The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-10-19
bis only salvation Law in buying enough

couple of years. Thus it was that he
bought about 100000 pounds of sisal
FOR FUTURE DELIVERY at the
highest price the market had known
for yasAs. Not only that. but they I'M
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
! IT 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
A., 900 feet per ball.
! Owing to the high price paid for the
fiber the prison Irvine was Of necessity
, sold at a higher price 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 a lever to keep down
| the price of outside Irvine by selling
! it's own product at cost, has actually
| been unable to compete with the out
! side Irvine!
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 WE'RE RECEIVED AT THE
! PRISON THE LAST OF JULY-all
| 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
! 1t 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.
The "Trust Baking Powder Com
mission"
The department of the dairy and food
commission is of much more import
| ance than those unacquainted with its
workings and objects give it credit.
When properly and intelligently con-
Quoted it stands as a safeguard be-
tween the public health and impure
food, authorizations, etc. Under past
administrations not the faintest criti-
cism could be made against the depart
ment; it was under the direction of
competent and cor7cientious men who
had the public welfare at heart.
Shortly after the department had
been reformed the Minneapolis office
was discontinued. Half a 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 dealers 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 it's
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 a third time did he
repeat this farce.
few weeks ago he caused to be ar
rested grocer, P. O'Grady, doing bus
mess on Wabasha street, st. Paul, for
selling 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; MIR. BOWLER DISMISSED
IT!
That's the service being given by the
dairy and food commission, and that is
how it is trif1ing with the sacred inter
ests 1t is supposed to guard, the peo-
pies health.
Has 1t Paide
Two years ago John Lind made his
campaign on so-called state issues
He made all manner of charges of cor
ruption against the Republican admin
istrations of previous years. In his
addresses he plaintively appealed to
the people fer "a chance to open the
books He went before the voters as
a candidate of no political party, but
as public spirited citizen with a mis-
sion to reform" things. How he has
reformed" them is shown in the fore