The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1900-10-31

Mat the srain service has been go
termed. It IS simply one Of many
Dther instances which show that ell
such pretsnses are not only untrue,
but known to be untrue by those who
make them.
In connection with this disclosure Of
the weighing branch of the grain serv-
Ice It might be interesting to some to
learn who inspects all the fax received
at Minneapolis and something about
the merits Of his work, as shown by
the records Of the inspectors Office.
Mr.. Reishus, in his first report,
made himself famous by saying that
man Of ordinary sense should make q
good inspector after an apprentices
ship of two or three months! Mr..
Reishus would hardly have made such
an official statement IL he had had any
experience himself.
Any one who knows anything about
inspecting grain. knows that it re-
quires the experience of years.
But what was still worse, Mr. Rel
shus proceeded at once to act upon
this theory. As soon as he was sworn
In he appointed Herbert Gray, hotel
clerk from his town, as flax sam
pier" The records, for some purpose
known only to Mr.. Reishus, give his
residence as Swift county, but III
truth and fact he came from Marshall.
Lyon county. Although he was NOM
inally fax sampler, he was assigned to
clerical work in the Minneapolis Office.
He was appointed in October, and, at
ter doing clerical work until the fol-
lowing February, he was made fax In
spector, and has since inspected all
flax received in Minneapolis!
OF course, the same kind Of skill il
not required in the inspection of fax
as in the inspection of other kinds OF
grain. It consists principally in sift-
ing out the dirt, weighing it and figur-
ing out its per centage. The grain re-
ceivers at Minneapolis say that more
than one-half the cars Of fax inspect
ed are reinspected, and that in almost
every case the percentage Of dirt is
changed. This shows that the original
Inspector either cannot weigh the dirt
correctly or is not able to figure out
the percentage.
A car was recently inspected and
i,
was reinspected and graded Reject
ed IL per cent dirt. It was carried
to the appeal board, who graded it
Rejected" 10 per cent dirt. The par
ties in interest became disguised, and
after weighing sample, settled on the
basis of Rejected" 16 per cent dirt.
The history of this car Is known to
every commission man in Minneapo-
lis. and illustrates the character Of
the reform" in the inspection de-
partment.
The whole thing is matter of rec
ord, and IL open to the inspection OF
every one.
It cannot be wondered at that the
grain department Is In q democrat
lied and disreputable condition. Two
years ago It had a worldwide reputa-
ton. Representatives Of state depart
ments and grain associations from
other states came here to study our
methods, and magazine writer's wrote
long articles upon its merits which
were read by the civilized world. But
how different now! -
The whole story is told when It ID
said that the powers that be have
chosen to build up political machine
OF the department instead OF making
It efficient or Of trying to maintain the
reputation it has enjoyed In the past.
And it is in striking contrast to pre-
vious administrations where, instead OF
turning the department into a political
machine, efficiency and ability were in
sisted upon. It is a matter Of history
that under Republican administra tion
of the department rigid civil service
bill was drawn up and recommended
which positively prohibited in every
form the exercise of political influence
upon any employe.