The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, July 15, 1918, Page 19

"y, W v—///él INEWS 9///////’ GRAIN CORPORATION STOCK INCREASED To enable the federal grain cor- poration to greatly increase its busi- ness, its capital stock has been in- creased from $50,000,000 to $150,000,- 000 for the coming year. By means of this machinery the food adminis- tration is able to go directly\ into the market to buy and sell where it thinks such action necessary for ~proper regulation. - All the stock, of course, is held by the government. During the last year among other activities it handled 90,000,000 bushels of wheat directly without the intervention of middlemen and it took charge of the mixing of wheat at terminal eleva- tors, formerly one of the big sources of profiteering in wheat. PLATINUM JEWELRY WEARERS CLASSED AS SLACKERS - ~“The newest type of slacker and one who. is doing his country a great amount of harm is the man or woman who buys or even encourages the pur- chase of platinum jewelry,” according to the bureau of mines, department of the interior. Platinum is very scarce, and is greatly needed in war supply production. The very rich have been preferring it to gold for ornaments because only a very few .can afford it. BUSINESS OF GRAIN CORPORATION ; With a capital of $50,000,000, the -grain corporation of the federal food administration has handled directly wheat, flour, beans and other "prod- - ucts for internal and allied army and navy purposes to the amount of $4560,- 000,000. On July 1, after a year of ‘operation, this corporation has its original capital intact and a small surplus. . 5 FREIGHT RAISE ADDED TO WHEAT PRICE The food administration is re- adjusting. - prices of wheat at the guaranty terminals, so far as the complex problem of railway rates will permit, so as to give the farmer the price he obtained prior to the recent increase in rates on. wheat. Otherwise this rate increase would have been subtracted from the farm- er’s- price. MAXIMUM PRICES ON LUMBER The Official Bulletin for June 24 announces that the president has ap- ‘proved the fixing of maximum prices ‘on fir logs and lumber in the Pacific “Northwest. -This is probably the be- ginning of a general effort to elimi- nate some of the profiteering in lum- ber ‘throughout the United States. Southern pine has also been included. The maximum prices are to hold for . a period of 90 days from June 15. " be ~ head, United States A - The Montana Picnics They're going to hold some great picnics out in Montana. You would know that if you saw the pile of letters from the farmers there that come every day to the Leader. The par- rot press of Montana knows it, too, and is trying to keep people away by suggesting that the farmers’ celebrations ought to. prevented. The date of the first picnic was July 13, at '~ Gavens Grove, near Bozeman. July 15 is the date for Mis- | soula county farmers to hold their jubilation. Yellowstone _county will picnic July 17; Wibaux county July 18. Look at .| this selection of speakers: A. C. Townley, Governor Frazier of 1 ‘North Dakota, Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin, Doctor Craig- i 4 ttorney Wheeler, Attorney v ’ 1d Thomas J. Arthur.. = - = glg Gy : . & Aeryrry PROFITEERING IN BUTTER 7 REDUCED “After holding conferences with representatives. of the trade, the United States food administration has issued special regulations designed to prevent undue speculation in butter, to make the route from the producer _ to the consumer as short as prac- ticable, and to limit the profits on cold storage butter.” Again those who declare our marketing system, based on- ganbling "and profiteering, perfect, get another severe jolt from the federal government. And again the demand of the organized farmers for a better marketing system makes itself felt. IMPORTATION OF MEXICAN LABOR ALLOWED On June 12, Secretary of Labor - Wilson issued an order suspending those sections of the immigration act bearing on contract labor and illiter- acy, so as to permit the importation of laborers into the United . States from Mexico during the period of the war. Provision is made for withhold- ing a certain portion of the laborer’s pay either by the employer or through the postal savings system to take care of the deportation of these immigrants at the close of the war. REGULATION OF CHEESE MARKET The food administration announced ‘June 19 that it had established rea- sonable margins of profit for dealers in cheese. Unjustifiable resales with- in the trade are prohibited and definite margins are established for cheese placed in-storage. Commissions shall not exceed one-half cent.a pound in sales“of American or Cheddar cheese. Only those who perform a necessary function in distributing cheese will be allowed to figure in any sales or pur- chases. ; SUCCESS IN SELLING LAND BANK BONDS : The federal farm loan board has " closed its bond-selling campaign and ‘accordingly instructed the 12 federal land banks and bond houses through- out the country which have been of- fering the bonds.. The campaign was inaugurated May 23 and approxi- mately $60,000,000 in bonds have been sold. This will be sufficient to meet the needs of the farm loan system for several months to come. This suc- cess of the government’s effort is the more noteworthy in view of the fact ‘that: a great bond house in the East threw up the job of selling the bonds several months ago after it had sold $31,000,000 worth. AGAIN THE GOVERNMENT PROVES - MORE {EFFICIENT THAN THE MUCH- PRAISED BIG BUSINESS ORGANI- ZATION. \,&\%\\* A\ \ ‘ing comes f£ro; prpe 7 b Y, = ‘g 4 o /) AR AR B L IF THEY TOLD THE TRUTH Governor Norbeck of South Dakota Wow! But I hate to think of how I wasted that $200 I contributed to fight Governor Frazier in North Dakota. No conservation about that. But the worst of it was, the farmers of my own state have taken it as a direct insult that I should invade a neigh- boring state and fight the farmer government. I’'m. afraid it’s going to cost me votes, and believe me, I need them bad to put up a showing against the “Norpartisan ticket right here. NOTIFICATION OF ARMY CASUALTIES & The adjutant general’s office an- nounces _that “relatives of - soldiers named in casualty lists forwarded from France by General Pershing or- dinarily are notified by telegraph within 24 hours. Most of the excep- tions to this rule are caused by cler- . ical errors, incorrect street addresses and the removal of families to other addresses. s : “There is a statistical division with a staff of officers and a corps of sten- ographers and copyists which gives all its time to the maintenance of files of soldiers’ names and addresses. ““After the completed casualty list is ready, with emergency addresses, it is withheld from publication in the newspapers. for ‘a reasonable space, out of respect for the feelings 'of relatives.” S CHICAGO LIVESTOCK WIRES T OVER As a part of ‘its plan to regulate livestock markets in the United States, the bureau of markets has taken charge of all telegraphic reports from- Chicago to other markets. In “the recent Heney investigation of the packing trust, South St. Paul market men testified that they did not know - who sent out the reports from Chi- _cago. . Now the local representatives -of Swift & Co. and the other packers -will at’ least:know where the infor- |~ mation on ‘which they do_their buy-- oY Yy, ooy Y%, e G %,? UNITED STATES EMPLOYMENT SERVICE After August'l no employer with war business who has a force of more than 100 workers will be permitted to recruit common labor and all such employers will be required to use the federal employment service. The or- der is restricted to unskilled labor but as soon as possible it will be ex- tended to include skilled labor also. In the meantime, there are a number of recent regulations to cut down the worst abuses of the old methods. The hit-and-miss methods of the private employment agencies. and of news- paper advertising are too wasteful for both employer and employe to be tol- erated by a nation at war. Draft of Idle Acres w] ARM publications every- where have come for- ward with praise of the act of the Nonpartisan administration of North Dakota in putting slacker acres to work: The Pierce publica- tions, the Capper papers and . the Equity publications are among those indorsing the action of the North Da- kota council of defense. Many editors take occasion to contrast the wide- awakeness of the Dakota war body with the political maneuvering that characterizes the corresponding or- ganizations in other states such as Nebraska and Minnesota. John W. Canada, editor of the Southland Farmer, has this to say: “The people of North Dakota, where the farmers, constituting a vast ma- jority of the population, rule, have de- creed that land may and shall be put to use for the good of the people, as was intended by the Creater of all land. “Texas has enough idle acres today to feed a great part of the nation, and clothe a great part of it, besides. When the war is over there will be mitlions of men more asking for these _ idle lands in order that they may build homes on them. Will Texas say that they shall remain idle, or put to use ‘only through the blood-money exacted by owners as price for purchase or rental by the young men now offering their lives on the battlefields of Eu- rope in order that the owners of these idle acres shall still be free men?” Wise and Foolish -~ Towns | (From the Sturgis (8. D.) ‘Call to Action) i Let it be said to the credit of most of the townspeople where the Nonpar- tisan league has been organized that they have intelligence enough to know that it is better for them to-have the farmers prosperous; that it is to their interests to save to the variouslocali- ties the millions of profits that now. go to swell the unearned incomes of " greedy capitalists, so they welcome, indorse, and encourage the Nonparti- san movements. : But there are a few who think that they can prosper best by having their customers impoverished through this blood-sucking process of the prof- iteers; or else they are willing to be- tray the interests of the entire com- munity—the farmers, laborers, busi- ness men, and all—for the privilege of being the- lickspittle of the chambers of commerce and being dragged along behind the band wagon of big business _while they imagine the collar around " their neck is a halo that makes them = ~ the chief attraction of the procession. e e | et i B