St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-05-23
And Is Considerably Mystified
by the Searching Cues
lions of the Tall Pine.
Eric Olson Fails to Get Quar-
tered on That $4,000
Appropriation.
An Adjournment Taken for a
Week to Allow Clerical
Work to Be Done.

wheat. Screenings. he informed the
committee, were collected and sold as
such. Some were sold in Duluth, and
other lots were shipped out. All he
ever saw shipped out went by day. He
had at times noticed difference be-
tween the dockage placed on wheat by
the inspector and the amount of screen
ings cleaned out. Sometimes the
snrinkage was more than was estimated
by the state inspector, and sometimes
less. During the first year he was with
the elevators he heard some complaint
that the dockage of the state inspector
was too fair. He could not say
whether or not the elevators acquired
much of an average during the time he
was employed there. Mr.. Burke, now
city clerk of Duluth, had told him Ele-
vator ID was 5000 bushels short; that a
quantity of wheat had got into the
cracks and another lot had been dam
aged. The elevator company had to
make this good to the shippers. He
had never seen anything irregular on
the part of the company in handling
wheat. He, however, admitted once
being engaged assisting to load wheat
into vessel when the inspector came
up and shut off the bin, saying that that
kind of thing would not do. After the
inspector went away quantity of the
forbidden wheat was loaded into the
bins. Spilled wheat was always cleaned
up and properly accounted for. The
foreman had given out an order that
any man who left wheat in car, or
failed to clean it properly, would be dis
charged. He only knew of one instance
hoo lnfr rrrl,f in vyf hn
claimed to buy sWeepings.
Examined 10y Mr.. Erwin, witness
finally admitted that the dockage at the
elevator might. Oh the average. favor
the company. He could not say any
thing respecting some figures adduced
by Mr.. Erwin, who estimated that the
elevators handled 35,000,000 bushels OF
wheat, out of which there would be 3d.
600 bushels Of overage-1,000 bushels TO
every LOCO, 600 bushels handled.
Mr.. Macy was again placed on the
stand after the noon recess.
Mr.. Severance crOSS-eXamined the
witness at some length. Macy said the
statement attributed to OlmSted, that if
there was an ounce of average on
buShel it would amount to great deal
in the course of year, that Mr.. Ohm
sted did not say there had been such
average, but simply il there had been it
would amount TO a great many bushels.
Frank Burke, to his knowledge, had no
means of knowing anything more about
the grain business than any other citi-
zen of Duluth who had nothing to do
with the elevator. He did not think
that wheat of different dockage was
mixed, certainly not before cleaning. II
two cars were of No. hard or of the
same grade with different dockage,
they would after cleaning be put
together. He had known of odd cases
where they were put together. No
record was kept of dOckage to make
gain for the house. He had seen five
mills tied up for half day by the in
Spector refusing to allow the grain to
be used because it was not cleaned to
his satisfaction. He had seen cars
where there was less than twenty
say whether or not there was any dock
age on the car.
Mr.. Erwin re-eXamined the witness,
and asked, among others, the following
question:
Don't you see as a sort of dim Sc
quence that the more frequently the
steam was shut off the more frequently
the elevator people were diSobeying the
justice of the occaSion?"
''Wh-a-a-t?" gasped Mr.. Macy.
Nothing at ALL" replied the Tall
Pine, and the members burst into roar
of laughter.
There were no more questions to ask
Mr.. Macy. and, it being nearly O'clock,
it was decided to call no more witnesses.
Chairman GeiSSel read the following
letter from X. j. Hall, of the Grain
Growers association:
,i,I1
Grain Growers association, we recommend
Eric Olson as clerk TO aid in the examination
of the books of the elevator companies at
Duluth, and hereby ask his appointment as
such.
A lively discussion was created by
this proposition.
Attorney Severance pointedly OPP
posed it in behalf of the elevator COM
panies. Mr.. Olson was one of a COM
mittee appointed by the Legislature to
make similar investigation. The re-
port that they prepared was rotten. 1t
was nothing but mistakes and inaccu-
racies that transcribed anything that
could possibly have been drawn with a
purpose of honesty. The schedules
were SO incorrect as to be absurd and
worthless. There were pages of figures
that were false from one end to anoth-
er, and they could not have been SO full
of errors if the men who drew it desired
to be honest i'll the matter. They were
willing that the committee should Sc
lect any fair man, but not Eric Olson;
Mr.. Hall or Gen. Barrett or any other
prominent man.
Gen. Barrett spoke for Eric Olson,
and Senator j. d. Smith voiced his
objections to such selection. His ap-
pointment would simply degenerate the
investigation into broad farce.
Eric Olson spoke in his own behalf,
claring himself to be ''as good an ac-
countant as any of YOU"
Motion was made to appoint Mr.. Oh
son. but it was lost by tie vote:
For, Caswell. Barrett, Moore and Geissel;
against, French, Zelch, Smith and Sevatson.
K. j. Hall and Gen. Barrett, Messrs.
Moore and Barrett, of the committee,
were named to represent the Grain
Growers association, but they refused
to accept the appointment because of
desire to go home. The grain grow
ers had no other name to suggest, so
the matter dropped.
The committee adjourned to meet
June at o'clock.
Assistant Attorney General Childs
left for Duluth last evening, accompa-
MED by A. Bertram, of st. Paul, and G.
7. Wallet, of Minneapolis. The latter
have been appointed clerks to make the
comparisons of the abstracts from the
barks of the elevator companies.