Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1898-10-26
UNDERGROUND
RAILWAY.
Robbery Of Minnesota Farmers BY
False Grain Inspection. A
Glaring Fraud.
The Election of John Lind and AS
sociates Will Bring Much
Needed Reform.

OF John Lind and his associates On tho
Union ticket, and 1t has been emphasized
by the action OF the Red River Vallev
farmers by the meetings held ut Moor
mead. and the findings of the commit too
appointed to investigate and report. In
the first meeting held, Oct /, facts NJ
most passing belief were reported New
experiences, they were, under the Same
ola system OF robbery, by understanding
excessive dockage and false weights. The
we'll authenticated cases there presented
have been quite widely published One of
these cases was that OF c. 8. Benedict.
widely known In Minnesota. whose losses
are thus detailed:
He sold shipping to a Duluth terminal
elevator, 2S.SlO bushels Of wheat of this
seasons crop 1t was prime wheat and
supposed to be reasonably clean. It was
graded No: Northern. when It was
known to have been No. l. and It was
docked for dirt, total of 1865 bushels.
Inc undergrading amounted to 8 per
cent; the dockage STEAL per cent: maxi
Ing his cash loss II per. cent, or S. 1875 49,
Besides this he was out $l22. Sc for freight
on the dockage, and for threshing the
same. s13654; making his total forced
contribution to this Republican system of
81. 45474 Besides this, there are inspec-
ton fees and other outlay
In this lot OF wheat were two certain
cars, containing within d fraction OF
l'ooo bushels each, for one of which the
owner received $494Sl and for the other
$452.O, difference of S421l for which
there was no explanation or pretense
Whatever. On previous occasion this
owner shipped three cars of wheat from
the same bin, the grain having been all
from the same field and all treated exact.
~ the same way. One car was graded
no. l Northern and the other No.
Northern. The difference in grades
ranges all the way from / to cents per
bushel, apparently arbitrarily fixed by
the department.
Numerous like cases were described at
the meeting referred to, which appointed
committee of seven grain raisers to as
certain other cases and report This the
committee did, to 4 meeting on Saturday,
the SIN instant, giving a number Of afti-
daNlts In cases almost exactly similar to
that above given. Reports and af1idavits
nave been widely published, but should
be known by every voter in Minnesota
The facts are proven beyond any cues
ton. A. G. kassenberg, of Oakport,
Clay county, twenty years grain raiser
ana forty years resident in Minnesota,
shipped 1000 bushels of the highest grade,
NO. l hard, and good and clean grain to
the Duluth terminal elevator. in three
cars. One graded No. 1 Northern and
two cars No. Northern. One car was
locked forty-fve bushels for dirt; one
car thirty-nine. and the other sixteen
bushels. Samples of this wheat were
send to two different elevators at Duluth.
and were all given the highest grade, and
pronounced very clean, applied to cash
results, and the case is this: The net
bushel, at which his allowed 1900 bushels
brought him $3.50. The 100 bushels of
dockage amounts to $50.
Ihere was taken over cents per bushel
by wrong grade, which amounts to $780,
and $3.50 dockage which makes $l475O
"Ihis. says the committees report, lis
over Is per cent on THE $3.50 TAKEN
FROM HIM UNDER THE MINNESOTA
INSPECTION LAW WITHOUT CON- |
THIS IS NOT AN Elk |
IRENE CASE; BUT, SUPPOSE BUT
10 PER CENT OF THE VALUE OF
OUR WHEAT IS TAKEN UNDER
This LAW, AND THE STATES OF
MARKET FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS |
WORTH OF WHEAT THIS YEAR; 10
PER CENT ON $50, coo 900 IS s., 600, 900.
1t happened that the head of the grain |
inspection department, A. C. Clausen,
was the party who actually inspected the !,
samples mentioned, so that he himself !
found the grain fully the highest grade, |
cry, WHEN 1T HAD DONE WITH
THE SAME GRAIN, TOOK OUT THE
PORTION STOLEN FROM THE OWN |
EVATOR.
And yet, after these cases reached the |
public, we find Inspector Clauson, in an !
interview in the Pioneer Press, ATTEMPTS |
to defend his department and it's action. |
He admits that he graded the grain, |
but excuses it on the ground that the ;
samples were very small. Errors in gen.
eral he attributed to the large number of |
cases dealt with. The people attribute it !
to entirely different causes; but what ;
ever they are, are determined to get to |
the bottom of it by such change in sd
as will permit the public, at !
least, to know what Is done In that de- j
partment.
The other cases are every bit as fla |
grant. Among them are O. G. Bergland,
Of Kragness Clay county; N. T. Ian |
der, of Moorhead Ole E. Tangen, of
kragness, and Alfred Olson, of the same
town and county. The latter shipped.
from the Dalrymple farm. where he was
formerly foreman, he having now pur-
chased a portion of the land, on the crop
payment plan of one-half the annual !
crop. and which, on account of these
steals, will leave the farmer not cent |
for his years labors. He shipped 1929 |
bushels to Duluth of No. 1 hard wheat. |
AS undergraded, about one-third of II |
was made No. 1 Northern, and the rest
No. Northern. It was locked 537 BUSH |
els, or about three pounds to the bushel. |
He took all the dirt obtained in a half |
bushel of the same wheat to a drug store |
scale, and found it to weigh less than |
half a pound, one pound per bushel. |
r1ghtful dockage, where they took three. |
The victim makes oath that he was de-
by reason of such wrong grad
Ing, cents per bushel on all of said
wheat so graded No. 2 Northern, and /
cent per bushel on all of said wheat so
graded No. Northern, amounting to the
sum Of $565.49, and was defrauded by rea-
son Of such excess of dockage out Of the
sum Of $2o2.42, amounting in all to the
sum Of $762.91.
Defrauded by whom? BY THE STATE
OF MINNESOTA, THROUGH THE
MALADMINIsTRATIO OF ONE OF
ITS GREAT DEPARTMENTS.
With reference to the pretended investi-
cation, by the state board, when farmers
were asked to come to st. Paul and
present their grievances, the committee
repudiate such means. Well they may.
for these crimes against which they pro-
test have been continually occurring, and
appeals to the board result like kicks at
the elevators. Re-inspections are OBJ !
tanned when there is too much pressure,
or when, as in the certain case in the