The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-01-23

warehouse commission of Minnesota
to make a ruling which would put an
effective stop to it and during the ear
ly part OF November last the railroad
ana warehouse commission did make
a very satisfactory ruling forbidding
commission firms selling grain to its
subsidiaries or to n in
which they were Interested. No soon
er was this ruling made than the large
trns commenced to squirm and asked
for a hearing on the subject. During
the latter part Of December they APP
peared and presented their side Of the
question. The railroad and warehouse
commission granted the farmers a
hearing on Jan. IA when. Mr., Eli
STEVENSON Of C~rookston, O. D, Ander-
son n j. 7. Belk. president and Sec
rotary respectively of the Farmers
cooperative association OF South Da-
kota. Il. Thomas Of M~ontevideo, Mr..
Johnson of Tolley, N. D., and others
appeared and urged that the ruling
remain as already formulated and I
have the hope at least that the rail-
road and warehouse commission of the
state OF Minnesota will be firm on the
stand they have taken. but let me say
that 1t Is almost a pity to think that
1T should be necessary for the farmers
to travel great distances at their own
expense in order to plead for protec-
ton before this august tribunal while
the chamber Of members
can roll around in high priced auto
mobiles, at their organizations ex-
pense or rather at the expense of you
~farers, and can appear before the
commission at leisure and pleasure
and get an attentive ear.
THE grading and weighing Of grain
In q the terminal market comes under
the supervision of the railroad and
warehouse commission. They are at
the head of each their department. In
the past there have been a great many
complaints as to grading of grain In
the Minneapolis market and God
knows there have been ample rounds
for complaint. The whole system of
inspection is bad to say the least. To
begin with, the inspection force is
manned by men furnished by the large
milling Inc elevator interests. The
system OF inspection is SO planned as
to give the greatest possible advan-
tage to the large mills and terminal
elevators. Lines of grade are very
frequently shifted, permitting grain to
be shipped out as a higher grade than
1t was taken in. Very good high class
milling wheat which for flour making
purposes should bring nearly the top
price Is often graded very low on ac-
count OF color or some other insignif-
cant reason. | contend that wheat
should be given a milling and baking
test and sold on the market on it's in
trlnslc value as a flour making prod
uct and not be subject to. whimsical
ideas Of the inspectors appointed to
the state department from the large
army Of milling and elevator interests.
| I'M satisfied that this practice alone
means millions of dollars to the grain
producers of the northwest. Now re-
0arding weighing: For the purpose
Of weighing our grain the large ter
minal mills and elevators have the
most cunning little scheme you can
possibly imagine. When your cars Of
grain reach their flnal destination, the
contents Is scrapped into a hole as
dark and suspicious as any rat-hole
you ever looked into. From there it is
lifted into the cupola Of the elevator or
mill and weighed by the state Weigher.
but / should have said that while they
are scrapplng your grain into this
rat-hole they have what is known as
a dust collector and l believe your
Bankers association looked into this
some years ago and found that they
were able by this device to collect a
great deal of dust out of each car.
Now remember the grain has already
been locked for whatever lust there
Is in, SO whatever dust is extracted
to say nothing about the good kernels,
is taken out prior to weighing and for
I "'3\AL LkACAc IIdc dlISdUy DSGn maze an
allowance in the form of dockage. To
be plain. they first dock your grain.
then collect the dust from it. then
weigh the clean grain and dock again.
This Is stacking Up the docking pref
ty strong. But with a few other things
1t has built UP a large number Of
beautiful mansions and at least one
or two marble palaces in the terminal
out Of wealth which by all justice and
equity should be distributed out over
these broad prairies.
There has been at least two at
tempts made before the Minnesota
legislature to get a law through which
to remedy this evil and make the
terminal people weigh the grain as
they should on a track scale. Weigh
the loade car, empty 1t and weigh the
car back, same as you do with every
load of grain received at your country
elevators n without the use of dust
collectors, but at every time I am sat
isfied more money has been spent in
defeating such legislation than it
you'd have cost to remove the scale
from its exalted position in the cup
ola, down on the ground where they
properly belong and where every de-
cent, honest man would want them to
b..
Now I understand you have here In
North Dakota a plan for your state to
build a terminal elevator at either
Minneapolis, Duluth, or both places
If you deem it best. Understand
you were wise enough t o change
your state constitution first SO
as not to be caught in the same
predicament as Minnesota was a
number Of years ago. Your last iegis-
lature, I understand passed a law
leVying a small tax for. this purpose
! have talked with a good many OF
your. farmers in regard to- this and
the most ardent friends of the cause
seem to be disappointed over the tax
levy, that It is too low and that it
will be a long time before the state
owned terminal elevator can be seen
as reality. I want to say to you-T
want to urge it with all the possible
force l can. ou are on the right track,
1t may come a little slow but it Will
come II you only stick to it as you
have started and the blessings that
will come with it will be much great
er than what you today anticipate.
II there Is anything you want more
than any other one thing it is state
or federal owned terminal elevators.
Just as soon as that Is realized a
great many abuses will at once be
eliminated and the farmer will begin
TO see a ray Of hope and a Just reward
for his toll and though your state
may not at first be able to handle all
your grain or even a. greater part OF
1T, It Will from the very moment 1t
opens its doors for business, be a very
potent regulator to all the other ter
minal elevators in that market. Par
Gel post has brought the express com
panies to time. Nothing else could
or would. A state owned terminal
elevator will bring the private owned