Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-11-17
Special to The Tribune.

BILLINGS, NOV. IO.-tuarSluS lhdt ttAo
grain groders of Montana are at the
mercy of the elevators when they come
to market their crop, Attorney Gen
eral Rankin at state hearing con-
Quoted by him and j. NJ Davis, assist
ant commissioner of agriculture, on
grain margins here Thursday, cited the
grain quotations of The Great Fails
Tribune to show that Montana ele-
vators deprive the farmers of con-
siderable sum by trick in grading.
The attorney general made this the
big point of his drive for facts intended
to show that the Montana farmers are
no getting a square deal from the ele-
vators. and he used the higher prices
paid by track leaders and to shippers
direct to Minneapolis to show that
something was wrong in the home mar
kets of Montana.
County Agent H. S. Brossard gave
testimony that % cents a bushel more
is being realized by sale in Minneapolis,
and G. f. Borberg cited an instance
where he and a number of other grow
ers, by making up carload of wheat
for the Minneapolis market had OBJ
tanned 80 cents bushel more than
they could have obtained here.
Representatives of the elevators de
clared there ought to be some way of
preventing newspapers from printing
grain quotations. as their quotations
are detrimental to u.s. as s. j. Epp-
Ter, superintendent Of the Occ!dent ele-
vator here. put it.
\ big point was made during the
hearing of the method of issuing stor-
age tickets. and Mr.. Rankin, declaring
the practice in vogue at elevators is in
defensible. devoted a considerable por-
ton Of his examination of witnesses
to this question.
Trick in Grading
Testimony showed that when pro-
ducer takes his grain to All elevator, II
is graded, for instance. as a No. l dark
northern spring. and the stub which the
farmer is allowed to retain bears this
unqualified notation. But, the attorney
general brought out, the elevator man
takss~-an~ advantage Of several values !
above No. | grade. such as fancy,
choice and fine. per bushel, This in
formation relating to the description
and value of the particular consign-
ment of wheat the grower does not
get the examiner contended. and the
grower can regain with his storage
ticket receipt nothing but ordinary
NO. 1 dark northern"
The attorney general said he saw
"a studied effort on the part of ele- |
vator men to keep the farmer from
knowing of these higher classifications
that their wheat might 90 into, bringing
several cents more per bushel. He de-
clared that it seemed highly unfair. in
his opinion.
NJ. f. Alnlroy. manager of the Russell
Miller Milling company's local plant, (
and Mr.. Eppler would not admit that
there was anything wrong with this
condition.
Mr. Mulroy maintained that there is
no such thing as a fancy grade No. !
dark northern. or a choice grade. or any
higher grade than just No. / dark north
ern. Mr.. Rankin produced a clipping
from The Great Falls Tribune. showing
in its market quotations a list of three
grades higher than No. 1 dark northern,
that is. fancy, choice and good, repre-
senting a spread to II cents more in
value on the market AIulroy said
these were fictitious grades. that the
federal grade was just No. / dark
northern.
Mr.. Rankin then described that he
didn't care anything about the federal
wheat grade, or if all the elevator men
in the country denied there were
grades above the federal grade, adding
that "that statement in the Great
Falls Tribune means something
Stenographic record Of the testimony
was made by c. s. Prater, local court
reporter.
Track Buyers Discussed
The Influence and effect of the tract
buyers activities were thoroughly dis
cussed. J. Henry Nibble was called to
the stand. and he talked in favor of
allowing tract buyers to operate un-
hampered as means of creating com
petition. G. F. Borberg also stated
his option that requiring of the small
buyer bond as large as that required
of the big companies was unjust and
kept many out of the game.
Mr. Rankin recited testimony to the
effect that when tract buyer started
to operate in that vicinity, the prices
paid by the elevators promptly went
up. Mr. Eppler said he didn't think
this had happened, but that if it did,
it must have been for some other rea
son. He said the Occident elevators
wanted margin of only seven cents.