St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-13
II is A DEATH BLOW.
The Minority Wheat Report
viii Wind UP Republican
Rule.
Committeeman Moore's Thun-
derous Onslaught on the
Great Combine.
The Elevators and Railroads
Leagued to Rob Farm
ers Of Wheat.
4 Warehouse System That
Makes the Robbery Posi-
BILE to Operate.


"This document Is the first bolt OF
lightning in the farmers sky Of Mime
Gotta for quarter Of a century, and 1t
ends Republican rule in this state"
AS w. w Erwin tersely and emphat-
ically Numbered forth these important
and ominous words, he laid down a
pOndeTous document OF some $4,000
words which will probably echo from
one end Of the state 10 the other in the
approaching state campaign. 1t was
the minority report in the famous wheat
investigating case. submitted to the gov
ernOr yesterday by f. j. Moore. Printed
in full. it would make at least two
full pages Of the GLOBE, and yet so
terse and comprehensive Is it that the
most careful synopsis would do 1t rank
injustice. Though that is not definitely
stated, it is equally certain that 1t
emanated from the brain OF Attorney
Erwin. and 1t is put together in his III
imitable style.
Mr.. Moore agrees with the committee
as far as it went, but he cmphatically
holds that it did not 90 nearly far
enough. in order, lie claims, to reach
the conclusions reached by the commit
tee, certain facts must exist; these facts
we're ignored to certain extent by the
committee and the minority report goes
ON TO set these facts out very eIabOrately.
IL holds that not only is there a power
full and successful combine to keep
down the price of wheat, but the rail
roads are in league with IL and lend II 4
powerful aid. 1t also maintains that the
prices are manipulated by the boards OF
trade of Minneapolis and Chicago and
not by the laws of supply ana demand.
On this subject it says:
Arguing from the point that the wheat
price is that Of Chicago, less rates by
rail from Minneapolis. Mr.. Moore holds
that the price at Duluth should be pre-
csely that of Chicago, without this diff
ference, and asks:
Now, what power, or what influence,
could puSsibly make the difference OF
90 cents between Chicago and Duluth,
unless some power, foreign to the law
of supply and demand, arbitrarily likes
this difference? Why does not the 3d.
600, 900 bushels Of wheat at Duluth and
Minneapolis control the 2l,000,00O at
Chicago and Milwaukee? 1t may be
that NV brethren on the committee
do not understand the word combine TO
mean what ! understand that word
means If my brethren on the commit
tee understand that no combine has
been discovered in the sense Of the dis
covery 0f the two or three or more per-
sons, \ h sit down and arbitrarily fix
the price for wheat at Duluth and Min
Ia | will
that the evidence has not reached SO
far into the heart Of this combine as 10
discover the names of these two or three
OF four individuals. But the word
combine, as ust by me and as
believed from the testimony TO exist
and control the price of wheat in Min
neSOta and the Northwest, is rather that
the price is unnaturally fixed and en-
forced by those Interested in the gather
Ing of the wheat crop of Minnesota and
the Northwest upon other than the
natural. competitive and honorable
principles. There can be no just reason
why, with equal facilities and with
equal freight rates, the 63,000,00
bushels at Duluth should not rather
control the 2l,0O0.000 bushels tributary
TO Chicago than be controlled by
ii. What | mean by combine is that the
I'm Minnesota and the Northwest is
based upon the fiction that the price of
wheat at Chicago necessarily governs
the price at Duluth and Minneapolis.
That the entire wheat business of Min
sofa and the Northwest is carried on un-
der this fiction is logically admitted by
every witness who has been before the
committee. How is this accomplished?
The Combine.
The testimony shows that there is To-
Gated at Minneapolis board called the
chamber of commerce, and at Duluth a
similar board called the board of trade.
The testimony shows that these boards
are composed, so far as the wheat-deal-
ing interests are concerned, of dealers
in wheat, both elevator men and COM
mission merchants, with few bonanza
farmers. It is conceded that these
boards meet daily and transact between
themselves the purchase and sale
of wheat. 1t is also con-
coded that these sales are largely
fictitious sales. 1t must be borne in
mind that the wheat of Minnesota and
the Northwest cannot escape these
dealers, who control the board Of trade
at Duluth ana the chamber of commerce
at Minneapolis. They own all OF the
elevators along the different lines OF
railroad throughout this wheat region.
They have all the facilities at the lake
ports. 1t is impossible Tor any cOnSid-
cradle amount of wheat to escape their
handling. They necessarily have the
sympathy, if not the cooperation of all
the lines of transportation. 1t seems
from the testimony that the dealers
adopt as the price TO be paid for wheat
each day the closing price which they
make on the preceding day. And how
do they make the price? Do they fix
the price in regard TO the value of the
wheat as calculated by the law Of sup
ply and demand, the freight rates and
the facilities for export? If this were
honestly done the law of supply and de
mand, natural in Its character, would
necessarily govern the price paid
for wheat. 1t matters not wheth-
er this price is fixed in open
price which they, the elevator men and
dealers, fix. ii is the result of the com.
bined interests of the dealers, the eleva
tor and commission men. 1t makes nc
difference by what means it is aScer
tanned, fixed or agreed upon. The ties
imony, as referred to herelnbefore
fully establishes the fact that every
elevator man in the Northwest adopts
the list price promulgated by their com
mon agent, Frank ii. Irons, a.
Minneapolis, and, whether the ele
vators and dealers shall deny thai
Frank Irons fixes the price, and shall
claim that such price is fixed by them
selves, either in open board or by com
mittee. or in whatsoever way they shall
fix the same. and afterwards commu
nicated to their general agent, Franz
10 M torina ~