558 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



exchanges in short, by the buyers. It has been shown that 

 between September, 1910, and August, 1912, the terminal ele- 

 vators at Minneapolis received 15,571,575 bushels of No. 1 

 Northern Wheat, and that during that same period these same 

 elevators shipped out 19,978,777 bushels of the same grade. The 

 elevators had no wheat of this grade at the beginning of the 

 period, but they did have 114,454 bushels at the end. 



During the same period these elevators received 20,413,584 

 bushels of No. 2 Northern and shipped out 22,242,410 bushels. 



Thus the elevators shipped out more than 6,000,000 bushels 

 of the two higher grades, Nos. 1 and 2, for which they never paid 

 the price for those grades. What happened is this: The ele- 

 vators graded the farmers' wheat down to 3 and 4 when they 

 were buying it ; when they were selling it, more than 6,000,000 

 bushels that had been bought as 3 and 4 were sold as 1 and 2. 

 The lower grades brought prices from 2 to 12 cents per bushel 

 less than the higher grades. On examination, statistics show 

 similar results in other years. 



Dockage in grain is another effective way in which the farmers 

 were robbed of their crops. There has been a dockage valuation 

 of $30 and $35 on every 1000 bushels of wheat. The farmer 

 pays the freight; and it has been shown before a Minnesota 

 Legislative Committee that for more than ten years a freightage 

 overcharge totaling about $5,000 a month has been collected as 

 switching charges. In short, grading and dockage had cost the 

 'farmers of North Dakota alone millions of dollars every year. 



The farmers of North Dakota thought that the public owner- 

 ship of elevators would help them to get fair marketing facilities. 

 They tried for ten years through ordinary political channels 

 to get the State to build elevators. Twice the State legislature, 

 under the pressure of the farmers, instituted amendments to 

 the constitution permitting the State to build elevators. 



Twice the people of the State, by an enormous majority each 

 time, confirmed the proposed amendment. Twice the machinery 

 of the State government refused to obey the people 's will. The 

 last refusal was during the legislative session of 1915. Hun- 

 dreds of farmers went to the State Capitol in an effort to 



