The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-10-31


1t in the higher grades and the cookie be-
came lost among the large amount of clean
wheat the shipper gaining a grade by the
mixing of his cockley wheat with that free
from this impurity. but the general preva-
lence of cookie this season throughout the
Northwest has compelled the department to
take cognizance Of 1t in fixing grades.
Cookie cannot be removed from the wheat by
any terminal elevator machinery. have seen
samples OF this years crop taken from the
cars received in Minneapolis that had seven
pounds OF cookie to the bushel.
KEEPING IT OUT OF POLITICS.
No one Is more anxious than this commits
sion to keep the grain inspection out of poll
TICS The law creating the commission was
framed with that idea in view. II provides
tHat not more than two Of the commissioners
snail oeiong to the same political party and,
ailnouSh tneTe Is no express statute requiring
civil service In the grain department, 1t has
nevertheless prevailed under the practice of
this commission.
In the inspection department the men COM
inspectors. me Weisheps after being @ % once o
appointed, If competent, retain their positions
as long as they faithfully perform their du-
Ies. Ihe employees come from all parts Of
the state; they belong to all political parties,
and, although there is always a strong pres
sure brought to bear for these positions, re-
movals are not made for political purposes
or on political grounds.
You are mistaken when you say: "When the
farmer complains Of the grade his consignee
writes him that he ordered the wheat re-
inspected and the inspection was sustained
that ends it, The farmer if he ships direct
consigns his wheat to some commission
house. This house has an expert wheat man,
whose duty it is to lcok after the cars Of
wheat consigned to his firm their arrival.
The car arrives in the railroad inspection
yard may be with 600 or ZOO others. The in
spector, without knowing whose wheat 1t is
or where 1t comes from, climbs into the car
has 1t probed in different parts. He has wi n
him sieve and cloth on which to sift the
dirt, and If he is OF the opinion that the
dockage is in excess of one and one-half
pounds he sits the dirt from a fair sample
and by this actual test determines the dock
age. After determining the dockage the in
spector carefully examines the wheat, deter
mines the grade and marks it on the car.
The man representing the commission house
follows the inspector, takes samples, exam
ines the wheat, and If he thinks the grade
too low calls for a reinspection. This is
made by the chief deputy or one Of the oldest
and best inspectors on the force If the grade
is not raised and the commission house still
is not satisfied with the grade the law pro-
house commission, and in determining the
grade We have the benefit of the opinion of
the chief inspector, together with that Of sew
eral other experienced inspectors, and We give
every appeal a thorough and careful inveSti-
CATION
Section A of the warehouse and grain law
provides that Nothing in this act shall be so
construed as to prevent any person from SELL
ing grain by sample regardless of grades
Therefore, the value of 1 hard or / north
ern is not affected either way by erroneous
inspection, as long as the grain remains in
the owners control, or, in other words, I'm IL
its identity is lost. Inspection Is final and
binding only on such wheat as is delivered
for store into public elevators, or when grade
contracts are entered into There is an ex-
tensive sample market at Minneapolis made
up Of large number Of millers ard private
warehousemen. At Duluth found the
same conditions to perhaps more limited
extent. At either point shippers can sell by
sample, regardless of grades.
ABOUT THE DOCKAGE.
If the dockage is not satisfactory, the ship
per or his consignee, under rule q OF the
inspection department. can order the grain
into a public warehouse and cause the actual
waste to be ascertained. The warehous> man
Is obliged to receive and clean It, and In
no case run the cleaning machinery IL a
| different manner than while in ordinary use,
either by speed, feed or draft; and il the
party owning the grain desires the actual
| dirt taken out Of the grain 1t must be saved
and weighed on a platform scale 10 be kept
for that purpose. The owner CT his agent has
the right to be present with free access to
the grain while it is being clean d, and tie
grain is TO be weighed before and after the
cleaning by state weighman and the charges
| cannot exceed one-haif cent per bushe
Referring TO the afidavits accompanying
your report, only two of them, those of Mr..
Kassenberg and Mr.. Tangen, contain suf1-
cent data namely, the date Of shipment and
the numbers Of the cars, to enable the COM
mission to make any investigation. in Mr..
Kassenberg's case, We endeavored to get the
samples which were taken by Van Dusen-
! Harrington. company from the cars, but were
| informed they had been empt' ed.
! Mr.. Kassenberg shipped three cars, and
they arrived and were inspected in Duluth on
| three different days, and the ms pector's no
tations on the inspection certificates show
that they contained three different kinds Of
wheat. Car 947O, inspected Sept. g. tie nota-
tons show, was graded No 2 on account of
barley " dOplro
no reinspection was called on this car Car
67SS inspected Sept. II, the inspectors nota-
tons show. was first graded No. 2 on &C
count Of cookie and stained wheat but on
reinspection the inspector, finding THAI it was
doubtful car of line wheat gave it the
benefit of the doubt and rails d the grade TO
No. 1 with 312 pounds dockage. Car 1878 in
spected Sept. II, the notations show was
graded No. on account of ble,ched wheat
and cookie. with " pounds dockage. Re-
grade sustained; it contained more bleach ed
wheat and cookie than could be carried in
No. 1. The dockage in the case of these
were locked for the actual amount of foreign
matter found in them.
THEY WE'RE KICKERs.
Mr. Kassenberg was represented By Van
Dusen-Harrlngton company, a house of as
good standing as any at the head of the lake.
and who always press the department fer
the very best grade to which their custo-
mers wheat is emitted It is to their inter-
est, as we'll as to the interest of she shipper.
that they do this; in fact they must d. it
II they expect to retain their business They
saw Mr.. Kassenbergs wheat on its arriy al
and had samples taken of it: they knew
the inspectors notations ''bleached and
cookie" On car 1878 and barley and coekIe''
on car No. 9470 stated the truth in regard
to the conditions of the wheat found in these
cars on their arrival. It was their duty to
see that the dockage was correct and thew
no doubt determined this by actual sitting.
In letter of Van Dusen-H Harrington com
pany, dated Oct. "a, to Mr.. Kassenberg, writ
ten In answer to a letter of his of Oct G.
they say, referring to this same wheat:
There can be no doubt that the wheat that
was shipped in was not the same quality or
of the same lot Of wheat as the sample we
received, as this sample was certainly as
line quality Of 1 hard wheat as we have
| seen this season The wheat, on arrival.
that was shipped in the cars, was graded
northern in the case of cars 947O and 1914
on account of bleached wheat and cockla.
You understand, the rules do not allow the
carrying into the higher grades wheat con-
tanning much cookie. We called reinspaction
on car $685. which was originally inspected 2
northern, and succeeded in getting the car
raised to northern. The other cars thew
would not raise account of the defects in
the grain. Had there been any show what
! ever Of getting the cars raised TO l hard nv
| an appeal to the railroad and warehouse
| commissioners in St. Paul. we would have
CortainHV 41,o