members of the CON-
mittee were convinced that the report
of Merriam'S commission was miSlead-
ing, and the governors attention was
called to the information they had
CLEANED. The governor must have been
impressed by this additional informa-
ton, for what did he do? He appointed
second commission! This commission
has been East and returned, and to-day
will make its report. That report is
entirely in contradistinctiOn to the re-
port of the first commission. An eX-
cerpt from the report the governor will
receive to-day reads:
From our investigation into the subject of
binding Irvine we conclude that the tWine TO
be used in binding grain in the future will
be either jute or flax, as this kind OF Irvine
can be MADE and sold much cheaper than
either MANILA or sisal. With the right kind
of machinery and properly handled the lax
straw now wasted in the state is, in our op1n-
ion amply sufficient to furnish fiber for all
the twine required in harvesting our small
grain. OF course, when such an Industry is
once started better methods, both of prepar-
ing the fiber and making it into Irvine, will
be found.
We think that the establishment of such
system of machinery would be the means Of
opening up to the farmers of Minnesota q
new source of income, as it would not only
furnish a market for our fax straw which is
now wasted, but would lead to better meth
DDS in the cultivation and handling Of this
crop, and ultimately to the knowledge that
would enable us to produce cheaply much
more valuable fiber than that required in
making Irvine for binding grain.
There is one argument in favor OF the es-
adjustment by the state of such an industry
which impresses itself with great force upon
the committee. The establishment of such
an industry by an individual would newt
ably provoke the hostility of the Irvine trust,
and lead to computations that would almost
inevitably bankrupt the enterprise. But such
an establishment owned by the state
could only be encouraged by an attempt
to freeze it out, for such an attempt
would simply result i'll giving the people
who own the mandatory cheap tyine. and
we could afford to allow our mills to lie idle,
as what we might lose in this way would be
more than made up i'll the cheaper cost OF
Irvine to the farmer.
The cost of system of machinery for the
manufacture of twine from flax would be
probably about $4,000.
After Full Investigation.