The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1906-09-06
GOVERNMENT 70
INSPECT GRAIN
-------
Will Be Task Fully As Large
as That Of Meat In
spection.
SCIENCE FOR UDGMENT
Grain viii Be Graded by Scientific
Methods, and the Wheat Raisers
Of the Great Northwest Viii
Get an Honest Price.
SCIENCE FOR

washington, Sept. 5.-Scientifis in
spection and grading of grains, which
will eliminate the elements of guess
charged, fraud that have entered into
this business. is 10 to be established
by the department Of agriculture.
1t will be another task fully as large
as that of meat inspection lately Inn
posed. Congress at its recent session
appropriated an item Of $4,000 for
making Investigations to determine a
scientific method Of grading n in-
specting grain, so that uniformity shall
be established, and so that American
inspection shall mean the same as In
spection in other countries; also end
especially with reference to assuring
that the grain raiser shall get an on
est grading and be paid what his grain
is really worth.
The business OF grading grains Is
practically a monopoly, at present, Of
h state of Minnesota, because the
great primary wheat markets are in
that state. In q sensational speech last
winter Senator McCumber, OF North
Dakota, whose constituents are wheat
growers, shipping to the markets Of
Minneapolis and Duluth, declared tina
the inspection Of the state Of Minnesota
NSto E llAllCSoE dIlh
and that by 1t wheat raisers were
robbed of many millions annually.
McGunber Caused Sensation.
The senator made some remarkable
statements. He rave the record of GER
tain elevators, year by year showing
that many millions more Of low grade
grains went into them than came out.
The explanation was that grain was
u~ndergraded in buying, and therefore,
the raiser got less thai it was worth;
when sold, 1t was graded fully Asp to
Its real character n frequently aboEa.
AS a result, American grades are dis
counted abroad, and honestly graded
American wheat brings less in Europe
than equally good wheat from other
countries, because the presumption is
against an honest grading ofathe Amer
lean goods, and prices on it are made
with reference to this,
The McCumber speech caused q great
sensation. and largely as a result of it
the $4,000 appropriation was put into
the agricultural appropriation bill. I'm
der this Secretary Wilson has named
two experts to conduit experiments and
Investigations. They are Leslie e. Fitz,
who will do his work at Baltimore, and
Clyde %. Leighty, who will be sta
toned at New Orleans.
Grain inspection and grading is now
q matter Of guessing, individual judg-
ment, and personal opinion. One nan
is liable to rate a given car as on one
grade. and another as of another. Ex-
perience, however, has led to the de-
duction OF the general rule that the in
spector will never grade it too high
when he is buying, or too low when,
selling.
Science Instead of Judgment.
Scientific apparatus is now proposed
to be substituted for this hit-or-miss
method. TO determine, for instance.
the proportion of moisture a device has
been invented that will answer the
question accurately in fifteen minutes.
Any apparatus heretofore used re-
CURED about a day and was not Sc
accurate; n anyhow, it wasn't used
by the inspectors.
The movement for federal supervi-
sion of the whole business of inspect
ing and grading grain is g~ining
strength as q result Of the Develop
ments in the inquiry into the grain
I elevate business, and also because Of
these experiments in scientific grading.
There is little doubt now that legisla-
ton will be pressed in the next con
greSs, by the senators and congress-
nen from the grain states, to have
this whole business put under a bu-
reau of the department of agriculture.
In this way alone, they say, can honest
and uniform grades be obtained. SEN
ator McCumber is prepared to press
the matter and will return to the attack
next session with new facts and figures
for the argument.
The department Of agriculture is fast
, getting to be one of the very biggest
and most powerful Of the government.
The pure food and meat inspection
laws nave made it the intermediary
between the food manufacturers and
the table, the guardian of the health of
everybody who eats, the special police
to prevent crime, the detective Depart
ment to prevent fraud in food prepara-
tons. Now it is in a fair way to take
on the additional duty of standing be-
tween the raiser and the merchant in
grain. 20 enforce the square deal be-
tween them. Grain Inspection would.
If once established, as it is almost GER
tain to be, soon become one of the most
important bureaus Of the entire gov