The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-01-18

Minneapolis and Duluth each year.
The farmers pay the freight on that
immense amount of stuff. and having
done this they make a present of it to
the millers. and those operating clean
ing houses, to sell 1t at prices ranging
from $40 to $50 per tom. The North
Dakota grain commissioners estimate
that the value Of the screenings given
away by North Dakota farmers each
year is at least 5000. 0OO. We believe
that h screenings alone will pay the
cost of operating. terminal elevators
for the handling of the grain. We
know this. that in 1907 a terminal
our society the use of their house a
whole year free of charge if the COM
pany were permitted to clean the
grain and retain the screenings. Here
is then another item which the farm
ers could gain by virtue of operating
a terminal elevator of their own.
Mixing of GRADS.
Another item of profit in the grain
business is that derived from the mix
ing Of grades. At those terminal mar
kets they are in position to get the
poorer grades and mix them with the
better grades. It is estimated that
from fifteen to twenty ent a bushel
is made in this process Of mixing
grades. Jim Hill saws that this estf-
mate is too low. He claims that the
mixers make from twenty to twenty
five cents per bushel. There is no
doubt that millers and foreign buyers
in general are dissatisfied with the
grades they are receiving at the hands
of American grain. merchants. This
Is shown by their petition to the presi-
dent which has just been read. 1t is
shown further by the large number of
letters We receive from eastern mil
lers asking us to quote prices, on gooG
grades. These people hre willing to
pay premiums or the better grades If
we only can deliver to them not mix
ed. With a terminal selling agency of
our WI this could be easily done, and
farmers would reap the benefits de-
rived therefrom.
I'm addition to the foregoing adj
vantages terminal elevators would
provide Il place in which farmers
could store their grain until they were
ready to sell it. Grain stored in those
loans are desired. Anyone having
grain stored there can secur seven
tenths of the market value of the grain
as a loan, at the bank rate Of inter-
est which prevails at Minneapolis,
which is usually from four to five per
Eel
but the greatest necessity, how
ever of farmers entering the terminal
markets is to try to break the strength
of the grain combine. The board of
trade at Duluth and the chamber of
commerce at Minneapolis, as at pres
ent constituted. are closed corpora
lions. They are wned n controlled
by the grain trust in Minnesota. They
boast of the a c that they have ar
absolute monopoly of the grain trade,
and that no one but members can, do
httCs Nh ~ To-
other words, they are 'monarchs of all
they survey
"They We're incorporated in 1881,
under an act passed by the legislature
of 1868. This act granted them the
powers of an ordinary corporation,
but this hey were not satisfied with.
Hence in 1883 an act was passed by
their request which gave these assoc
Citations governmental powers of their
own. They were permitted to set up
courts within their own organization:
with which to try members and to
govern themselves in general. They
were given the power to administer
oaths; and the oaths administered by
them were of the same force as those
administered by the regular courts
and other officers of the state of Min
nesota. They can expel a member by
vote of a majority of the. board of d.
rectors and if a member is once ex-
PEELED is forever prohibited from doing
business in grain. Fol no member is
allowed to handle the grain of any
one who has been expelled from the
organization.
THE Society of Equity is working
for legislation which will make the
membership of such organizations UNI
limited; and which will provide that
when a member is accused of having
violated the rules of the association
and therefore subject to be expelled
he shall be tried before the regular
courts of this state. There is nothing
radical in such legislation. 1t is SIM
ply placing these men where they can
be watched. If they fear the light. of
day The public should know It,. AS a
rule. however, 1t is only the thief that
is afraid of being watched. The honest
man has nothing to fear. ..f
The farmers should proceed to es-
tablish a central selling agency of
their W at terminal markets. They
should proceed to do there what they
have already done in local markets.
They shoGld proceed there to maintain
their rights. When once established
there the old line commission COM
panies. brokers. mixers. spectators
and all of their ilk will have to go.
One by n they will fold their tents
like the Arabs and silently steal away
to steal no more"