RAILROAD YARDS.

Minneapolis & St. Louis; Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha; total, 3.

Attention is respectfully invited to appended tables:

Table I. Condition and growth of the department since organization.

Table II. Receipts, disbursements, surplus and deficiency.

Table III. Source of revenue.

Table IV. Amount of grain of various kinds in bushels, weighed into elevators and mills.

Table V. Amount of grain weighed out of elevators and mills.
Table VI. Number of cars weighed into elevators and mills.

Table VIII. Number of cars and wagon loads weighed at railroad yards.

RESUME.

Total number of bushels of grain weighed into and out of elevators and mills was:

Total number of cars weighed into and out of elevators and mills was:

Of hay, straw, oats, corn, feed, scrap iron, barley, rye, flax, and millet there were weighed in the railway yards 817 cars, making a grand total of 187,147.

Wagon loads not included in the above, 4,684.
Respectfully submitted,
C. M. REESE,

State Weighmaster.

TABLE I. MINNEAPOLIS STATE WEIGHING DEPARTMENT. Showing Receipts, Disbursements, Surplus, Deficiency, Number of Cars Weighed, Places and Men Employed since the Weighing Department at Minneapolis has been Organized.

TABLE II. MINNEAPOLIS STATE WEIGHING DEPARTMENT.
Receipts and Disbursements for the Grain Year Ending Aug. 31, 1896.

Of the total receipts, the sum of $124,25 has been collected by the inspection department, account of Brighton Elevator.

TABLE III. MINNEAPOLIS STATE WEIGHING DEPARTMENT.

$49, 765.65 $17,736.37

$9,723.61
$2,029 28

TABLE IV.-MINNEAPOLIS STATE WEIGHING DEPARTMENT.
Bushels of Grain Weighed Into Elevators and Mills.

TABLE V.-MINNEAPOLIS STATE WEIGHING DEPARTMENT.
Bushels of Grain Weighed Out of Elevators and Mills.

TABLE VI.-MINNEAPOLIS STATE WEIGHING DEPARTMENT.
Number of Cars of Grain Weighed Into Elevators and Mills.

TABLE VII.-MINNEAPOLIS STATE WEIGHING DEPARTMENT.

Number of Cars of Grain Weighed Out of Elevators and Mills.

REPORT OF DULUTH WEIGHING DEPARTMENT.

State of Minnesota, Office of State Weighmaster, Duluth, Sept. 1, 1896.

To the Honorable Railroad and Warehouse Commission,

Gentlemen: I have the honor to submit herewith the eleventh annual report of the state weighing department at Duluth, the same being for the crop year ending Aug. 31, 1896. The crop of 1895 was by far the greatest that has ever been produced in the Northwest, and our receipts and shipments for the year were about fifty per cent greater than for any previous one, the grand total of all grains received amounting in the aggregate to over 83,000,000 bushels, and our shipments to over 66,000,000, thus showing that the amount of grain weighed in from cars and weighed out into cars and into vessels reached almost 150,000,000 bushels.

In transacting such an immense volume of business there were naturally some complaints of shortages, both by the country shippers and the vessel men, but with the constant watchfulness of experienced weighmen and the careful supervision of the scales by Mr. Berry, the state scale expert, about as little friction occurred as is possible in a work of such magnitude.

The elevators here have all modern improvements for handling grain rapidly; the scales being large, weighing from 500 to 1,000 bushels at a draft, and there is much less liability for errors to occur than where the houses are old and the scales are small as at Buffalo, where most of the cargoes from this port are discharged. But however sure I have felt of the correctness of our work here, every complaint, properly filed, has been taken up and all the circumstances connected with the weighing, and even the condition of the house where the weighing was done, have been carefully and thoroughly investigated, and in all cases where it has been found that errors have occurred here, the elevators have promptly made the shortages good.

The principal cause of loss from cars from the country still continues to be neglected on the part of the railroad companies and shippers. The companies too often fail to provide suitable grain doors, and the shippers do not take proper care in placing and securing those that are used. Temporary doors are in many cases too short, and a stream of grain is sometimes found running from cars on their arrival here. Ail such leaks are carefully noted, and these notations are made a part of our records to be used in the adjustment of claims for loss.

We still continue to measure and record the depth of the grain in each car, and find our records to be of great assistance in arriving at a satisfactory settlement in cases where weights, on account of accidents, could not be taken, and where the shipper had nothing more definite than an estimate of the amount put into the car.

In handling over 122,000 cars in the space of twelve months, as was done during this year, the work of adjusting all the claims that necessarily arise, has become a difficult and arduous one, and if it were not for the thoroughness of the work as now systematized, it could not be done so as to be just to the parties interested, nor to the satisfaction of the department officer upon whom this duty devolves. I therefore wish to emphasize the necessity of a continuance of the civil service rules that have thus far obtained in the department, for the weighmen become more and more efficient with each additional year's experience.

The following tables show the receipts and shipments of all the various kinds of grain handled, and also the total collections and disbursements for the year. Respectfully submitted,

J. G. MCGREW, State Weighmaster.