Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1900-10-20


certainly. He asked me how much
it was, and said Ia cents pound
Well, he said he thought that was
rather high, but it looked reasonably
good, and he thought he would tuy
some anyhow. He took that Irvine
home. He had three eighties in one
field and had just made one round,
which would make two miles and a.
half, the whole round of three eighties.
The man is farming over 600 acres of
land. He put one ball of the manila
twine in one reaper. They were of six
foot cuts, and one of each of the other
machines had the old Saltwater Irvine.
I He started to go around this two miles
and a half on the same piece and the
machine that was at the head Of the
procession was the one that had the
manila Irvine, so, If there was anything
in favor of that, it made the longer
turn around. He made three trips
around that piece with the manila
Irvine, and he did not get around twice
with the sisal Irvine. His boy had
been to school and he figured it out
and saw about how it compared in
price. The sisa1 cost him here, with the
freight added, 101a cents; mine cost
him IA cents a pound, and he found by
Figuring it out that my Irvine was
cheaper at Ia cents pound than the
Saltwater Irvine was at 1917. So, you
see that he paid 31a cents pound less
sfor my Irvine when you come to con-
slider the amount of work it would do,
and I was also making a fair profit. I
was not selling it at cost. So you see
that this Irvine, instead of being.
cheaper than it had been before, upon
Investigation is found to be higher, and
the farmers of Minnesota are COM
PEELED to pay the state a higher price
for the Irvine than they could pur-
chase it at ell over this country from
their local dealers, to say nothing about
wholesale prices.
Future Danger to the Plant.
d But that is not the serious feature of
this controversy in regard to our Still
water Irvine plant. We can stand a
loss it is quite small to each farmer,
ibut the serious thing about it is this:
How many of the farmers who ordered
that kind of Irvine that year will send
in their cash orders this year or next
year? How many, do you suppose, will
do that with the knowledge before
anything but sisal Irvine, manufactured
by a lot of men who don't know the
difference between good and bad
Irvine? Do you suppose they are going
to send their money there next year,
and in the month of January, February
and March, to pay for that Irvine or
the product of that Irvine plant? So
the consequence is that we will meet.
with the same conditions that any
other manufacturer does when he can
not dispose Of his property, and when.
the next legislature meets it will meet
under a condition altogether different
from that which confronted it when
Gov. Lind took hold of that plant.
There was a surplus at that time of
some $20O,0O0, and to-day, according to
State Auditor Dunn, the fund is over
drawn over $4,000. Now, what will
be the oyerdraft a year from now, pro-
vided we do not dispose of the Irvine?
And in order to dispose of it we must
sell it at least as cheap as other COM
mercial twines are sold or else the
farmers will not patronize us. Then
you will see the enemies of the Irvine
plant from all over the country, and
there are, as say, a good many of
them, applying for the wiping out of
the whole institution, and they will
have all these facts and figures before
them to back them up and show that
the state is running behind. Up to the
present time we can say that it is the
only plant of its kind in the state that
was making a9dollar and that was the
situation when Lind got hold of it; but
the situation to-day is that it has run
way behind.
Now, then, what he promised was a
reform. He promised this Irvine at
cost, intimating all the time and con-
Yeying to your minds that you were
not getting it at fair and reasonable
rates. The price charged at the time
that he was making these charges was
,51h cents for sisal, 61a for the half-and-
half, and cents for pure manila, when
every commercial Irvine dealer at that
time was selling it at from IL to IL and
up to Is cents pound.
s. Now, the farmers were not satisfied.
AS great many of them thought that
they were being wronged and robbed
at that time, and thought mat perhaps
With change they would be a great
deal better off. What has the result
been? Either Gov. Lind, at the time
he made those charges, was mistaken,
Or else he had not investigated the in
stitution at all; for If he had, he could
readily have found out the facts.
Gov. Lind Directly Responsible.
n But, you will say he is not to. blame
for that The men who are handling
that business are to blame for it. Now,
that is partially true, but it is nv
altogether true. He appointed all of
those men and he has his own board
Of control over there, and therefore he
must be. held responsible to the people
of this state. The trouble is simply
this, that the men he has appointed at
the head of that institution do not
know how to make Irvine as cheaply
as it ought to be made. 1t is easy
enough to make promises just before
election as to what a man is going to
do in Office, but when you come to do
it, it is not half so easy as the man
thinks. It is easy to say, eff I am
elected / will do SO and So" but when
you undertake to do it you will run
up against a great many difficulties
that you never dreamed of.
Now, 7 have heard a great many say
upon that point that the governor has
NOT come UP to their expectations.