The Nonpartisan Leader Newspaper, March 3, 1919, Page 8

=, SE—— ““for which misleading | it before the ' Plot to Rob Public Domain Succeeding , Most Vicious Scheme to Grab National Wealth Ever Attempted Reported From House and Senate Conferees—Repeals Alaska Coal Lands Law Warhington Bureau, Nonpartisan Leader HE most colossal plunder of the property of the American peo- ple ever contained in any single legislative measure is outlined in the conference geport on the mineral lands' bill which was announced by Senator Pittman of Nevada on February 3. The six men who agreed to this measure were Senators Smoot of Utah, Pitt- man of Nevada and Myers of Mon- tana, and Representatives Ferris of Oklahoma, Taylor of. Colorado and - La Follette of Washington. All but Ferris were for the plunder, and Fer- ris blames a - mysterious “wireless message” received by some other member of the house for his own sur- render. At the date of this writing—Feb- ruary 7—the conferees have not yet permitted the public to see the text of the bill which they announced they had agreed upon. Yet on February 3 Pittman eagerly gave out=a state- ment which asserted that the meas- ure “satisfies” the secretary of the navy, -the secretary of the interior and the attorney general. On Feb- ruary 6 the secretary of the navy, who has had the support of the at- torney general during all these years in fighting the plunderers and defend- ing the public property in the oil lands, stated -that he knew nothing of the contents of the conference bill, had not seen the conferees in some time, and had in no way given his ap- proval. He added that he would close- ly examine it before he gave. any opinion. 1What is this mysterious bill, then, statements are put forth, but whose text is so difficult to learn in time to set American . public? A confidential print, and the tes- ment. | timony of the clerk of the committee, shows: ] | W # % ¢ i 5 § # S 1. It repeals the commodities clause of the Hepburn act, upheld in the Northern Securi- ties case, to the extent of permitting railroad companies to file on coal lands. It permits the Milwaukee road, for example, to locate and buy from the government, at a merely nominal fig- ure, 2,560 aeres of coal lands in the Northwest for every 200 miles of railroad. North Dako- tans can guess at the fate of the federal coal lands in their state when this grab is legal- ized. Senator Myers had a long, weary strug- gle of five or six years before he managed to get his. Republic Coal company bill through, a year or so back, giving to that subsidiary of the Milwaukee road 2,000 acres of coal worth about $3,000,000. : 2. TIts allowance of 2,560 acres, worth in many : regions $200,000, is just four times as generous as the nation’s neced for them. the rottenest of the previous coal land plunder bills. The famous Cunningham coal claims in Alaska, which Ballinger tried to turn over to the Guggenheims, were divided into smaller lots. 3. These rich Cunningham claims, and every bit of government cogl lands in Alaska, are thrown open by this bill. It repeals the Alaska coal lands law which resulted from the Bal- linger-Taft scandal. The Cunningham-claims, about 5,000 acres in all, could be covered by just {wo of these locations. Two men, waiting in Alaska for this rotten game to be rigged, A vein of coal on the public domain in Montana. Contrary to general impres- sion, our public lands contain vast amounts of mineral resources of all kinds which have been awaiting the approach of railroads and the development of A _great movemeni.-has sprung up among our citizens demanding that these resources be kept and developed by the govern- The servants of special privilege in congress know this, and they are trying now to steal the whole thing before a more representative body can be elected. The proposed bill described in this story affects a hundred billion tons of lignite in North Dakota alone. could get that vast fortfine in mineral wealth practically for nothing. 4. Billions of dollars’ worth of phosphate in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah are in- cluded “in this wholesale raid on your public property. Future public development, for the enrichment of the wheat land of the West by this mineral fertilizer, is made forever impos- sible when these lands have been given away. 5. All the fruits of 10 years of successful liti- gation -against Standard Oil, Southern Pacific and other robbers of the naval oil reserves in California are lost by granting to the fraudulent claimants— along with a very few honest but unjustified ones —possession and seven-eighths of the oil from ~ wells they have driven on the naval reserve lands. Not merely that, but these robbers are given back seven-eighths of the money the government has won from them in the courts, under title decisions in the government’s favor. This part of thg out- rage is known as the Phelan oil bill, and it has been under the special protection of Senatpr Pitt- | man in the conference. : = Secretary Daniels has repeatedly declared in public statements, supported by Attorney Gen- eral Gregory, that the loss of these naval oil reserves will imperil the future of our navy, which has been equipped with oil-burning en- gines. He has insisted that these oil reserves were a part of the equipment of the navy for the future, and has demanded that they be put directly in the care of the navy department. The conference re- port puts them in the care of the interior department, which is, very polite, indeed, to the oil companies. Senators Borah and Lenroot have pledged themselves to save the naval oil reserves. Borah has promised that he will resist every effort to give away any more mineral lands to private ex- ploitation. He stands for public de- velopment and public ownership as the soundest policy in handling these great reserves of fuel and of mineral fertilizer. But what of the wireless messages from over the sea? One is alleged to have reached the department of the interior suggesting that “legislation” is needed at this time. Another is said to have reached the department of justice suggesting that this is not the occasion to resist the development of these coal and oil and phosphate lands. And one is sup- posed to have reached Congressman Sims of Tennessee, who has been leading the opposition in the house to the worst of the robber waterpower bills, while seeking to pass a compro- mise measure. p If President Wilson has been per- suaded, when far from his liberal ad- visers, to recommend in general terms that “legislation” be ‘passed, and if weak defenders of the public interest use this excuse to “lie down,” who is influencing his judgment over there? : Possibly Edward N. Hurley could answer. Thomas F. Logan, socidl lbbbyist, who testified before the senate committee on agriculture in the packer inquiry that he draws $14,400 from the Standard Oil company of Indiana, one of the Stand- ard Oil subsidiaries, and $500 a month at odd times from the Standard Oil company of New Jersey, and $6,000 .a year from the General Electric company, —is Hurley’s close friend and adviser. Logan went to Europe with Hurley, and sat in on the official food conferences. Three years ago, writing to the president to oppose an investigation of the pack- ers, Hurley lugged into his letter a demand for waterpower legislation. Perhaps he has been talk- ing to the president, who is busy with many other .things. : Secretary Daniels and the people of the coun- try are the last line of defense of these bil- lions of our public resources. The robbers are breaking through. ! ‘Canadian Expert Backs. Up- Dr. Ladd - Dominion Grain Research Laboratories Also Find That Milling Value Tests . . Do Not Justify Difference in Grade Prices—11.16 Cents Actual Spread | . BY T. SANDERSON, Expert Miller, North Dakota Agricultural College. = HE Grain Growers’ Guide, offi- cial paper of the organized farmers of western Canada, carries an article in its issue of November 13 showing the re- sults of elaborate milling and baking tests of the different grades of wheat. These tests were made by the Dominion # grain research laboratories at Winnipeg, and in’ discussing them Doctor Birchhard, head of the ]a‘uo;‘atqries, is qu_oted as followq: e S A A A e et i e -0 el i i B M A B AR PO ST ‘“An examination of the results shown herewith _demonstrates that “very, little difference appears to exist in the value of the first four grades, either as regards milling yields or baking value. The greatest 'difference in flour. yield is 1.5 per cent, which amount is negligible in work of this charac- "ter. That the samples have all been milled to the same extent is shown by the ash content and also by.an examination of the offal. As regards the remaining grades, No. 5 is equal to the others in yield of flour and loaf volume, but the color of the flour is somewhat gray. No. 6 gave a slightly smaller milling yield than the others and the color of the flour is still darker than No. 5, and the loaf PAGE EIGHT A volume smallest of all. The ash content of grades No. 5 and No. 6 is also somewhat higher than the others, but this is always the case in flours made from wheat containing any considerable propor- tion of frosted grains. i “On the whole, however, it may be said that, as regards the samples tested from this year’s- crop, there is very little difference in value between the first four grades and not very much difference. be- tween No. 5 and No. 6, though the difference in- value between No. 5 and No. 6 is greater than that - between any of the first four grades. “It should also be stated that the laboratory has never before until this year examined average: & oy o