The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 3, 1919, Page 9

_subdivided into two or. more subdivi- 2 - No. 3 Northern 2.2250 - No. samples of the different grades which showed such shght differences both as regards milling and bak- ing quality.” Quoting from this article by the Grain Growers’ Guide: “These are the comparative milling and baking values of the 1918 crop now bemg marketed. The prices fixed by the board of grain supervisors for the 1918 wheat crop are as follows: ! “No. 1 Northern..$2.24% No. 4..$2.11% “No. 2 Northern.. 2.21% No. 5.. 1.99% “No. 3 Northern.. 2.17% No. 6.. 1.90%” “In discussing the above milling and baking re- sults, we agree with Doctor Birchard’s statement that there is very.little difference between the sev- eral grades. The differences shown are within the ' Scope of experimental error in all cases, excepting perhaps the per cent of flour and color score shown by No. 6 grade. It will be seen that the difference in per cent of flour produced by No. 1 Northern and No. 6 is 3.1 per cent, or 1.86 pounds per bushel. If flour is selling to the consumer at $11.76 per barrel, that would be 6 cents per pound and would make a difference in value between these two bush- els of wheat, everything else being equal, of 11.16 cents. The color score shows these flours all mark with- in the limits allowed for a Minneapolis Standard Patent. The No. 6 grade marking 90 in color might give some trouble between the buyer and seller or might be complained of by the consumer. The greatest concession the seller would be expected to make to settle the trouble would not exceed 20 cents per barrel, which would put this flour down to a standard Straight flour price which, if there was no other objection than the color, the matter would probably be adjusted at 5 or not to exceed 10 cents per barrel. DIFFERENCE OF 5.31 CENTS NOT 34 CENTS PER BUSHEL Admitting the adjustment was ° - made at 20 cents per barrel for this No. 6 grade of wheat, the loss to the seller would amount to-4.16 cents per bushel of wheat and a maximum difference in value, including the loss in per cent of flour, between . No. 1 Northern and No. 6 grade, of 15.33 cents per bushel, or less than half of what the board. of supervisors allows as a proper difference in price of a bushel of these two °* grades of wheat. It is a well-known fact that when the wheat bought by any mill passes through the process of “manufacture, the several grades of wheat used lose their identity. The manufactured products are divided into two lots, one being used for human food and the other for animal food. In normal times, these two products are again sions, the manipulation of which in- creases or decreases the profit to the manufacturer according to the price the different grades of manu- factured goods will bring on the market after pay- ing the extra cost, if any, for making these sub- divisions. Whether the manufacturer d1v1des his products into two or more subdivisions, if it were possible to follow the individual kernel of wheat through this process, a part of each kernel would be found in each subdivision. Therefore, when any of these subdivisions are sold for a specific price, there is a part of each grade and a part of each kernel of wheat contained in the mixturé going into the mill contained in each subdivision, and SELLS FOR THE SAME PRICE REGARDLESS OF THE GRADE OF WHEAT FROM WHICH IT WAS: TAKEN. Hence, any just comparison of value of the different grades of wheat can only be made ' from the quantity and quality of the products pro- duced by the several grades. This question then resolves itself into a mathe- matical problem, the solution of which is based on the cost of a bushel of wheat and the price ob- tainable for the manufactured products. If we assume mill screenings to be worth $20 per ton and mill feed $30 per ton, the remaining product, floyr, would have to bring $94.462 per ton —or, per pound: mill screenings, 1 cent; mill feed, 1.5 cents; flour, 4.7231 cents, respectively. These prices will admit paying $2.24% per bushel for wheat, giving the products shown in Doctor Birchard’s report for No. 1 Northern. Figured on the same basis, the several grades would have a bushel value .as follows: _ No. 1 Northern $2.2450 No. 4 $2.2216 No. 2 Northern 2.2292 No. 5 2.2246 6 2.1919 ~ 1 Northern.. 65.0 2 Northern.. 65.0 3 Northern.. 64.0 The maximum difference in value per bushel is 5.31 cents between No. 1 Northern and No. 6, while the difference between these two grades on the market is 34 cents per bushel. Therefore, the manufacturer using any No. 6 wheat in the wheat going to the mill would have a net profit on each 60 pounds of 28.69 cents if bought at the market price shown for No. 6 grade. The net profit per bushel on the several grades would be: No. 2 Northern, 1.42 cents; No. 3 Northern, 5 cents; No. 4, 10.66 cents, No. 5, 22.96 cents, and No. 6, 28. 69‘ cents, respectively. ) B The difference in price shown in this article " between the several grades and. especially be- twen the highest and lowest is on a par with prevailing prices on the market in this country. The producers of wheat in Canada should con- gratulate themselves that they have only the - " matter of price to contend with, as they have a grading system that can be applled at the local elevator, whlle the producers of wheat here have the same problem of prlce to contend with and a grading system which is impossible to apply at the local elevator, on account of the superfluous number of divisions which an application of the federal standards will make. The number of divisions the federal standards will make on any normal crop may be any- where from 18 to 54 for the specific grades for the hard red spring class and the same number for the durum class, making a total of - 36 to 108 divisions. In view of the fact as shown by Doctor Birchard’s figures that the actual maximum difference in the value of the Value of Wheat by Grades (Dominion Grain Research Laboratories) MILLING TESTS Per cent Per cent cleaning bren and Per cent shorts flour 245 711 264 70.1 25.8 69.9 26.7 69.6 26.7 69.6 28.1 68.0 BAKING TESTS }bsorp- Weight Cylinder Loaf tion of dough volume volume grs. C.C. C.C. 496, 335 1.330 . 495 330 ~1.410 . 98 493 325 1.400 . 96 492 330 1.340 . 95 497 325 1.340 93 498 305 1.280 . 90 Weight per bu., 1bs. Per cent milling wheat when divided into six divisions on the average is 5.31 cents per bushel, it ‘would seem that even 18 divisions of this class would be" highly unnecessary. STUDIES OF CROPS BY N. D. AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE In’ Special Bulletin No. 8, vol. V, by the North Dakota Agricultural college, comparing wheat val- ues; is shown the market value and actual value of the different grades from the crops 1911 to 1917, inclusive. The maximum difference per bushel be- tween the average of No. 1 hard and the average of the samples grading rejected and no grade un- der the Minnesota standards and the samples’ gradmg No. 1 dark Northern and sample grade red spring under the federal standards for the 1917 crop, for the different years are as follows: 1911, 5.55 cents; 1912, 0.88 cents above No. 1 hard; 1913 0.82 cents; 1914 0.16 cents above No. 1 hard 1915, 9 cents; 1916, 27.9 cents; 1917, graded under federal standards, 4.11 cents above No. 1 dark Northern spring, per bushel, respectively. The difference per bushel allowed on the market between these two grades were as follows: 1911, 19.24 cents; 1912, 10.68 cents; 1913, 9 cents; 1914, 13.44 cents; 1915, 17.28 cents; 1916, 100.4 cents; 1917, 20 cents per bushel, respectively. Thus it will be seen that the difference in price between the high and low grades each year was: 1911, 13.69 cents; 1912, 11.56 cents; 1913, 8.18 ~cents; 1914, 13.6 cents; 1915, 8.28 cents; 1916, 72.5 cents; and 1917, 24.11 cents per bushel greater than the value of the products. show they were actually worth accordmg' to the data above re- _ferred to. These. figures may not be exactly w};at would - — PAGE NINE Per cent moisture ash inflour - Shape Color Texture ance 100 100 102 96 - 100 97 100 90 98 94 98 S - Ly 2 I — result if the entire crop for the several years were under consideration, but they surely indicate be- yond any reasonable doubt that the difference in price is too great between the several grades and subdivisions either when graded under the system in vogue .in Canada, or the federal standards now used, or the Minnesota standards. They also show the injustice to the producers of wheat to have such an elaborate grading system that it is un- workable at the local markets, when the maximum differente in value in a normal crop divided into -~ 8ix grades is but 9 cents per bushel, as was the case in 1915. - Get Farmer Rule Like Us Union, N. D. Editor Nonpartisan Leader: A man whom we can rightly put in the bonehead class gave me a copy of a book entitled “The Psychology of Suspicion,” published by J. Edmund Kerr. After reading this book I‘ have come to the conclusion that this freak Kerr is the biggest liar in St. Paul and a close second to our Jerry of Grand Forks. If Kerr were here I could take his little “small” book, go through it with him, and prove that every - statement he made therein concerning good old North Dakota and the League was a pure, unadul- terated lie. It is queer how any one could possess such a narrow mind as to be‘ieve anything he says therein. We are surely getting our program through up here in North Dakota this winter. Big Biz sena- tors and representatives, seeing how useless ’5 is to go against the will of the people, do not even vote, and some measures go through without a dissenting vote from the opposition. Let Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas and others of our neighboring states wake up. Do not be envious of us North Dakota farmers. Get a farmer gov- ernment of your own, and you can " get it by organizing and joining the Nonpartisan league. ALFRED GLAHOLT. Per cent 13.2 13.2 13.2 13.3 13.2 13.2 HATES BEING ROBBED ; Kelvin, N. D. Editor Nonpartlsan Leader: We are trying to make a living at farming, so we know what it means to be cheated out of part of our earnings. General appear- 102 had three head of steers to sell, one two-year-old and two yearlings. He was offered $85 for the two-year-old, and $120 for this steer and the best yearling, but he thought this was not enough. One cattle buyer told him the two-year-old was worth over $100. He shipped them to Minneapolis and got only $75 for the two-year-old and only $125 for the three, clear of expenses. Now I would like to know where the steal came in, for theré must have been some crooked work some- where. We like the Leader very much and are glad_ to see the good work gammg ground so fast, and we hope ‘it will gain faster in the future. Yours for success to the League. -MRS. JOHN W. JEWETT e ~WANTS MINNESOTA DAILY Timber Lake, S. D Editor Nonpartlsan Leader: I have noticed in some of your recent issues men-’ tion of a contemplated farmers’ dally in Minne- sota. I would like to express myself in' favor of such an enterprise and also wish that such'a pa- per could be’ made more or less national in scope. Of course we have several farmer dailies in the Northwest, but all are published at less important centers than the Twin Cities. In many cases, on account of the courses of the different railroads and the lack of or slow service of connecting lines, it takes ms much longer. to get a daily paper published in our own state ‘on some other railroad than to get a Twin City paper. Hence you will see that you could count on many League subscribers outside of Minnesota as time is the most important factor in any news service. For - another thing, farmers do considerable shoppmg by -mail and like to read ads as well as news and therefore like a.paper from a good shop- ping center, provided it has good advertising pat- ronage. In this town the Minneapolis papers have more power than all the rest combined. LOUIS LINDSTROM. 100 Last fall, for instance, my husband