St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-23

! ltal, which, in practically every case
| is all invested in buildings. The capital
| to do business with must be raised en-
| tireiy outside of that. In other words
the capital of practically all the eieva-
| tor companies is invested In tools with
which to do business. The profit in the
business is substantially all made il
! borrowing money with which to fill
! the elevators and carry the wheat, thus
! earning the carrying charge. For eX-
ample, we buy wheat during the fall
movement based on cash value of 6(
! cents Instead of selling for cash at &
| cents we sell it for May at So or 6(
cents, and by doing so make the differ
| ence between the interest and insur-
ance and the cash and May price. My
experience in managing elevators has
! proved to me concluSively that the ac-
| tual expense of doing business. is not
| less than 21a cents a bushel, and, if the
crop is light, it costs even more.
"On grades, in spite of all the talk
! there is loss, particularly on a CROP
| like the present. where there is so much
smut and frost. Agents in the coun-
| try are under constant pressure from
| the farmer, who believes he has the
| best wheat grown. The agent only
! sees the wheat at his own station, and
! naturally comes to believe that the
! best wheat there is entitled to the best
| grade. If wheat was always of good
| quality and free from smut or frost
the question of grades would hardly
ever be raised. There has been great
deal said about the grading at Warren
L had made trial balance of our busi-
| there up to March J.. Here it is: II
shows that there we had received and
graded 79.400 bushels up to that time
OF this, 1866 bushels graded as No. !
hard, $4,000 bushels as No. northern,
10000 bushels as No. 2 northern and SOC
bushels as No. 8. On the same date
We had received returns on wheat
based on the state inspection at Min
| neapolis and Duluth. as follows: No.
hard, $500 bushels; No. I northern, 3d.
600 bushels; No. 3 northern, 10000 bush
els, and No. 3, 1,600 bushels. Those fig
ures speak for themselves"
At Stephen, Mr.. Smith pointed out,
the trial balance showed receipts to
March 1 of 1920 bushels of No 1 hard
$4,000 bushels of No. 1 northern, $4,000
bushels of No. northern, 10000 bush
els of No. and 5000 bushels of reject
ed. The returns, based on state inspec-
ton from the wheat shipped out
showed no No. / hard, $500 bushels of
No. 1 northern, $1,000 bushels of No.
| northern, $1,000 bushels of No. 8 and
1000 bushels of rejected.
about $4,000 bushels are still in the
,
(which must average better than ship
ments heretofore to bring us out any
where near evep-and / have no reason
to believe that the wheat in the ele-
Vator is any better than that which
has been shipped. AT both Warren and
Stephen there are several private ele-
vators with which we have had to COM
pete, and if the charge of robbing the
farmers on grades is true the
PRIVATE ELEVATORS
have also robbed them, as we have had
to buy at the same grades as the pri-
vate elevators. The fact is, we have
lost on grades largely, not only at those
stations but at Argyle, Hallock or any
of the stations visited by the G b e
correspondent a'i
Mr. Smith brought out his books,
which show the grade at which the
wheat is shipped and the grade at the
terminal points, and from a large num-
Der of stations gone over the following
gains and losses to the elevator COM
pany were shown:
Argyle, Minn.AGains on shipments of III
cars: One car, No. to No. 2; two cars
No. to No. l. Losses: Fourteen cars, No.
to No. 2; six cars, No. to No. 3 seventeen
cars, No. 2 to No. 5; one car, No. 3 to re-
Stephen, Minn.-Gain on shipment of 13C
cars: One car, rejected to No. 8. Losses;
Nine cars No. 1 to No. 2; twenty-three cars,
No. 2 to No. g. two cars No. . to rejected
one car, No. to rejected.
Donaldson, Minn.-Gain on shipment of 15s
cars: One car. No. / northern to No. :
hard Losses One car, No. l hard to, No.
northern; six cars No. to No. 2; ffty-one
cars No.. 2 to No. g.
Kennedy Minn.-No gain on shipment OF
tifty-6ye cars. Losses: Two cars, No. &C
No. 8 fourteen cars, No. to No. 3.
Warren Minn.-Gain on shipment of eighty
| cars: One car, No. 1 to No. hard. Losses
Fourteen cars, No. to No. q four cars, No.
| to No. 3; nine cars, No. to No. 3.
At points where there was no frost or
smut, few of the Shipments fell below
the grade given at. the elevator
cat Minneapolis" said Mr.. Smith,
grade cuts much less figure than at
Duluth. OF the lower grades some is
GOOD MILLING WHEAT,
and we are able to sell it by sample
is to ship our doubtful wheat to Min
neapolis, a sample market where
wheat is sold on it's merits, regardless
of grade. 1t should be stated, how
ever, that the Minneapolis price is usu-
ally from L, to ~ cents less than at
Duluth, so that if wheat is bought
based on the Duluth market, and is
shipped to Minneapolis, it is at a sac
rifice of the difference in price,
And vice versa?"
| yes, but understand that we base
our market in the country upon the
| highest market at all stations where
! the freight is the same to either mar
ket. At all northern stations the mar
ket is universally based on the market
at Duluth. At southern points it is
/ based on the Minneapolis market"
AS to an agent being able to buy as
! No. 2 and store and ship out the same
| wheat as No. l, the actual grade, Mr..
! Smith says that every safeguard is
! thrown about the business; the agent
! never handles the money, the receipt
which the farmer receives lin reality a
| check shows the grade, the daily re-
| port of the agent to the home office
| shows the same, and that, therefore,
| fraud is practically impossible in this
! direction. If an agent should practice
! it, Mr.. Smith says, it would be through
| pure Wantonness.
'.The G o b has championed the
! farmer" went on Mr.. Smith, land has
advised him to ship his wheat to COM
! mission men in Duluth and Minneapo-
| lis. 1t is just possible the Clio b e
| might do good missionary work by in
| vestigating the kind of commission
men to which they had better ship.
| There are plenty of fine, honest, re-
| sponsible men in the commission busi-
ness. But there have been some who
| have caused shippers very heavy, and
often complete losses. l still think that
when the people begin to realize the
| Importance of the elevator business,
the verdict must be that strong, re-
| sponsible elevator companies are a
! great advantage. The farmer can put
| his grain into their elevators with per-
! feet confidence that he will get his
money. and full value for his grain"
Mr.. Smith admits that his company
| gains some on dockage, but insists that
| is trif1ing compared with the loss
| on grades. Rising to a question of
| personal privilege Mr. Smith referred