St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-29
RAILROADS ARE IN IT.
Continued From FirstPase.

the expenditure of $4,000 which has
been made by this committee. 1t seems
to me that the door of these illicit ship
ments was opened by the permission to
disregard the provisions of the law in
regard to the posting of grain, per-
mission which it seems to me was not
contemplated by the board of commits
sionerS. but which the elevator COM
panies have made the excuse for their
clandestiDe and secret shipment of
nOn-inSpected wheat.
1.-The testimony of MI Pillsbury be-
fore the joint committee is Interesting
in that it attempts to lay the entire
blame of the depressed condition of the
Minnesota wheat market at the door of
the wheat pit gamblers on the board of
trade in the city of Chicago. l am not
disposed to agree with Mr.. Pillsbury in
this opinion; and this opinion form in
view of the testimony taken before this
committee. believe that the present
depressed condition of the market in
Minnesota is due more largely to the
combine which in my opinion exists be-
tween the elevator systems and the rail-
roads of Minnesota and the Northwest
than to the reflected influence OF either
the Chicago or New York markets"
And yet the organ that only last April
said there is a loss of 10 cents per buShel
on wheat between the farmers and Min
neapollS is now asserting that there Is
and has been no combine.
1t is interesting to those who don't
know it to learn that Mr.. Moore's report
was suppressed in the Republican news
papers, and that through the influence
of the combine it secured only limited
circulation. 1t is doubtful if any men,
Der of congress ever read it. Yet it is
direct, convincing, and how its conclu-
SiOnS can be escaped, is hard to say.
His report shows all that is here
claimed, and more, is true; but the diff
Guilty with MIR. Moore, as with every
body else who has looked into the mat
ter, Is that he lacked the indisputable
proof which we present here for the
first time. Mr.. Moore's report. however.
is an Invaluable link in the chain of
evidence. He adds his testimony to
every claim advanced. The misrepres-
entation and suppression of facts
by MI. Pillsbury and Mr.. Washburn are
simply monstrOus. Dividends of 10 per
cent do not represent all of the earnings
of the elevators. That is but the net.
Out Of the gross earnings must be taken
the expenses of the elevators, the high
salaries paid their head men and agents,
the cost of defending Investigations into
combine methods and the other eX
penSeS which the trust must be put to to
maintain its supremacy and power. If
this be SO, what must be the enormous
gross sum which the farmers must pay
to continue this system of elevators,
with its complex and costly concOm-
iants?
The cost of employing Frank Fl.
Irons, VINO at present is making list
prices which WenZell, Barber and Hi
land formerly made,is paid by the farm
erS. And upon this point Mr.. Moore, in
his minority report, goes i'll details. If
Mr.. Pillsbury denies the combination,
let him explain why the elevators en-
ploy this man-Irons-to make a list
price for the elevators to pay for grain.
But that is only one explanation MIR.
PillSbury must make i'll settling the
question of combination. He must ex-
plain why. if there is no money in the
elevator business, his partner. Hurl-
burt. returned to the Northwest
after he had left it in obedience TO a
demand that he keep off of a certain line
of railroad, growing out of the farmers
Indignation against him for his QueS-
tionable methods, and why. if there
was no money in the elevator business,
Huriburt started the Interstate Elevator
company. and built or bought all the
other elevators he could on other lines
OF ToaG. He must explain also why
managers of all the different elevator
companies send out the same price. He
must tell how they get together and
make these prices if Irons does not call
them up by telephone aud notify them.
What do the managers of the different
elevators hald meetings for. if there Is
ITO combine? Decidedly, Mr.. Pillsbury1
has great deal 10 explain, end, among;
other things, the following:
a Striking Case IS
Cash No. hard wheat was worth in:
Duluth, Dec. 3, 1888, 9IN cents. The
combine price at stations north of Lari-
more vas but IS cents Tor the same
wheat. The freight from Larimore to
Dulut! was IL cents. The elevators,
therefore, as in so many other cases,
made 1915 cents per busiel. The Dakots
ia rmers threw themselves OF the mercy.
of the world during the drouths of 1883
and 1889. Tney were loaned by The ele-
waters seed wheat. Can these farmers
cent d.yidendS when such Il showing as
that is made? On the day when
wheat was bought from the FARM
er by the combine elevators at
66 cents. though it was worth
glL CENTS i'll Duluth. "the elevator men
outside LarinOre were kept busy trying
to explain why they could not pay Lari
more prices Tor wheat" says tie Lari-
more Pioneer of Dec. 3, 1885. This was
because W0lcott was making ar indie
pendent market in Larmore. In the
same paper we find this item:
The Mimic Farmers Alliance got warmed
up last week over The refusal of the raiiFoad
TO furnish cars Tor j. ". Majors, the iade-
pendent wheat buyer and agent for The far
mers at that place. He had been paying two
cents more than the elevators, and the faI-
mers were indignant at the attempt to sup
press him. Seeing that it would not do. the
railroad company relented ana furnished
him cars