St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-04-11

and that the farmer ought not to complain
of that doekage When several farmers
arose and stated that local agents of the
companies represented by MessFs. Pillsbury
and Sterritt had taken g. 8, IA and even 16
pounds per bushel dockage, he Immediately
subsidized and yielded the floor to the elevator
men.
Mr.. Sterritt tried to treat the whole thing
as only rumor circulated among the farm
ers to gain sympathy from business men, but
when the farmers pinned him down, giving
names of agents and dates and exact weights,
he made all sorts of promises for the future
except to refund the amount wrongfully
taken. .
Then Mr.. Pillsbury said, among other
things, that the dockage had not only to
cover the dirt, but the cost of cleaning also,
the leakage Of cars and the chance loss by
handling That the farmer could not expect
them to pay good money for wheat they did
not get; that i'll fact they paid for the amount
or clean wheat in bin at terminal.
When asked to explain the difference be-
tween the local price and the Minneapolis
market, over and above the cost of freight,
switching, weighing, insurance, ETC., he did
not call it "the margin on which we do BUSH
ness, as Mr.. Robbins does, for it was too
large to be called a margin, often reaching 80
cents.
He said: Part of it was to cover the ex-
pense of sending us the currency, instead Of
paying for wheat in checks. Part of it was to
cover losses to the company, sustained by
employing dishonest agents." Agents were
not then insured in stock companies, and 1.-The
remainder of the margin was to cover cost Of
Touring" thus admitting later we stood all
actual and chance expense between the field
and the manufactured product
Then, before he sat down, he stated that
the company with which he was connected
were losing $4,000 per month, but they con-
tinued business only to furnish outlet for
our wheat; that company could long ex-
list and pay the farmers so literally as they
were then doing"
He worked US up to such degree Of SYM
rathy and pity, that 1 believe some of our
farmers, who had mortgaged their last cow
for winter supplies, would have willingly
helped to pay his fare back to Minneap-
ellis had they not known that Mr.. Marvel
would convey him gratis in his private car.
Now a word about frost. Of course, we
know that when frost strikes wheat, in the
milk it will be partially or wholly destroyed,
according to the severity of the frost But
when field of wheat is ripe, and, perhaps,
one-half cut, and if frost comes the shocked
wheat will be all right and the bran of the
standing wheat slightly blistered, then 1t
seems wrong for the wheat men to call the
shocked wheat No. hard and the bistered
wheat No. 3 northern for millers tell that 1t
is not injured at all for -four, and that Is the
principal use for wheat.
And again, rain followed by hot sun will
cause the same blister, but our wheat men
don't know it, In 1882 had about five thou
sand bushels of such, the agent Of Mr.. Rob-
bins company offering 80 cents. I sold for
s. on track here. This fall he called it No.
2 or No. l northern. l am now delivering
elsewhere as No. 1 hard.
Again, as to smut.
My father was miller back in New York
in the '40's. He invented machine for clean
ing the smut out of wheat, and other inven-
items for the same pupose could be mentioned
by dozens. Now with their new processes and
new appliances with the suction blast with
which they claim to be able to sort the wheat
itself according to the weight Of the kernels,
it is shame for such a body Of men as the
board of trade of Duluth to so stultify itself
as to send out broadcast the statement that
all wheat containing smut is absolutely
unfit for -four. I had no smut at all in my
wheat this fall, and yet time and again I saw
it dumped right in with smutty wheat, and
of course spoiled for flour. l mention these
things to show what sops the wheat men
throw us from time to time. They do no
good; we do not believe them, nor do we
think that they believe them, and it only
causes us to despise them the more. Yours
truly, ,.~- --e me AN Old Settler.
Angus, Mimi, April 2, 1885,