St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-29

than was offered by the combine
houses. Then Mr.. Sinclair hauled $50
bushels. piled 1t on the right Of way
until an empty car arrived. In the
meantime the local houses offered him
81 cents for this carload, but he said
them nay, and shipped it direct to Min
neapolis. The returns from the ship
ment gave him net profit of cents
over the local market, the price OBJ
tanned at Minneapolis being AZ cents,
above freight and ali other charges.
This made the profit on the carload
$3.50 above the local prices, and MIR.
Sinclair does not enjoy thinking of the
$40 he lost by selling the first lot in
the local market, although he did get
cents bushel more for it than he
would have had there been no indie
pendent buyers at Stephen.
John p. Lundin is one of the leading
merchants of Stephen, and is also the
owner Of several farms. The wheat
from his farms was threshed early in
September and 1900 bushels hauled to
the elevators, where it was graded No.
l northern, and sold for 43 and A cents
bushel. This was at the commence
ment of the season and the wheat was
hauled direct from the machine as it
was threshed. Later there was
change, as Mr.. Lundin discovered when
he wanted to sell some more of the
same wheat. The company that had
graded the first lots hauled would only
offer No. northern and No. north
ern for wheat that differed not par
ticle from the first that was sold and
upon which they claimed to have lost
a grade when the grain reached the
terminal market. Mr.. Lundin would
not do business on that proposition and
decided to ship the balance of his
wheat direct When he could get cars
he loaded the wheat from the track
and upon its arrival at Minneapolis the
claims of the elevator people that they
had given too high a grade for the first
they had bought from Mr.. Lundin
were disproved for the same wheat
graded No. l northern. The local buy
ers all appeared to be of one mind. for
their prices We're so nearly uniform
that there was not a difference of
quarter of a cent between them, but
they all named the same figures. No. 2
was SO cents and No. 8 was 81 cents.
AS the wheat shipped to Minneapolis
netted Mr.. Lundin AZ and 421a cents
his profit was 31a cents above the price
offered for part Of the grain and 51s
cents offered for the bulk Of it by the
line companies and independent buy
ers at Stephen.
THE RESULT OF DIRECT SHIP
PING
from the track by the farmers has been
to bring the elevator people to time.
They are now offering the farmers bet
ter grades for their wheat and a price
nearer to that at the terminal mar
kets by cent or two Some farmers
are selling to the elevators, but there
are more shipping direct when they
have enough wheat to fill a car. The
result Of the restricted market here
last fall was to drive an immense
amount Of wheat away from the town.
Not only did the farmers go elsewhere
to dispose Of their grain, but they pur-
chased their goods where they dis
posed Of their grain. The result was
that business was poor and collections
dull at Stephen. There were no cars
to ship the wheat in and the elevators
claimed to have no room except oc-
casionally for No. 2 or No. 8, when
some exceptionally good wheat was
brought in and they could buy it at
one or two grades below It's actual
value. Farmers living as close as five
miles west of Stephen would haul
eight miles further and sell their wheat
at Drayton, on the Dakota side OF the
Red river The market was always
open at that point and the farmers
claimed that they obtained four cents
more for the same wheat there than
they were offered by any Of the buyers
at Stephen.
This condition of affairs was very
discoura ging and the farmers were de-
;termined to break it up. They knew
the market had beerf opened at War
rem and could see no reason why Ste
phen should not also have the benefit
of the competition Of direct shipment.
A meeting Of farmers and Mr.. Nc
Mahon, a merchant, was held and
Henry Hopper, F. A. Greene and J. G..
Cornwall were appointed a committee
to represent u.s. They took the matter
up with Supt jerks and succeeded in
getting cars for the farmers. This ad-
vantage was followed UP and now the
elevator people are Offering better
prices, but they are only getting about
half Of the wheat that is now being
brought in.
Fred Besancon raised $500 bushels
of wheat on his farm four miles west
of Stephen. He wanted to ship direct,
but was unable to secure cars because
he was satisfied, from the experience
of his neighbors, that he could make
at least three or four cents additional
by doing so. His experience in the
local market had been that the private
houses gave better prices, as a rule,
than the line companies. Most of his
wheat had been sold to Russell Broth
ers. INDEPENDENT buyers, and with the
exception of 200 bushels, which graded
No. northern, had gone No. north
ern. The prices realized had been from
80 to Al cents. and Mr.. Besancon be-
lieves he would be richer by 300, at
least, had the cars been available for
track shipment
John Whelan's farm is in the north,
ern part Of Marshall county and about
the same distance, five miles, from
either Stephen or Donaldson. Mr. Whe-
Ian had watched the wheat market
closely as he had 5000 bushels to dispose
of and wanted to get the best price that
was going. With that object in view
he decided to try the markets early in
September and hauled one load to Don
aldson, selling 1t to the ST. Anthony &
Dakota company for A cents on the top
notch grade The following day he
hauled load of the same wheat to
Stephen and sold it to the same elevator
company. 1t was graded No. north
ern, a grade below the same wheat
marketed at Donaldson, and the price
was one cent lower, 43 cents. AS this
was the last wheat Mr.. Whelan cut IT
was the most likely to have been dam
aged by frost or to have suf-
fered from other causes 1t was
before the blockade that he
sampled the market and late in
October, during the tie-up. he hauled
1900 bushels to Stephen and sold 1t for
No northern, grade lower than the
lowest the wheat from the same field