Three fraudulent enterprises undertaken in the spring wheat area of the Dakotas in 1954-1955 were checked by application of the postal fraud law. One peddler collected down-payments and absconded. In another case, the "firm" accepted hundreds of orders and checks but failed to secure a supply of seed in time for spring deliveries. The third instance involved two partners, who devised a scheme to substitute an inferior variety of wheat for one recently released by relabeling the seed with false tags.

An outline of this scheme and the procedure used for investigating and prosecuting the partners illustrates an effective method of protecting the public.

SELKIRK wheat, developed by the Canada Department of Agriculture, combined high-yielding ability and milling quality with resistance to Race 15B stem rust, which was a scourge of the spring wheat region.. It was released in Canada in 1952, but the seed supply was limited, and the Canada Department of Agriculture declared an embargo, effective August 16, 1954, in order to conserve the seed for the use of Canadian farmers. Prices for Selkirk rose to high levels in the United States, since only an insignificant amount was available.

One firm continued to take orders in the fall of 1954 through peddlers in North Dakota and South Dakota. In March and April 1955, it delivered 16,510 bushels in 11 railroad cars and 3 trucks. The bags bore blue analysis tags and labels to show the variety to be Selkirk, grown on a ranch near Yakima, Wash.

A check of the Washington ranch revealed that no Selkirk wheat had been grown there, and none had been shipped from that point. On the other hand, it was noted that the firm, using the name of Canadian Importers, had purchased 16,560 bushels of seed wheat in Canada and entered it through the U.S. customs ports in March and April 1955. The wheat had carried the official certification tags and seals of the Canada Government, and the variety was Redman, not Selkirk. It appeared, however, that the similarity of dates and amounts might not be due to chance. Redman resembles Selkirk; in fact, the seeds are indistinguishable by visual inspection. Redman is not resistant to Race 15B wheat stem rust and is a much older variety than Selkirk. Seed of the Redman variety was readily available at about 2 dollars a bushel. Selkirk could be sold at 7 to 10 dollars a bushel.

Samples of the so-called Selkirk were drawn by State seed inspectors in North Dakota and South Dakota. They were compared with samples of the imports of Redman that were in the files of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Plantings were made in a greenhouse for comparison with known samples of Selkirk and Redman. The seedlings were inoculated With spores of Race 15B rust.

The seedlings grown from the customs samples of the imported wheat were found to be susceptible to this rust. This indicated that the imported wheat undoubtedly was Redman. The seedlings of the so-called Selkirk also were susceptible, like the known sample of Redman and the customs samples of the imported seed. The known sample of Selkirk was resistant.

Further investigation was made of the movement of the imported seed. Railroad freight records revealed that as each car of imported seed arrived at the Minneapolis railroad yards from Winnipeg, it was unloaded onto a motortruck and hauled to the yards of a different railroad company, where it was loaded and billed from Minneapolis to North Dakota or to South Dakota.

A railroad employee working in one of the yards had observed a trucker removing Canadian certification tags and attaching new tags and seals. A Minneapolis printer testified that he had printed 11 thousand analysis tags bearing the name of "Selkirk" and the spurious Washington origin. A truck rental agency identified the seed firm's employee as the party who had rented one of his trucks on the dates when the railroad cars were loaded.

The firm was charged with devising a scheme to defraud and with unlawful use of the United States mail. Among the documents introduced as evidence were letters mailed by the defendants to customers in North Dakota and South Dakota stating that the firm had an adequate supply of Selkirk wheat seed and would make all deliveries as promised. Cards had been mailed to the buyers to notify them when the seed would arrive at the railway freight station.

The Government was able to prove that the firm was financially insolvent throughout its operations and that the defendants were fully aware that they could not furnish seed of the Selkirk variety. Mislabeling the seed as to variety was a misdemeanor under the Federal Seed Act, but using the mails to defraud was a felony under the Postal Fraud Act. The two partners were found guilty of postal fraud and were sentenced to terms of 2 and 3 years in Federal prison.

COMPLIANCE with seed laws requires careful technical work.

Violations may be due to faulty organization, careless procedure, inexperience, or incompetence. Sometimes errors occur through circumstances not under control of the seedsman. All of these may cause loss to the planter.

Seed frauds, on the other hand, are caused by dishonesty, and they are avoidable. Not many outright frauds occur, but proper laws and vigilance will reduce that small number.

The basic difference between these types of violations is important and should be kept in view at all times, lest the legitimate seedsman be condemned unjustly or the activities of the racketeer be condoned.

E. R. CLARK is a seed marketing specialist in the Seed Branch, Grain Division, Agricultural Marketing Service. He is in charge of the Federal Seed Laboratory at Minneapolis, Minn. He has degrees from the University of Wisconsin and the University of Minnesota.