The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1892-10-07
D0NNELLY, o "s' II $:.. :.
AND Fish, 4 4S s:: s;:;.
nTlnN What They Thought
M NfIIH Would Fool the
Ill HUU People and Pass For
STATISTICS, $ ; ::;:::.: 3
THE EFFORT FELL FLAT.

The origin of the current charges that
the farmers of the Northwest are robbed
of upwards of 80 cents on every bushel
of their wheat crop is traceab1e to the
columns of Ignatius Donnelly's life
organ, The Great West. In its issue for
April l, 1899, that cratic sheet pub
lished the following editorial paragraph:
We have some facts now which beat the
investigation all hollow-because no jury
sits upon them except the people of the
United States. The price of wheat has
gone down to 70 cents in Minneapolis.
Mark that. In Liverpool, if it is only 46
shillings quarter it is s1.40 bushel for
Duluth" or "mixed grade" No one will
question that-at least not more than as
to to Q cents bushel. Now there is a
difference of 62 cents a bushel-oH say so
cents And what are even rail and ocean
freights9 Why, admit they are 81 cents
per bushel. What are lake and canal,
now opening? Admit for arguments
sake they are 90 cents (of course that is
too high. Now then, in one case, tie
balance profit is 80 cents per bushel, and
in the other +, cents.
The wheat investigation, as will be
remembered, was grievous disappoint-
ment to those who brought it about.
Long before it closed it was evident that
the charges preferred against the state
inspection department, railroad, ele-
vatorepd grain men, when thoroughly
sifted. would fizzle out completely. In
this emergency something had to be
done and "Doc" Fish'was equal to the
occasion. He penned the brief article
quoted above, and it did not fail of its
purpose. 1t was copied very extern
sively by the press Of the Northwest
In modified form it crept into public
documents, as is shown by the report of
the North Dakota railway and ware
house commissioners, and it has been
repeated and rehashed from the plat
form by Donnelly and hundreds
of other speakers who, more or
less successfully, have juggled with
manufactured figures in their efforts to
prove the absurd proposition. In this
way clumsy lie has been made to pro-
duce a most abundant crop of falsehood
and misconception.
The most curious phase Of the genesis
and growth of the monstrous absurdity
is that it really grew out of nothing.
The Great West intended to deceive,
and it's article was written with that OBJ
iect in view. How well it served its
purpose must needs have been sur
prise to the author, and more than once
he, undoubtedly. has chuckled over his
complete success in deceiving the unsus-
picious farmers of the Northwest. For
the article really contains nothing. It
does not even pretend to give statements
of facts. 1t does not say that the price
of wheat in Liverpool was 46 shillings
per quarter at the time. 1t says, eff it
(the price, is only 46 shillings per quar-
ter it is $1.40 bushel for Duluth or
mixed grade" Certainly, mo one will
question that" 1t then proceeds to ar
que from this premise and reaches the
conclusion that the balance profit" is
30 to 40 cents per bushel. The majority
of the readers of the article evidently !
did not discover the trick. They failed
to see that the figure quoted was only a
price, and thus came to- be-
lieve that the charge alleging robbery |
Of upwards of 80 cents per bushel was
proved by the market
quotations of Liverpool.
Now, let us ascertain the actual prices
paid in the English markets during the
week preceding April 1, 1892. The
Corn Trade News is recognized as a
standard authority on such matters. Its
quotations are everywhere accepted as
correct and perfectly reliable. Accord
ng to this authority, No. Northern was
quoted at rs 71-2d to rs Cd per GENITAL 600
oounds) in the Liverpool market March
20, of the present year, while the closing
price in the Minneapolis market was
10 cents per bushel Wheat is not
'old by the quarter in Liver
POOL, as The Great West seems to
;hink. The trade measure used in that
market is the GENITAL. 600 pounds)