St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-29
RAILROADS ARE IN IT,
They Help the Elevator Com
panies in Various and Pc
culiar Ways,
Some Of Which an Active and
Vigilant Railway Commits
sion Could Prevent.
The Conclusions Of Hon. E. j.
Moore in His Famous Mi
nority Report.
The Railroads Must Treat All
Men Alike in the
Future.

The exposure of the great wheat ring
has shown that the great elevator COM
panies are not and have not been alone
III the work of cornering the wheat
market of the Northwest. They would.
in fact, be shorn of a great deal of their
power for evil were the laws of the
state enforced and cars furnished indl-
vidual shippers by the railroad COM
panies. a great deal of evidence on
this point has been brought out, and led
to the adoption of The following plank
by the late Democratic. state conven-
tion:
I'VE denounce the rapacious and con-
ScienceleSS combination which has
grown up in this state with the cOnniv-
ance Of Republican legislatures be-
tween the elevator companies. the miller
and the railroads, by which our grain
markets have been monopoIiZed, and
our farmers robbed of the fruits Of their
hard lahors. We reaffirm our belief
that this combination rests upon the
TACT that the railroads Of this state have
abJured one of their primary functions,
the provision Of suitable means for
same over to the control of private per-
sons; and we again declare our belief
that the remedy. simple, bat ef1icacous,
lies III Legislation requiring the roads
TO resume their proper function. thus
giving to every station free and open
market.'
The Democratic Party
of Minnesota stands pledged to give the
rhnn e ln -teyn frna nd
open market tor their product, and this
can only he done by change of admin
lStration that will appoint state rail
way commission that will enforce the
laws now on the statute books, as we'll
as those the next legislature stands
pledged to pass if the Democratic party
has control. State regulation of the
railways is a settled thing. and the bus
mess of these corporations is purely and
simply that of common carrier.
the farmers of Minnesota want
railroad commission that will force the
railroads to treat the humbltst farmer
as fairly and literally as they do the
largest elevator company.
The interests of the farmers of the
state demand that the present unholy
combination of the elevators and the
railroads he broken up.
And these two reforms are pledged the
people if Daniel w. LaWler is chosen
governor at the coming election.
The part the railroads play in throt
ling competition and controlling the
grain market is interesting. Their in
terest is identical with that of the trust.
The advantage to the railroads of per-
mittiug the farmer to do his own ship
ping is rot great. 1t is greater if the
railroads work III harmony with the
trust. The railroads, although re-
strained by the interstate commerce
law from pooling, pool, nevertheless,
but by means which are so skillful as to
escape the laws provisions.
How Et as Done.
There are two trust elevators at and
near PaYneSville, town which is on
the line of the 500 road. One is on the
Great Northern. while the other is di-
TIectly on Senator Washburn's line.
They are about mile apart. An inde-
pendent buyer starts another elevator
adjoining the one on the 500 line. If
the independent buyer were broken up
at Paynesvlle, the farmer would sell
wheat to the elevator Oh the Great
Northern road as well as to the combine
elevator on the 500 road, because the
combine elevator Oh the Great Northern
road is closer to some of the farmers
than the independent elevator on the
500 road. The Great Northern is de-
priyed of so many carloads of wheat.
therefore, because the farmer drives out
of his way TO PayneSYille 10 sell to the
trusts rival, who pays higher price
for wheat than the trust does. As a
consequence, the Great Northern says
to Washburn and the latter's 500 road:
You tear down this fellows elevator
Mt PayneSville, or we will lower rates
and wipe you out of existence"
That is permissible under the inter
state commerce law, and the 500 road
haStens to save itself a competition
which will destroy it. 1t refused VOL
colt cars through orders given General
Manager Underwood by United States
Senator WaShburn. Wolcott was told
by Underwood that this was done be-
cause he (WolcotU did not buy at list
prices made by the trust.
The railroads have plenty of cars
when wheat first begins to move, but no
farmer can get them. The farmer finds
empty cars idle on a side track. He
demands them. The railroad says to
him:
The elevator is full. and its wheat
must be moved. You would take two
or three days to fill those cars out OF
your wagons, while the elevator can
shoot wheat into them in few minutes.
We can't stand that delay. You see
how it is Yourself"
Perhaps the farmer declares that the
elevator is not full, and is told to go up
and see for himself. He finds it ap-
parently full. The elevator agent has
adroitly placed boards over the top OF
the bins in the top of the elevator, aud
has Sprinkled a few inches of wheat on
them. AS matter of fact. there is no
wheat underneath the boards at all.
The farmer is ignorant of these tricks,
Hs he is of the others. He knows he has
been robbed, but he cannot explain how
it has been done. This expose will show
him, and, taking the facts here given.
he can run back in his mind, and find
corroborative proof of every one OF
them.
Inasmuch as the railroads need less
cars to ship from elevators than they
would need if they permitted the farm
ers to ship for themselves, the gain is
by the railroads, while the disadvantage
IS with the farmer. In other ways the
farmer is
Deceived by the Railroads.
If they have no cars at a station where
the farmers are storing their wheat and
don't care themselves to ship. the rail
roads will send empty cars there from
the stations where the farmers demand
the cars. They will also sidetrack cars
i'll Northern Minnesota among the pine
woods where there is no wheat grown.
They play their game of thimble-r;. s0
rs to be able to prove that tney have no
cars empty. i, Dy refusing to furnish
cars 10 FARMERS, the railroad needs less
Ears. 1t does not have to supply SO much