Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1899-09-06

4 l !
conldn, & say exactly. d
And likewise the stestimony sof s e.
!. Nelson Hoople, State Inspector at Du-:
luth. s2i$ 5* s 5*ss :. q, s..
Do.yon or do you not, on the first
arrival Of the wheat, q new crop, pro-
coed on the theory that the crop is Of
the same general character and grade
as the year previous? ~ =
y "A. Well, no, not exactly, we are
generally careful on the starting outsof
each year, before we determine what
the crop is.
The conclusions drawn from this tes-
timony by the Joint Committee are as
follows, Ito be found on pages and 81:
''From this testimony it appears
clearly to your committee that the
wheat early in the season is not in
spected upon its merits, but from an
overcautious desire on the part of the
department to keep up what they deem
is necessary to keep the standard of the
grade. It appears from the testimony
partly quoted above that this rule Of
rigid inspection continues from three to
four weeks and if this was the only
damage resulting from this system of
inspection, the loss would not be so dis
astrous, but from this very fact, the
country buyers become overcautious in
buying and in order to protect them
selves generally continue the rigid grad
ing from two to three weeks after the
inspection department at the terminal
points has changed their system of
grading, and this results in additional
heavy loss to the producer throughout
the state. From this it appears that
nearly one-third of the crop has been
marketed each year before the farmer
is enabled to get the grade that his crop
merits"
In regard to this abuse which has ex-
listed heretofore, am authorized both
by the Board Of Appeals, who have the
supervision of grades, and by the Chief
Inspector and his deputies, who have
charge of the administrative work, to
state that it will not be permitted to
exist hereafter, and that the grades
will be maintained with the same in
tegrity and fidelity at all seasons for
the protection of the seller and buyer
alike.
Another abuse which has grown up
and become menace both to the pro-
ducers and the legitimate trade is tn e
practice of handling the wheat crop
through mixing houses and giving the
mixed output. containing not only Min
nesota and Dakota wheats, but wheat
from Iowa and Nebraska and further
south, the certificate Of quality of grade
which Minnesota inspection implies.
I am satisfied from an abundance of
creditable evidence that has come to
me that this mixed output has fire.
quently been accorded grades that it
was not fairly entitled to. This prac-
tice has done more to destroy confidence
in Minnesota grades and in the in
tegrity of our inspection system and
is today depressing prices in greater
degree in the east and abroad than
even such articles as your editorial.
In Minneapolis there are thirty-six
warehouses which avail themselves of
state inspection and state weighing.
Out of these thirty-six, only four are
state warehouses, which by law are
prohibited from mixing the various
grades. The statement was made to
me some weeks ago by an apparently
reputable man who has been employed
for fourteen years in one of these mix
ing houses, that some three years ago
in the house in which he was employed,
under the direction of the foreman, he
and two others mixed $500 bushels of
fine fax screenings with the wheat in
the warehouse; that 81, 900 bushels of that
wheat was afterwards purchased by the
Pillsbury company. The statement
seemed to me so astounding that could
hardly give it credence. I sent for Mr..
G. A. Pillsbury and repeated the sta to-
ment to him, without disclosing the
name of either the company operating
the elevator or the mill that made the
purchase. I simply asked him whether
he believed such statement to be with.
in the range Of possibility. His answer
was in the affirmative. He stated
further that no consumer Of wheat in
Minneapolis can afford to pay as much
for grain inspected out of mixing ele-
vator as he can for the like grade
bought on the track, and this for the
reason that under the inspection out
from mixing houses they are compelled
to receive the lowest quality within the
grade, or as he termed it, the "skin
grade" This accounts for the fact that
the quotations for future delivery
out of warehouses in Minneapolis
are invariably below the track quota.
tons. AS the prices for future delivery
always affect the market, it follows
that by this system of mixing. which
has been permitted without restraint
heretofore, the farmer who raises and
markets good grade of grain on the
whole, receives pay for only "skin'
quality of that particular grade
Whether the practice of handling grain
through mixing houses can or should be
prevented entirely is a question that it
is not necessary to discuss, but it is the
settled and determined policy of the
Board of Appeals and the Inspec.
ton Department that hereafter grades
and inspection will be applied
with the same rigidness and with the
same care in the inspection out OF
wheat from the mixing elevators as il
the inspection Of the producers grain on
the track. This, and this alone will dc
full justice to the producers and main
tain the integrity and good name Of
Minnesota wheat.
Without further discussing the grain
service as heretofore conducted. will
simply call your attention to the fact