The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 6, 1919, Page 4

S—————————— A - retary of ‘agriculture. Gettmg F air Prices on Low-Grade Gram The Story of Doctor Ladd’s 29-Year Fight, and How He Proved - : That Elevator Men and Millers Underpaid Producers BY E. B. FUSSELL WENTY-NINE years ago this fall a young man stepped off the train at Fargo, N. D. He was coming to a new job, to be chemist at a government ex- periment station. He had no friends in the new section that he was thereafter to call home, and he knew nothing about it except that it was a big wheat-producing country. About wheat he knew very little. His only pre- vious experience with grain was when he had been assigned at Geneva, N. Y., his former residence, to write a government bulletin describing what was then known as the “Hungarian method” of grinding wheat between rollers (what is called - the “roller process” now), when this new -process was being installed in a 1mill at Geneva. “But he was determined to learn more. This young man, who knew nothing about wheat in 1890 except what he had seen of the new roller process of milling, was Edwin F. Ladd, now presi- dent of the North Dakota Agrlcu]tural college and for the last seven years leader jn a national fight of the farmers for the fairer grading of wheat and other grains. It is a fight that already has saved the farmers of the Northwest millions of dollars, and with the strength of the Nonpartisan league behind Doctor Ladd it has now reached a stage ~where final victory is in sight. Among the first men that young Ladd met when he arrived at Fargo in 1890 were O. W. Francis, an attorney, and J. B. Power, a large land- owner and farmer, both members 4 of the board of trustees of the state agricultural college. -Both .of these trustees talked with the young:.man about the ,work that he might do. Francis suggested that the best thing that a chemist could do in North Da- kota would be to analyze the soils in various parts of the state, to show how rich they were, with a view to- ward inducing new settlement and, incidentally, to help increase land values. Power had another idea. “A lot of the elevators claim that wheat that is being brought in by the farmers is frost-bitten,” he told Ladd. “They won’t pay much for it. Now, I don’t know whether the wheat is frost-bitten or not, or whether if it is frost-bitten it is hurt much, if any. Anyhow the farmers don’t feel they are getting fair treatment. You might look into that.” That was Ladd’s first “tip” that the farmers might not be getting a square deal. He made the soil analyses suggested by Mr. Francls, and he found time to look into the frosting matter - too. He found, as Mr. Power had suspected, that much of the wheat that elevator managers were claiming was “frost-bitten” was not hurt by frost at all, and he found that grain that was slightly frost-bitten did not have its qualities seriously af- fected, so far as chemical analysis could show." FOUND HOW FARMERS WERE CHEATED ON WHEAT But the investigation of frost-bitten wheat undertaken by Ladd proved more to him than this. He learned more from the farmers than he did from his chemical: analyses. In the laboratory he learned of the value of the wheat that the elevator men said was damaged; on. the farm he learned of other and more serious discriminations that were being practiced against the wheat growers. He found that wheat was being marked down in price serious- ly when it was slightly bin-burned, or slightly bleached by exposure in the fields. . He took samples of-this wheat to his laboratories and analyzed it. He found that its milling value was not affected in the least so far as the fiour product was concerned. About this time durum, or macaroni, wheat was being introduced into North Dakota through the efforts of “Tama.Jim” Wilson, who then was sec- The durum wheat came . from Russia.” It was slightly darker than the fife and blue stem that had been grown in North Da- kota and had a somewhat higher gluten content. The elevator managers refused to pay as good a price for it as the better known varieties of wheat. They claimed it would not make as good flour. They discriminated against it by paying 10, 15, 20 and as much as 28 cents a bushel less than for other varieties. Doctor Ladd analyzed the durum, found that in most respects it was the equal of fife and blue stem and in some respects superior. The findings were published and gradually the dis- crimination practiced against durum became less. Last year, to show the final results of Doctor Ladd’s work, durum, instead of bringing 28 cents a bushel less than other wheat, commanded a pre- mium and sold at 5 or 10 cents a bushel above other varieties. A little later velvet chaff was mtroduced into North Dakota: Again the grain buyers took ad- vantage of the fact that it was a new wheat. They - claimed it would not’ make good flour and bought it at the rate of 7 cents a bushel below the price for No. 1 northern. Now velvet chaff is a heavy wheat, running from 62 to 64 pounds to the bushel. Doctor Ladd made tests in his laboratory that showed its mill- ing value. Then he wént out in the state to find what the buyers were doing with this wheat that they were buying at a low price, saying -it -was no good for milling. What he discovered he incor- porated into a speech that he delivered at a grain growers’ convention. It caused a sensation. In brief, what Doctor Ladd said was this: “Grain’ buyers are purchasing one carload of velvet chaff and are mixing it with two car- The experimental mill at 'Fargo, N. D., where Doctor Ladd’s tests of mill- ing values of various wheats have been made. loads of the lighter No. 2 northern. They buy the velvet chaff for 7 cents below the price of . No. 1 northern and the No. 2 northern for 5 cents below the price of No. 1 northern.. When the two varieties are mixed together no living man can tell the mixture from No. 1 northern; it is sold for that to the big mills at Minne- apolis and used by them in making flour.” From what has been stated it can be judged that Doctor Ladd by this time was raising considerable hob with the grain buyers. .They had just one answer to his findings, whether it was in relation to frost-bitten wheat, bin-burned wheat, bleached wheat, durum or velvet chaff. “This man Ladd is a theorist,” said the grain buyers and millers. periments in'a laboratory, but they won’t work out on a practical basis in a mill. men and we know.” There. was just one way to answer this argu- ment and that was to make practical tests in a practical mill. Doctor Ladd tried to get commercial mills to grind grain for him so that he could con-- firm what he had- proved in his laboratory. They naturally were not interested in helping to prove that the milling trust was swindling the farmers. So finally Doctor Ladd went to the legislature of North Dakota in 1905 to ask for a state appropria- tion to build an experimental flour mill. With the help of George M. Young, then a member of.the legislature, now a League congressman, he got $2,500. ‘This was sufficient only too buy machinery. Doctor Ladd bought the machinery and went back to the next legislature and got $5,000 more for a . PAGE FOUR “It_is all right to make ex- - We are practical bulldmg in which to house it. Then he began to put the frost-bitten wheat and the bin-burned wheat and the bleached wheat and the durum and velvet chaff through the mill. From the flour that he got bread was baked. - . There is an old saying that the proof of the puddmg is in the eating. Also.the proof of the~ wheat is in the flour and the proof of the flour is in the bread. With his mill and bakery Doctor Ladd had the proof. The proof already, by 1912, had saved to North Dakota farmers many times the cost of the mill. The discrimination against durum and velvet chaff wheat was ended and slightly frosted, burned and bleached wheat began to bring .better prices. EXPERIMENTS PROVED GRAIN MILLING VALUE In 1912 Doctor Ladd began to get interested in grades. He said to himself: “I have found that there is no foundatmn for the discrimination previously practiced against durum and velvet chaff and slightly frosted, burned and bleached wheat. Is there any reason that there should be any such discrimination against slightly lighter wheats? Why shouldn’t 60 pounds of a light wheat be worth approximately as much as 60 pounds of a heavier wheat?” So Doctor Ladd and his miller, Thomas N. San- derson, got busy in their mill and bakeshop.. They took samples of heavy wheat, made flour from it, measured the flour and the feed that it produced, baked bread from the flour and tested the bread. They took samples of light-weight wheat and put it through the same process. They continued their work with the crop of 1913, which included much light- weight wheat. And then, in 1914, Doctor Ladd brought out a bulletin. It was entitled “Is the Present Sys- tem of Grading Grain Equitable?” The bulletin consisted of facts and figures, gathered as the result of two years of practical investigations. The facts and figures all went to show the same thing—that the light-weight . wheat made nearly as much flour and more feed than the heavy wheat, and that the .flour from the light-weight wheat was nearly the equal- in most respects of the flour from the heavy wheat, and in some respects Superior to it. Doctor Ladd’s bulletin attracted some attention, but not as much as it deserved. The Minneapolis millers and the chamber of commerce -de- nounced him again as a theorist and sneered at his findings. There is no record that any of the state authorities in Minnesota or any of the other states ‘gave him any encouragement whatever; in fact, it became known later that many of the public officials supposed to be looking after the interests of the grain growers were working hand in glove with the chamber of com- merce and were doing their best to dlscredlt the North Dakota ‘scientist. But during the next two years, 1915 and 1916, two things happened that brought Doctor Ladd’s findings to the public attention in a manner that would have been impossible otherwise. One of the things that happened was the virtual failure of the North Dakota wheat crop of 1916. What wheat was produced was lighter than ordi- nary and as a result it was marked down by the chamber of commerce to an extent never attempted before, being classed as “Feed D” on the theory that it was good for feed and nothing else, and bemg bought for 80 cents a bushel below the price for No. 1 northern. The other thing that had happened was the or- ganization of the Nonpartisan league and the es- tablishment by the League of an official paper, the Nonpartisan Leader. Through the help of the Leader and "the League speakers Doctor Ladd’s findings were brought to the attention of the North ° .'Dakota farmers. And the farmers of North Pa- ~ kota, -offered a ridiculously low price for wheat that Doctor Ladd’s tests showed was capable of being used to make good flour, and that was, in fact, being used for that purpose at the time, were ripe to receive the facts. At about this time the ™