The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1894-04-11
TWINE QUESTION.

7 Bad Management in the PASTA
Letter From Polk Co.
CLIMAX, MINI. April |, '94.
EDITOR REPRESENTATIVE:
hear somuch patriotism of buying
state prison Irvine, that l am forced
to give my experience on this sub
ject: and tell how my patriotism dis
appeared.
1t was in the summer OF 1891,
twelve farmers here, in the towns OF
Vinland and Hubbard, dubbed TO-
gether, and bought 1000 lbs of Irvine;
but as we did not have the cash we
gave a joint note, due in the fall: and
as all the parties were good payers
there was no trouble with this note.
And as l was in St. Paul, at the time,
| was delegated to do the business:
and was the first one to sign the note;
and this note we gave in advance.
The Irvine was to be shipped to Fish
ers. but, for some reason that L can
not tell, the shipment was delayed
until the commencement OF harvest;
audit was shipped to KittsOn; and as
the Sand Hill marsh is between us
and said station, we could not take
our Irvine there; so we got the Irvine
reshipped to Fishers; and after max
ing three or four trips to Fishers;
and Crookston wo finally got the
Irvine to Fishers; but we had, by all
these transfers and mistakes in ship
ping, to pay a freight charge OF &c.
per 100 pounds; and we had also been
crowded right into harvest by this
delay. And when we commenced to
use the Irvine we found out that 1T
was all rotten; so after a few days of
fOOling with the miserable stuff we
had to 60 to town and get Irvine from
the agents of the machine company.
Well, after harvest, when we were
not quite so busy, we got together
and talked over what to do about the
note we had gave for it; and we came
to the conclusion that we should re-
turn the bad Irvine and get it en-
dorsed on the note, if possible; and
finally after great dealof correspon-
dence we got the prison managers to
agree to this, and the damaged Irvine
was then returned; and after awhile
the money due was remitted or payed
in the bank. and the prison manager
should have returned the note. But
this they did not do; for they claimed
there was money due on the note;
and the reason of it appearing thus
was, that they had not endorsed only
a small part of the Irvine that had
been returned; and as we all now be-
gan to get tired of this matter, we
came to the conclusion that W.
would let it rest until they COM
menced a suit, and we could then de-
fend ourselves and get the note can
celled; but as the prison board does
nothing the matter rests at this
point. Now you al easily see that
if we had paid cash for this
Irvine we would have been out of our
money. Our luck was that we did
not have the cash to pay. This will,
l think, show why the prison board
can not sell their Irvine. You see it
we buy from a local agent he has al
ways common business tactics and
honesty enough to right what is
wrong; and if he had not we a send
the sheriff after him. But this can
not be done with the state. as they
cannot be sued. We would have to
apply to the next Legislature and get
a bill through, and this is too tedious
and slow and costly work to bother
with.
l will further remark that the rea-
son why the Irvine is rotten we think
is this, that before they wind the
Irvine into balls they run it through
a solution of starch to gloss it, and
in this wet state they wind it around
the ball; and the ball being too big
to dry throughout will rot in the CEN
ter. And l will further say WI will
buy no Irvine here unless they fix it
so that we IA get our money back or
our notes back if the Irvine is worth
less. To illustrate our patriotism in
this respect l will give the following
story. In an eastern village there
was a Y. M. G. Association, that took
it into their heads that they would
build a hall for their own use: and
they sent for a contractor and made
a bargain with him to put up the
editice; but the impudent contractor
inquired how their finances were; and
the leader said that part was all
right, "for the Lord was on their
SIDE" every WE'LL" the contractor
answered, "but l want some one that