St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-09

Strument of oppression by the use OF
which in collecting and pooling the
grain of the great Northwest it has been
instrumental in demoraiZing the mar
kets of the world, and with the aid Of
railway corporations, through its infa-
nous price-list, has dictated prices at
every railway station in the great North
west. | further ask the committee TO
recommend in its report such leglsa-
ton as will make it unnecessary for
shippers to use either the houses of the
elevator companies at the country sta
tons or those of the One-sole cOmbina-
ton at Duluth, which now blocks every
approach to the lake in Minnesota ex-
cept through its shipping lines.
LAS a remedy for the blockade which
now exists at the lake / ask with diff
demo the committee to recommend the
erection by the state contiguous to deep
water on Lake Superior public ware
houses for the storage of grain, without
mixing the grain OF different indvid-
uals, while awaiting q purchase in the
open markets of the world; for
under the present system, until the
wheat reaches deep water, there can be-
no open market to the producer. III
the owners of wheat should desire to
hold their wheat for better price the
state receipts for the grain in store
would afford the very highest security
upon which to raise money at the lowest
current rate of interest"
Instead of depending on the markets,
Gen. Barrett declared, the wheat is all
pitched into a reservoir, from which the
world is supplied. Every market is
filled with futures based on what the
farmer has just brought into his local
market. He contended that the state
In "a fAr kk,
at Duluth free the farmers using it
should pay the cost.
In concluding, Gen. Barrett had this
to say of the Shelby letter:
The shelby Letter.
"In concluding it is only Just to Mr..
Shelby to say that he has done the
wheat growers of the Northwest a
splendid service. He has revealed eV-
erything. Farmers now know that
some central authority fixed the price of
their wheat at the home markets. The
worlds wheat crop may be a failure,
famine, Shrunken lips and bOny hands
may be implOring for our wheat at any
price and on any terms, but a horrid
ogre, somewhere dOmicied i'm this pro-
life region, interpoSeS to rob those
whom Providence has blest in this
country, and to eXtort from the poor I'M
fortunateS across the seas. The letter
also tells us plainly that there is col
fusion between railroads and elevator
rings; that railroads do aid i'm depress-
ing the prices of our staple farm prod
ucts; that their great power is exerted
against the people, not to their favor,
and that they are not and can never
again claim to be the only common car
riers to the public"
Gen. Barrett declared that in being
present at the investigation he had only
desire to aid the committee in ascer-
tanning facts. 1t was not his view to
personally discredit any individual. but
to snow the necessity for changing tho
elevator system. "The men who are
conducting it," he said, "are not aware
that it is not legitimate business"
Written by a Clerk.
At the conclusion of Gen. Barrett's
state ment, Hon. S. NJ. Owen. editor Of
the Farm, Stock and Home, was called
to the stand, and Intercepted regarding
the Shelby letter, which was first pub
iished in his paper. He said that he had
been informed that the letter was not
actually written by MIR. Shelby, but by
his chief clerk in his absence. Mr..
Erwin said he understood that
the clerk had subsequently been dis
charged. Mr.. Owen said that the Off
ciais Of that road attempted to justify
the letter by saying that where they
wrote one such letter they wrote others
in which they sought to advance the
price of wheat. In regard to the Stowe
contract, Mr.. Owen said the original
had been shown him by +. CaTdin, of
the Northern Pacific Elevator company,
at Minneapolis. MIR Cardin was not at
all reserved, Mr.. Owen declared, in
making the matter public. 1t seemed
to be regarded as an ordinary business
transaction. Mr.. Cardin had said that
this time they only had to pay $3.50, but
it might be more next time. This led
the witness TO believe that such occur
rences were common. Mr.. Cardln had
declared that I'VE don't have to pay the
$50; that comes out of the farmers at
Wadeua."
Gen. Becker, president Of the board
of railway and warehouse commission
ers, was called to give the history of the
Stowe case, at Wadena. He told how
Stowe mad applied to the commission
for relief, claiming that he could not
get cars for the shipment of his wheat.
lie had no warehouse, and the commits
sion advised him to secure one as near
the tracks as he could, and then they
would see that he got the cars. One
/ Hl@Ht lllCH lcCclNCu lIOul MN a. COul'
plant, and wrote q letter which he
would receive next morning, in regard
to it. Next morning they received an
other telegram, asking if they had done
anything, and later in the day received a
third telegram, saying that they need not
bother with the matter as he would not
ship any more wheat. About the same
time A. J. Sawyer was in the Office OF
the commission, and in conversation the
general learned that Mr.. Sawyer was
then in the act of making a contract
with Stowe whereby he should with
draw from the Wadena field. Mr.. Saw
yer had declared at the time that it often
happened that these track buyers lik
Stowe went into business for the sole
purpose of
Being Bought OF.
Later, when Stowe wrote to Mr..
Ovens paper, abusing the commission
ers Gen. Becker said that he sent and
received copy Of the contract with
Stowe in order to show him up in his
true colors.
In reply to a question from Mr. Err
win. Gen. Becker said that he recalled
Continued on Sixth Page.