The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, May 4, 1916, Page 12

Force: Vo {5 i {' i i 8.3 bl } g o7 ¢ ¢ s e -h.- b | The Leader’s Washingtoh Bureau ! I . . 802 Riggs Building ' ‘Washington, D. 'C., May 1.—The efforts of the house to attach the grain’grading ‘bill, the federal ware- house bill and other beneficent meas- ures -to the agricultural:-appropria- tion 'bill as riders was a clever piece of legislative strategy to force the senate to take some action on these billsi: The house in previous sessions has. ‘passed all of’ these measures after "full debate,but the powers op- gosing' them have always been able to efeat them in the senate simply by keeping them in the committee. By putting them on the agricultural appropriation 'bill, however, they are brought automatically out.upon the senate floor on their own.merits, be- cause the senate would not dare kill the whole agricultural appropriation bill. It is to be hoped that the efforts ‘‘of the house in this direction will be successful. ; One of the most important ofthese .measures .is. the government ware- house bill. = Its, importance to the wheat grower is not always fully ap- preciated. . It was originally started on its legislative career by southern- ers who wished to relieve the finan- cial embarassment of the cotton planters by :allowing them to borrow money on their. cotton crop. The bill at first provided only for cotton ware- houses in which cotton could be stored, the planters using their warehouse receipts as _prime -commercial paper :gor %lscomting in the Federal Reserve ank, SOLVE GRADE ABUSE BY WAREHOUSE PLAN ' 'The members of congress from the Northwest at once saw in this meas- ure an opportunity: for the wheat raisers, and amendments were offered and accepted = providing:. for wheat warehouses and authorizing ‘the use of wheat warehouse receipts as prime: paper. ; { It was in the hearings on the meas- ure last year, however, that the great benefit to be éxpected from such ware- houses was shown. The bill, giving the farmers government. warehouses, or private warehouses under-govern- ment superyision, necessarily pres- cribed government i spection - ani wheat stored’ in. these warehouses would for the most part be export wheat. : T Then witnesses - pointed = out : the great abuses in the grading of wheat for export. No. 2 wheat in Liverpool is not the same thing at all as No. 2 wheat in North Dakota, yet the North Dakota price is based on the Liver- ool price for No. 2, The Liverpool uyer, in paying for wheat, does not go by the grade number at all but by actual inspection .of the product. Theerfore there is in. Liverpool 'no single price paid for No. 2 wheat. - On the same day No. 2 wheat in Liver- pool will sell in as wide varieties ‘as - twenty cent$ a bushel, depending‘en- tirely upon the quality of the ‘wheat. - The manipulations ' of the exporters in these grades was recently vividly shown when the ‘Ttalian government dumped into the sea millions of ‘bush- els of American wheat on the ground that it was unfit for use. The Italian government has brought suit against the exporters for millions of dollars. Yet Nthiszrottenv wheat was all exported as No. 2. § WHEAT FARMER PAYS FOR MANIPULATIONS The wheat farmer, of course, pays the cost “of such manipulation. He has to sell his No. 2 wheat on the basis of Liverpool, although tHe Liver- Bool grade is lower than the North akota grade. . ingpection and grading for export, wflf, it is believed, end this abuse and result in establishing in Liverpool the- North- - Dakota’ grades. When' the Liverpool buyers: become acquainted * with the actual gradesiof our wheat as they are sold by the farmers it will be impossible:ever to” go:back’ to i the present loose grading of wheat. for ort. Representative Helgesen of North . Dakota, who has been a supporter of : the warehouse bill in the agricultural committee, believes that the”American een whipsawed literally - out~of bil- . ‘lions of dollars thiou_'gh the difference v ‘the . pending’ United States tr ““involve! Federal - warehouses, with federal . such thing? . Not so you _it in the Northwest, an; it)min growers in the past years have = - i - “By WILLIS J. RUTLEDGE in grading in Li;erpool-and_ gt_.\ the elevators in the United States. SHOWS SOFT SNAPS IN THE HOLLIS BILL The rotten, fraudulent Hollis rural credit bill has been discussed every day this week in the senate. ; It least “discussed” is what they call it there. As a matter of fact, it has been chiefly talked at by gentle- men that showed in a rather painful way that they were not acquainted with the subject.’ It is mnot “to be denied that so. far the honors-of the: debate have gone to ‘Senator Me- Cumber. - ‘His speech was=about the only utterance:that ‘showed research or reflection; the others too often in- dicated the common idea of lawyer legislators to give the farmer plenty of good wishes and forget him. Senator McCumber analyzed the Hollis bill from a serious point of view and showed conclusively that a piece of 'machinery so. cumbersome-and in- tricate could never be made to work. He took wup : the “administrative features and astonished the:senate by a demonstration of the enormous cost involyed. * Strange -as it may .seem, nobody had thought:of. that. ] Nobody had thought, for instance, that to get one of the twelve rezional bank: provided in the bill started so that it could do anv business would cost more than its capital, but such, as McCumber showed, is the fact. He ripped up the” soft snaps pro: vided and indicated some wonder as te what these high salaried gentlemen were to do tesiearn their ample pay. méfiion that Senator Hol- ef champion of . the tSn]tlt,ls e of ‘these snup 1gye ‘done Sou - TO OFEER SUBSTiTUTE FOR Hogms MEASURE : Senator McCumber has prepared. a substitute that h%f““? soon offer for ) ‘bill. It 'provides . .a simple and_entirély feasible plan for a ‘real rural credit _System. The per cen is to issue against these an equal amount'of its bonds at'4 per cent.. The difference, % of 1 per:.cent," is “to provide-for the ' expenses. National banks and feredal offices al- ready in existence are to: be utilized to carry out the provisions of the act. The effect of this would be to reduce all farm mortgages in the country to 4% per cent. o - 3 When you compare this with the actual interest' rates that the Leader lately showed to be the rule in' North Dakota, you are amazed to think that any sincere legislator would waste a moment on a huge, clumsy and un- g.(firkable makeshift like. the Hollis 111, The explanation of this mystery is simple, -although no one has so far pointed it out in the senate debate. The strength.of the Hollis bill is that very fact that it can never be made to work.! That’s why ‘Wall Street wants it and is fooling ‘honest men about it. oy % ° WALL STREET WANTS THE PRESENT SYSTEM. *If the scheme can’t be worked -the present system will not be disturbed, and Wall -Street wants: the present system. : - The Wall Street contingent in the senate is-hard at work for this, and is being helped by some others that are too: azg ‘or too dull to see what is In the . lgo'uSé, Representative Blackmon of Alabama took a hack at the Hollis fraud and declared his'con- _clusion from careful study of it, that it was utterly worthless as any relief for the farmer.. He proposed to sub: istitute 'a measare. .authorizing . the ‘Federal Ri banks to. “on first: mortgag: against them:at' 4 per cent. The: only. trouble.about thi to be the Reserve bank.: 'I.Théwgdodi rozds bill -was aiéa%rr ufi in ‘the senate and there was. fina]ly 2 s . culture,which iz to elect delegates to Ly &a al brought out about it some information 'tl_lat should have been furnished long ago. : ¢ *The bill provides that the United States shall appropriate for:the first year $5,000,000, for the second, $10,- 000,000, for the third, $15,000,000, and 80 on to, 25,000,000 a year in aid. of good roads in all the states. Nobody could say exactly how the division of this would ‘work out as' provided in the bill, but the informa'ion is now at hand. - It shows, for instance, that North Dakota-would receive from the national = ‘treasury the first year $78,400, the ‘second year, $156,800, ~the third year: $235,200, the fourth year $3183,600, and every year there- after $392,000 for. road building. In South Dakota the amount would - be $83,750 and rise to the permanent figure of $418,750, and in Minnesota it would begin with $146,050 and rise to $730,250. : % - One of the vicious features of the measure is revealed in the fact that it would give New York state, which has the best roads in the Union and is best able to construct them, $1;292,- 500 and to -Pennsylvania $1,195,250. There is more bad road in one county - of North- Dakota than in :eitheér of these states and the difficulty of mak- ing good roads is fifty times as great. . The bill is slated by the powers that . be to pass but it-is meeting with much opposition and may fail. AGRICULTURE CHAMBER IS OBJECT -OF MEASURE .. Senator Sheppard in the sénate and Representative Goodwin in the house this week introduced an identical bill ish the-National Chtgxtnéber, of - United ‘States. t.is'in most respects similar to the Bill T described at the beginning of the ““session. “Fhe-general plan is to have twenty or more farmers in each town- ship ‘in thé country organize a town- ship -chamber of agriculture and elect delegates to a county chamber of agri- a state chamher of agriculture 53 % e framers:of this measure ope that it may in time be some solution of the farmer’s ‘problems of buying and selling. “The practical function o; the chamber is' found in Section 28; which provides that whenever a town- ship chamber, or any member of it; wishes to buy- or sell any agricultural product or anything related to farm- ing, or to get any information about any such product or commodity, ‘the member or the township chamber refers the matter to the local secre- tary, and if he cannot get what is wonted he refers the ‘quest to the county secretary, and thus it goes up to ihe national chamber, whose duty will be to act upon it at once. But of course, if any secretary on the way can get what is wanted, he gets it and settles the matter. ; Until - 'a = permanent national . chamber is elected the president of the United States is authorized to ap- point’ a temporary organization of ° nine, six‘ of ‘'whom must be practical farmers, to supervise the work of forming the subordinate chambers; They are to be'paid $20 a day and expenses, and an ‘appropriation of $250,000 is asked for this item. This bill is known as S. 5687 and H. R. 14903 and copies are at this bureau - for anyone-that is interested in it. . FARGO POSTOFFICE BILL IS INTRODUCED . - Representative Helgesen intgrbduce;i" 3 this week the bill forthe new Fargo post. office ‘to. be :‘erected ‘on ‘the ‘-present site and to.cost $300,000.: " | . ‘tion:of ‘a-bridge o +Caledonia; - Traill ¢ .. departimcnt. recentl sen’s request to declari non-navigable; but officials: ns'sure:d the: congressman th ey would app i I ut dtawbh%l‘gg .i’i ‘ Senate Reqitired .fo_ Conslder [Fdfmers’, Bill To Equalize the Grading Rules on Grain . -will place elk, antelope andwxld blrds ' was acompanied by his wife ‘Mrs. Frank 8. Wallace of Pas fhus saving an 'expense which has held -%ack bridge " building on this river. 'he Caledonia bridge will not.be pro=": vided with a draw, and Helgesen ex- - ‘pects the ‘war department to approve the. bill. i Gerivo: Representative Norton last week introduced a - bill to appropriate ! . $100,000 to pay for experiments in the . utilization of lignite coal, particularly its possibilities for the production of benzol, dyes and-explosive materials. - RIFLE CLUB PLAN R GETTING RESPONSES As the result of the notice in the Nonpartisan - Leader many applica- tions are coming ‘from North Dakota young men to Representative George ° M. Young, 115 House Office building, asking for his assistance in the form- ation of rifle clubs under government aid and supervision. Last week ap- plications ‘were received from -pros- pective clubs at McClusky, Sheridan county; .. Goodrich, Wells county; Cooperstown, Griggs county; Nordu- - lac, Foster county, and other places.: An application came to'Representative Norton'" from = Hettinger, - Adams county. In all these cases the con- gressmen sent to the applicants the necessary blank papers for the organ- ization, and when:these ‘are returned properly filled out by the government willp supply army rifles and ammu- nitiion to the club members. Any ten boys or men can form one of these. clubs. . . ; During .the debate on the agricul- tural appropriation bill in the house last: week Representative George M. Young of Valley City sketched in glowing terms the future” of ' Sullys Hill National Park on the shores of Devils . Lake, Young said that the government’ will make ‘this place a paradise on earth. The pending bill containg an appropriation of:$5000 to pay:for a waxden’s house and corral for . wild animals. The American Bison society has “already announced its intention to. stock. the reservation . with buffalo, while ‘the government NORTH DAKOTA FOLKS AT NATIONAL CAPITAL - Rev. J. .G: Moore of Bismarck, dis-| trict superintendent of the Methodist: - Episcopal church; was a wvisitor in; Washington last. week. He is a dele~ gate to the general church conference at Saratoga, N. Y., next month. On Sunday Rev. Mr. Moore preached: a sermon. at: the :‘Washington church.of’ ' which Rev. F. M. McCoy, formerly of . ° Grand ‘Forks, is the pastor.: . { Another delegate to this same con-.: ference who.. visited. in: Washington last week was A. J. Wallace of T.os: Angeles, lieutenant ‘governor of Cali-- fornia. Mr. Wallace formerly lived.in Drayton, Pembina county, N D. He his brother ‘and sister-in-law, Mr, Cal. * Mr. Wallace 'is: now the B: Senator from Califon‘fig. ull ‘Moose candidate for United States Farmers’ Cooperative Elevator com- a passport- to ‘Mr. Hen~" . drickson is expected here next week: to receive his fiasqufl:-from the state HE AR ,:.;.~.;4.~_\..:-..'.v;.‘;.;.\m;.,._fi.,;«.‘ A H. M. Hendrickson, manager of the 4