The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-03-08
Inspection "In Kansas for Kan
Sas" Will Become q Law.
Divert $4,000 i'm Fees From
Missouri to This State.
GREAT VICTORY FOR GRAIN men
Measure Has Been Defeated In
Other Legislative Sessions.
Inspection Is Not Compulsory
Under Ross Bill.

The senate this morning passed
without amendment the house bill for
the enforcement of Kansas state in
spection of grain. The bill, aimed at
the breaking up of the Kansas City
board of trade inspection. is expected
to divert to the Kansas treasury ap-
proximately $4,000 a year of inspec-
tion fees now collected by the Kansas
City board of trade. A considerable
part of any increase in inspection re-
ceipts will be required for the salaries
of deputy state inspectors who will do
the work at Kansas City now done by
representatives of the Kansas City
grain exchange, a private corporation.
The enactment of an effective grain
inspection law is regarded as a great
victory by friends of state inspection.
1t has been defeated at previous ses-
sions and was bitterly fought
throughout this session by the mill
and elevator men of Kansas and Mis-
souri, who bombarded the Legislature
with kilograms and letters of protest.
The lobby against the bill was de-
soribed this morning by Senator
Jouett Shouse as well organized.
well managed and well 'heeled.' "
On the floor of the house a week
ago when the bill was on final passage
there, it was fought for an hour by
Speaker Robert Stone of Shawnee
attorney for the Kansas State Grain
Dealers association. which was the
most active opponent of the measure.
Stones opposition, which defeated the
bill in the house two years ago. was
ineffective this year against a well
organized campaign conducted by
George B. Ross, state grain inspector.
who has made an exceptionally fine
record in the past g months in that
office. Ross was in the senate cham
T.. Ia I,fl lanf
this morning.
The reformed inspection Jaw will
lower inspection rates in Kansas. pro-
tect Kansas shippers and buyers of
grain. will double the receipts of the
department and provide incomes for
twenty thirty Kansas families"
said he this morning after the fight
had been won. ''It puts Kansas in
the same position as Missouri where
the state controls the inspection of all
the grain produced and handled
within it's boundaries While L antic-
ipate that the grain exchange men
will take the new law into the courts
in an effort to knock it out, 1 believe
that they will eventually come under
its provisions willingly and accept our
inspection. With the increase of rev
enue for the department I foresee we
will be enabled to reduce inspection
fees materially"
No Compulsory Inspection.
The revised law leaves the state in
spection to the option of the shipper.
who may send his grain to market
without inspection by expressing his
wishes in writing on the bill of lad
ing. The essential wording which
makes state inspection effective is that
requiring that "sampling and SAM
pling for inspection must be done by
representatives of the state depart
ment. The old law merely gave the
depa rtment charge of weighing. I'm
ha of ha
City, Mo, grain exchange were en-
abled to come across the state line
and remove samples from cars and
take them back into Missouri for
judging. The tables in the Kansas City
grain exchange where samples are ex-
hibtied show samples of Missouri
grain inspected by the state depart
ment of that state, alongside pans
of Kansas grain labeled with the in
spection marks of the board of trade
inspectors.
Now the labels of the Kansas grain
department will appear in. place of
cohSid cradle part of those formerly
marked by the boards inspectors. The
fees provided in the present bill are
from 20 to so per cent lower than
those now collected by the state de-
partment, which, for the first time in
it's history, has recently turned over
to the state surplus of $4,000
earned in the last s months. Pro-
NlSlOn Is maze lot a reuucIlOn OF ieeS
at the discretion of the chief grain
inspector, but they cannot be raised
a bove the legal limit.
The new inspection law is the prod
uct of the committee of agriculture of
the house of representatives which
spent four weeks in remodeling the
original bill by Representative Hart
of Jewell county, one of its members.
Four hundred copies of the commit
tee bill were distributed among grain
men and prominent farmers of the
state and extended hearings were
given before it was finally reported
out. The members of the committee
(Continued on Page Two.I