St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-10-05

line of elevators on the Northwestern R'y
system in Minnesota and Dakota. We cam
not get any reliable information as to what
they have paid, but would not be surprised
other elevator company in the Northwest.
The Red River Valley Elevator company,
the Minnesota & Dakota, the North Dakota
Elevator company. Brooks Bros. are all first
class companies and have all paid very we'll,
and we have no hesitation in buying their re-
celpts or in advancing money on them, but
have no inside, reliable information as to
their profits
IF there is any more information we can
give you we shall be glad to do so.''
Yours truly,
c. A. P. G. A. PILLsBURY Co.
Less than two months after the fore-
going was written, June 1S, 'S9, this,
same firm, by the hand of the same
writer, &c. A. P..' wrote to Mr.. Ar
mold. Larimore, N. D., who had asked
Mr.. P.-who had always posed as the
farmers FRIEND" and who had always
been so lavish in his advice to farmers
about the proper time to sell or hold
their wheat-tO advise the farmers Of
his section concerning the building of
farmers elevator. The coveted advice
is given herewith:
Strangely Contradictory.
Minneapolis. Mimi, June IS, 1881.
MIR. FL. =. Arnold, Larimore. Dak.-
Dear Sir: In answer to your question -
the 18th, would say that our elevators havl
not paid at all well lately, simply because
there have been too many elevators and tod
little wheat. Even on big crop the elevated
business has been Overdone in your section
and more elevators have been built than cal
be proftably run. We think you can buy ella
Yators to better advantage than to build them
1t is very risky business. The loss durini
the last year has been fearful, and wheat wal
graded one or two grades higher in the conn.
than WOnld irM lie md n,r
luth. Yours truly,
CHAs. A. PILLsBURY & Co.
1t is safe to assert that in all come
mercial history such radical revOlu
ton in the affairs of a great business
interest in so short a time was nevei
before recorded. In April it could bs
said that for years the elevator business
Ill the Northwest had been profitable tt
bewildering degree; and Its futurj
was assured by firm that was "a vert
large stOckhOlder" In it; yet lin two
little months, yea, not so much.' the
bottom had dropped out of the whols
business,
Huge Profits Had Shrunk
to infnitesimal proportions, vet the
country heard nothing of It.; that great
est OF all commercial interests in this
region had collapsed, was a hopeless
wreck on the rocks of adversely, and
the world knew it not! Or shall the
momentous Importance of this unpar-
alleled event be dwarfed by admitting
that MIR. Pillsbury lied! Perish the
thought! Unfortunately, however, a
large number of letters are published
from Leading elevator and mill men con-
iirming Mr.. Pillsbury's figures regard
ing the enormous profits of the ring
elevators. In his evidence before the
legislative committee Mr.. Pillsbury tes-
tilted substantially as stated in his let
ter to Mr.. Arnold.
Methods Employed.
The book devOtes considerable space
to the various methods employed>that
enable the elevator combine to make
the immense profits admitted. Among
them are the systems of grading and
docking, by which both the quality and
price of wheat is reduced at country
elevators; tricks of various kinds that
enable buyers to give dishonest weights
and yet escape detection by their vicr
tins; but more important than all tha
rest Is that OF price, that is so manipus
lated that during the past ten year,
farmers of this state alone have been
swindled out of enormous sums of
money.
How Prices Are Made.
report heretofore referred to is largely
drawn upon. The investigation of the
legislative committee revealed the fact,
that the price OF wheat at Duluth and
Minneapolis is based upon the Chicago
prices. less freight from Duluth or Min.
neapolis to Chicago, So cents bushek
while, as matter of fact, none of the
wheat goes to Chicago, but all thai Is
exported goes to the Seaboard direct,
and at the same OF less rate than from
Chicago to the sea. 1t follows, then,
that this fiction alone, persisted in un-
til it has become fixed and un-
alterable habit that no one thinks of de-
parting from. costs the wheat growers
619 cents on every bushel of grain sold Il
1t is asserted, from facts heretofore
published in these columns, that rail-
roads are parties to the schemes Of
despoliation. They discourage compe-
tition i'll wheat buying at primary,
points; do their utmost to confine all
buyers to the 'list price, made daily
in Minneapolis, and in every way
seek to maintain equal prices at
points on the various lines of,
road that are equally distant from
terminals, to the end that the territory
assigned to each oad may not he invaded
by another, and so make rate-cutting
probable, with consequent loss of inter
est on their hundreds of millions Of
fictitious capitalization. There are
many other charges and specifications.
and much other evidence presented in
this book, but space Will not permit a
more extended review of those matters
at this time; more may be said of them
hereafter; besides, an opportunity will
undoubtedly be given many of our read|
ers to get copy of the book, and read
OF the whole matter in detail