For your information we beg to state as follows

That during the past ten years there has not been one year in which our country agents have not given the farmers a higher grade on hundreds of thousands of bushels of grain than it was entitled to or than we could have obtained for it at Duluth West Superior Chicago New York or elsewhere

That our interests demand that we give the closest attention possible to the matter of grades at terminal markets and that it is our opinion as country shippers that the grading at Duluth and Minneapolis is uniformly fair and just

That the difference between the grades given the farmers by our buyers and the grades received by us at the terminals represents a loss to the elevator companies of the Northwest aggregating hundreds of thousands of dollars

That the statements hereinbefore made are contrary to the prevailing ideas on these questions we admit but we can produce all evidence necessary to prove the correctness of our statements and that for this purpose we cordially invite you or any responsible person whom you may delegate to examine our books and records

As regards the question of weights we would state that our country elevators are equipped with the most approved and reliable scales made that they are carefully and thoroughly examined and tested from time to time by agents traveling superintendents and scale experts that our agents are not paid to rob the farmers that they have nothing to gain by doing so and that the farmer of to-day is too intelligent not to read the scales and not to know what he is entitled to that as a very large proportion of the grain grown in the Northwest is weighed up at and marketed through the country elevators any loss which might result by reason of irregularities the existence of which we deny in weights at terminal points would fall on the country elevators not on the farmers

With this statement of facts and the tender of proof before you we trust that you will give our request for a righting of the wrong done us your early and favorable consideration

You have either been misquoted or misinformed and in either case you will when in possession of the facts as they exist and with the same publicity that has been given your purported statements correct the impressions conveyed to the public by the publication referred to viz that the elevator companies are robbing the farmers of the Northwest in the matter of grades and weights

Very truly yours

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute a new government laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism it is their right it is their duty to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states To prove this let facts be submitted to a candid world

We therefore the representatives of the United States of America in general congress assembled appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions do in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved and that as free and independent states they have full power to levy war conclude peace contract alliances establish commerce and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence we mutually pledge to each other our lives our fortunes and our most sacred honor Thomas Jefferson

LESSON XXXVII

RULES FOR CAPITALIZATION

Capitalize:

1. The first word in every sentence, and the first word of every line of poetry; as,

1. Our salesman will be in Scranton the latter part of next week. He has with him a very complete line of the latest novelties from Paris.

2. Neither a borrower nor a lender be,

For loan oft loses both itself and friend.-Shakespeare.

2. The important words in the title of a book, or in the subject of any other composition; as,

1. "Applied Business Punctuation," "Rational Typewriting," "Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to his Son."

2.

"The Cultural and Practical Value of the Study of Shorthand," "Robert Emmet's Speech on his Trial and Conviction for High Treason."

3. Every direct quotation or the first word of a cited speech; as,

Observation. The first word of an indirect quotation should not begin with a capItal unless the operation of some other rule requires it; as,

1. He reminded us that to save time is to lengthen life.

as,

4. The first word after a colon when introducing a complete passage;

1. In conclusion, I desire to say: We now have this phase of the matter under discussion and will reach a decision this week.

2. His suggestion was to this effect: That they proceed with their separate families to a certain point and there join the colonists from Plymouth. 3. Replying to your letter of recent date: We have looked up your original order and find that it was for ten cases, which were shipped you on the 21st.

5. The first word in the complimentary closing of a letter; as,

1. Yours very truly,

2. Respectfully yours,

3. Sincerely your friend,