The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, June 21, 1917, Page 12

Grain Law Is in Effect Soon Measure Passed by North Dakota Farmers’ Legislature Aims to Establish Fair Markets for the Producers HIRTY days before the United States standards for grading of spring wheat go into ef- fect, standards established by the state of North Dakota for all grains and their products, will go into effect for so much of the crop as is raised or marketed within that state. This is the first time, in the his- tory of the West, that farmers in con- trol of government have established marketing regulations for farm prod- ucts. Its interest is much wider than the one state that will benefit most from it, inasmuch as it shows that the organized farmers have it in their power to control in a measure the marketing of their products. How far they will get busy and use the implement that their farmer legis- lature forged for them at Bismarck last winter, remains to be seen. The North Dakota grain grading law goes into effect July 1. There is little time to get the machinery ready to make it effective. There will be one month after it is set going in which to oper- ate before United States standards take over the business for interstate ship- ments. WHAT THE STATE GRAIN GRADING LAW PROVIDES This law provides licenses at $10 each for every public warehouse or elevator man before he can legally buy; fines of $10 for the first viola- tion and $100 for the second; authority of the state railroad commission to es- tablish fees for inspecting, grading, weighing and selling grain; and the es- tablishment of central market places where hard spring wheat grown on the North Dakota farms can be had in its pure state by the foreign buyers or their United States agents, with a guaranty that such North Dakota grain has not gone through the mix- ing houses of the Minneapolis Cham- ber of Commerce. The law specifically authorizes the North Dakota railroad commissioners to establish state controlled markets in Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth, Minn.,, at Superior, Wis, and in the state of North Dakota at Fargo, Grand Forks, Wahpeton, and Fairmount, “and such other stations-as in the judgement of the commissioners of railroads shall be necessary to provide adequate mar- keting facilities.” The law contemplates merely the engagement of a suitable room for dis- playing the North Dakota grain to buyers and putting a man in charge. As there are bhut four states,. North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Montana, that produce hard spring wheat (North Dakota being the. larg- est of the four) the framers of this state marketing law have no fear but that every market will draw plenty of buyers. Arguments that there is one big central market already established— namely Minneapolis—and that the wheat-buying world has got so in the hibit of going to Minneapolis for its flour material that it can’t break away, do not feaze these ardent farmers. They know the quality of the wheat they will have to show. They know the demand for it in the world’s ra- tions. They know the farmers of North Dakota have fdr nearly a de- cade been trying to get something of this kind, and they have full confi- dence, that now it has been provided for them through their own legislative effort, they will take advantage of it. BUYERS WILL APPRECIATE GETTING PURE WHEAT ““You can’t keep buyers from look- ing at genuine North Dakota grain,”’ they say, “Without it the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce would be a Joke. tures that they compound there for Liverpool buyers. No matter how much soft winter wheat they gather from other parts of the country, they must have North Dakota hard spring in liberal proportions, and the world is not going to quit eating good bread just because the farmers propose to control the market and cut out the food gam- blers.” That is the way the farmers lock at ‘it. They are in fact so firm in their confidence, that they believe the adver- tisement that pure hard spring wheat from the Dakota prairies can be had, will be a market winner itself. Every pound of wheat sold in these markets will have the stamp of purity and hon- esty of North Dakota, the premier state “Sample. It goes into nearly all the mix- ' grain problems. state control. in pure food, pure paint, and pure seed. One thing makes the grain glers laugh. They ask, “How are you going to make your North Dakota grades go in the market since the Unit- ed States has established federal grades, with heavy punishments for selling grain under any other grades? We got that federal law to head off just such things as that.” . And that makes the farmers laugh. Why, bless vour soul, they can buy on Samples of North Dakota grain with the inspection certificate of a state deputy inspector- under bonds, will be in the pans at every one of those gam- Dr. E. F. Ladd was appointed June 13 as state grain inspector of North Dakota under the grain grading law that will go into effect July 1. The law provides that an expert from the North Dakota Agricultural college be named, and in the opinion of the railroad commission- ers, who made the appointment, Dr. Ladd has qualified by his ten years of constant study and analysis and by his bulletins relative to The commissioners with Dr. Ladd’s advice decided to adopt the United States standards to be administered under receiving stations. The law provides that deputy inspectors will be placed wherever scales and a proper shelter are provided by local expense—that means local public spirit. At this time the state can not do that. Enemies of the grain grading bill in the legisla- ture saw to it that the appropriation was cut to the bone—only $10,000—so there is no money to waste. But pub- lic spirit can do it, and no doubt will. It is estimated that $400 to $500 will be required to provide each scale and house. The town that gets in first and does this will win the hearts of the fax'mer’s. It "will be a chance for the Farmers’ Autos at Meeting its own finances to a .certain extent; Take a few figures: In a good year North Dakota grows about 100,000,000 of wheat, and more than that much other grain. All pros- pects point to this being a good year, with other grain perhaps predominai- ing more strongly than if last year had not been too wet. Two hundred mil- lion bushels of grain will prob- ably be grown in the state, and suppose that only 25 per cent of it es- capes the grain gamblers and goes through the state grading system. At 600 bushels to the car there would be 333,000 carloads. At Minneapolis $1.50 per car is charged for inspection, mak- ing $500,000 for this fee. At the same rate for 25 per cent of the crop North Dakota would get $125,000 for inspec- tion. The Minneapclis Chamber of Com« merce charges 1% cents per bushel commission for selling the grain. On 50,000,000 bushels (25 per cent of the North Dakota crop) this would yield $750,000. There are 1996 elevators in North Dakota. Every one of them will haverto have a state licensed buy- er before it can take in any grain this vear. At $10 each for a licensed in- spector this will yield roundly $200,000. The Old Gang senators opposed to the bill' allowed a paltry $10,000 to make the measure look ridiculous, and crip- ple it. Add the crippling item to the others and there is over $1,000,000 to start ope erations—exactly $1,085,000. The railroad commissioners can fix fees for inspection, weighing, grading This shows a portion of the hundreds of farmers’ automobiles parked at Minot, N. D.,, where the largest crowd ever gathered in North Dakota heard Governor Frazier, President Townley and other League speakers last week. Resi- dents of Kenmare, 60 miles from Minot, say 200 automobil :s passed through that town bound for the Minot meeting. interstate markets. Not a word about grades, where using the North Dakota grades would violate federal law. The samples will be good enough. They will show grain graded by a state sys- tem that is not built on political con- trol by the grain ring. It will be real wheat, and rye, and oats, and flax. MARKET FREE FROM GRAIN, RING GRIP In North Dakota, at Fargo, Grand Forks, Fairmount, Wahpeton and wherever else the state establishes a display room for its grain, the North Dakota grades will stand ‘of them- selves. Buyers can come into North —Dakota and close their deals by grades for as large quantities as they want, and be assured that they will get grain which has never been touched by the blighting hand of the grain combine. But to get these benefits will require some}ively hustling on the part of the business men to show they have not been touched by the class appeals made to them to fight the farmer. ‘When one town provides such facili- ties, it is going td’ get the weighing of the grain tributary to it. Farmers for two fieree winters and wet springs , have driven 20 to 60 miles through snow, through mud to hear this thing talked about—longer distances than they ever drove to hear any other kind of campaign talk—and now they will drive longer distances than they ever did before to make use of the state system of grain grades which, among other things, they organized to pro- cure. SYSTEM CAN BE SELF SUPPORTING While enemies thought they killed the grain grading law by lack of finan- ces it can survive. The law provides A True Nonpartisan Mr. Baer is a man who is eminently fitted for congress, When he left Beach about two years ago to take the position of cartoonist on the farmers’ paper, he was postmaster, and was a man who was universally respected and honored in his own community. He is a young man, full of high ideals and fully imbued with the spirit of true democracy. It is such men as Baer who are sadly needed in congress to- day. hardest district in the state for a farmers’ candidate to win in, but in spite of the opposition he will meet He is making the race in the - in Fargo and Grand Forks, there is every reason to believe that he will win. It is good to know that the con- test is going to be made, and it will be - a fight worth any man's efforts. It will be a good chance to see just how the farmers’ organization holds out in the stronghold of reactionarism. - If ‘the best man in the district in the race wins, J. M. Baer will represent the First district in congress after the coming special election.—CARRINGTON (N. D.) RECORD. PAGE TWELVEH 3 - and selling. Maybe they would fix fees lower than the Chamber of Com- merce, maybe they could not the first year. But every farmer can see there is more substance to support their first grain grading law than would appear from merely reading the appropriation in the bill. STANDARDS AUTHORIZED FOR FLOUR ALSO This system is to be administered un< der a state inspector, who shall be am expert from the North Dakota Agrie cultural College staff. It is his funoce tion to fix the standards, not only for wheat, but for other grains and seeds, “and also for flour meal and products made therefrom.” It further provides that the actual flour and bread values of the wheat shall be ascertained and taken inte account in cases appealed from the grain inspectors in the field. - This is the famous “Ladd test that C. J. Brand refused to listen to when he made up the United States standards. Under this new grain grading plan the farmers’ crops will be marketed through a system wholly free from the grain gamblers. Middlemen will not control it. Farmers will deal directly with the buyers, who want grain for use, not for dice. No one will have a chance to -adulterate their wheat, and grade it down on “in inspection” and grade it up on “out inspection.” For the first time in history the farmers as well as the buyers will get the great benefits of knowing what kind-of flour and bread their wheat will maka, It will be a system built by farmers for farmers—and because the middle- men are out of it, it will also be a syge tem for the consumers. :