The San Francisco call., 1898-01-15
CONVEYANCE
 WITH THE BIG
 MIDDLEMEN,
An Insight Into the Manipu- latiOn of the Surplus
 Sack Sale.

It was impossible for the prison di- rectors to favor the manipulators of the grain-bag business without leaving a few kangaroo tracks in the sand. In an investigation of the letter records of San Quentin enough proof may be obtained to substantiate the charges made by The Call that the Ostrom law was juggled desperately in the interest of middlemen purchasers and specu- lators.
 Take for example the brief corre- spondence between Warden Hale and c. W. McNear of San Francisco. which establishes the fact that 100000 sacks were reserved at s per hundred, as the result of prior conversation, and without affidavit or deposit. This, in despite of the provision of section 3 of the Ostrom act, which says 'all or ders for jute goods must be accompa- nied by an affidavit setting forth that the amount of goods contained in the order are for individual and personal use,'' and in section 2, that 10 per cent of the purchase price shall accompany each order. MT McNears informal and illegal application was as follows:
 March s. 1887
 Mir. c. W. McNear, San Francisco Cal- Dear Sir: Referring to our conversation by telephone to-day I now beg to confirm, that have reserved for you 100, 900 grain bags at cents, pending arrival of deposit and properly executed orders with affidavit, as re- quired by law, which you say you will furnish Tn few days. Our sales have been limited since February 20 to quantities not exceeding 10000 bags for any one farmer. After book ing your order, we have only about 150,- GOO bags left for sale. out of our stock on
 
 by the directors will be necessary to deter mine how and at what price to dispose of the bags we shall manufacture from now on. I enclose a number of blank orders. Yours truly, W. E. HALE Warden
 Thus with the surplus almost ex- hausted, and without affidavit or de- posit, 100000 were set aside as sold for future delivery, when the price had been raised by the directors from S5 to s 40. Mir. McNear made due acknowl- edgment of the favor as follows:
 San Francisco, March S. 1897
 Mir. w E. Hale, Warden California State Prison, San Quentin, Cal.-Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of the 9th inst adyis- ing tf.at you have reserved 100, 900 grain bags for us at cents. We have sent afidavits into the country to be signed by our customers and as soon as we receive them will forward them to you, together with the necessary de- posit. Thanking you, l remain, yours very truly, G. ". McNEAR
 MT. R. Lichtenberg of San Francisco does thriving business with the board. both in the matter of selling raw jute and in buying bags as middleman. An idea of the extent of his transactions in the latter respect, and the profit he reaped, may be gathered from the sub- joined correspondence copied from the files:
 San Francisco. Feb. g. 1s97
 Hon. ". F. Hale. Warden State Prison, San Quentin.-Dear Sir: Under the usual condi- tions and 10 per cent deposit, payable at once I can probably place here 1000 grain bags. viz: 50000 with MT. Williams (Williams es- tate) 200, GOO with Messrs S. Koshland Ss Co., first party signing affidavit now, the latter binding themselves to deliver farmers affda- wits later Delivery to be taken any time between now and June next s. Koshand & Co. may want some bags early as this month. Kindly advise me what am author iZed to do in this matter
 Our market is very firm; the rain of the last days has been all over the State; so especially the south has been benefited and prospects for large crops have never been bet ter ohAre Is no news from Calcutta except