8 SUMMARY ANNUAL REPORT 



Orjaranization and Plan of Work: Attached to this report is a 

 diagram which shows more clearly than written paragraphs might do, 

 the form of organization into divisions, and the scope of the work of 

 each division, in the department of agriculture. It should be kept in 

 mind in considering the following more detailed review of the several 

 lines of effort of the department. 



GRAIN GRADING AND 3IARKETING 



During the current season bonds have been secured and licenses 

 issued covering 597 elevators, IS grain dealers, 9 track-buyers operat- 

 ing at 19 stations, and 7 commission or brokerage firms. In per- 

 centage of grain warehouses under bond to the state, Montana leads 

 all states in the northwest, as only such houses that accepted grain 

 early in the season have been unable to provide bond, and these are 

 under close supervision to prevent risk of loss to patrons. Total col- 

 lections this season for license fees were $9,615.00. Income from grain 

 scale testing including outstanding accounts, $9,831.73; income from 

 state grain inspection office. Great Falls, $3,356.63; total earnings 

 Grain Division, Dec. 1, 1921-Dec. 1, 1922, $22,805.36. Report in detail 

 appears in the financial statement. All of the cost of the Grain Di- 

 vision is met by its fees and earnings. 



Safer Bonds Required: All bond forms in use with grain ele- 

 vators and dealers were rewritten this year in order to define exactly 

 the liability of the surety. No personal bonds were accepted. Ex- 

 perience has shown that when conditions are such that collection 

 must be attempted, personal bonds are not collectible. Most of the 

 licensed firms have given surety bonds. The policy of requiring regu- 

 lar reports as to the outstanding storage, and grain on hand to meet 

 it, was continued and when the storage liability exceeded the grain 

 on hand, additional surety was asked for. These safeguards are in- 

 sisted on as necessary if public warehouse receipts are to be safe 

 bases for credit, or adequate to protect the interests of the owner of 

 the grain. 



There has been no loss to bona fide storage ticket holders result- 

 ing from elevator operations since supervision passed into the hands of 

 the Department of Agriculture on April 1, 1921. Under the present 

 administration there have been four elevator failures, all directly due 

 to the failure of the E. L. Welch Grain Company of Minneapolis. Im- 

 mediate settlement was made with storage ticket holders so that no 

 one who had actually stored grain with the houses lost through, the 

 failure. Four trackbuyers during this period have been unable to meet 

 their obligations, but in each case collection was undertaken by the 

 Department of Agriculture and no losses resulted. 



During the past year the Grain Division has continued its efforts 

 toward settlement of the affairs of the 37 elevators which were found 

 by examination on assuming office on April 1, 1921, to be insolvent 

 and indebted to farmers who had previously stored grain with them 

 in the amount of approximately $300,000 which could not be collected. 

 Collection" has been difficult because of the fact that the bond of one 

 line of 20 houses had been written by a company that soon thereafter 

 was found to be hopelessly insolvent and because most of the rest 

 had given personal bonds which under exis'ting conditions were found 

 to be non-collectible. Nevertheless since that time progress has been 

 made on all these cases, and payments to the storage ticket holders 

 have been made amounting to from 10 to 90 per cent. 



The Grain Division of the Department has offered its services to 

 act as receiver of the Montana Grain Growers, the most important of 

 the failures of the grain season of 1920. This is done in the belief 

 that a net cost of at least $6,000 a year could thus be saved to the 



