St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-22

| which they were sworn to administer.
Mr. Gr1ndeland said he knew Of in
stances where farmers had hauled
their wheat from within four miles
| or Warren to East Grand Forks, dis
lance of twenty-five miles, and had
received from IS to SIG more on sin
| gle trip for the wheat than they would
! nave realized had they marketed it
! at Warren. He said that after Mr..
I GlaVin began his work, and the block
ade was raised. there was an imme-
date advance an the price Of wheat,
often reaching to- 8 cents bushel
Not only did the farmers from the
/ country tributary Ito Warren receive
the benefit of the advance, but many
farmers hauled wheat through Argyle.
/ nine miles north of Warren, and sold it
here for 43 cents a! bushel when they
/ Argyle.
/ When the Burdick incident was
reached, Mr.. Grindeland spoke his mind
/ thus: Il consider that mans state
ments an insult to every person in
this town. He came here and told
us that he had been over the line in
September as a detective, and knew
all about the business that had been
done by the elevator companies. He
said that the elevator companies had
been the losers, as the grades they had
given at Warren did not hold out I'M
der inspection at terminals. He tried
to make US believe that we had an in
ferior grade of wheat, when it was
conceded on all sides that better crop
had never been harvested in the Red
river valley. Then he went a step too
far, and claimed that there had only
been marketed at Warren from the
crop of '95. between 10000 and 100000
bushels. This. when all the elevators
in the town We're said to be full of
mr. %1zs,, h nod .ll.tfTr
at least 250,000 bushels, to say nothing
of that which had been shipped out
during the two months and half since
the commencement of the harvest in
August. That broke the ice, and
after roasting Mr. Burdick, we left the
room in disgust and went to another
one to decide upon
A PLAN OF ACTION.
The result, as you know, was that
we decided to engage in independent
wheat buying and shipping and imme-
diately engaged Mr.. Glavin as our
agent. Up to this time there had been
scarcely any wheat graded No. 1 hard
here, but after the blockade was rails
ed a considerable portion of it received
the top grade, and some was sold at
half a cent above the highest market
price and no grade mentioned. OF
course the eXcitment brought the rep
reSentatiVeS of commission firms at
Duluth and Minneapolis to Warren and
they were anxious to secure the wheat
the competition stimulated the market.
We were told that we would be swamp
ed with cars. Instead of being swamp
ed we loaded every car that day and
l believe saved the farmers over a
thousand dollars on that day alone"
When Mr. Burdick left Warren on
q hn TO nSt
Grand Forks and Investigate the situa-
ton there. He was going TO come back
and convince us that we were wrong
and that no higher prices were paid
there than had been paid at Warren. So
far as we know he never came back, and
We are still waiting to be convinced.
D. A. Whitney was another of the
merchants who took an active part in
breaking the blockade and breaking
the bands of the elevator combine. Mr..
Whitney said the business men of War
rem were honest in their endeavors to
secure an open market and to hold the
business they were naturally entitled
to. 1t was movement of Self-protec-
ton which they had every right to make
and they did not propose to be biufed or
bullied by the elevator men or anyone
else. When the elevator people announc-
ed their intention to start store,
bank, machinery yard and sell goods
at prices that would compel the mer-
chants to discontinue the fight, the
merchants decided to carry the war
into Egypt and to send delegates to
every town in the Red River valley and
organize the merchants. They would
have used every endeavor to induce
them to do as had been done at Warren
and in that way extend the benefit to
the farmers and merchants of this sec
ton. They stood together and called
every bluff of the elevator men. They
were prepared to fight them to the bit
ter end and would have built an eieva-
tor, had it been necessary, and pay all
there was in it for the wheat. The mer-
chants knew what the elevator men
had done at Lakota,N N. D. and what they
might expect at Warren. AT Lakota
A. J. Gronna, the leading merchant of
the town, had incurred the displeasure
of the elevator combine and they threat
ened to put in a store and sell goods
at prices that would ruin him. They did
put in the store, and attempted to car
ry out their threat to ruin Gronna, but
he had his fighting clothes on and re-
fused to be downed. When they offered
to sell coffee at % cents a pound he sold
it at 20 cents, and when they were will
ing to part with eighteen pounds of
sugar for dollar he saw them one bet
ter and gave nineteen pounds. Gronna
met them all along the line and the re-
suit has been that the elevator people
have tired of playing losing game,and
the store is for sale. while Gronna is
still buying wheat and selling the farm
ers nearly all the goods they buy.
THE VICTORY CAME EARLY.
Mr.. Whitney said the merchants of
Warren were prepared to carry their
Of i0ht hax
so to the end of the chapter. They won
sooner than they had expected, and he
believed the entire northern part of the
state had been benefited by their vic
tory. He said the elevator men had a
good margin of profit from the begin
ming Of the harvest and thought they
ought to be satisfied with 1t. Mr.. Whit
ney said that the average difference in
price for the same grade of wheat at
the local market and at the terminal
markets at Minneapolis, Duluth and
Superior at the commencement of the
season was between II and Is cents
Added to this was the difference in
dockage, between the local and the ter
minal markets. which ran from half a
pound to a pound and half on every
bushel, making an average loss to the
farmer Of at least a half cent bushel,
an amount about equal to the switch
ing, inspection and weighing charges
at terminal points This left practi-
cally the freight charge of II cents
hundred, or 10 Is a bushel, as the only
one to be deducted from the difference
in prices, leaving margin of from four
to five cents a bushel for the elevator
men. They We're not satisfied with
this, however, and their buyers began
to knock down the wheat a grade or
two and then the wheat was taken to
other points where the market was
open. With all the elevators full to the