The Bismarck tribune., 1929-04-09
INDUSTRIAL HEADS
PUT FINGERS upon
n. D. UTILITY FLAWS
Annual Report Shows Decline
Of CommonWealth's Ventures
in Industry and Business
BANK LEFT BIG PROJECT
Policy Of Wheat Buying Held to
Lack Real Effort to Get
Best Protein Quality

Review OF the activities of all phases
of the states business coming under
the Jurisdiction of the State Indus
trial commission Is contained in the
annual report of that body. which is
now in the hands of the printers.
Curtailment of the states indus
trial activity III recent years has re-
duced the number of enterprises un-
til now only the Bank OF North Da-
kota, the State Mill and Elevator as
sociation. the Home Builders asso-
citation and the returned soldiers
fund remain under the commissions
jurisdiction.
OF these. the state mill and ele-
vator Is placed by law in the hands
Of the governor, with the industrial
commission exercising only supervis-
ory authority in the matter of auditS,
and the Home Builders association
and returned soldiers fund arc vir-
tually closed. leaving only the Bank
of North Dakota as the commissions
major concern, the report shows
Mill Loss Now S1,632, ,S91.1S
The report shows that the commits
sion. since 1t was created In 1919. has
issued $34.607 500 in bonds. of which
all but $3.50 900 are outstanding. The
cost of the department during the
same period has been $l99. .72O.06.
The condition Of the State Mill and
Elevator association is shown in the
report by the data of K. G. Nelson,
auditor for the commission, and by
the audit report Of O. B. Lund. rep
reScnting the state board OF auditors.
Lund'S report is substantially check
on the figures compiled by Nelson.
The Nelson report shows that the
all-time loss OH the state mill and
elevator at the end OF 1923 was
81 ,632. .S9l18. Of which $1,493. .OO0.68
was chargeable to the mill depart
ment. $156,35771 chargeable to the
elevator department and a gain of
$16,467.2l credited to the local eleva-
tor at Grand Forks. ..
During 1928. the mill department
lost $l88. .343.l9: the elevator depart
ment lost $23, ,894.75 and the local ele-
vator gained $5,038.69. During that
period 2,300, ITO bushels of wheat were
ground into 5l4,70O barrels OF flour
and 10000 tons Of feed.
Sell Flour at Profit at Home
Flour sales totaled 500 1874 barrels,
of which l92.871 we're sold in North
Dakota: 9.429 in South Dakota and
Iowa; $500 in Minnesota: 9.708 in
Wisconsin and 292,076 In eastern
states.
Gains were recorded in all sales ter
rttoricS except Wisconsin, and Nelson
comments that the gain in all terri
tories except the eastern is very
favorable showing. but the eastern
sales are entirely out of line as COM
pared with the total amount of bus
mess done. Whenever eastern sales
exceed 40 per cent of the total sales
1t means too great a loss for the
profitable territories to carry and
make any showing with the plant, un-
less far better prices can be obtained" :"
Nelson shows that flour sold in the
cast IS sold at loss, whereas sales in
North Dakota are made at a profit.
He comments that it should not be
hard to maintain sales In the states
near 100000 barrels annually and
that. IF the same effort and system
would be applied to the northwest
territories as to the eastern. believe