St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-06-16
TOO MUCH POLITICS.
j. w. Preston and the Present
Grain Inspection Department.


The weary grind of the wheat investi-
cation began yesterday morning with
j. w. Preston as the first witness. Mr..
Preston was an inspector at Duluth
from 1885 to 1888, and his testimony
dealt mainly with the manner of clean
ing wheat. While he was inspector
wheat and politics were clearly separ-
ated from one another.
When the afternoon session began
Mr.. Preston was still In the witness
box and was croSS-eXamined by At
torney Erwin. The witness seemed
to think that politics had too
much sway in the grain in
spector's Office. He severely criticised
the department under the administra-
ton of Chief Inspector ClauSen at Du-
luth. and asserted that Deputy Inspector
Fulton was the most incompetent of the
three inspectors. Futon's appoint
ment. he said, was political deal. In,
spector Seely was fair-minded man
and his inspections were on a purely
nOn-partisan basis. Mr.. Preston knew
nothing of the amount of wheat stored
in the Duluth elevators at the time the
state inspection department took con-
troll.
The next witness was George Close,
who had been night Waterman at Ell
evatorS Z, G and T at Duluth from 1884
to1887. He claimed:
That wheat had often been shipped out
secretly during the night, but he could not
affirm whether it had previously been in
spected or not. He knew that in the season
of 1885 and 1886 four vessels from Buffalo
had been loaded secretly at night and disap-
peared with their cargoes by morning. The
Watchman had been instructed by the fore
man 10 fill the vessels i'll secret and to say
nothing of the matter to anybody. The wheat
that had been shipped in the year of 1885 was
Of an excellent quality, but considerable of
the wheat shipped IN 1856 was bin-burnt.
The witness recited one instance of vessel
that did not arrive at the dock till 2 o'clock
IN the morning 10 receive its load of grain
from elevator <. The instructions then
given were that the vessel was to be immedi-
ately loaded and to be got under way as
secretly as possible, and that no one was to
be told OF the occurrence. He was further
instructed to see that the vessel sailed before
the inspectors should arrive in the morning
The witness and another Waterman were the
only persons who had seen the boat filled.
He also said that he had heard of wheat he
ing secretly shipped by car, but personally
he knew of no such doings.
MIR. Close and his son were often en-
gagged in sweeping the cars, and had
often made from 50 to So day. In fact
there were a great number of persons
employed in this profitable trade. He
testified that he had been discharged by
the elevator company near Christmas,
1887, and had been offered better posi-.
ton, which he had refused. He said he
knew of no cause why he should have
been discharged.
The witness told of a considerable
amount of wheat that had been spoiled
and bin-burnt in two bins of Elevator
+ in 1856. In one instance nearly one
third of the wheat had to be carried out
In sacks and dumped into the water; at
other times little had been loaded on
the ships.
1t being 5 o'clock. the investigation
was then adjourned to 10 o'clock this
morning.