St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-02-07
MUST HAVE RELIEF.

Letters from our representative from
Fosston and st. Hilaire, published this
morning, not only continue the story
Of oppression Of the farmer by the ele-.
vator men, but they begin to give us a
glinlnering Of the lines along which de-
lief must come. They do this, in the
first instance, by showing that 1t will
not come, in its necessary completeness,
through the sole operation Of some Of
the agencies that have been relied upon
heretofore. These are good; but they
are not in themselves sufficient They
are. in particular, track shipments and
the construction Of Independent elevat-
ors. Both Of these have afforded in the
past and will afford in the future, to a
certain extent, a way of escape for the
farmer from the exactions Of the ele-
yator monopoly. We have just seen
how, at Mcintosh, an open market was
preserved by the maintenance Of a
farmers elevator. Now we see how, at
Fosston, such an elevator has been re-
moved from competition. Wherever an
Independent house is interfering too
much with the profits of the combine,
an incentive is offered to take it out of
the way; either by the formation Of
some agreement or by definite lease
or purchase. When this is accom-
plished, as it so often can be, then the
situation is as bad as ever, and the
cr,i IF Oh ;,,
sofa needs all the Independent buyers
and farmers elevators that can be
brought into the field. But it needs also
something more than that 1t needs a
law that will take away from the ele-
Yator men the power which they now
possess to wrong the farmer, and that
will make him forever Independent of
them. How this can be done the
G l o b e will be prepared in due time.
to show.
In the same way, direct shipments to
the central markets have saved to the
people Of the. Northwest thousands of
dollars during the season just closed.
All of the letters which we have pub
1ished bristle with instances in which
individual farmers have saved from $40
to $50 per car by shipping direct to the
terminals. This, too, is good as far as
1t goes. And all the arrangements that
are in contemplation, either by farm
ers clubbing together, or by merchants
on their behalf, to erect small houses
tor storage and to order cars and ship
on their own account, are so many more
spears thrust into the body of this
hideous monopoly. Yet they will never
give to it its death blow. For the small
farmer is the man whose interests we
must protect. He does not have from
600 to LOCO bushels Of wheat to send to
market Therefore he cannot load a.
car. He has hauled his load of wheat
perhaps ten or fifteen miles to the
nearest town, only to find that the ele-
vator there will not offer him fair
grades or prices. He must either suffer
q loss of from seven to ten cents per
bushel on 1t, Or turn about and carry it
home again. What is he to do? He
oiiOuiN NC lhS OUJCCt VI Jul llSI SOllCl-
tude. 1t is for his sake that the
wretches who have been wringing from
the Northwest the hard-earned dollars
of its toiling millions must be re-
strained by the strong hand Of the
state from that injustice on which they
have multiplied and grown so fat and
powerful that they thought no man
would dare to raise a hand or a voice
against them. There must be an open
market; and market which the farmer
will not have to seek, at great cost and
loss, but one that will come to him.
There must be equal opportunity and
exact justice for ALL We believe that
the methods by which this is to be ac-
complished are simple; and that all
that is required to put them into opera
ton Is to make a firm stand against
the elevator power, whose threats or
whose Establishments have kept the
farmers in a state of practical slavery
Entil now. Let them stand together