Willmar tribune., 1900-10-31
Grain Inspection Wins Un-
qualified Approval of Deal
erS and Farmers.
Record of the Republicans
on the Gross Earnings
Tax Bill.

going about the state telling the peo-
pie that during the past year the pris-
On twine plant ran 100000 in debt
and was miserable failure generally.
Now, there is no more effective way
for a political party to discredit itself
in the eyes of the people than by at
tacking the opposition with deliberate
and unqualified falsehoods. Every
voter instinctively feels that a party
which is dishonest In its campaign
would also be dishonest in the admin
tstratiOn of the government if it
should be placed into power.
Moreover, every voter knows that a
political party will not resort to de-
Hberate falsehood, if it has a ghost
of show to win out on truthful facts
and arguments. A campaign of false
hood is confession Of incompetence,
it is an admission that the party in
question has no case against it's Op-
ponent, that it has no actual facts and
arguments to base its campaign on,
and is therefore forced to manufacture
them out of whole cloth. A policy of
falsehood and Misrepresentation will
discredit a party on the start in the
eyes of all thinking people.
And now, after these honorable gen.
tlemen have been going about the
state telling the people that Governor
Lind's management of the prison
twine plant was an absolute failure,
and entailed loss to the state of
100000, it must be very disagreeable
and uncomfortable for them to read
in the official report that the state
twine plant actually netted profit of
$4,000 during the past year, and the
people of the state will form their con-
clusions concerning these gentlemen
that have gone about peddling out de-
liberate falsehoods.
This report is indeed very satis-
factory One-one that the administra-
ton can point to with pride, and one
that shows more than anything else
could, the honest efficiency of the pres
ent management, making the prison
plant financial success in spite of the
fact that the Twine Trust had corner
ed the market Of fibre from which the
twine is made so that the Prison
Board was forced last spring to buy
it's supply at an exhorbitant price;
in spite of the fact that the market
had gone down when the time came
to sell the manufactured twine. Yet,
instead of showing a deficit as might
be expected under the circumstances,
the returns show a net gain of $4,000
for the year. That this cornering of
the fibre market and raising the price
when the Prison Plant had to buy its
stock Of raw material and cutting the
price when the time came to sell the
finished product, was a premeditated
and preconcerted plan of the trust to
ool- Dns~ -Szl
failure, and discredit it in the eyes
of the people, and thus obtain a pre-
text for having it shut down, will sug-
gest itself at once to every one that
is not bound body and soul to Mark
Hannas doctrine, There are no
trusts"
The honorable gentlemen above
mentioned say that the balance on
hand July 31st, 1899 Of over 5000, 1000
has been used up. That is true. 1t
was used to buy material with, and
of the material the twine was made
which was sold to the farmers, and
for which the farmers in return gave
their notes with first-class security,
and covering the entire cost of the
material and the cost Of manufactur-
ing.
More twine has been manufactured
this year and at a less cost than ever
before. The law requires the price of
the twine to be fixed each year for
the entire season by the first of March,
and it cannot be changed afterwards.
It was fixed accordingly at the date
required by law at price only one
cent a pound above the cost of the
raw material, and several cents below
the price charged at the same time for
the twine manufactured by the trust.
In this regard the president of the
Board of Managers says in his report:
"The price of twine had been fixed
on Feb. 9Th, 1900, at 10 cents per pound
for sisal, at which time the price of
raw material in New York was 9
cents pound, to which was to be
added freight, cost Of twine, oil (in-
creased in price 200 per cent from the
previous year,, the allowance of so
cents a day for. convict labor, and all
expenses of the manufacturer" -
The estimated output of the factory
was sold before the end i of March,
and in order to begin the manufacture
OF the twine, it was necessary to pur-
chase the raw material as soon as the
orders were booked. In this connec-
tion the report says: THE raw ma
terial for the year 1900 cost $559, 900,
as against $4,000 for the year 1899,
an excess Of $245, ,OOO" And now the
above mentioned Honorable gentle
men would blame the administration
for being Obliged to pay $245, 900 more
for the raw material this year than
last and the previous, when the fact
of 1T is that a Renuh1ican fr,Irt ha.7