The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-01-26
MIR. WOLFER'S TWINE
THE WARDEN TELLS THE INyES-
TIGATING COMMITTED ALL
ABOUT 1T
NEVER FORGOT THE FARMER

board Was to Give the Consumer
the Material at a Minimum Cost
Some Specific Complaints of
Which the Warden Didn't Quite
| Remember the Details.
The joint committee Of the senate
| and house. appointed to investigate
the sale and distribution of the bind
Ing Irvine made at the saltwater pris-
on, held its first meeting In room 16 at
the capitol yesterday afternoon. The
committee consists Of Representatives
Jacobson, chairman; Pugh, ONeill and
| Neubauer, and Senators Wilson, j. H.
| Smith, McGOvern and Grindeland, and
they were all present.
Mrs. M. H. Campbell was elected
| official stenographer.
| Senator Wilson conducted the exam
1nation of witnesses The first witness
was Warden Wolfer. When he was
called the chairman read the resolu-
ton ordering the investigation, which
recites:
1T has been equally freely charged that
| the Irvine trust has secured control of The
sale of the prison-made Irvine to the detrl-
ment of the consumers; that the prison man
ayers have connived at and been corruptly
| interested In the profits thus derived; that
| the farmers have been unable individually to
obtain the Irvine at just and reasonable prices
and that the manager has changed the method
Of distributing the Irvine. thereby making It
1 practically impossible to obtain Irvine at cost
as in former years..
| Mr.. Wolfer said he had direct charge
Of the manufacture, sale and diStribu-
ton of the Irvine at the prison All
purchases Of Irvine are reported to the
board monthly, and it was his custom
to consult the board frequently. The
selling and distribution is done under
resolutions of the board. The amount
manufactured is regulated wholly by
the capacity of the plant. The selling
price has heretofore been fixed at the
| May meeting. The witness produced
the minutes of the meeting of the
board in May, 1898. which were read
and showed that the price was fixed at
6.5 cents per pound in carload lots, ard
| Z cents in smaller lots. The only 9TH
er action of the board in 1898 on the
| subject was at meeting in June af-
| ter there was a material rise in prices
of other Irvine, and it became apparent
tempt by dealers who purchased and
whose orders had already been ac-
cepted to raise their prices and pre-
vent the farmers buying Of them from
getting the advantage of the low
prices made by the prison board. At
that meeting contract was formulat-
ed which bound the purchasers to sell
| not exceeding Is cents per pound.
| These were sent to all whose orders
had been accepted, accompanied by a.
circular letter stating that they would
not be allowed to charge more than
| reasonable margin, and requiring
them to sign the contract before the
order would be filled. There were three
Or four who refused to sign the con-
tract and demanded their twine The
orders these 70
litigation, because their orders had
been accepted without this condition.
A few who signed the contract vio-
lated it. The board, even after the
great rise in prices of other Irvine,
maintained the prices fixed in May.
In June they ceased selling in car
lead lots to dealers and reserved $780,
600 pounds of Irvine to fill cash orders
| of less than car lots. That was three
! times as much as was ever reserved in
any previous year. The policy was to
| prevent the twine going out Of the
state, and to cause as equal diStribu-
| ton as possible.
Warden Wolfer said they discovered
| one farmer, George A Hollenbeck, of
| Quincy, Olmsted county, who was buy
| ing and selling again at profit, and
| they refused to fill any more orders for
i him. There was no discrimination
against any farmer In selling, and in
favor of dealers; on the contrary, dis
elimination was made In favor of the
| farmer. The witness said he passed on
| the responsibility of those to whom
sales were made on credit, which were
those only who bought car lots. In no
case was sale made on credit unless
| the purchaser was believed to be re-
| sponsible, or note was taken with
ample security. The witness produced
a statement showing all uncollected ac-
| counts and notes for Irvine sold 1t
| showed notes prior to 1898, amount
| ing to $1.1O7.S4; notes in 1898, s., O6216;
| all accounts, $1,015.7S; total, s7,S25. rs.
| The notes and accounts of 1898, the wit
! ness said, are worth 95 cents on the
| dollar; and the others at least IS.
Chairman Jacobson read a letter
| from Oscar Torson, dated at Castle
Rock, Mimi. Jan. 5, 1885, which says:
Just before the last harvest we sent an or
| DER for Irvine in answer to advertisement
i in the Prison Mirror, but the money was re-
turned. Dealers in Mortified, however. OBJ
calned twine at the same time, and later
] One dealer said he was in Saltwater on the
| same day that our order was received and
that the manager had told him that he would
| get what he wanted in few days, or when
they had notified al those sending in small
orders that no Irvine could be had This
Mortified dealer waited few days and got
| his carload of twne.
The witness said this letter was not
| true.
The chairman also read a letter in
part from S. P. Roach, GAINESVILLE.
Mimi, dated in January 1899, saying:
July 1, 1898, there was an advertisement
over the signature of Henry WoIfer, warden
Of the states prison. at Saltwater, Mimi,
offering to fill small orders ACCOMPANIED by
the cash direct from farmers for binding
twine needed 100 pounds. and on July i,
1885, mailed an order to him for 100 pounds
enclosing postoffice order for 81, the adver-
| tised price On the 9th day of July l re-
ceived the enclosed answer to my letter If I
| am correctly informed Charles Merrill. of
Union Grove. Meeker county, and j. G.
| ed Irvine after I did and got their Irvine. The
| books at the prison should show the dates
when those orders were received. The only
reason why should be Disseminated against
so far / know. Is for several years back
l have refused to bow the knee to the Re-
named are consistent worshipers at that
shrine. (The enclosed letter" declined the
order because the stock was exhausted)
The witness said he could not remem-
Der this instance, but there were some
cases where orders were filled after
other orders had been refused. This
was because by running overtime day
and night they produced more Irvine
than they expected to have, and. con-
sequently, were able to fill some small
orders accompanied by the cash. after
notice had been given to other appli-
cants that they would not be able to
fill their orders.
There were two relatives of officers
to whom carload lots were sold Thew
were dealers in Irvine and had been
for years, and been customers of the
prison. They were given no fayors