The Irish standard., 1902-10-25
A Few Facts Concerning This
Department Under the
Republican Rule.
Extravaganza Along All Lines
Is Noted Under the
Management.
The Farmers Of the Entire
Northwest are Chiefly
the Sufferers.

There exists to-day in the state grain
weighing department of Minnesota q
condition Of affairs which the Irish
Standard believes it Il duty to bring
to the attention of the voters as far as
possible in order that they may be in
formed of what is going on before cast
ing their ballots on November 18th. 1t
will be remembered that during the ad
ministration of Governor Lind the an
nual report of State Weighmaster
3 O'Brien, which annual report is due
any time after September LIST Of each
year. was issued long before election
in the year 1900, so that the farmers
and all others interested would be
able to judge from the facts and
+ figures presented just what the depart.
ment was doing. This year, although
ample time has been given. no report
has yet been issued by the presen:
State Weighmaster. T.. p. Quist. or
course, there is a good reason for this,
it being evident that a complete report
at this time would not compare very
favorably with that of the state
weighmaster during the Lind admins
tration.
However, it has been learned by rhn
Irish Standard from reliable sources
that the department at the present
time is being conducted in an cXtrava-
CANT manner, and that the farmers N
particular are the greatest sufferers
In 1901 at the close of the Lind ad
ministrati0n there were employed ii,
the weighing department ut Mime
:lpoliS Il total force Of ~ men. Since
that time weighing in the yards hats
been discontinued, making a reduction
of three WrghrrS. lllt eight new ela
vntorS were built which would make
it necessary to rnl&rge the force to
total altogether of - employees. The
report for the second quarter this year
shows that Is men were then en-.
ploycd. ana since that time we have
been Informed that several more
have been added. presumably for pO-
litical reasons.
When the present railway and ware
house commission came into office they
at once attempted to have their salaries
raised from $1,000 to S',i o. but wcre
unsuccessful. Tie stcnographcr in tho
office of the state weighmnStcr whose
salary was $3.50 per month was raised
70. J,, ,,,;t las,
be well to state that the lady is Il sis.
ter to one of the members Of the
state railway and warehouse commits
sion.
Regarding the personnel of the de-
partment. it is also we'll to state that
under the Lind administration % of
the employees of the weighing depart
ment were old soldiers. At the pres
ent time, Notwithstanding the high re
gard in which the boys in blue ara
supposed to he held by the G. O. T.,
the number of G. \. r. men has been
reduced to 10.
The service given by the department
is also very inferior to that of the
Lind administration. When John Lind
was governor every shortage reported
was carefully looked into even to tho
smallest amount, and il such shortage
was found to exist, the farmer or the
shipper was given the relief. even
though the shortage did not exceed
pound in weight, but as soon as the
present Republican commission came
into power, they passed rule that no
complaint would receive any consider
alton ut their hands unless the short
age amounted to at least 500 pounds
of any kind of grain. In other words,
if a farmer or shipper, finding that
there was a difference of any amount
up to 500 pounds between the figures
that were given him at the point he
shipped his grain and the figures Of
the Minneapolis mills or elevators, TIL.
farmer or shipper could get absolutel:
no relief and was compelled to stand
the loss. This is nice state of affairs,
isn't it?
Then again, the fact that state
weights have been abolished ut all the
railroad yards also places the far
mer and every one else who has hay or
oats or any such commodity to sell
completely Mt the mercy of the feed
dealers, and they must accept the
weights that are given them. These
are only few of the abuses Of the
rights of the farmers and shippers
that have been practiced since the
Lind administration went out of power.
AS to running expenses of the depart
ment at the present time the public
will have to be content to wait for this
information until Weighmaster Quist
sees fit to issue his annual report,
which will perhaps be Forthcoming at
ter election.
The Mad Mullah is again on the
war path against the British invaders
in Somaliland His forces number be-
tween 10000 and 10000 we'll armed
men, while the opposing British forces
number only 10000. Troops are being
sent from India to conquer the Mo-
hammedan patriot. 1t is said that
Britain's object in sending the expe-
dition against the Mad Mullah is to
pave the way for the subsequent con-