The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-02
"The Ordinary Farmer"

When the legislature of this state met
In 1888, after the campaign of 1892, in
which this system of grain grading
and inspection had been made a very
live issue, and in which Mr.. Nelson
scothed the perturbed feelings of the
undergraded, underweighed and over
cooked grain producers with the prom
Use of reform and relief if they would
make him governor, he made the sub
Ject matter Of treatment in the inau-
gural he submitted to that body OF
grave, potent and reverend seigniors
Gov. Merriam also delivered an outgo-
ing message in which he, too, men
toned the lamentable conditions of
the grain-growing interests under the
existing laws. Gov. Merriam said:
There is every reason to believe that
at country points there has been much
| discrimination in the way Of docking
and grading wheat and very many
wrongs have been perpetrated in this
direction, to the detriment of the farm
ing community in the grain growing
districts" Gov. Nelson said that the
law, applying only to the terminal mar
kets, could be awaited of only by the
big farmers who could ship in carload
lots where the state acts as umpire be-
tween the shipper and the buyer with
her inspectors and weighers, "but the
| ordinary farmer, he who is unable to
| ship in carload lots and Is obliged to
sell his grain by the wagonload to the
! local dealers-and most farmers be-
long to this classic has no state UNI
pire either as to grade, weight or dock
age. No state weigher or state inspect
or is at hand or can be invoked to
right his wrong, if any, but he is re-
mitted to the vague and dilatory rem
edy of the common law"
That was nearly six years ago, and,
| in spite of the legislation devised by
| Gov Nelson and his legislature to re-
| deem his ante-election promise, ''the
| ordinary farmer" still sells his grain
| to the local dealers just as he did in
| the governors graphic description. In
! these days, before another election in
which the opposition to the party of
| legislative empires has again forced
| this issue, we are having a wordy war
between the railroad and warehouse
| commission and some Red river valley
! farmers. And in this connection we
have an elaborate report from the rail-
road and warehouse commission, to-
| gether with a reply from Judge Ira B.
| Mills, it's chairman, to a letter ad-
| dressed to the latter by @. E. Andrews,
| of Moorhead. In this reply the notice
able feature is that Gov. Nelson's or
| binary farmer is entirely overlooked
| He is again the fogotten man.
1t is for the ordinary farmer" the
man who has to sell in the local
| markets, whose necessities press upon
him so hard that he cannot walt to
make up a carload, whose creditor,
| probably, stands by to take the receipts
of the sale to apply on the mortgaged
grain, this class to whom, as Gov. Nell
son said, most farmers belong, the men
who have no state umpire standing by
when they sell Ito right their wrongs,
| if any," it is these for whom we
| have a deep concern. Their wrongs
| are the wrongs Of every man, woman
and child in the state, for their pros
perity is that of the latter; any act
that diminishes their capacity to buy
| affects Immediately every merchant,
every manufacturer, every employee
| and every seeker after employment in
the state. But where, in the report of
the commission or in the reply of
Judge Mills to Mr.. Andrews, amid
| all the excuses, explanations or
Qualifications of the state system is
to be found any attempted demonstra-
tion that it benefits this Ordinary far
! mer?" And where in it all is there
| found answer to the arraignment Of
the system extorted from the two Re-
| publican governors nearly six years
ago? Is is not time that ''the or
| binary farmer" took a hand in the dis
| cussion and action?