The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, October 6, 1919, Page 5

“‘mixed with the wheat from 99 "than the grade it should bring United States . department of agriculture decided to adopt official wheat grades, which were to be accepted by the millers and the chamber of com- merce to replace the Minnesota grades, which had been used by the trade up to that time. Charles J. Brand, head of the bureau of markets, was sent out to gather the data on which the new grades _ were to be based. With Doctor Ladd’s findmgs available and the lesson of the 1916 crop fresh in mind it seemed reasonable to suppose that a good series of grades rmght be expected—grades that would base the price of the wheat upon its milling value and not upon its looks or color or shape of the kernels. But Brand was not a fair investigator. On his ‘tour he fell at the start into the hands of the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce and’ the Minnesota politicians working hand-in- glove with the big millers. At Minneapolis he listened to them and their sneers against Doctor Ladd. Coming westward he sneered at Doctor Ladd himself. North Dakota farm- ers who saw Brand and listened to him talk | knew that little or nothing could be expected of him and when the new grades were an- nounced they were not surprised. The new glades proved to be highly technical, disqualifying grain from the higher .grades for small fractional admixtures of rye or other grains, marking the price down several cents if the wheat contained small amounts of foreign ‘matter that could be separated by the millers at a cost of a fraction of a_cent, and continuing the old “test weight” fetich that Doctor Ladd’s experi- ments had conclusively dis- ; proved. The farmers had been cheated again. - They had asked for bread ‘and had been given a gold brick. Doctor Ladd was quick to point out the unfairness of the new grades. The wheat grow- ers, ‘by this time, were organ- ized, not only in North Dakota but in a dozen other states. They began to show and use their political - power. Doctor Ladd pointed out that while one farmer’s wheat might be dis- _qualified from a No. 1 grade be- - cause it contained 2 per cent rye, for instance, it would be other farmers so that the-re- sultant mixture, instead of hav- ing 2 per cent of rye, would have only 2-100 of 1 per cent. And the farmers were quick to take up the fight. In the North Da- . kota . legislature laws were passed’ providing for state in- spectlon of grading, so that grain would not be graded lower under the federal ruling, and providing that grain buyers must pay, at the market rate, for all valuable dockage. But possibly the most impor- . tant thing was the showing of political strength that the farm- ers made by carrying North Da- kota twice in succession and electing three congressmen the last time. -So it happened that when, in 1919, the entire North- west suffered a crop of shriveled wheat, such as North Dakota had sufl"ered in 1916, the farm- ers’ voice was heard in Wash- ington as well as in North Da- . kota. BRAND FORCED OUT OF AGRICULTURE OFFICE Criticism, of Brand and his unfair grades was :too strong for * Secretary of Agriculture Houston to stand any longer. So Brand’s resignation was ac- ° cepted as chief of the bureau - of markets. He stepped out thoroughly. discredited with the farmers. But in other lines, it turned out, he had friends, who prov1ded him with a $25,000 job in a- fruit. concern. reported to be operating,as a subsidiary of the Chicago packers. The time was ripe to strike another blow against the un- fairness of the Brand-made fed- eral grades. down to Washington to see Juhus Barnes, head of | The interior of the expeumental mill. 7 ~ So Doctor Ladd the other day, went the United States Grain corporation. Ladd was not snubbed or sneered at as he was when Barnes made his tour through the Northwest a few years ago, because he had three North Dakota congress- men, elected by the League, to go with him to see Barnes. These were John M. Baer, J. H. Sinclair and George M. Young, ‘who had helped .Ladd to get his appropriation for the mill 12 years before. Doctor Ladd detailed the results of his experi- ments to Mr. Barnes. He cited to Barnes that un- der the federal grades No. 5.northern wheat was bringing a price 28 cents below No. 1 northern, and showed that the bulk of the northwestern crop this year would grade No. 4 or No. 5. “There is a difference in value to the miller - of not more than 11 cents, at the outside, be- tween No. 1 and No. 5 northern,” said Doctor Ladd. “¥n the actual value of the products of No. 1 and No. 5 there is a difference of only 8 cents, but the difference in milling value may be as much as 11 cents because of the reduced capacity of the mills, which have to handle slightly larger volumes of light-weight wheat to get the same weight of products.” Minnesota state officials, who ~followed a “me too” policy, and were eager at this time to get credit forg helping with a winning fight, chimed in by producing reports of investigations they had made, showing a difference of not more than 12 cents between the milling value of No. 1 and No. 5 northern. The Minnesota investigations, it is in- teresting to note, were made only within the last - Above—the grinding ‘machinery. .ing machme, where the flour is sxfted. PAGE FIVE _year, while Doctor Ladd started his investigation ‘who persisted in making a greater differential than _this would be liable to have their licenses revoked. Below—the bolt- of grades in 1912. It is also interesting to note that in 1916 and 1917, when North Dakota had a hght-welght wheat crop and when Brand was seek- ing to establish grades, the Minnesota politicians were all lined up with the millers and the chamber of commerce. The net result of the hearmg before Barnes was that the head of the grain corporation decided to reduce the difference between No. 1 and No. 5 northern, which had been 28 cents, to 14 cents. Mr. Barnes told Doctor Ladd that grain buyers SENATE COMMITTEE ASKS NEW GRADES ON WHEAT The senate committee on agriculture has;chimed in:to get its share of the credit now for jumping on the thoroughly discredited Brand-made federal grades. It has passed a resolution declaring that the grades represent a false standard of values and calling on the department of agriculture to install a system of grades based on milling values. The battle is not fully won yet. Though thor- oughly discredited, the federal grades are still in effect. Though Barnes has cut the government price differential in half, the Minneapolis Cham- ber of Commerce is still maintaining a false dif- ferential of as high as 30 to 40 cents between No. 1 and No. 5 northern on the Minneapolis market, thereby breaking the spirit, if not the letter, of the federal law and the Barnes ruling. "But the fight of the man who stepped off the train at Fargo 29 years ago with the determination to find out about -wheat, has already saved millions to northwestern grain ’ growers and final victory seems fairly in sight. Farmer-Labor Mine Workers Would Join With Farmers One of the greatest labor or- ganizations in the United States, the United Mine Workers of.. America, has indorsed the prin- ciple of labor and farmer co- operation in politics, and has voted to affiliate with farmer organizations for political .ac- tion.. Meeting in Cleveland, the miners voted to affiliate with farmers’ organizatiens, specific- ally mentioning the Nonpartisan league. This union is the first national labor organization to determine ‘on a departure from the estab- lisied political policy of the labor movement as expressed by the American Federation of Labor. Many state groups, how- ever, have taken such -action, notably Washmgton, Minne- sota, North Dakota, Illinois, In- diana, ~Pennsylvania and New York. The miners’ plan contemplates the formation of a new party to elect representatives to con- " gresg and state legislatures who wxllsirepresent the producers of” the country, It was decided to call a gen- eral labor conference to discuss the establishment of a National Labor party and to put a ticket into the field. The resolutions adopted at the Cleveland convention provide for . representatives of the co-opera- tive movement, the Nonpartisan league, farmers’ organizations and various labor unions to sit at the conference. Impetus is e*{pected to be given the Labor party move- ment in the United States by . the expected visit of Arthur. Henderson, member of the Brit- ish parliament and secretary of the British Labor party. He is utive committee of the National - Labor party of America, and he will speak in many cities of the country on the workmgman in politics. : iy being brought here by the exec- '« (g