St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-09

are decidedly in favor of the immediate
establishment by the state of an establish
ment for the manufacture of binding Irvine
either at saltwater or at the re1ormatory at
st. Cloud, to consist of not less than two full
systems of machinery, and we recommend
that the governor enter into a contract with
J. c. Todd or some other 1reliable smanu-
facturer of such machines. with view to the
establishment OF such systems at the earliest
moment possible.
In support of the statement that when
the first commission attempted to gath
er information from members of the
Irvine trust, there was every probability
that "blinding' or misleading answers
would be given, is this quotation from
the latest report:
The answer attributed to young Mr.. Deer
Ing III the former report, that there was not
supposed to be any flax machinery manufae-
tured in this country your committee con-
clude must have been misunderstood. or else
the answer was made on purpose to mislead
the committee.
And now, what must Gov. Merriam
do?
The first commission reported that
Irvine factory was too costly expert
ment for the state-that it was imprac-
tieable.
The second commission report that,
instead of from 81 100000 to $4,000. 900,
the cost of machinery is merely $4,000;
that Irvine factory be established at
the earliest possible moment.
If the governor acts on the advice of
the second commission he lays himself
open to criticism because of his nom
action in this matter until his hands
were forced by the Farmers alliance,
and an election was looming within
sight. There can be no excuse for Gov.
Merriam, when the first report was pre-
Sented to him, falling to make himself
more thoroughly converSant with the
way in which the commissioners had
cleaned their information. Had he
done so-had he even read their
report carefully = he must have
come to the conclusion that the
investigation had, to say the
least. been a partial one. At the time
the first commission reported the GLOBE
commented on the action Of the MEM
bers combining their interviews to
men solely identified with the Irvine
trust. If the governor is the Shrewd
and smart business man his friends rep
resent him to be, such singular pro-
ceedings on the part of his commission
ers should have attracted attention and
led to prompt reinveStigation of the
subject. This would have been more
buSlneSS-like than to have waited until
the Farmers alliance practically CON-
PEELED him to do SO.
If Gov. Merriam decides to ignore the
second c0mmission-well, to put it mild
ly. he need not expect very full vote
when he seeks reelection this fall.
1t will thus be clearly seen that Gov.
Merriam is in an awful fix.
The prophecy may be ventured that
Gov. Merriam will indOrse the report to
be presented to him to-day, and that
within the coming year Irvine will be
manufactured in one of the two state
convict institutions. Farmers, however,
should not ignore thiS-that owing to
the Tightening of the trusts grip, twiue
will be scarce this year, and that prices
will be considerably higher than
ever. Again, let them note-that
but for Gov. Merriam's non-action in
not requiring the first commission to
make thorough investigation, after its
partial report, the establishment of a
Irvine factory at state institution has
been retarded by eight or nine months,
anu but for this, to-day, when farmers
are called upon to pay Is cents per
pound for Irvine. the state could have
maze profit out of it by selling at
from seven to nine cents per pound.
If farmers will, like Capt. Cutie,
make note of this" they will not
forget Gov. Merriam and his business
administration" at the polls in NoVem-
Der.