The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, December 16, 1915, Page 5

e THE NONPARTISAN LEADER FIVE North Dakota at the Natzonal Capital By Willis J. Rutledge Washington, Dec. 11.—Senator Gron~ na has done the thing that thousands ‘of thinking men have long desired to ‘see somebody do. He has introduced a»blll to solve tbe Rural C!‘edlts prob- to farmels There is not much chance that his -measure will pass at this session be- cause at: the first sign of it the co- horts of the Interests will swoop down upon it and the Interests will Twobably control this congress just as ‘they have controlled every other. congress in the memory of man. But :anyway it is refreshing to see one man on the rlght track. | onna put:in:twenty-eight «bnlls .the~first “"day of the session. 'some .of .them were of great impor-. “tance: and- 1 will deal with them at - lengthnex week.: He had-a"bill to ereate a.national farm loans associa- “tion; one to limit and make public campaign contributions; one to stop - the shipment of-impue seeds; one to prevent cruelty to. animals in’ inter- state transportation; one to establish. a fish: cultuiral station in Uorth Dako- -, ta; ane.to.amend. the homestead.act; .one. to promote experiment in dry -land. agriculture; and several relating the public, lands. I-Hesmade- himself conspicuous by not - attempting*to:-land+ any: pork. - Any WA e rn. SN R s -:man_that isn’t mad-for pork is con- spicuous in this session:--We have " seen some pork grabbing in previous ‘years but: nothing equal to this. .. . To Kmock Out the Gumba. Dakota to aid in the maintenance of a system of public roads, a measure that ought to have the attendance o all the prople of the State. Thls is_part of a_ preconcerted ‘movément among the Senatols ‘of the ‘Western statés to utilize the public lands still remaining for truly public purposes, among them being to abol- ish the ‘ gumbo” road, famous in song and story. The McCumber bill follows the lines prescribed by the Turner resolution adopted by the North Dakota legis- lature last February. Secretary of the Interior Lane in his last report ‘for this year gives the project his warm endorsement and there is a -chance that the plan may go through, if anything goes through except mu- nition bills, and Congress: can be lured for a few moments from the pursuit of ‘oratory. Bills similar to the McCumber bill will be introduced by the Senators from Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Washington and Utah. Senater Mc€Cumber calls attention to the fact that North Dakota casts 100,000 votes: and that 25,000 automo- bile licenses-were granted; in the State this year, which is one automobile for every four voters. The interest from cuch a fund-as the bill seeks.to cre- ate would” be enough to insure gooa roads for the whole State. Proposed: Homesiead Eaw Ghanges. One of Senator McCumber's: home- sead bills has the important provis- ion that any man t%at has commutea his homestead can take anothzr in the Rerrresentative Norton in the House government lands. ‘and. Senator McCumber in the Senate .introduced, bills' providing for grants of public lands to the State of North Dakota to aid in the maintainance of the State Normal school at Minot. ‘Mr. Norton’s bill provuies for 200,000 “acres, part of which is to be used to estblish’ a. normal schodl”wést of the Missouri. Senator McCumber has an- other bill, (Senate Bill 815), to grant '300 00 acres of publie land to North W MAURICE DAMOUR French .- Commercial and ery to reconstruct her lndustrles. ae: . stroyed or crippled by the war. The commission arrived aboard, the new- M.’ Damour- is. well liner Lafayette. known in New Orleans, where he was * the former French consul general. He is secretary of the committee of ap 'deputlea. According to the members af the". rndustriaf i ! Missicn, of which Maurice: Damour 18 at the head, France Is to spend $1 ,000,+ ; 000,000 in the United. States on machin. . An interesting situation is revealed: in this measure. In, 1900, in an ob- scure hill providing for the relief of the “Colorado Cooperative Colony, there was tucked away an ltem giv- ing any settler who had commuted his homestead prior to June 5, 1900, “thé"Fight“to take another homestead. This measure was passed, in this form, and as a.result only those can take ad- vantage of this law who were fortun- ate enough to have commuted their homesteads before June 5, 1900. The McCumb:r hill would privilege to all who have commuted homesteads by payment to the gov- ernment., Another McCumber bill that will ~attract general attention is one to © increase ,the pay of rural mail car- 1 . be controlled from Wall Street, there riers”in the cities. extend this Connected Up at Last. Schafer, the county seat of McKen- zie county, is to have better mail service in the future. At present the mail is brought by wagon sixty miles from Williston, with the result that the service is frequently interrupted in bad weather. This practice has continued although a branch line of the Great Northern Railroad, with train service, runs within four mifes of Schafer. The postoffice depart- «ment this week advertised for bids for transporting the mail to Schafer from Watford, a station on this branch line four miles distant. Slow If Not Sure. . Although Governor Hanna is on rec- ord with a statement that funds have been appropriated for the construc- tion of a postoffice building at Dick- inson, Stark County, N. D., investiga- tion here fails to bear him out. Thg sum of $10,000 was appropriated. for the site, and it was bought for $9;- 500, but, though the plans for the structure have been completed, the appropriation of cash to start the: work of building has not been made by Congress. It will probably be in- cluded in this year’s buildings bill, which means that the contract will be let next summer and the work of construction start in. the spring of 1917. The government can’t be hur- ried in these matters. Rural Credits: So far in the present session of Congress fifty-four bills have been, introduced dealing in some way or other with the burning issue of Rural Credits. Most of thece bills are no good and some of them are rank, putrid and odorous frauds. The bill of Senator Fletcher, which I am sorry” to say is the bill the Administration will support, . is. al. ready and will go in" soon. “It wil bz backed by the Democratic major- ity and therefore crowd out consid- eration; of any of the meritorious bills, the net result being that: the farmer will get the ha-ha as usual and-'not a. condition will be changer. The Fletcher bill excludes the gov- ernment from any share in Rural Credits and puts tke whale thing under the control of the Federal Re- serve Board. Inasmuch as the Federal Reserve Board is sufficiently’ well known ta H. L. FINNESETH AND FAMILY. Mr. Finneseth is 42 y:ars of age and was born in Minnescta, propriations of the F’rench chamber ol on a komestead near Norwich, N, Dalk. in 1899 wkere he has lived ever He filed: R A i 5_11}‘}9-\/.,1{@.} hag,jmed ~all, hxsnl ife_aad. Jfiwstrqng for the League are those that do not share the Ad- ministration’s enthusiasm in this mat- ter. They say, What’s the Use? They might also say that with the Reserve Board composed chiefly of Paul Warburg of Kuhn, Loeb & Co., and Charley Hamlin of Morgan & Co., the farmer would have a fat chance to get any financial freedom. It doesn’t make much differences The thing isn’t likely to go through, But if there is another attempt to lead the farmer into the sweet and refining influences of Wall Street, the fact has some passing interest. It shows that Qur Best Circles are far from indifferent to the lowly agriculturist—so* long as he has a dollar left that they can get. Bonds and Taxation. Senator McCumber on, Saturday is- sued a statement entreating the Ad- ministration not. to. pile more taxes on the people to meet the Treasury deficit, but to issue bonds and take care of the bonds by raising the tar- iff rates. next rates. “The war tax:is now. unpopular and -to. extend it will increase its. unpop- ularity,” said McCumber. “Why dis- tress ourselves now with more exces sive tax burdens. when we can issue bonds. The next Republican Congress will ilncrease the customs duties and. that will take care of the bonds when they fall due.” He added that. to. tax gasoline and kerosene: hits every farm, and tends to check the. spread of automobiles which are now giving farm life an attractiveness it never had before. A Very Good Reason.—During the lesson ‘one- afternoon a violent thun- derstorm arose, .and, to lessen the fright of the children, the teacher began, telling of the wonders of the elements. “And now, Jilmmy, she asked, “why is it that lightning never strikes twice in the same place?” “Because,” said Jimmy confidently, “after it hits once, the same glace ain’t there any more.” WILLIAM J. FLYNN William J. Flynn, chiet of the Unit. ed States secret service, has taken personal charge of the hunt for the instigators of the plot to dynamite. ships of the allies leaving the United States with arms for the allied armies and which resulted in the arrest of Robert Fay, Walter 8cholz and others in New York.