Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1892-09-01
GRAIN MARKETS.
Then and Nova Great Contras

Then and Nova Great Contrast.
st. Paul Globe: Then-The farmer
drove into the village with his load of
grain. Two, three, half a dozen pleas
ant faced fellows, full of jokes and
quips, saluted him affably, climbed on
his wagon, cracked jokes with him and
chaffed each other, opened the sacks,
sampled his grain. The farmer was
the important parsonage in such a
crowd. Each buyer was anxious to Sc
cure his custom. They courted him;
paid him attentions; called him Mister,
asked after the good wife and the
family. The farmer felt his value to
these men.~He turned their Jokes.
parried their chatf, and sold his grain
to the man who gave him the best
price. In all the bargaining that hate
full and ominous word ''grade, now so
common, was never heard. The buy
ers may have had it in their minds as
they sampled the grain and made up
their minds what they could give for
it, but it never passed their lips. The
farmer knew the run of the markets
and about what his grain was worth,
and when that price was touched in
the biddiag he let it 60, took his ticket
and went off to the warehouse or ele-
vator and unloaded; got his check,
cashed it, bought his supplies and went
home feeling that among men he
counted as an important factor.
Now-The farmer drives to the vii
1age. No one meets him or cares to,
except possibly the merchant who has
a chattel mortgage on his crop to Sc
cure last years grocery bill. Up at
the depot are one, two. perhaps three
elevators to which he drives. These
later-day buyers sit in their doors and
await him. A spider crouched in his
web waiting for the fly typifies them.
He has to pick the elevator to which
he will sell. The agents wait his driv-
ing onto the platform. They have to.
Why? 1t would cause competition and
these later-day grain men hate compe-
tition as the devil is said to hate holy
water. They don't have to come to
him-he has to go to them. The only
question with him is which will cheat
him the least and it is question he
never answers satisfactorily to himself.
selects one elevator and drives
up the incline to the door. If the
price doesn't suit him he can drive
away. His grain is docket for dirt,
and he can only growl if it is too much.
Then s'draw'' is taken to compensate
for the lean-back of his tired horses.
Then the grade is fixed, and, if he
doubts it, the deft hand of the agent
fills the brass kettle so as to make the
grade he wants. How much he is
cheated on weight depends on the greed
or fear of the buyer. The farmer knows
it is just the same at the other eleva-
tors. He takes what he can get and
goes home. He is not the important
factor he was, The buyers have turned
the tables on him. They are the fell
lows he must cringe to now.
Some Of the Grand Army boys may
be interested in the following from A..
B. Pope, A. D. G., Commander Dept.
Tenn. and Ga, He says: We have had
an epidemic of whooping cough here
Stewart, Tenn,) and Chamberlain's
cough remedy is the only medicine that
has done any good" There is no dam
ger from whooping cough when this
remedy isfreaiy given. It completely
controls the disease. Is and 50 cent
bottles fqr sale BY Chalmsrs& McGraer.