Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, August 30, 1911, Page 4

©PAGE FOUR. Brand Rapits Weraias'Review Published Every Wednesday By E. C. KILEY. TWO DOLLARS A YEAR IN ADVANCE Entered at the Postoffice at Grand Rapids, Minnesota, as Second Class Matter. ——ee Official Paper of Itasca County THE DRAINAGE WHITEWASH. Hon. C. H. Warner, of Aitkin, leg- islative representative from this dis- trict, occupies several columns of space in this week’s issue of the Aitkin Republican, reviewing the work of the state drainage commis- sion, and especially the work of George A. Ralph, state drainage en- gineer. As a member of the last legislature Mr. Warner was the lead- er in a legislative prosecution to have the doings of the drainage com- mission investigated at the last ses- i He succeeded in securing the of a committee by r Dunn. Testimony was taken at length and’ im detail, but was not reported until the last day of the session, when there was 10 for consideratjon of so import- it a matter. The report was a tewash, but the evidence was suf- at to justify criminal prosecu- of both the commission, and In his communication t> the Republican Mr. Warner takes up the subject at considerable length and exposes a condition that should be made known to the people of Min- That the state treasury has been robbed by the ditch contractors, and with the full knowledge of those officially in ntment w fic tion the engineer. nesota, charge of the work, is proven beyond doubt by Mr. Warner. The full report of a majority of the legislative committee is given, which worse than incompetent opera- state ditch building under the immediate direction of State En- tions in gineer Ralph. Mr. Warner, labored hard to bring about a different _re- sult in behalf of the people of this section, but the powers against him were too strong. The Herald-Review would like to reproduce the entire statement of Mr. Warner as it ap- peared in the Republican, but space will not permit. We quote briefly from the article referred to: “I will endeavor to state very briefly what some of the évidence showed as to ditches in Aitkin coun- ty and I want all who read this to remember, that this js not my ver- sion, it is mot what I say, but what was disclosed by the official records, the testimony of the engineer him- self and the contractors. “The latter part of March or first part of April, 1909, Foley & Gleason shipped their dredge to McGregor, hauled it out north and set it up on the line of proposed ditch. “This djtch the contractors survey- ed themselves and began digging in April, 1909, The ditch was not estab- lished by law until in August, 1909. “At the time the viewers went out to look the ground over and appraise the benefits and damages, the state engineer wrote that he could get the work done at 7.3 cents per cubic At that time the dredge was digging ‘the ditch. More than 30 days! elapsed after the court established the ditch before letting of the contract was advertised Then but 11 days notice was given. Had you called at the engineer’s office for a copy of the specifications and) conditions on this job you would have found that the work upon this ditch must begin in ten days from date contract was let and be com- pleted in less tham 90 days. And when those conditions were made it was fixed so that no one on earth could: comply, except the party it was desired should have the contract. While this contract provides that the ditch shall be completed inside of 90 days, the desire for quick ac- tion vanished as soon as the con- tract was safely let, and the ditch has not yet been completed and no attempt has been made to have it completed, This contract was let at 12 1-2 cents a yard. yard. actually , lame attempt to cover up 1909, On November 30, 1909, the en-/ed notice thereof and returning the gineer furnished the contractors with an estimate of work performed un- der this contract upon which they drew $3,000 from the state treasury. Yet all the testimony showed and the contractors swore that from the time the contract was let to the time this money was paid, not a yard of earth had been excavated upon this ditch, not a particle of work had been performed) upon it.” WILL HIBBING COME BACK? + The St. Louis county fair closed jast Sunday after four days of unus- ual success in every detail of the wnnual exhibit of products of the county at Hibbing. The entertain- ment afforded visitors all sorts of diversion from fast horse perform- ances to red lemonade. The pro- ducts of the farm, garden and or- chard were shown in abundance and would do credit to any state exhib- it. During the four days of the show several hundred people from Grand Rapids visited Hibbing, and all were delighted with what they learned and saw. Grand Rapids and Itasca county boosts for Hibbing and St. Louis county. Our interests are identical. A good word for one in- cludes the other. If the people of Hibbing in particular and St. Louis county im general, be as true and loyal to us ab we have been to them ‘Grand Rapids should be taxed to its limit in caring for and entertaining ‘st. Louis county folks on September 28th, 29th and 30th, the dates on which the Itasca county fair will be held. Will Hibbing come back? Certainly. See ee WOMEN JURORS. The state of Washington is in trouble. The news report from Spo- kane tells us that the question is: What to do with women who will be called to serve as jurors with men when the Spokane county super- ior court convenes in September, is one of the vexing problems confront- ing the five members of the bench, lieaded by Judge Henry L. Kennan The various clubs in Spokane hay given out statements that their mem- bers are ‘ready and willing to do jury duty. ern Solomon or Portia will come for- ward to unravel the tangles present- ed by these possible situations: If 12 women are selected to try a case and six disagree from the oth- er six. If four women decide they, right in a civil action and six men The judges hope a mod- are jurors hold oppcsite views. If a mixed jury of men and women is kept together in a felony until all are agreed upon a verdict. If six women and six men are locked in a room to determine the gujlt or innocence of a person charg- ed with a capital crime? Relating to service of jurors in the superior court the Law adopted by the Legislature of 1911 says: “Any woman desiring to be excus- dd from jury service may claim ex- case emption by signing a written or print. same to the sheriff before the date of appearance, and if exemption is claimed by reason of sex, no fee shall be allowed for her appearance.” | The law provides that the jury sworn to try the issues in felony cas- es shall be kept together and in |eustody of the officers of the court jexcept during the actual progress of the trial, thus putting it squarely up to the judges to solve the problem or allowing the question to solve it- self, if the women who desire to serve as jurors cannot settle it themselves. KENNEDY HELD TO GRAND JURY Al. Kennedy was brought before Court Commissioner Taylor Friday morning on a charge of murder in the first degree. County Attorney McOuat appeared for the state and F. F. Price for the defendant. Mr. Price announced that the defendant would waive examination at this time. County Attorney McOuat mov- ed that the defendant be held to the grand jury at the next term of the district court. The matter of bonds was mentioned by Price, and the court commissioner stated as he un- denstood the law bail could not be accepted under the charge. Price stated he was not so sure of that, inasmuch as the law specified that bail could not be fixed only in cases wherein a capital crime is alleged. Since the last legislature had seen fit to abolish capital pun‘shment, the question, arises as to the applicability of the provision relating to non bail- able charges. However, he stated, that the defendant would not ask for bail, as it would probably be fix- ed at a sum so large that the de- fendant would not undertake to provide it. The commissioner then made the order holding Kennedy to the mext grand jury. Kennedy has already taken on a prison palor and shows in appearance that confine- ment behind prison bars is not agree- able to him. Several witnesses were om hand from Nashwauk to testify in behalf of the state. SCHOOL FARMING VS, THE OLD STYLE Like all things else farming-— suc- cessful farming—requires thought, education of the operator, intelligent application of new methods and con- stant study of the business of farm- ing. The Duluth Herald treats the subject in a recent editorjal in a manner that should prove beneficial for a certain class of farmers if they will tead and carefully think it over. It is here reproduecd for their bene- fit. It may be said of Itasca county that there are as large a per cent- age of progressive agriculturists and stock raisers wtjhin her borders as are to be found anywhere in the northern country. Yet the per cent- ‘age is all too small. The Herald says: Quite often, in the country, you will run across a farmer who laughs jat “book farming” and at “school farming,” and who tells you that it is ridiculous to talk of anybody teaching him anything about farming. We may be farming the way his Sreat-grandfather farmed; he may be carrying a herd of cows half of “The contract was let October 6,| Leos s ait “e ._qpsare-survenansanyeignesenaag{ipesiiypenapswrepenemagrarua=ssaeed arereyptreareaeeetaaaeraa pS angET ea Ra REE OE . GRAND RAPIDS HERALD-REVIEW —=WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 30, 1911. Which are not even self-supporting, not to speak of profit; he may be stirring the soil around his growing crops because his father did and without any knowledge whatever of why he does it; yet he laughs at agricultural education. Denmark is the greatest farmer in the world, perhaps. It gets more out of small, unpromising areas than al- most any other country in the world, and what it gets is so good that there is a top price market for it every day of the year, Denmark doesn’t laugh at book farming and school farming. Denmark uses both, and always has its ears wide open to learn of new ways of getting results from the soil. In the rural schools all through the country a winter course in farming is given to the boys, and during the summer the girls are taught house- hold arts. The schools of Denmark aren’t organized, as ours are, to make lawyers, doctors, preachers, ed- itors, society women and failures; they are organized to make farmers and housewives, because Denmark needs farmers: and housewives. Besides this instruction to the young people, there are courses of eleven days each for the benefit of grown folk. And the grown folk at- tend them, too, and profit by what they learn there. The farmer who laughs at agricul- tural education is farming about as Pharaoh’s people farmed. He has more modern implements, of course, | which he leaves out in the field all winter to rust, but his methods are not modern. The very thing he | needs is the very thing he laughs | at—education in agriculture. If agri- culture has’nt developed anything new in a thousand years, as he | thinks, it is the only industry on earth that hasn’t. Here and there you will find a| farmer who farms out of books and out of what the agricultural colleges | and experiment stations teach him, and every time, if he has common | Bense and industry, you will find him walking all around his scoffing neighbors and getting rich. If you can’t,educate these scoffing | farmers=who are getting to be a smaller proportion of the farming | population all the time, as demonstra- | tion makes them laugh out of the other side of their mouths,—you can educate their children, Society catches them young and has chances at them in the public schools, and it ought to use that chance to make good farmers out of them. | It isn’t for their own good alone that it should do this, but for soci- ety’s good. The cost of living is | high because American farmers do not make the most of their soil. They are like nien engaged in a |} highly profitable manufacturing busi- ness who use only a small percent- age of the capacity of their plants. | Teach the farmers to use the full capacity of their plant, and while farming will still be profitable, the cost of living will go down. The moral? More and better agri- cultural education in the common schools of the land. RAILROAD RATES T0 THE STATE FAIR | People can travel to the Minneso- ta State Fair from all over the North-| west for one and one-half cents a mile. The railroads have all made a | rate of one fare for the round trip to the Twin Cities, beginning August 27th, and lasting for a week after the fair is over. This is a better rate than state fair visitors have been used to, ev- en when the railroads were operat- ing under the old two-cent a mile law. This reduced fare makes a trip to the Twin Cities the first of September more attractive than any other time during the year. People can come to the cities cheaper, do their shopping, see all that the cities have to offer and at the same time visit the greatest state fair in the United States for less money than they could make a trip to the cities at any other time of the year. DISPLAY OF SOIL AT THE STATE FAIR One of the absolutely novel and and probably the most broadly in- structive features of the coming Min- nesota State Fair will be that of a display of soils in connection with the county exhibits in the agricultur- al building. This display is original with Super- intendent C. P. Craig, and if success- fully worked out will enable the vis- itor to study the soil characteristics of the entire state during one visit to this one building. Mr. Craig’s plan is to have each man in charge of a county exhibit yilaacy em ee LN i} a VAV A aT Ms meat 3S), y "i hs * SHOE 4). We've just received our new “ Queen Quality” styles for Spring and they're beauties. believe such footwear fossible at the The makers have outdone price. We did not themselves. Smart, snappy styles with plenty of comfort and service—just what you have been looking for. You'll buy here eventually. Why not to-day? rs ThePIONEER STORE § JOHN BECHKFELT, Prop. ~ SOME IMPROVcM=NTS ON THE STATE FAIR GROUNDS. Over thirty thousand dollars have been expended to improve and beau- tify the fair grounds. There will be and more comfort this year—Sept. 4-9. more to see, and learn, and enjoy, { ——_—_____ select two of the dominant varieties of soil in his county When th‘s se- lection has been made the collect- or will take a sample from each six imches of this soil to a depth of ; three feet. These samples will all be marked and “brought to the fair, where a supply of large glass tubes, three feet jn length and one and one- half inches in diameter, will be on hand. As soon as a county exhibit arrives on the grounds the soils will be tak- en by competent men and placed in their proper position in the tubes. Two of these tubes will be displayed in each county fair booth and from them can be made a comprehensive study of the soil in connection with the soil products, which will be @ part of each county display. By this soil exhibjt any one can study the dominant soils of thirty-six counties in Minnesota. The location of these thirty-six counties which will make an exhibit is so scattered over the state that the information will in- clude every district of Minnesota. Your clothes will fit well, your clothes will look wei, your clothes will wear well, set well and feel’ well if gotten at the Art Tailors. For prompt service in job printing —The Herald-Review. here is no better way of locating goods, keeping track of things and of mountains than by the Bell Telephone, getting rid Ne other way is so far reaching, so quick, so inexpen- sive, so satisfactory, and sive business man. place of a personal visit. If your inquiry must extend to distant points, the Bell Long Distance Service is indispensable It is the modern way and takes the of detail so necessary to the progres- Kean \ MESABA TELEPHONE C0 0. V. Hemsworth, Manager Office No. 67 Residence No. 108