Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1917-09-21
THE MILLING VALUE

Inere mas been q lot or Talk about the milling value
Of wheat as distinguished from the grading system which
has prevailed in the past. Men have waxed eloquent in
defense of the right OF the farmer to sell his wheat ac-
cordihg to it's milling value instead Of on the basis of GER
tain grades officially fixed.
On what are wheat grades based If not on the mill
ing value of the grain? Under the grading system which
has long been in vogue wheat, to pass for the highest
commercial grade, must be plump, hard and bright, sound
and of a designated weight per bushel, and 80 forth.
Nothing Is said in the specifications as to the quantity or
quality c; flour 1t shall make.
For this omission there is an excellent reason. Sup
pose that the buyer at a country elevator were instructed
to pass as No. 1 Northern all wheat which would make a
specified quantity of flour of a certain stated quality.
What would the elevator man do about It? He is oper-
ating an elevator. not a mill. To ascertain exactly the
flour content of a load OF wheat he wound have to SEND a
sample to some mill where # could be reduced to flour,
and where the flour could be properly tested as to its
quality. That would take several days If there were no
delay. The farmer with a load of wheat to market can.
not wal: for all that. He wants each load passed on as he
hauls 1t in.
For this reason certain standards as to weight, hard
ness, color and SO on were adopted, not that these things
have any merit in themselves, but because years Of ex-
perience had shown that each Of them was indicative of
SOME f. azure Of the milling value Of the grain, and that
when ali were taken together a very close approximation
to the actual milling value could be reached. The mill
ing value IL all the value that wheat has ever had, and it
Is on the milling value that grades have been established.
Let 1T be understood that there is a difference be-
tween the milling value Of wheat and Its nutritive value.
Milers buy wheat, not because it contains a definite pro-
PORTION Of nourishnent. but because out of it they can
make a certain quantity Of the sort Of flour that people
want and are willing to pay for. And people, as a rule,
want white flour that will work easily and make light,
white Tread. Some Of the books tell US that the darker
flour contains more nourishment. We do not dispute it.
But If any person thinks that dark flour has a higher
commercial value than white flour, the fancy patent"
that Is dear to the housewife, let him go into the retail
grocery business and try to sell dark flour at the price Of
white, With the two offered at the same price the white
flour would go like hot cakes and the dark would remain
unsold.
Wheat grades, such as have prevailed in the past,
havs been established because they were supposed to rep
resent as closely as possible the actual value of the grain
for milling purposes, that lie, for the production of the
KIND OF flour that people want to buy. The federal
grades which supplanted them were established for the
same purpose. Exactness in such matters is not possible,
hence, all things considered, the sale Of grain by sample
Is preferred by most experienced men. Under that plan
the buyer bids, not on the conformity of the sample to
8 certain grade standard, but on his own judgment as to
the value Of that particular sample; and the seller holds
for a price which represents his conception of that value.
But 1T Is absurd to say that under any system the milling
value is given no consideration.