The Redwood gazette., 1900-10-17

dition Of the department by the state
auditor and this Democratic house Of
cards fell fiat. The question of grain
| inspection has become milestone
/ around their necks, and will drag them
deep
Beneath the water. of OBLIVION.
1t has been shown by irrefutable fig
i ures that the Democratic administra-
tfon Of the grain inspection department
cost $16,274.47 more for the year 1900
than for the year 1898, when the de-
partment was under Republican ad-
ministration, and that this increase in
| expenditure was due to large in
crease in the number of employees. not
withstanding there were fewer ears of
wheat inspected in 1900 than there We're
in 1898 by not less than 27,O00 or their
| equivalent in bushels.
AS to the value of The grain inspec
ton, it has never during the fifteen
| years Of its existence been done so
| irregularly or unsatisfactory. This is
plainly seen by the Minneapolis mar
ket reports wherein it is shown that
wheat given a high grade by the state
| inspectors on being sold on sample fire.
| quently fails to command the price
| paid for wheat which has been given
| lower grade. This is an every cay oc-
currence, not merely occasional, and in
| dicates most clearly that the lnspec-
| ton is at fault. / am informed s.:so
| that there have been many r,o;e 1ein-
| spections and the grade given by
| the inspectors has been overturned
| oftener during the past year than ever
! occurred in any former year; but the
| actual figures on this matter. is one of
| the buried secrets of the present ad-
ministration, which will not be dis
closed until after election, when, and
not before in all probability. the annual
report of the department will be given
| to the public.
Increased Cost of Inspection.
1t also appears to have been the
policy of the present administration to
| increase the cost of inspection to the
farmers and small shippers in greater
proportion than it has been increased
| to the elevator man and large shippers.
For instance, in the beginning of the
1900 year the fee for inspection on ar
rival at terminal points, that is, in
inspection, was raised from Is cents to
| 20 cents, and subsequently to 25 cents
per car load, but no corresponding in
crease was made in the fee for outgoing
inspection. The fee for inspection ION
arrival comes out of the price the
farmer is paid for his wheat. The fee
for outgoing inspection is paid by the
terminal elevator men and large ship
pers. Recently the fee for outgoing in
spection has been raised, but not in
proportion to the increase of the in
inspection fee. To-day we find that the
fee for inspection ION arrival is c5
cents per car and the fee for outgoing
inspection is 40 cents per 1000 bushels.
That is to say the inspection fee which
comes out of the farmer has been in
creased 662: per cent during the past
year, while the fee that is paid by the
terminal warehouse men has only been
increased 331, per cent.
With the smaller crop this year any
one would imagine that the inspection
force could have been decreased and
not increased, as it has been. There
has been less work, and fewer inspec-
tors were needed: smaller force
would have entailed a smaller increase
in the inspection fee, and such increase
as was absolutely necessary might have
been apportioned fairly upon the grain
growers on the one hand and the eleva-
reduction in the force would have
shown sound business management.
and fairly equalized increase of fees
would have shown a sense of justice
and fairness.
No Reason to Be Proud.
What, with Irregularities in the
grading of grain, the addition to the
inspection force of large number of
superfluous and inexperienced politi-
cal hangers-on, the consequent large
increase in the expenditure of the de-
partment and the unjust and discrim-
mating increase of the inspection fee.
our Democratic opponents have small
reason to be proud of their record in
the matter of grain inspection.
If elected. I promise to use all the
powers conferred on my office to cor
rect any and all Irregularities to make
the service of the most efficient char
acter and to keep the expense account
down to the lowest possible. amount
consistent with good service.
The record made by the Democratic
administra ton in it's nagement of
the state prison
Binding Twinc P1ant
is not one which rebounds to their
credit, nor is it a monument to their
business sagacity or intelligence. Since
the resignation of Warden Wofer this
twine plant has been conducted ap-
parently on purely political principles,
and the result has been that during the
past year the farmers who had con-
tracted to buy their binding twine from
the prison plant have been compelled
to pay from 2 to cents more per
pound for it than they could have
bought the same quality of twine for
from outside jobbers. In former years
the farmers were allowed to cancel all
or part of their orders in case of crop
failure, but during the past year of
Democratic CONTROL despite the fact of
general partial failure of the crops
the farmers were not allowed to cancel
their orders but We're held mercilessly
to their contracts. Why was this arbi
trary action taken by the prison man
agement? 1t was taken because the
managers of the prison twine plant
found themselves in a hole financially
and knew that unless they insisted on
the farmers taking all the twine or