The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-10-18
directly felt BY the farmer that the,


Henry Wolfer was superseded as war.
den Of the prison by c.. Nee. Reeve.
Mr. Wolfer was not only one of the
best prison men in the country. but
his services as manager of the twine
plant were invaluable. Mr. Reeves
qualifications" may be, summarized
by simply $, wing that they We're the
opposite of these.
Last winter Warden Reeve went into
the Eastern market to buy sisal fiber.
1t was sending a boy to mill. Tae
importers Of the fiber kindly took him
In charge, made him believe that the
market was going slsyward, and that
his only salvation lay in buying enough
stock i keep the factory running
couple of years. Thus 1t was that he
bought about 100000 pounds of sisal
FOR FUTURE DELIVERY at the
highest price the market had known
for years. Not only that. but they un-
loaded upon him a large quantity Of
ROTTEN. NO GRADE FIBER THAT
WAS PRACTICALLY WORTHLESS.
The rest of the transaction is history
known to every farmer in the state
who used prison Irvine this year. The
Irvine was unsatisfactory, much of 1t
rotten and brittle, owing to poor ma
terial, and NOT A SINGLE BALL OF
1T HELD OUT IN LENGTH THE
STANDARD MEASUREMENT OF 500
FEET PER POUND which was guar
anteed by the circulars sent out by the
prison managers. The shortage ran
from 40 to 80 feet per pound, or 200 to
400 feet per ball.
Owing to the high price paid for the,
fber the prison Irvine was of necessity
sold at a hiehe~ lice than outside
Irvine, the first time in the history of
the plant that such has been the case.
In other words, the prison factory, in
stead of acting as lever to keep down
the price of outside Irvine by selling
it's own product at cost, has actually
bee, unable to compete with the out
side Irvine! r.
But the worst has not yet been told.
The fiber bought at exorbitant price
''for future delivery continued to ar
rive at the prison after the seasons
business was over. ONE MILLION
POUNDS WERE RECEIVED AT THE
PRISON THE LAST OF JULY-al g
bought at cost about double the price
on the day of delivery. The prison fac
tory now has on hand nearly two
million pounds of fiber and Irvine of
doubtful quality, (which cost twice what
it is worth in the market to-day. This
is condition which must be faced In
the next seasons business.
And this is how Gov. Lind has re
formed" the state Irvine industry. He
is not promising the farmers cheaper
binder Irvine" in his campaign speeches
this year, as he did two years ago.
Neither is he admonishing them to
remember the twine," as he did the
last campaign. He fain would have
them forget the twine"-as he, has
forgotten to speak Of it in his speeches
this year. 50"
The "Trust Baking Powder Com
mission" --E....{ ri
The department of the dairy and food
commission Is Of much more import
ance than those unacquainted with Its
workings and objects give 1t credit.
When properly and intelligently con-
Quoted 1t stands as safeguard be-
tween the public health and impure
food, authorizations. etc. Under past
administrations not the faintest criti-t
cism could be made against the depart
ment; it was under the direction OF
competent and conscientious men who
had the public welfare at heart.
Shortly after the department had
been reformed" the Minneapolis office
was discontinued. Half dozen in
spectors were tried there within as
many months, but their general incom-
petence was such that the branch office
in that city became worse than useless.
This left the largest city in the state
directly without local service and the
milk deale- and others are practically
without supervision.
1t was just about this time that Com
missioner Bowler was busily engaged
in discovering three grades of pure vim
egar from the same barrel--which, by
the way, had been condemned as i'm
pure.
But the most severe criticism directed
against the office is on account OF Its
alleged connection with the baking
powder trust. After the baking powder
law went into effect Mr.. Bowler sent
out circulars to dealers directing that
they cease selling baking powder, the
formula of which was not printed on
the can. He was Immediately per
suaded" to revoke this order. He fol-
lowed it up with another, which he also
revoked; and even third time did he
repeat this farce.
A few weeks ago he caused to be ar
rested grocer, p. OGrady, doing bus
mess on Waba sha street, st. Paul. for
selling a certain kind Of baking powder
NOT HANDLED BY THE TRUST.
Mr. O'Grady secured the services OF an
attorney who made a thorough inves-
tigation into the matter, with the re-
suit that when the case came up in
court before Judge ORR he openly
charged that Mr.. Bowler was not act
ing in good faith in the matter, but
was influenced by the baking powder
trust. He requested that Mr.. Bowler
be subpoenaed as a witness and be re-
quired to testify as to the animus Of
the department in the matter The
subpoena was issued and the case con-
tinued-BUT 1T NEVER CAME TO
TRIAL; MR.. BOWLER DISMISSED
IT!
That's the service being given by the
dairy and food commission, and that is
how 1t is trif1ing with the sacred inter-
ests it is supposed to guard, the peo-
pies health.
Has 1t Paids
Two years ago John Lind made his
10 p,poiop On So-called estate issues"