The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-11


is submitted to him a sample of grain
for inspection. The farmer who dis
posed of that wheat may have mar
keted it 200 or 300 miles from the point
of official inspection. Viewed along the
line Of general principle of right gov
eminent and conduct of commercial af-
fairs it would seem that producer
when he comes to sell product should
receive for it precisely what it is worth
in the market. as the value may be
judged by the purchaser, without the
intermediary service Of an official,
either of the state or the federal gov
eminent.
It is inevitable that out of a policy
Of this kind evils will result. 1t may
be due to the incapacity of the Off
cial; it may also be due to his abso-
lutte dishonor; but no insinuation of
this sort is intended in the present
instance.
The G o b prints today the report
of a committee appointed at meeting
held by upwards Of 200 farmers on
Sept "A last, at Moorhead, in this state.
There are several affidavits associated
with this report which are worthy of
perusal in connection with the views
above expressed in regard to the eX-
istence Of the law itself governing grain
inspection, as we'll as to the methods
by which the inspection is conducted.
The system of dockage is arbitrary
and undoubtedly leads to the infiction
o. much injustice wherever applied
When the farmer ships his grain, he
pays a freightage charge for the VOL
no no lNol 4 f.od
in the car at his station. When this
dOckage comes to be computed by the
grain inspector at some distant, point
no consideration IS given to the farmer
for the amount Of his original freight
charge. The result is a wiplng out OF
much Of his revenue from the sale of
his crop, and oftentimes the complete
expungement of his profit. One in
stance is referred to in this report, now
under consideration, of a farmer who
shipped to market $4,000 bushels Of
wheat, which he regarded as No. 1
northern, but, when it had passed UNI
Ger the eye of the inspector, the grade
was fixed at No. 2. and his loss was
$1,000 as a result of the dockage and
the costs Of freight for transportation.
This is not right.
Another instance is given of a loss
of $763 on a shipment of $4,000 bushels,
three-fourths of which was graded No.
2 OF course the freight rates represent
so much grain shipped. But even
this question depends very largely upon
the servants of the railroads them
selves, who simply indicate by marks
in the car, and it's recorded capacity,
the volume that has been placed there
in. The point that is likely to be urged
in the future is that the grain shall be
actually measured or weighed at the
stations where it is delivered for trans
portatiOn.
The ordinary farmer of the Northwest
is in no position, financially, to build
granaries in which to store his product
He is driven necessarily to the market
as soon as the harvesting and thresh-
ing period is over. If there are to be
laws governing this whole question of
grading the quality Of grain, they
should be equitable laws, not looking
to the compensation of the grain in
spectors, receiving their appointments
f1cm political powers, but to the inter
ests of the man who, through his la
Dor, and self-denial, and thrift, pro-
duces the crop.