The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, February 3, 1916, Page 5

T ~ North Dakot Washington, Feb. 1.—The: Shackel- ford, good roads bill which passed the house a few days ago and' is expected' to pass the senate; contains features that will greatly interest every farm- er in the country and ought to inter- est everybody else. _For one thing it is a highly success- ful effort to get around the old State’s: Rights difficulty, but there is more in it than that. The bill appropriates $25,000,000" a year, which, less the expenses of ad- 1l ministration, is to be divided. among * the States on a rather peculiar basis, like this: The sum of $65,000 is to be given to each: state outright, on compliance with certain regulations, for the pur- “pose of building good roads. One half of the remaining sum is to be appropriated to the states according to population, and the other half is is to be appropriated according to the ratio of rural free delivery mile- age in each state. f How WNorey is Obtained The certain regulations of which I spoke a moment ago are that in any State the highway department, if it has- such a thing, or the if it has no highway department, files with the depatrment of agriculture a statement that a certain road is about to be constructed and requests for it a bit: of the $25,000,000. The department of agriculture looks over the specifications and if .they are all right, sends on ‘the cash to the extent of not more than one- - half of what the department holds to. be a reasonable cost for building the whole road. The State is to furnish the rest. . The total amount so furnished to any state is to be limited to the amount it is' entitled to under the appropriation before described. Representative Shackelford thinks this is a peach of a. bill and solves all the road problems of all the Unit- ed States. The trouble seems to be that it gives more to States that like New York -and Massachusetts have good roads than it gives to the western: states that have prairie gum- bo to contend” with: Slated for Passage: -The Lever warehouse bill, which: was debated this week in the house committee of the whole and: is slated’ for passage, has been up before in substantially the- same- shape: It seeks: to put the: elevaton and: warehouse business under the control, more or less; of the secretary of agriculture. The secretary is: author- ized; to issue licenses to persons that desire to conduct warehouses (which: ‘includes: elevators) for the- reception and. storage of staple and non-perish- able agricultural ~products, (which means grain and flax-seed:): THe: warehouse (or elevator) man must file a bond' with the secretary and: agree to comply with all the provis- ions of the act, or he gets no: license. - All' warehouses- under this law are governor THE NONPARTISAN LEADER Bv WILLIS J. RUTLEDGE Special Representative of the Leader at Washington covering the grain they have inspect- ed, and graders against whom charges are sustained may be removed by the secretary. On the graders’ certificates the warehouse: man' is to issue receipts for each consignment of grain receiv- ed' by him, and deliver the grain on the: presentation of the receipt. Each consignment to be stored by itself, or under certain restrictions it may be mixed with other grain of the same grade, but the mixing of differ- ent- grades is strictly forbidden. A Dangerous: Loophole One of the weak points about thic bill' is its vague provisions about grading. Any person may be licensed as a grader and he may be as com- ‘pletely under the control of thke ele- vator combine as any graders are now. If his work is proved to be unsatis- factory he may be removed, but the process will be long and unhandy. It is not easy to see how-the essen- tials of the present rotten conditions are to be much changed by this bill, although if all elevators should come under it some. grain doctoring and hocussing might “be knocked out. S’Lill(,1 the measure is likely to be en- acted. Warning of the approach of a new wheat rust, more destructive than black rust has been served on wheat belt congressmen by the department of agriculture. The new rust, which is' called striped rust, is on its way east from Oregon and Washington and has aleeady been observed as far east as the Gallatin Valley, Montana. Unless this ruseis.ol;zked it threat- ens the entire wheat producticn*or the northwest. Through the efforts of Representa- tive Helgesen of North Dakota, who declares that the situation is serious for North Dakota wheat growers, an item: of $5,000 to fight this: new rust has: been. included: in. the pending ap- propriation Bill. This amount may be increased later. There is also includ- ed an item: of $5,000 to continue the fight against black rust. Billi is: Balked Through the efforts of Senator Gronna the senate' committee on agri- culture’ was balked in'its purpose’ to report out for consideration this week the committtee’s' grain stand- ardization bill . Gromma is: charging that the milling, interests-have gained control ' of the committee, and that the: bill as'it now stands'is one drawn for the benefit of the millers to the detriment of the grain growers. Be cause’ of Gronna’s oppositiom the com- - mittee has agreed to. hold the meas- to. be subject to: the: inspection of . the department of agriculture, which may suspend or cancel a license after a hearing. Licensed' Grader and' Weigher . Grading and weighing' are to be done by persons licensed by the sec- retary of agriculture, whose depart- ment is to fix the standards. Licens- ed graders are to: issue certificates R PAPEN] \‘ - Of the Week. * The first' decisive surrender of’ of peace after the former's:ca; ure: for further consideration. The: farmers: have been: asking for overnment standards and inspecticn. e bill' as: the: committee intended to:report it. provided: for government standards but not for government 'in- spection, but only government super- vision of the grades. This, declares Gronna, is exactly what the millers want, since' such: a: law. would protect them against mixing, whereas the farmer would: have no protection in law against being: defrauded in the grading. n3 the war was barely gverted when King Nicholas of* pital:hadibeen: captured. Furtier Balkan difficulties: at Piraeus and Phaleron, near Athens, Greece, while rumors:of. ade of'Germany by Admiral.Jellicoe to satisfy neutrals were Papen: confiscated: by: thie" Brifish were' certain check” stubs: which may indicate his financial’ backing of German recalled. General Huerta, former provisional president of Mexico, diediwhile '@ prisoner: of! the" United States:. Ge: his search of Mexican bandits who killed seventeen: Americans.. An explosion on submarine E-2:in: A great federal investigation not only of the alleged combine to control the price of Mexican sisal, from which inder twine is made, but also of any combination which may now be rais- ing the price of next year’s suprly of binder twine, now seems to be assur- ed. It will be one of the most import- ant trust investigations since the prosecution of the International Har- vester company. Senator Gronna has served notice on Chairman Gore of the committee that if the resolution is not speedily reported out, he will bring the affair to the attention of the senate by a speech. Gore has indicated that he will yield to Gronna’s insistence. North Pakota Visitors Washington was full of North Da- kota visitors during the past week. Among them were the following: O. P. N. Anderson, North Dakota state railroad commissioner, was here on the invitation of the interstate commerce commission to confer on the best methods: for use in the fed- eral valuation of railroads in North Dakota. Prof. Herbert A. Hard, department . of geology in the state agricultural college at Fargo, was in Washington making his rerort to the geological survey by which he is employed. Samuel H. Greeley of St. Paul, Minn., well known in North Dakota for his activities in connection with the Equity educational campaign, was here for two days last week. To Legalize Homesteads Senator McCumber ‘has been asked ! - *%c land officc to introduce a spécial bin+-we. ‘>~alize the homestead holding of Christian Frederickson at Ray, N. D. It seems ickson had formerly proved up on homesteads, ore of 80 acres in Minne- sota, and another of 50 acres near Minot, N. D: Unaware that under the law he was: prohibited. from. tak- ing a new homestead, he entered on his present one—which is 160’ acres in area—seven years ago. The land office agents were in error in permit- ting him to make this entry, al- though Frederickson made no at- tempt to conceal his former home- stead holdings. ; Under the circumstances Secretary of the Interior Lane feels that the government yculd be doing Freder- ickson an injurtice if i were io- de- prive Lim of Lis preccnt howmesizad, ixlpd a special law is asked to protect im. The Present Outlook Among the developments of the: week -of. interest to agriculture was the receipt of memorials from Ne- braska farmers: aking for an' embargo on all shirments: of munitions until the present congestion of grain ship- ments has ‘been relieved. A resolu- tion is in to provide for this. Senator Sheppard of Texas has in- troduced a bill” to establish' coopera- tive rural banking associations and another to 'promote- rural education. The great number of petitions and memorials in favor of a rural credit system indicates the intense interest that Freder- ' ¢ FIVE: a at the National Capital in' this subject in: all parts of the- country. Representative Norton of North Dakota is trying to get his rural credit bill, recently reviewed in these columns, from the committee on agri- culture to the committee on banking and currenecy, where it will' have a better chance. b_ll'l’resent copdition of agricultural ills: Hollis rural credit bill (adminis- tration measure, slated for passage) Senate committee on banking and cur- rency. Shackelford good roads bill—Sen- ate committce on agriculture. Stockraising: homestead bill—Senate committee on public lands. McCumber grain inspection bill— Senate committee on agriculture. MANY TRIPS TO MARKET Commmissioner . of Agriculture and Labor R. F. Flint Las estimated that the 1915 crop of wheat, oats, barley, rye, flax, speltz, potatoes and corn aggregate 346,582,509 bushels, in ad- dition to which he estimates that 2,- 197,002 tons of hay were harvested. From ' these estimates W. Bliss, state engineer, has compiled the fol- cost lowing information concerning the cost of marketing this crop, which is of interest: The total number of bushels of crop as given: above amounts to 8§,- 545,997 tons, to which must be added the hay, making a total of 10,742,999 tons of farm products. The best in- formation available shows that of this total tonnage approximately 6,000,000 tons have been, or eventually will be, hauled to market over the various gub]ic roads of the state. The United tates Department of Agriculture es- timates that in North Dakota the av- erage load is 66 bushels of wheat or its equivalent, amounting to a trifle more than 1.8 tons. It would take 3,333,333 trips with one wagon, or a %\ .. ' °"in 16,000 miles in length, or 40 wagon trams-stretching across the state from east to~ west, to market the 1915 crops. i The United States Department of’ Agriculture, in Farmers’ Bulletin 672, states that the average distance to market for North Dakota is seven miles. Accepting this as being cor- rect, the work required, to market the. 1915 crop will be 42,000,000 ton miles, and assuming that 15 cents is the average cost of moving one ton one mile, the total cost of moving the 1915 crop from the farm to the market. will be- $6,300,000, or just a few cents less than $10 for every man, woman. and child. in. the state. In. other words; the total cost of marketing is 2.8 per cent of the total estimated value of the entire pro- duction: for 1915, or' 3:8 per cent of the value of that portion of the crop which is sold, the estimated value of' the total crop being $226,- 218,053, while. the value: of that. por- tion marketed is- estimated: at $160,-+ 892,846. Looked: at- from the' viewpeint of’ dollars and cents only;, and: consid- ering only the transportation of’ crops: to market, the importance of constructing. better roads and. more: efficiently: maintaining those: already built becomes strikingly a parent, since better roads mean, within rea- sonable limits, bigger loads. Montenegro refused’ Austria’s proffered terms: manifested tliemselves when the-allies landed revolution in: Greeee were heard. ‘Working:plans:for a:real block- being considered:by England: Among the effects of Captain von propaganda’ In this country before lie was neral ‘Crevino; Carranza's-officer, continued: drydoek-at Brooklyn resulted:is Sye-deaths. -