Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1893-05-25
TRICKS OF GRAN SHIPPERS.


Something New In the Line of Rascality
Attributed TO Farmers.
"Grain inspectors learn good many
things in the course of a few years.
SERVICE said ex-Chief Inspector
Price recently "and one thing they
learn is that the agrlculturist is not
altogether without guile. Many Of
the tricks resorted to by farmers to
gain an advantage over the men who
purchase their grain are amusing,
and an inspector unearths a good
many such tricks
~ remember one case in which a
lot of grain was shipped by farmer
In bags. The buyer was somewhat
suspicious and had each bag carefully
inspected A trler was thrust down
the center Of each bag, and the grain
sampled beautifully 1t was all Of
high grade and Mr.. Buyer began to
think he had done the poor farmer
an injustice by suspecting his integ-
rlty. When the grain was taken into
store and turned out in a bin, how
ever, 1t was found to be full of weevil
and dirty, fifth rate stuff. Next
time purchase was made from the
same farmer closer examination was
made and the willy agriculturist's
method Of deception was discovered.
He would stuff section Of stovepipe
into each bag before filling it and
pour dirty grain all round it. Then
he would oil the pipe in the center
of the bag with good, clean stuff and
carefully withdraw the pipe. 1t was
pretty slick trick, but it did not
pay in the long run.
1--WE call it plugging when a grain
is improperly loaded for the purpose
of deception, and about the most
peculiar case Of plugging l have
heard of was discovered here some
time since. One of our inspectors,
on thrusting his long steel 'trier'
down into a carload Of oats, struck
something hard, and on withdrawing
1t found the lower end filled with
yolks Of eggs The car was going
through to Boston and the shipper
had filled the bottom with barrels of
eggs, covering them over completely
with oats to the depth Of perhaps a
foot He had reckoned without the
'trier, however, and the shipment
proved an expensive one to him. He
had calculated on saving a good deal,
as the freight charges on oats are only
about one-fourth of the charges for
perishable goods like eggs, but the
railroad people on discovering the
trick, took out the eggs and stored
them, sending the 300 or 400 bushels
of oats through as a full carload and
notifying him that the eggs we're held
subject to his order
"a trick sometimes resorted to by
dishonest shippers is to pack inferior
grain around the sides of a car by
means of boards, which are removed
as the car is gradually filled, but such
schemes are seldom successful, for
the inspectors's 'trier' samples the
contents of every part of the car, and
discloses the presence of inferior stuff
with almost unerring certainty. All
attempts to practice deception are
promptly reported, and the persons re-
sorting to such tricks, who are, of
course, comparatively few and far be-
tween, find that they prove to be
boomerangs In no case is the grade
Of any quantity of grain lmade above
that of the poorest quality found in
the lot when it has evidently been
plugged or otherwise loaded. 1
might mention other tricks some
times practiced by shippers, but they
seldom accomplish their purpose, and
we laugh at them more than we fear
them. American Elevator.