Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1900-11-06
THE FARM ERS
81 AND THE 0SS'
T1D OFFIc1AL, REPORT OF THE
. sa1dA1lN';A,aEMHNr YIN THE [ls s II, '',lz
PRISON BINDER TwINE
\ s.$ FACTORY. y: q
MAKES IN BRA n S STATEMENT
Twine That Was Sold II Ten. Gents
Worth Only six Cents 1t the ES5
\ n l5s,5 .Tins 81 Delivery.

There'a4a remarkable Tea ture about
that binder twine business, Warden
Reeve furnished one set Of figures tot
ficiaD TO the state auditor; 3. F. Mel
son. president Of the board, furnished
! another an net differently; the prison board
then hastily got together and made q
report giving still another set-and now
in order to explain q few discrepan-
cies. they have still another guess COM
Ing. There's one significant item in
! the thirds Of this years
output Of Irvine was sold on credit:
and there Is nearly half million doll
lars In outstanding accounts!
The board alleges that If these ac-
counts were all collected the years bus
mess would show slight profit-about
SIG. 900. Why would It? Simply because
the farmers who bought the Irvine had
to pay for the mistakes Of tie prison
management. :.
The report itself is one Of the strong
est pieces of evidence of the rottenness
with which the business Is conducted.
It acknowledges that the Irvine, sold to
farmers at 10 cents a pound, was worth
only 6 cents at the time Of delivery,
owing to the decline in the price Of the
fiber. The state, through the asfnine
judgment of the governor and prison
warden, had loaded UP with fiber when
1t was at it's highest, for nearly two
years. r',r. The only way to avoid
hopelessly swapping the institution
and running it into debt a couple Of
hundred thousand dollars was to make
F~ rkr AIao 1@c,u TN11oys y1yo -
a partial crop failure-in some few sec
lions it was almost total-and many
farmers who had ordered prison Irvine
early in the season wrote in to cancel
part of their order. This the manage
ment refused. It was a privilege al
ways extended under Republican adj
ministrations. but the present officials
demanded thein pound of flesh. This
represents largely the four hundred-odd
Thousand dollars Of bills receivable"
How much OF this is collectab1e? I'm
der the conditions and taking into con-
sideration the inferior quality, short
length Irvine furnished how much of
this indebtedness could be collected in
case it was necessary to bring suit
against these debtors in the courts? s,nA,
What a very peculiar situation!
There are nearly two million pounds
Of binder Irvine on hand at the prison.
to be carried over until next season.
Owing to the exorbitant price paid for
the fiber It will cost the state, manu-
featured; 10 cents pound. It is worth
according to Gov. Lipd's statement
only cents pound, and he says that
it will probably go still lower. In other
words, there is net loss of at least
cents pound on it. or we'll UP towards
$50, 600. Now mark Gov, Lind's own
words: Figuring the twine and fiber
on hand at their present value Is cents).
and figuring as assets the outstanding
accounts lover $400,Q0t). the state will
make a profit of about $4,000 on the
Irvine plant this year. Even # his sta te-
ment is correct, this means that the
farmers who bought prison Irvine this
year paid $4,000 too much, to cover the
loss caused by the s11rinlSage in value
of that kept over, until next season.
Can anything be palmer? VIII Mr.. Lind
or his press bureau explain who stands
this loss, unless it is the farmers who
were obliged to pay such an exorbit-
tant price for their Irvine this season?
That cents pound must come from
Il
state, so Mr.. Lind says, 50 who stands
It? And what about that four hundred
odd thousand dollars in outstanding &C.
| counts? r.
T. The whole affair Is one Of the most
outrageous, high-handed proceedings
ever attempted in any state. If 'the
institution was a private enterprise and
attempted to do business In that way
would the people stand for It? Then
how much more literally should 1t be
conducted when It is supposed TO be
run for the benefit of the farmers,
whom it has so shamefully betrayed!
Two years, ago John Lind promised
the farmers that If he was elected gov
ernor he ''would give, them cheaper
twine.'' So he has-in quality. The
farmers will remember the twine''