Morris tribune., 1892-09-28
STATISTICS, 5;:s;:% 4 ;::$:;:: :$!.: :'
THE EFFORT TELL FLAT.

The origin of the current charges that
the farmers of the Northwest are robbed
of upwards of 80 cents on every bushe
of their wheat crop is traceable to the
columns of Ignatius Donnelly's life
organ, The Great West. In its issue fol
April /, 1892, that erratic 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 75 cents in Minneapolis.
Mark that. In Liverpool, if it is only 4f
shillings quarter, it is s1.40 bushel for
"Duluth" or "mixed grade" No one will
question that-at least net more than as
to to cents bushel. Now there is a
difference of SO cents bushel-or say 90
cents. And what are even rail and ocean
freights? Why, admit they are 30 cents
Der bushel What are lake and canal,
now opening? Admit for arguments
sake they are 20 cents (of course that is
too high). Now then, in one case, the
balance profit is 80 cents per bushel, and
in the other 40 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-
vator and grain men, when thoroughly
sifted. would fzzle out completely. In
this emergency something had to be
done and "Doc" Fish was equal to the
occasion. He perned the brief article
quoted above, and it did not fail of its
purpose. It 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
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 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 its 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. It does not say that the price
of wheat in Liverpool was 4G shillings
per quarter at the time. It says, eff it
(the price, is only 46 shillings per quar-
ter it is $14O bushel for Duluth or
mixed grade" Certainly, ''no one will
question that" 1t then proceeds to ar
que from this premise and reaches the
conclusion that the ''balance profit is
80 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
supposed price, and thus came to be-
heve that the charge alleging robbery
Of upwards of 80 cents per bushel was
conclusively proved by the market
quotations of Liverpool.
Now, let US ascertain the actual prices
paid in the English markets during the
week preceding April /, 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
ing to this authority, No. Northern was
quoted at is 71-ad to rs 9dper Genital 600
poundS in the Liverpool market March
90, of the present year, while the closing
price in the Minneapolis market was
7S cents per bushel. Wheat is not
sold by the quarter in Liver
pool, as The Great West seems to
think. The trade measure used in that
Set is the Genital, 600 pounds
8, in London wheat is sold by