Morris tribune., 1900-10-20

dition Of the department by the state
auditor and this Democratic house Of
q cards fell fiat. The question of grair
inspection has become a milestone
around their necks, and will drag them
! deep
Beneath the Waters of Oblivion.
It has been shown by irrefutable fig
ures that the Democratic administra
ton of the grain inspection department
cost $16,274.47 more for the year 190(
than for the year 1898, when the de-
partment was under Republican adj
i ministration, and that this increase in
/ expenditure was due to a large in
crease in the number of employees. not
4 Withstanding there were fewer cars OF
wheat inspected in 1900 than there We're
in 1898 by not less than $1,000, or their
equivalent in bushels.
AS to the value of The grain inspec-
! ton, it has never during the fifteen
years of it's existence been done SO
4 irregularly or unsatisfactory. This is
/ plainly seen by the Minneapolis mar
ket reports wherein it is shown that
wheat given high grade by the state
| inspectors on being sold on sample FREE
quently fails to command the price
1 paid for wheat which has been given a
lower grade. This is an every Cay oc-
currence, not merely occasional and in
dicates most clearly that the inspec-
| ton is at fault. I am informed also,
that there have been many raoie rein
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 adj
| 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 10 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 blythe
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 25
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 i'm
year, while the fee that is paid by the
terminal warehouse men has only been
increased 1915 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 entai1ed 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-
tor men and shippers on the other. A
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 a large number of
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
down to the lowest possible amount
consistent with good service.
The record made by the Democratic
administration in its management of
the state prison
Binding Irvine Plant
Is not one which rebounds to their
credit, nor is it monument to their
business sagacity or intelligence. Since
he resignation of Warden Wolfer this
wine plant has been conducted ap-
oarently on purely political principles,
Ind the result has been that during the
past year the farmers who had con-
racted to buy their binding Irvine from
he prison plant have been compelled /.
% pay from to 8 cents more per
pound for it than they could have
Fought the same quality of Irvine for
rom outside jobbers. In former years
he farmers were allowed to cancel all
n part of their orders in case of crop
allure, but during the past year, Of
oemocra tic control, despite the fact of F
general partial failure of the crops
he farmers were not allowed to cancel
heir orders, but were held mercilessly
o their contracts Why was this arbi-
rary action taken by the prison man
cement? It was taken because the
managers of the prison Irvine plant
ound themselves in a hole financially
nd knew that unless they infested on
he farmers taking all the twine or
cred at the beginning of the season