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THEEND BEACHED
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The Wheat Investigating Com
mittee Submits arEijtial ,^
Report, A
Which Is Signed by Every Mem
ber Except Representa
tive Moore,:
Aiter many months of weary work and
*fche expenditure of about $16,000. the grain
investigation committee has concluded its
wort and will make two reports to the gov
ernor. The committee was practically
unanimous, its report being signed by ail
•the members except Representative Moore,
who refused to affix his signature on the
(ground that he did not like the report.
THE OFFICIAL BEPOBT:
The first section of tlie report deals with the
organization of the committee, and names the
jrepresentatives of the different interests. It
-then takes up the policy of the committee with
regard to reception of evidence and states that
At the outset the committee was pleased to
adopt very liberal rules as to the admissability
of evidence and endeavored to afford every op
portunity to anyone who felt so disposed to ap
pear and testify before it. Neither time nor ex
pense was spared in securing the presence of wit
nesses deemed by any of the interests involved
iu the investigation important to the ascertain
ment of the truth. The adoption of such a pol
icy necessarily resulted in encumbering the rec
ord with a large. amount of irrelevant and im
material matter which has tended rather
to conceal than disclose the truth. Al
though this result was foreseen at the com
njencemeut of its labors, it was deemed injudi
cious to adopt any otherr course.
SWEEPINGS.
A large part of the time of tha. committee was
devoted to an investigation of the chaige that
the elevator companies of Duluth had been
grossly negligent in cleaning out cars in which
grain had been shipped to their houses, and
that thereby serious loss had resulted to the
shippers.
As a result of its Investigation as to this
charge the committee find that durins the
earlier years of the state inspection service
proper care was not at all times exercised in
cleaning out cars in which wheat had been
•hipped to the warehouses at Diilutr there is
no evidence, however, which indicates that this
fact involved either the integrity or sound busi
ness management of the companies operating
those houses. Furthermore, it sufficiently ap
pears that as soon' as the attention of sucn
companies was called to the subject appropri
ato measures were adopted to correct the evil.
The committee have no reason to believe that
of late years auv substantial erounds for com
plaint have existed to any considerable extent.
Evidence was introduced tending to show
that at times,especially during the press of bus
iness at the height of the shipping season, the
said companies at Duluth were also careless iu
cleaning the floors of such warehouses after cars
had been unloaded and it is not unlikely that
in some instances shippers suffered to some ex
tent. It is not the opinion of the committee,
however, that any serious loss ever resulted to
the snipper from this source or that it was a
matter of rnucn gain to the elevator companies.
ILLICIT SHIPPING O WHEAT.
Avery serious charge was preferred against
the Lake Superior Elevator compauy and the
Union Improvement and Elevator Compauy of
Duluth based upon an alleged fraudulent ship
ment from those houses in 1880 aiid subsequent
years of a large amount of wheat aggregating
«ome 300,000 bushels. This was by far the
most serions charge involved in the work of the
committee. From the magnitude of the charee,
and the fact that it was made the basis of an
investigation by a committee appointed for that
purpose by the last house of represe ntatives,
and sustained by a majority report of that com
mittee, the present committee lelt called upon
to conduct a most thorough and careful investi
gation with reference thereto. It is no reflection
upon said house committee that its results as to
ttuch chaige are «t variance with those at which
the present committee has arrived. The house
committee was necessarily limited in time, and
more or less handicapped by various and exact
ing legislative duties.
That the question might be divested of doubt,
the present committee employed the services of
skilled and experienced expert bookkeepers and
accountants, and directed them to make ac
curate examinations of the books, not only of
the elevator companies of Duluth, but also of
tiie state inspection and weighing departments,
the railway companies haudliug grain to and
Irom that point, and likewise to seek, informa
tion from any other available and legitimate
source.
Testimony was received tending to establish
the charges so made. The committee rearet
xhat several of the witnesses who testified
touching the charge iu question were somewhat
ASPEKSEB COUNSEL
during the Investigation on account of the tes
timony so given. While it is no doubt true
*hat some may have been inaccurate as to por
tions of their testimony, and not a few of their
statements were made with greatei positiveness
than either their truth or their knowledge would
warrant, it is the opinion of the committee,
nevertheless, that they ought to be wholly ex
onerated from auy attempt to testify otherwise
than in accordance with the facts as they un
derstood them. The methods pursued by the
elevator companies in disposiug of the large
volume of wheat in 18s6 and subseqnent years
Cully justified the witnesses in question in be
lieviug that such shipments were being made se
cretly and for the purpose of evading the atten
tion of the state inspection service and the pub
lic: and were it not for other evidence subse
quently discovered the committee feels that it
«vould have been amply justified in finding the
charge so made, in the main, true.
There is no question but what in 1886, and
subsequent years, the two elevator companies
named did ship in round numbers from their
houses at night, without the knowledge of the
employes of the said state departments, 259,-,
•OOO bushels of wheat. After the fact of such'
shipment had been substantially established by
the testimony of this class of witnesses, the
said elevator companies admitted that, a large
volume of wheat had been secretly shipped
from their houses without either inspection or
weighing. Had this admission been obtained at
the beginning of the investigation it would have
rendered needless the testimony of a large num
ber of witnesses who were called for the purpose
of establishing that fact. The shipment naving
been thaa admitted, the duty of the committee
was thereby narrowed aown to an inquiry, asto
the sufficiency of the justification urged there
for on the part of said company.
THE EVIDENCE SUFFICIENTLY ESTABLISHES
the fact that a large amount of wheat became
heated in the bins and almost totally ruined.
The committee find that the matter wasbrought
by the said companies to the attention of the
railroad and warehouse commision and that
after the mature deliberation of that body the
elevator companies were given the authority to
secretly dispone of the wheat and it is fair to
believe that the irregular shipments testified to
by witnesses were none others than those made
in pursuance of the permission thus obtained.
The committee has no doubt that the action
of the commission in directine the secret ship
ment of said injured grain was prompted by the
tiighest considerations of public policy and am
ply warranted both by provisions of the law and
the existing facta.
OVEBAGE.
Evidence was introduced tending to prove
that other wheat than the amount so injured
was also shipped iu au illicit, manner from tne
said warehouses in Duiuth. The committee
tiuds tnat this amount of shipment did not oc
cur in lact, and that the charge is based upon
discrepancies iu official records, which have been
completely and satisfactorily explained.
It appeared from the testimony of certain
witnesses that 40,337 bushels of wheat were
«hipped out by the warehouses in question iu
an irregular and unauthorized manner, but a
•caretul examination of all the testimony clearly
•demonstrates that this charge is based upon au
imperfect knowledge of the facts. The witnesses
ly whom it was sought to be established de
rived their information irom sources which were
both incomplete and unreliable. The record
leaves no doubt in ihe minds of the committee
that all of the last named quantity o! wheat
Jias been properly accounted for. and that no
imputation ot improper conduct attaches to the
-elevator compnnies in question.
IT WAS FCSTBEK CBABOED
that upwards of 45.000 bushels of wheat were
shipped from the same houses as overage and
without state inspection or weighing. The com
mittee finds that this charge is well founded, for
it is admitted by the elevator companies that
«uch quantity of whext was shipped by them in
such maimer. As a justification for huch ship
ment the companies urge that ullen they firt-t
began to do business under the provisions of the
grain and warehouse law they had in their
houses some 45,000 bushels of wheat which had
accumulated in transacting an extensive busi
ness prior to that date. It is the opinion of the
tvator
'f jut i-Ai,
*?ft
IMtMMgtjI a
companies to have caused this wheat to have
been inspected into their houses at the time
they began to operate under state supervision.
This coarse, however, was not pursued by the
companies, owing, it is fair to assume, to a mis
taken view of their duty under the law.
It was also made to appear by good and suffi
cient testimony that between toe first day of
August, 1885, and the first day of August, 1890.
the said companies accumulated a further over
age of 11.213 bushels in handling 56.000,000
bushels of wheat. This overage represents one
quarter of an ounce per bushel upon the amount
handled by the company between the said dates.
It further appears that the said companies
brought the fact of the last named overage to
tb» attention of the railroad and warehouse
commission, and thereupon obtained from that
body an order permitting the shipment upon
due notice to the state inspection and weighing
department at Du.uth oi sue! excess of wheat
without cancellation of outstanding receipts.
The committee feels that if
THE OL SCHEDULES
prepared by the mt-n employed in the house
committee might be received as unquestioned
evidence before it, that they would disclose the
illicit snipment of a large quantity of grain from
the public warehouses at Duluth which has not
been explained away by testimony adduced be
fore it for that purpose, but inasmuch as the
committee subjected snen schedules to a
very severe test early in the session
and thereby became convinced of the unreli
ability of such schedules as evidence from their
Vs?ry many proven inaccuracies, due to the inex
rience of the persons by whom they were pre
pared, and the statement made by Mr. Erwin,
the attorney for the Grain Growers' association,
when the said schedules were under discussion,
that he was perfectly willing that the old sched
ules should be stricken from the record, inas
much as they bad been proved unreliaoie and
had been superseded by the more accurate sched
ules of the experts. The committee now find
that on. account' of the apparent discrepancies
the old schedules cannot properly and should
not in justice be regarded as proof of any fact.
The committee deems it proper to say, touch
ing the matter ot the damaged wheat in ques
tion, that the said eievator companies incurred
an expense of about $100,000 in providiug for
the warehouse receipts outstanding against the
same.
STATE INSPECTION AN WEIGHING DEPARTMENTS.
The committee finds tuat the record, as a
whole, does not reflect upon the integrity and
efficiency of the state inspection and weighing
department. With very rare exceptions the
employes of the stave in the two said depart
ments, so far as the record discloses to the con
trary, are gentlemen of high character and abil
ity and that iu those instauces where the integ
rity of any of these servants of the state has
been drawn in question the testimony is too
conflictihg and inconclusive to warrant the com
mittee in finding such persons guilty of bad faith
in tne performance of their duties.
It appears irom the record of the committee
that complaints have frequently urisen on ac
count of what has been deemed improper
weighing and docking of grain. The committee
finds that after listening to testimony of wit
nesses of large experience and unquestioned
veracity that such complaints, while at times
well founded, failed to show auy disposition on
the part of inspectors aud weignmen to impose
upon or favor any interests whatever. There
is evidence which tends to show that docking is
at times excessive. As the amount of dockage
to which a shipment of graiu is to be subjected
in a given case is largely dependent upon human
judgment it wiil be always matter of approx
imation, aud the committee is unable to fiud
that there has been an abuse of discretion to a
serious extent In this regard. The witness,
Charles Canning, a man ot very large experience
both as a producer and a commission' mer
chant, testified that he had no fault to find with
the state service in that resard. The attention
of the committee was called to a number of in
stances of
GRIEVANCES BASED UPON SHORTAGE
in weights of shipments made to public ware
houses. The committee fiuds that suchflcom
piaints are frequently well founded, but is not
prepared to say their number is out of propor
tion to the volume of business transacted.
Among the many causes to which shrinkage in
weight iu shipments of wheat maybe attributed
the following, no doubt, constitute the more im
portant, as evidenced by reliable testimony:
First—Shipment without weighing by the local
buyer.
Second—Weighing at the place af shipment
with small or defective scales.
Third—Mistakes necessarily incidental to
weighing on small scales, as where a draft is in
advertently repeated.
Fourth—Defective coopering or the cars, re
sulting in leakage at times to a marked degree.
Filth—Abstractions by petty theft upon cars
en route to aud at destination.
Sixth—Change in atmospheric and climatic
conditions between places of shipment and that
of destination.
Seventh—Loss of moistuer by grain.
Eighth—Defect in scales at terminal points.
It is the opinion of the committee that very
few instances of such shortage nave arisen,
which should not, if the committee were in pos
session of all the facts, be attributed to one or
more of the above named causes.
SCBEENINGS.
The committee finds that duringtheyear 1889
a large quantity of wheat was shipped from the
said public warehouses at Duluth under the
name oi screenings the amount so shipped ag
gregated upward of 40,000 bnsnels. The. wheat
so shipped was, no doubt, the overage of 45,
000 bushels to which attention has already been
called. The committee is aware of no evidence
tending to show that auy other wheat than such
overage was ever shipped in a clandestine man
ner from the said houses. The committee studi
ously endeavored to ascertain whether or not it
was a common practice of the said companies
to dispose of overage under the guise of screen
ings, and arrived at the result above indicated.
Likewise it became a matter of interest to ascer
tain whether the said companies have been or
now are. reaping excessive profits from the sale
of screenings. This, however, is not established
by the record. It is doubtless true, that until
quite recently screenings were not a source ot
profit to elevator companies the record dis
closing that formerly they were either burned or
destroyed otherwise by such companies.
THE GREAT COMBINE.
When the attention of the committee was first
called to the existence of a combination or con
spiracy designed to control the wheat markets
of the state it was represented that certain
testimony was producible tending to show
that such markets are governed Dy prices ar
bitrarily established by some parson orpersous.
associations or corporations, aua evidenced by
the telegrams and othercommuuications sent to
numerous correspondents by Mr. Frank H.
Irons of Minneapolis.
It was not without great hesitation that the
committee undertook to conduct au investiga
tion in the line of such charge, in view of the
clearly expressed terms of the statue from which
its authority to act was derived. The subject,
however, was finally deemed of so much gravity
as to warrant an investigation as to
the charge and it was therefore con
ducted with great thoroughness by the
committee. Whatever inferences may be
properly deducible from the record In support
of the charge, the committee is of the opinion
that there is
NOT THE SLIGHTEST PROOF
of the existence iu tact ot auy such combination
or conspiracy, nor is there anything in the rec
ord touching this phase of the investigation
militating against the good name of the said
Irons. It is an admitted fact that Frank H.
Irous has been for a period of about two years
in the employ of a large number of elevator
companies at Minneapolis, aud that while so
employed he did iuruish to certain correspond
ents, both by telegram and through the mails,
information touching the current prices of
wheat. It does not appear, however, that he
ever received any instructions from his said em
ployers, or any of them, to furnish this informa
tion to any person whomsoever. It appears to
have been the practice of the person who had
previously been employed by such companies
to advise local buyers, upon solicitation, as to
the daily prices ruling as the principal wheat
markets of the country which said practice was
observed and continued by Mr. Irons. There
appears to have been no discrimination by him
as to whom this information should be fur
nished for, if he is to believed, it was sent to
whomsoever made application therefor to him.
Instead ot the prices furnished by Mr. Irons
having been arbitrarily established by himself,
or by any other person or persons, the commit
tee find that they were in the main obtained
from the chamber of commerce, Minneapolis.
The prices so sent by Mr. Irons to his corre
spondents were based upon the reports of a com
mittee established by the chamber of commerce
in said city, whose duty it is to ascertain the
closiug price of the market.
Evidence was introduced with a view of show
ing that a combination existed between the ele
vator and railroad companies of the state for
the sole purpose of maintaining a uniform sys
tem of prices, and it is doubtless true that
some parts of such testimony unexplained
tends to establish that fact. The strongest evi
dence of this character is no doubt a letter
written by one Sommers. a clerk iu the employ
of the Great Northern Railroad company, over
the signature of Mr. Shelby, the general tra flic
manager of said company and certain other
communications, which were likewise made a
part of the record. Evidence was introduced
on the part of snch companv tending to show
that the She.by letter was wholly unauthorized
aud written during the absence of Mr. Shelby,
who promptly repudiated the tame as soon as
his attentiou had-been called to its existence.
Whatever may nave been the real facts as* to tbe
influence ot these corporations in maintaining
what is termed list prices, it cannot be said in
view of the records that the fact has been estab
lished by such weight of evidence as would war
rant this committee in reporting as
one of its findings. The record
would seem to establish a concession by
iSt®
W&Mfru&WV&g&^w*^, §5$lff'':
tne Great Northern -Railway company that it*
influence is at times exerted with- a view tc
maintaining nuiiormity of price*at competitive
points and its action in this respect is claimed
to be justified as a means of securing its legiti
mate proportion of business as a common car
rier. It was also Insisted on the part of saitj
company that it frequently
CAUSED PRICE8-TO-BE RAISED
among buyers along its own lines at such com
petitive points so as to accord with the prices
being paid along the lines of competitive roads,
and thus to prevent the diversion of-business
properly tributary to its own line- Further
titan this the said company disclaim any at
tempt to interfere with prices obtaining at any
of these markets. There is some evidence tend
ing to show tnat the said company has at
tempted to coerce compliance with its require
ments iu tne matter of prices by threats to em
barrass the business of local buyers but there
is no evidence which shows or tends to show
that in auy of snch instances the said company
in fact embarrassed the local snipper in his buai
ness or evinced any hostility to tam-
The committee fiuds that the prodncing inter
ests of the state are at this time, as they hav#
been for a long time in the past, the victim* o
graiu manipulators throughout the-country,
well devised and ably executed manipulations
on the part ot Chicago speculators have un
doubtedly resulted in greatly depressing prices.
This implies a financial loss to the farmers in
this state of many millions. The committee
will hereinafter suggest au appropriate recom
mendation to the legislature to meet this men
acing evil. The producers of wheat should be
untrammeled in placing their crops upon tha
markets of the world. They should stand on
an equal footing of the most powerful in this re
gard. As they cannot in justice ask for other
than reasonable facilities they should at all
times enjoy nothing less.
W. KKCO Mlft KS1 A I O S &T'
Som duceestlons to the Next State
islature.
The committee !eela called upon to rec
ommend to the legislature the passage o(,
appropriate legislation tending to greater
protection to the producing aud shipping
interests of the state and the greater effi
ciency of the present grain and warehouse
law. Its suggestions in this regard are
made as follow?:
All railroad companies ot and doing business
in this stale Bbould be required to construct aud
MAINTAIN TRACK. SCALES
at all of their respective stations in the state
from which there were shipped during any pre
ceding year at least sixty car loads of grain and
as a recompense to the said companies for pro*
viding such service, and for doing and perform
ing whatever else may be found necessary aud
incidental thereto, a reasonable charge
should be allowed them. The committee
believes that it would be no less than
justice to such producing aud shipping
interests to require by law that common car
riers be held responsible and accountable for the
full amount of grain received by them on board
their cars, which should iu ail instances be evi
denced before the cars leave their respective sta
tions by appropriate receipts and in considera
tion of such responsibility and accountability
and for loss by shrinkage and transportation
or other cause, tha said companies should be
allowed to tax or assess one-half of 1 per cent
of the amount received.
Second—Public warehouses should be required
by law to ascertain at least once during each,
crop year the amount of wheat in their bius and
the amount of
OUTSTANDING WAREHOUSE RECEIPTS
which should be done under the direction of the
railroad and warehouse commission at such
time as tbe commission may deem most practi
cable and the results thereof should be made a
matter of public record. Public warehouse men
desiring to withdraw their license should be re
quired to correctly ascertain the actual amount
of grain on hand in their warehouses, aud the
amount of outstanding warehouse receipts and
other obligations under the supervision and di
rection of the railroad and warehouse commis
sion, before such withdrawal is granted, and a
similar ascertainment of the condition of pri
vate warehouses should be required before a
license to do business as public warehouse men
is granted to such private warehouses as desire
to co-operate under a license.
Third—In view of the great importance oi the
subject and the vast interests involved, the
committee, without committing itself to any
policy of legislation, earnestly recommend that
the next legislature consider the advisability or
passing a law providing
CONTIGUOUS TO E E WATER,
at public expense, warehouses sufficiently large
to afford storage without mixing the grain of
different grades, for graiu produced in this state,
and for which service the state shall receive or
may impose a moderate charge.
Fourth—Furthermore, the committee would
recommend that the next legislature, either by
memorial to congress or otherwise, take some
steps to counteract the evil influence of wheat
gambling at Chicago and other great grain
centers. In. view of the fact that the operators
at Chicago are enabled to exalt or depress prices
at pleasure they have become a constant
menace to the greatest interests of the North
west. Their iufluence in this respect is demon
strated by the remarkable fact that in the face
of an unprecedented shortage in the old world,
they have been able to hold wheat at ab
normally low prices, and from which circum
stance the farmers of this state have suffered an
appalling loss. The influence of that market
is at all times so great and uncertain that no
man can with safety hold wheat for a single
day. It may no doubt be accepted as a fact
that for some time past
THE RULING PRICE O WHEAT
has neither been deterSKned by visible supply
nor the estimated amount of grain iu the
country, but rather upou tbe quantity which
wheat gamblers have felt disposed at any mo
ment to precipitate upon the market. This be
ing true, there is no basis in reason upon which
a careful and prudent business man may pur
chase wheat for future delivery or for tbe pur
pose of legitimate trade. So long as this condi
tion of affairs coutiunes Minnesota's great
staple crop will depend less in bringing wealth to
her people upon the legitimate demads of con
sumption than upon tbe whims and caprices of
grain gamblers iu Chicago. This is a combina
tion which beggars all others by Jar in its perni
cious effects upon the public We therefore
recommend that the subject receive the earliest
and most serious consideration of the next
legislature.
Fifth—The committee would recommend, if
practicable, that publicelevators be required to
construct scales and weigh grain upon the
grouuu floor before tbe grain is elevated so that
the unloading of cars may be under the super
vision of state weighers.
The committee would also recommend that
under no circumstances should grain or screen
ings be permitted to be shipped out of public
warehouses without weighing and inspection.
GEORGE GEISSEL, ANDREW FRENCH,
Chairman, E. SEVATSON,
JOHN DAY SMITH, N. C. CASWELL.
P. E. BARRETT, JOHN ZELCH.
S E N A N S O A E
Among pre-Columbian discoverers
of America the claims of the Norse
men—or, properly speaking Icelan
ders—who, by their low stature and
features, are somewhat different from
the characteristic Swedes and Nor
wegians—and of the Welshmen under
Prince Madpc are fairly well known
but those in favor of an Irishman,
St. Brendan, bishop of Clonfert, in
Kerry, are not so familiar to us, al
though they are to the French.
^According to eleven different Latin
manuscripts in the National Library,
Paris, one of which dates from the
eleventh century, St. Brendan left
Tralee Bay about A. D. 550 on a
mission to the undiscovered country
which he believed to exist beyond the
Atlantic. The vessel he embarked in
with his companions and provisions,
including five pigs, was caught in a
current, and after a voyage of many
weeks he lauded in a strange country,
where he taught the natives the
truths of Christianity.
After seven years he returned to
Ireland, and subsequently tried a
second voyage to the same country,
as he had promised to revisit it but
was baffled by the wind and tide. He
died in the order of sanctity in 578,
aged ninety-four years. The curious
thing is that when Cortez invaded
Mexico he found the natives in
possession of some of the doctrines,'of
Christianity, which they said had
been taught them by a stranger clad
in a long robe, who came to them
from the Holy Island beyond the sea
in a "boat with wings" many cen
turies before and promised to return
to them. The advent of Cortez was,
in fact, hailed as a fulfillment of this
tradition.
GBEAT COMBIM.
Minority Report in the Grain
Investigation Case Sub
mitted
MP5 *»4&V
Mr Moore Finds Great Coni-
Committeeraan Moon has submitted a
minority report on the wheat investigation,
it is a very voluminous report, containing
over 20,000 words. A synopsis is given be
low:
Representative Moore first expresses his re
grets for being unable to sign the majority re
port. In his opinion the duty of the committee
was to report the evidence, something more
than an expression of tbe committee's opinion
ou the serious topics covered by the investiga
tion. It was the committee's duty, he believed,
to report specific findings when fully justified by
tbe evidence in order that they may be tbe basis
for the recommendations for legislation. He
could not sigu the majority report, because it
did not make specific findings, or such findings
as be thought ought to be made in view of the
testimony.
Mr.. Moore then explains the reasons
which moved him to coincide with most of
the conclusions o. the majority report.
Speaking ot the combine the "minority
report states:
TBE COMBITE.
I. cannot agree with the finding in the majority
report that the evidence fails to disclose a com
bine which fixes the price to be paid for wheat
throughout the regions of Minnesota and the
Northwest. On the contrary I most consci
entiously declare that from the evidence taken
before this committee it cannot be successfully
denied that such a combine does exist through
out the State ot Minnesota and the Northwest,
and that the direct effect of such combine is to
deprive the producer, of wheat of a large per
cent of the profits of his industry,
UNDER TUB LAW O SUPPL AND DEMAND,
Duluth and Minneapolis should have three
times the power, influence and every other ele
ment in fixiug the price of Minnesota grain than
Chicago and Milwaukee. What fiction prevents
this natural application of the Jaw of supply
and demand to the market at Duluth and Min
neapolis? If Chicago, with the wheat aggregated
at Milwaukee, having but a little over 21,000,•
000 bushels to its credit can fix the price for
63,000,000 bushels gathered at Duluth and
Minneapolis, it most certainly is done by some
power other than iawof supply and demand. To
complete the logic of this reasoning 1 it be un
derstood that tha evidence in this case discloses
the fact that the lake and rail rates from Du
luth to the seaboard as reported in the testi
mony taken.July a, 1891. and March 8, 1S92.
make the freight from Duluth to the seaboard
the nearly equal rate and lreight irom Chicago
to the seaboard-
Bear in mind, in this connection that the ton
nage to and Irom Doluth is the equal of the
tonuage to and from Chicago. The lreight being
practically the same from Duluth to the sea
board as it is from Chicago to tbe seaboard, the
tonnage of the two ports being equal, what fa
cility, what power, what iufluence is it which
permits Chicago, with twenty-one millions to
govern the price of sixty-three million bushels
at Duluth? The situation of the Duluth and
Minneapolis markets—their prostrate situa
tion to the influence of an unnatural combine is
doubly told and described when it is ascer
tained from the testimony and an admitted fact
that the price ot wheat at Duluth is permitted
and forced to be the price at Chicago, less the
freight rate from Duluth. I quote now the tes
timony of Mr. Amsden bearing upon this ques
tion, whicb is here introduced.
NOW WHAT TOWER
or what influence could possibly make the dif
ference ot OJjj cents between Chicago and burnt b.
unless some power foreign to tne law ot supply
und demand arbitrarily fixes this difference?
Why does not the GH.OOO.OOt) bushels of wheat
at Duluth and Minneapolis control the 21,000,
000 at Chicago and Milwaukee? It may be that
my brethren on tbe committee do not under
stand the word combine to mean what I under
stand that word means. If my brethren on tne
committee understand that no combine has
been discovered in the sense of the discovery of
the two or three or more 'persons wno sit down
and arbitrarily fix the price of wheat at Duluth
and Minneapolis, then I must agree with them
that the evidence has not reached so far into the
heart of this combine as to discover the names
of these two or three or four individuals. But
the word combine as used by me and as believed
from the testimony to exist and control the
price of wheat in Minnesota and the Northwest
is rather that the price is unnaturally jixed and
enforced by those interested in the gatheriug of
the wheat crop of Minnesota and thi Northwest
npon other than the natural competitive aud
honorable principles. There can be no just rea
son why, with equal facilities and with equal
lreight rates, the (53,000,000 bushels at Duiuth
should not rather control the 21.000,000 tribu
tary to Chicago than be controlled by it. What
1 mean by combine is that the united action of
all the dealers iu wheat iu Minnesota and the
Northwest is based upon tbe fiction that the
price of wheat at Chicago necessarily governs
the price at Duluth and Minneapolis. That tbe
entire wheat business of Minnesota .and the
Northwest is carried on under this diction is
logically admitted by every witness who has
been before the committee. How is this accom
plished?
TBE. TESTIMONY SHOWS
that there is located at Minneapolis a board
called the chamber of commerce, and at Duluth
a similar board called the board of trade. The
testimony shows that these boards are com
posed, so far as the wheat dealing interests are
concerned, of dealers in wheat, both elevator
men and commission merchants, with a few
bonanza farmers. It is couceded that these
boards meet daily and transact betweeu them
selves the purchase and sale of wheat. It is
also conceded that these sales are Largely ficti
tious sales. It must be borne in mind that tbe
wheat of Minnesota aud the Northwest cannot
escape these dealers who control the board of
trade at Duluth and the chamber of commerce
at Minneapolis. They own all the elevators
along the different lines of railroad throughout
this wheat region. They have all tbe facilities
at the lake ports. It is impossible for any con
siderable amount of wheat to escape their
handling. They necessarily have the sympathy,
if not the co-operation of all the lines of trans
portation. It seems, from the testimony, that
the dealers adopt, as the price to lw paid for
wheat each day, the closing price which they
make on tbe proceeding day. And how do they
make tbe price? Do they fix the price in regard
to the value of the wheat as calculated by the
law of supply aud demand, the freight rates aud
the facilities for export? If this were honestly
done, tbe law of supply and demand, natural in
its character, would necessarily govern the
price paid for wheat. It matters not whether
this price is fixed opeu board or by secret
committee. It is a price which they, the ele
vator men and dealers fix. It is the result ot
the combined interests of the dealers, tbe ele
vator and commission men. It makes no dif
ference hy what means it is ascertained, fixed
or agreedjipon. The testimony, as referred to
hereinbefore, fully establishes tbe fact that
every elevator man in the Northwest adopts
the list price promulgated
BY THEIR COMMON AGENT,
Frank H. Irons at Minneapolis, and whether
the elevators and dealers shall deny that Frank.
Irous fixes tbe price, and shall claim that such
price is fixed by themselves, either in opeu board
or by committee, or in whatsoever way they
shall fix tbe same, and afterwards- communi
cated to their general agent, Frank Irons. Why
do they not fix the price iu accordance with the
law of supply and demand? Iu order to under
stand this question, it is necessary to reier to
deductions and inferences which follow the testi
mony. It is tbe testimony ot all persons ex
amined on that subject that the price at Minne
apolis is the price at Chicago let-a freight from
Minneapolis to Chicago. This is tbe agreement
of the dealers and eievator men. This is the
combine.
That there is no power in the business circles,
which, emanating through tbe boards of trade,
the trausportation lines or from whatever
source engaged in the wheat traffic iu Minnesota
and the Northwest *hich confronts the despot
ism of this forced condition of the market, is
the highest proof to my mmd of the existence of
THE MOST TREMENDOUS COMBINE
that was ever known the history of tbe world,
and that this can exist only by virtue of an un
natural law is another proof of conspiracy for.
in tbe aosence of a conspiracy, God's natural
laws take their own course. No oue wno reads
tbe testimony can fail to see that this coudl
tion is brought about by a conspiracy, sorely
reflected in the care wbicn the elevator
companies and all tbe dealers and even the lines
of transportation have exercised to maintain
the price list promulgated by Frank H. Irons.
Mr. Pillsbury's testimony on the rela
tionship existing between the Minneapolis
and Chicago markets is piodnced.
Some attention is here given to tbe disclosures
of S. 8. Scott in reference to the business of
Fr uk H. Irons. Among other evidence corrob
orating the exia ence ot the combine, hi states.
was tbe fact that the testimony of Mr. Amsden
contains the statement that the elevator com
panies employ traveling agents to look after
each other's business transactions. Another in
stance was the burins off of J. M. Stowe of, Wa
dena. •, -V
rr is UPOX THB TESTIMONY
only a portion of which have specially referred
to* that I find myse*f forced to find from the tes
timony tnat a combine does exist to control tbe
priee of wheat iu tne State of Minnesota and tbe
Northwest. It is true that the investigation into
the history and autonomy, the detail, circum
stances and economy of its working and maiu
te»anee*as not been pnrsned to that ex»ent
which tbe inrpendingdanger and tyranny against
the interests of the producer imperatively ue
manded.
The report enters into a thorough discus
sion of the matter ot weighing wheat at
Diiluth, and its doc-age and inspection,
taking up tb sublect of the shipment oi
uninspected and bin-burnt wheat.
The report proceeds to aggregate tbe tes
timony in regard to these non-insnecled
shipments and finds a total ot 825,510'bush
els shipped out oi Duiuth elevators be
tween 1886 and 889 uninspected.
Alter making allowance lor I in-burnt
wheat there remained 750,000 bushels.
THE QUESTION NOW NATURALLY ARISES
how was his 750.000 bushels of wheat accu
mulated? By what means did 750.0OO bushels
of wheat belonging to the producers ot Minne
sota and the Northwest come into the posses
sion of the elevators of Duluth? That question
cannot now be answered specifically under the
testimony. Whether it came from Bhort weights
or whether it came Irom unswept cars, or
whether ft came from improper dockage or
whether it came from not cleaning out doctaae,
pr whether it came from abstractions made
from grain being shipped Eastward, or whether
it came from all of these causes or from causes
entirely unknown and uusuggested the testi
mony does not now plainly and specifically dis
close. It remains, tbereiore, as yet an unsolved
proposition as to whether the inspection de
partment and the weighing department ot tbe
State of Minnesota have not by short weights
and large dockage permitted this vast accretion,
or on the other hand whether this accretion
and accumulation has not been made in viola
tion of the inspection and weiubiue service by
the predatory spirit of these elevator com
panies.
RECOMMENDATIONS.
From a consideration ot the entire testi
mony, and taking the public elevator sys
tem in the condition that it now is, I
am moved to recommend to your ex
cellency and the lemslature ot the state that
some means should be provided for weighing the
grain by the railroad companies at the station
where it is received, and the common carrier
should be held responsible for delivery in equal
weight.
In view of all the testimony, I further recom
mend what seems to me to be one of tbe most
important measures for the proper protection
ot the wheat producers of this state, and that is
that all persons in the State of Minnesota desir
ing to market wheat shall have equal facilities
TO REACH THE TRACK
of railroads at Mlunesota stations, and that a
law be passed by which it is made the duty ab
solute of every railroad or railway corporation,
association or company now or at auy future
time operating a railroad or railwav as a com
mon carrier within this state to provide and
furnish at all stations established or that may
be established on their roads sidetrack facilities
for all persons or parties to erect aud maintain
private elevators or warehouses of a capacity of
not less than 5,000 bushels each for the storage
of grain while awaiting shipment on snch line of
railroad or railway, and to permit and allow
such elevators and warehouses to be erected,
maintained, controlled and operated by auy
person or corporation desiring to erect, main
tain, control and operate the same for said per
sons, and further making it the duty absolute of
said railroad companies andcorporations to re
ceive aud carry over their line or lines of rail
way all grain offered for shipment to and from
such private elevators and warehouses, and
further making it the duty of said railroad
campanies and corporations to receive di
rectly into its cars and carry over
its line or lines of railroad
or railway all grain offered in car load lots at
such stations without any previous storage and
as offered.
I desire also to coincide with the recommenda
tion made to your excellency by the majority
report in as far as such recommendations are
made or modified by the recommendation which
I hercin make.
It seems to me and I further recommend that
under the preseut system each inspector should
be charged with the duty of st-eing that the
CARS WERE PROPERLY CLEANED,
and that ail grain iu can or other vehicles car
ried to a public elevator shall be actually re
ceived into the scales and weighed.
It seems proper also to recommend that
where cars are inspected on the track by the in
spector and are liable to remain lor any time
whatever before they are unloaded they should
be resealed by the inspector making such inspec
tion.
I also recommend to yonr excellency and the
legislature that whatever system of grading and
inspection shall hereafter seem fit to be estab
lished by law snch system of grading and inspec
tion shall never be permitted to affect the sale
of wheat on its merits in the country, and in no
case to permit it to be graded at the country
station "by a state official.
Before concluding this report I feel it my duty
to call your excellency's attention to the fact
that the labors of this investigating committee
have been confined, so far as tbe|illicit shipment
of non-inspected grain is concerned, to only the
elevator system at Duluth. It certainly is a
suspicious circumstance that these shipments of
non-inspected grain at Duluth have occurred
while the general market of tbe State of Minne
sota was in the hands of a combine, as I have
endeavored to show is exhibited by the tes
timony.
THE TESTIMONY FURTHER SHOWS
that the wheat growers of Minnesota are dis
criminated against in the matters of freight
rates. The distance from St. Cloud to Dututn
is nearly forty miles less than from Minneapolis
to Duluth, by way of the Great Northern aud
Eastern Minnesota, a corporation owned aud
controlled by the Great Northern, as admitted
by Mr. Grover. The rate on wheat from Minne
apolis to Duluth is 4% cents, while from St.
Cloud to Duiuth, forty miles less, the rate is 7Ji
cents per bushel. This being a single instance of
the general discrimination against the wheat
growers of Minnesota aud the Northwest and in
favor of tbe milling combine of Minneapolis.
And I wish to give it as my opinion tnat if the
board of railroad and warehousecoromissioners
had observed tbe law in relation to tbe posting
of damaged grain at Duluth and had held the
Dulntb elevator companies to a strict observ
ance of that law there probably would never
have been any cause for the expenditure of $9,
OOO, which has been made by this committee.
It seems to me that the
DOOK TO THESE ILLICIT SHIPMENTS
was opened by the permission to disregard the
provisions of the law in regard to the posting of
grain, a permission which, it seems to me, was
not contemplated by the board of commission
ers, but which the elevator companies have
made the excuse for their clandestine and secret
shipment of non-inspected wheat.
The testimony of Mr. Pillsbury before the
joint committee is interesting in that it at
tempts to lay the entire blame of tbe depressed
condition of the Minnesota wheat market at
the door ot the wheat pit gamblers on tbe board
of trade in tbe city of Chicago. I am not dis
posed to agree with Mr. Pillsbury in this
opmion and this opinion I form in view of the
testimony taken beforethis committee. I believe
that the present depressed condition of the
market in Minnesota is due more
LARGELY TO THE COMBINE
which in my opinion exists between the elevator
systems and the railroads of Minnesota and
tbe Northwest than to tbe reflected iufluence of
either the Chicago or New York markets.
What I mean by the erection of elevators at
Duluth is simply the erection of elevators by
the state, carried on in sucn manner that the
interests of tbe individual producer of wneat in
Minnesota and the Northwest shall be forever
maintained as separate individual rights, and
not massed into one general aggregate, to be
thereby controlled by tbe financial circles aud
Interests of this combine.
I do not mean that the state shall erect and
maintain elevators at the expense of tne state
generally, but that it shall erect elevators upou
such a system or plan of providing for the pay
ment of such erection aud maintenance as can
be charged with tbe intervention of a sinking
fund to the persons interested in the storage
aud marketing of grain. It is evident to me,
and it seems to be admitted by tbe greatest
financiers that have been brought before the
committee, that something must be done, and I
can conceive of no agency bat the state itself
adequate to protect now the producer ot wheat
in Minnesota and the Northwest from the in
fluence of this combine. I have the honor to,
be. very respectfully E. J. MOORE.
Member of tbe Joint Investigating Com
mittee.
St. 1'aal, April 12. '92.
i.' Wanted to Do Penance, ,~
Sorrowful looking man—And it
doesn't hart at all to hare yonr
tooth Twilled?
Dentist—Not a bit. Climb right
into this chair.
'•No I guess I'll buy a new pair (A
shoes. I played the races yesterday
and feel that I ought to be punished!"
—Boston Post.,,.,,..,_, .„..,.
ffritz Williams,
tf^&t Proprietor of
SAMPLE ROOM
-J-
-AND—
BILLIARD HALL
A Fine line oi Wines. Liquors and
Cigars always kept in Stock.
NEW BLOCK
Minnesota Street, New Uim.
JTJIAIXJSKBAUSE
HOUSE AND SIGN PAINTER
AXD
Paper Hanger.
Ceiling Decoration a Specialty. A1V
Work Executed Neatly, Prompt
ly and at Low Rates.
Shop, Corner Broadway and Fifth
Street North.
NEW ULM. MINNESOTA.
FAAS & KOBARSCH.
The above parties would give the public
notice thai they are now prepared to do all
manner of plumbing and are ready to guar
antee satisfaction. Charges reasonable.
Office at Kobarsch's shop.
COMMERCIAL HOTEL,
Chas. Stengel,, Prop.
Opposite Depot.
I will serve a hot and cold lunch every
morning, and at the same time the finest,
line otwine?, liquors and cigars will always
be found on hand. 1 will endeavor to ac
commodate everybody to the best of satis
faction, hoping to always extend and im
prove the place.
i'HAS. STENGEL.
NEW VIM, MINNESOTA.
H. FRENZEU
—Manufacturer of
SODA WATER, SELTZER WATER
A N
CHAMPAGNE CIDER.
Centre Street, New Vim, Minn.
LIVERY,
SALE AND 0ARDING
STABLE
Fine turnouts furnished with or without
drivers at reasonable rates. Fishinsr, Hunt
ing and Pleasure Parties Furnished Teams.
Ladies Saddle Horses. Fine Carriages for
Funerals. Office and Barn in Skating
Rink. Fine Hear?e for Funerals is kept in
Order for such occasions.
KRETSCR & BERG, Proprietors.
Cement Work.
The u-ndersigned announces that he
is now prepared to do all kinds of ce
ment work, such as sidewalks, cellars,
cisterns etc., either by contract or by
the day. All kinds of material and
especially cement of the best quality
kept on hand and sold at low figures
•ft&i
JOHN LUETJEN.
H. HANSCHEN
CONTRACTOR AND BUILDER.
Estimates on buildings or on materi
al and labor, more especially on ma
son work, turnished on application.
Prompt attention given all work and
satisfaction guaranteed. The eale of
all kinds of cement, lime, adamant (a
new kind of hard plaster) and plaster
hair a specialty.
NEW CLM, MINX.
BROSTS HEADQUARTERS.
For the Best of Liquors and Cigars.^
the only place in the City is at ^-^J.-
Chas. Brusts,
