St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-26

state, but has stretched out its Briareu,
arms and included the two Dakotas as
well. North Dakota is groaning under
just such q burden. The following let
ter from DEVILS Lake opens up new
chapter of how it has fiIched from the
farmer and overturned the will of the
voter:
To the Editor of the Globe
DEVILS LAKE, n. d., Sept. %, 1892.
Your expose of the elevator ring is
proper, and is well received here, but
does not do justice to the situation. Mr..
Plllsbury should have remained quiet
under so mild all attack, as only a few
OF the many steals of the plutocratic
combination of elevator, railroad and
milling companies are mentioned in the
Chicago Herald's expose. The farmers
of every locality in this state could add
columns of facts in regard to abuses
not mentioned by the Herald. [ will
give you few that were called up by
the discussion Of your article here.
The PIllSbury & Hubert elevator at
this point in 1854 received grain for
storage, and issued receipts specifying
the grade. This was practically the
first crop in this section, and not many
farmers had granary room enough to
store even what wheat was needed for
seed during the following year. The
result was that practically all the seed
wheat of 1885 was stored in the eleva-
tors. The farmers uniformly Kept their
l hard wheat tickets and presented them
al the elevators in the spring to get their
seed wheat. The wheat dealt out to
them for their hard tickets, if offered
for sale at the elevators, would not grade
better than No. 3, and would be docked
ten pounds to the bushel.
One young man from Chicago, who
had taken his claim in 1884 but raised
no crop, purchased ticket on MIR.
Pillsbury's elevator for 300 bushels of
No /. hard. When he presented it IN the
| spring, and the shriveled wheat and
cookie were poured out to him, he OBJ
jected to sowing cookie on his new
breaking, and the accommodating ele-
vator agent ran the stuff through the
| cookie mill for him, and, when he had
hauled 25S bushels of the cleaned wheat
away, he was informed that that was
| all his ticket was good for, and when he
protested he was offered the 42-bushel
pile on the other side Of the machine to
make up his 800 bushels. He protested
against the grade of the wheat on that
side of the machine, but his protest was
of no avail He wrote to headquarters.
and the reply was in substance that he
was treated better than he deserved.
The result was that about twenty of his
virgin acres were not seeded that year,
but the balance of his crop had less
cookie than his neighbors' fields.
The farmers shipped Il great deal of
their wheat direct to terminal points
last season or sold it Oh sample. ito
arrive" Selling Ito aIrive'' became
very popular. The farmer knew before
he loaded his wheat what it was going
fN ,nf yxrnc nn-.fai int,
about it. Now the Minneapolis com
biDe has decreed that no member Of the
chamber of commerce shall buy grain
Ito arrive" The farmer must ship ii
and take his chances on the market,
trust to luck and the honesty of the
conSlgnee.
Last year the elevators would not re-
ceive any grain for storage. This year
they are extremely accommodating in
that direction, and are canyaSSing the
farmers who ship their wheat to get
them to ship through ''the house."
When they get the wheat in 1.-The
house, they insist on billing it them
selves, and in every case they retain the
original receipt, so that in case of an as
signment of the duplicate issued to the
farmer they can in every case trace the
car to destination, presumably for the
purpose of spotting the commission
merchants who do best by the independ-
ent shippers.
Daley Bros, the largest farmers in
the county, stored some northern wheat
in the NJ. & n. elevator this summer,
and not being satisfied with the price
offered by the M. & n. company, for
the wheat. demanded its delivery. In
feriOr wheat was delivered them and
| they were obliged to sue the company
for the difference IN value between
the wheat they put in the elevator and
what was delivered to them, and OIL
June II last obtained judgment against
the company for $50 loss on one car.
The foregoing are some OF the busi-
ness advantages that are taken of the
farmer. They are of Slight conse-
| quence in comparison to the political
disadvantages under which the hydra
headed combine has placed the farmer
of this state. Any official who attempts
to oppose the combine is marked for
slaughter, and so far in the history of
this state the combine has been able in
every instance to slaughter such
offending officials or politicians if
they did not surrender hem
selves into the hands Of the
combine. Hon. George H.Walsh couldnot
be renominated railroad commissioner
for this reason, and now 1t is reported
ters through Senator Hansbrougn that
Hon. James Mccormick. the present
state senator from this county, must not
be returned on account of his opposition
to ring measures and his refusal to ''do
business" with the agents of the COM
bine. If Senator Hansbrough has not
been in politics long enough to be de-
prived of all the least he ever possessed,
it must have been hard for him to give
r., IN ,o1-r Il.
for there never was man who sup
ported another with more loyalty than
Mccormick supported him, and without
McCormick'S assistance Hansbrough
would never have been elected United
States senator.
Verify. when the Minnesota influences
can do those things it is time to call
halt.
A good story is told of how the Chi
| cago tenderfoot of 1884 got even with
the elevator agent III 1885. Some of the
wheat i'll distant part of the county
was reported frosted this season, and
the farmers living in that vicinity were
paid little more than half as much for
their wheat as those near the lake. The
| Chicago man looked at this wheat and
could not discover that 1t was particu-
| larly damaged. He bought some of it,
got farmer who lived near the lake
to haul it to the elevator agent who
wanted to sell him cookie for No. hard,
and sell it for an advance of from twen-
ty to thirty cents per bushel on the price
that was being paid to the man who
raised it.
Several thousand bushels were
handled in this way. and il was all
right as long as 1t did not come from
| the frosted district-direct. B. r.
IRONS FIXED THE PRICE,