Nebraska Newspapers

    THE SEMI WEEKLY TRIBUNE, NORTH PLATTE, NEBRASKA,
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BSSSHSstauaMBnNHl
THE jmthoii wlm defined a gen-Ill-man
fanner us one who never
raised anything except his hut re
ferred to our Uncle Sumuol of tho
United SJutos department of agri
culture, nil I can sny Is that said
person 1m a comedian who can't
comede. Pardon the assumption,
hut I can prove this. In fact, I
would het one of Samuel's per
fectly good heaver huts on It.
The other day I took dinner at
Ithe Doughnut Cahlnet In tho New Wlllurd hotel, In
tour capital city, and had a talk with Undo Sain
land a few of his congressmen. Oh, no, this Dough
!nut Cabinet has nothing to do with a kltchou cubl
Inch nor thnt tasty breakfast mortal It's tho room
which some of your Uncle Sam's servants nro said
to seek when thoy wnnt to "talk It over" and dluo a
hit at tho samo time. I simply took notes as I
talked with Undo Sam and his servants. Ono
tongrcssmnn was In a particularly loquacious mood
(and his thoughts turned toward agriculture.
"You know," said tho congressman, "I was hack
Siomo n while beforo election and I mot Fnrmer
(Smith whom I know as a hoy. Nuturally I was
,'lad to soo him, hut I couldn't help pulling my tlme-
vorn offer on him, tho formula for which runs like
his: 'Sly dear Smith, I hnvo at my dlnposal a long
1st of bulletins published by the department of
agriculture at Washington 5 1 also have n few pack
ages of needs selected for mo by tho department's
Kclcntlsts.. It would afford mo groat pleasure, my
lold friend, to send to you either tho goods or somo
tof tho bulletins. What will it bo, Smith?'
"Now, Smith bus no moss growing on his domo,
loven If ho did tnko off Jls cap and scratch his head
Iboforo ho mndo his decision. lie had received both
bulletins and seeds from mo innuy times before.
'Well,' said Smith, 'I think I would rather hnvo a
bulletin with a live thought In It than a seed with u
Wend germ.' "
"Apparently Farmer Smith appreciates my bulle
tin's," exclaimed Undo Snm, "I'm glnd to hear
that, for I'm making every effort to put Into them
Kho practical knowledge dug out by my scientists
land lnvestlgntors. Last year I distributed through
you congressmen and the department of agriculture
upward of 14,000,000 copies of Farmers' Bulletins,
tho subjects of which covered In some respects tho
lentiro gamut of tho widely varied activities of tho
Idepartmcnt. JJut It Is Impossible for mo to supply
loven tho six million farm families with all of tho
bulletins Issued. Consequently the bulletins of tho
'department are regarded as n foundation work
lupon which tho superstructure h (milt.
"To supplement theso bulletins I decided about
tthrco years ago to have a regular servlco bureau
isuch as is provided by some of the largo business
(enterprises, only mlno was to tap a reservoir so
Igrent and ho deep as to contain an luoxlmustlblo
fund of unbiased, scientific Information. I chris
tened this innovation 'ofllco of Information,' and it
lias lived up to Its name,
"In order to start tho ofllco of Information on tho
jrlght basis from tho standpoint of tho newspapers
(nnd other periodicals, I scouted about fop somo
ttltuo and finally secured tho services of two old
(Now York nowspnpor and advertising men and put
thorn Into the ofllco with instructions to gut .their
facts right by referring tho stories to tho scientists
Ifor a final O. K but to wrlto or edit them so tho
iperlodlcnis would publish them and tho peoplo
would read them. It wns u dlfllcult tnBk, but It has
been accomplished, ns evidenced by tho tulles of
Icflpplngs Of stories sent to mo by tho various clip
ping bureaus. This convinced mo thnt I was got
King more of tho department's" information beforo
jtho people supplementing tho bulletin servlco.
"You wouldn't bclluvo it, but somo peoplo con
jfuecd this maiden effort and thought I hud started
n publicity campaign. Far from it I Tlley did uot
realize tho dlfferenco between tho giving out of. In
formation of 11 purely educational character, bused
fitpon fucts for which tho peoplo already hud paid
tthelr monoy, nnd tho usual publicity matter. Tho
ofllco of Information performs tho service of innk
Ing nvnllablo to nuwspapors and other periodicals,
in tho form with which thoy nro familiar, tho
practical khowledgo dug out by the depnr,tmont'D
(scientists in field nnd laboratory investigations.
Theso men, trained In their specialties, aro neces
sarily not newspaper or advertising men and, thero
fcforo, do not know tho periodicals want their ar
ticles prepared.
"Only occasionally doos a scientist possess a
"noso for uows' and oven less frequently can ho ex
press his news In a wiiy that would escape tho
vigilant eyo and actlvo blue pnncll of an editor. '
Only tho other duy I heard a congressman say: 'An
investigator Is a man who has found out what ev
erybody already knows and tolls ubout it In Inn
jgungo which nobody cun understand.'
Tho statement about tho languugo used by
imnny scientists certainly Is true, but I have to pay
any respects to them as investigators. Their dlf
tflcult lingo Is necessary to them, although .to tho
ilnymnn it mny not always bo advisable to de
scribe common rainfall as 'falling meteoric water,'
tor.to write ubout tho elimination and toxicity of
icaffeln in nephroctnmlzcd rabbits whatever that
tmeuns. Tho scientist, however, Insists on tt for ac
curacy's sako, and nccuracy Is his mlddlo nnmo.
"You might as well try to pump tho ocoun dry,"
continued Sumuol with omphusls, "us to exhaust
tho Informutlon of my scientists along tlulr special
llnea. Much to the delight of 'the boys' In tho
olllce, howovcr, it is not always necessary to
pump' this knowledge. Scientists frequently aro
Very susceptible to attack by tho Bacillus scrlbendl.
Tho manuscripts resulting from tho work of this
scribbling bacillus aro put Into news shupo by tho
ofllco of Information, But, for ono reason or an
other, this germ at times becomes encysted and It
is necessary to inoculate in a now spot. This the
lofllco does by interviewing scientists who are busy
irhuslng microorganisms, which the newspaper man
can't do, or'uro exhausted from telling the. people
ubnut a bug they have already captured nnd hog
tied. "Making nvnllablo In nows form the Interviews
and contributions, nnd extrnctlng from sclentlllc
trentlos thoughts of real value, but which would
be lost In the mass of circumstantial evidence, con
stltute a large portion of the work of the olllce.
Many of theso articles, or 'stories' as 'the boys'
call them, go to the public through tho Weekly
News Letter. This Is sent to the newspapers,
which aro urged to reprint freely with or without
credit, to crop correspondents, nnd to somo others
of the department's co-operntors.
"But by far the greatest service Is the mimeo
graphed articles sent to tho press of the country.
Tho ofllco thus affords n vehicle for quick action
a sort of rapld-llro gun quickly unllmbered while
tho 42-centlmetor ammunition, In tho form of bul
letins, Is being prcpnrcd. It takes a pot-shot from
the hip at insect or disease plagues and thus quiets
or grcntly rotnrds the outbreaks. It quickly issues
wnrnlngs of frauds or of pestilence, or decisions
and announcements connected with the enforce
ment of tho ment-lnspectlon lnw, tho food nnd
drugs net, and tho other 20 regulatory laws which
are administered by the department. During tho
last yeur about 170 of these special items were
sent tho papers interested. And, while I am on this
subject, I want to say that mnny a fako has been
exposed by such treatment. Through Its various
classified lists of ho publications of tho country it
can reach them all on short notice, or It enn reach
any group of city, farm or trndo papers In short,
any desired combination of publications Is possible,
tho distribution being governed by the range of ap
plicability pf tho lnformatfon to bo sent out.
"Now, gentlemen," continued Sam, "you cat your
meal or It will bo cold. Don't mind about me; I
would rnthcr any day toll you about getting facts
to my peoplo than cut a Thanksgiving dinner. You
all know that editors and reporters nro busy men
theso days and they welcomo nrtlcles which re
quire the minimum of editing to suit their particu
lar paper. Many of tho editors nro too busy to
make' a digest of bulletins, and their facilities for
getting special 'stories out of the department are
meager.
"During one mouth lust summer a test rending
of 175 ngrlcultnrnl papers showed that during the
month 1C0, or 80 per cent, contained innterlul sent
by the department. Tho mnterlal so published,
some 000 or moro nrtlcles nvernglng a column In
length, reached directly a very large number of my
fanners. Beforo 'the European war nows occu
pied so much newspaper space, mntorlal furnished
by Information appeared In one month on nbout
300,000,000 printed pages.
"You all remember thnt hot light against foot-and-mouth
disease, how It got a start In 22 states,
and hero In tho District, and how It Anally was
stamped out In Februnry, 1010. Those days were
strenuous for Information as well as tho whole
department. Tho ofllco supplied to papers In the
regions affected exact and Immediate Information
of the outbreak of the disease, and to tho press of
the section In danger Information ns to the best
measures for combating the disease nnd preventing
Its spread. Dally the regions affected nnd all other
sections having trafllc with quarantine areas wero
kept Informed of each modification of tho quaran
tine, with the object of encouraging as freo move
ment of live stock as was consistent with the
safety of tho genernl or local cuttle Industry. Over
100 mimeographed statements In addition, to tho
department's formal publications on tho subject,
convoying nows nnd directions nnd recommending
precautionary measures woro Issued. Besides
these, the press associations nnd correspondents
bore In the city wero Informed dally by telephone.
"But It doesn't tnko an epoch-making event llko
foot-and-mouth dlsenso to cause the ofllco to get
out a series of articles. Possibly this past year
you havo read by Installments of the-control of tho
Hessian lly, tho army worm, tho Gypsy moth, tho
white grub, tho Southern cattle tick, hog cholera,
and other pests, as well us conservntlon of food
supplies, hints for gardeners, llvo stock problems,
cultural methods with plants, harvesting, market
ing, and so ml Infinitum."
"But what ubout these stories? Do thoy piny up
tho personnel of tho department?" Interrupted tho
congressman.
"Ah I I hnvo been expecting that, son," replied
Sam with n satisfied smile. "Quito to tho con
trary, tho names of Individuals rarely are men
tioned unless essentlnl to tho story. Tho depart
ment Is mentioned, as the authority, for it Is back
of tho statements, but you won't find among Its
stories any pipe dreams as to what tho depart
ment hopes to accomplish, statements about half
baked experiments, freakish wrlto-ups, or articles
written to Influence legislation.
' " 'Tho boys' showed me a year or so ago thnt
there were certain fundamentals In agricultural
prnctlco which wero not being rognrded by many of
my farmers and which stood but llko tho buttons on
my coat. 1
" 'Why not postorlzo the facts?' argued Iufortnn
tlon. " 'Your uncle Is willing, us long ns you stick
closely to tho fuels. You know I wouldn't bo
wearing this gaudy outllt If I didn't bollcvo In at
tracting uttentlon myself'.' '
"I hud been lighting tho Texas fever tick for
Honjo years and hud mndo good headway, but as I
was planning to throw that work into high gear I
needed to get before Southern fnrmers who live In
tick-ridden district tho Informutlon nbout tho toll
which the tick takes on Southorn agriculture. And
when I got her into high I wanted to 'step on her
tull und nail It- down.' Consequently, u now edu
cational cnmpnlgn was launched with a largo pos
ter, nnd th gist of whnt it said wns, ;Dlp thnt
tick!'
"This wns followed by n wholo brood of smnller
posters, folders, primers, and news stories. Until
comparatively recently there had been much an
tagonism to the work of eradicating tho tick; in
fact, they tell me thut not u few of my inspectors
have been .dipped Instead of tho cattle, and what's
worse, those people who did not believe In jity
tick-orndlcutlon mcusures blew up some of, my
dipping vats. But sentiment , bus now chnnged
until the jlcpai unent finds It dlfllcult, with tine
force available for the work, to keep up with tho
demands. This change of front, of course, is not
entirely duo to tho department's activities. Infor
mntlon also has beon spread by the state col
leges, railroads, chambers of commerce, county
agents and others, but mnny of them, nevertheless,
used tho published matter furnished by Informu
tlon." "Yes, I saw that poster nnd some of the pamph
lets, und I wondered how tho conservutlve govern
ment ever happened to use red Ink," declnred tho
congressmuu. '
"Tho government has ns much right to uso red
Ink nnd make Its publications attractive as I hnvo
to wear red stripes on theso trousers," retorted
Undo Sum.
"But I snw that somo of the papers reprinted
the poster nnd pamphlets without giving credit to
tho department of agriculture as author," urged
tho congressman.
"Our department of agriculture Is not looking
for credit, not If I have anything to sny about It,"
ejaculntcd Uncle Sum, growing rather wnrm under
tho collnr. "When n pamphlet, mimeographed ar
ticle, poster or anything else Is released It can
be used by nny periodical with or without credit
and without cost. I havo noticed the ldens of
mnny of the nrtlcles furnished to tho press nro
pluyed up nccordlng to tho notions of the editor
nnd tho spneo at his command. This Is oxnetly In
accord with my ldens of tho servlco which Infor
mutlon can furnish. When the department finds
out a good thing, son, I wnnt the peoplo to know it,
nnd the press Is ono of the best ngencles.
"I want Jto tell you of ono of the latest posters
Informntlon bus published," he continued. "It
deuls with the boll weevil that little Insect which
bus caused millions of dollars of loss to tho South
ern cotton plnnter. ..This persistent pest advances
Its battle line practically every year and the scien
tists nnd demonstrators In the trenches hnvo not
been nblo to w'ln a renlly decisive victory. No ono
enn sny, however, where the weevil would have
been by this dnte If tho shell fire hud not been kept
up, new methods of control devised nnd knowledgo
of them spread brondcast.
"You, know familiarity sometimes breeds con
tempt. The mnjorlty of Southern planters hnve
been on lntlmuto speaking terms with this weevil
for some years. They recognize his work nt every
turn and hnve been forced moro or less to 'live
with him, but they really don't know this dinky
inhabitant of the cotton plant, for he secrets
himself In the bolls nnd squwres. However, they
will havo no excuse for not knowing what ho
looks like after inspecting my new poster, for it
pictures nnd describes him so thnt 'ho who runs
may rend. And It Is well thnt the reading matter
Is in lnrge typo, for if 'colored pilssons' should
see by moonlight thnt picture of a monster weevil
they would Immediately either choose the city
pavements and cause n dearth of perfectly good
cotton pickers, or mistake him for nn opossum
rdul cnll on the dogs. Onco seen In the dnyllght,
I'll bet njy Inst year's beaver hnt to the hole In
thnt doughnut the picture will recur often In tho
minds of tho fnrmers and with It tho nccompnny
Ing selling argument. If they don't enrry awuy
some worth-while ldens, then It's nbout tlmo for
me to Join tho old Indies' knitting circle."
"You must bo very sure of your fucts when you
put them before the public In such a mnnner," In
terrupted the congressmnn. "Aro you positive
thnt whnt theso scientists sny Is correct?"
"Well," replied Snm, "as n rule, scientists nro
careful mpn and don't tnlk until they think
they hnve the proof, was painfully brought to
my notice only tiro other day while I wns riding
with one through n very beautiful and Interesting
country. I tnlkcd about everything I saw or
could think of, but T couldn't get a 'rise' out of
my careful companion. Upon passing n flock of
sheep In n field I called them to my friend's at
tention nnd nsked what breed ho thought thoy
were. The scientist would not hazard a guess.
At lust I became Impatient nt his conservatism
nnd exclaimed: 'You can nt least seo thnt tho
sheep nre sheared and you would sny thut they
nro' sheared, wouldn't you?' 'No, he nnswered,
'I would say thnt they appear to bo sheared on
this side
"Now whnt sclntlllntlng Iden, by tho grent horn
spoon, wonld you expect to vet out of such n
mnn thnt you would ho able to posterlzo?
Wouldn't you bo better off to seek n good shady
place and Fletcherlze? You might feel like rumi
nating n bit, but thnt Is not tho Job of the ofllco
of Informutlon. It pumps tho fucts from tho
scientist and prosonts them to tho public In enslly
digested form. Doubtless you hnvo seen tho pos
ter giving directions for getting high grades 'for
your com or how to bundle thnt drended plngue
iiuj; vnuiera. 11 .vuu are iinercsieii in tlint rood
which Is found the world nround hen's eggs
perchnnco you have been directed to the depart
ment's egg candling nnd chilling enr by one of
these posters, or hnve studied the ono which
shows the banc of tie egg marketing business
tho fertile egg kept In n room where It can stnrt
Incubation and oulckly spoil. If you beltevo In
bird sanctuaries, and that the singing laborer Is
worthy of his hire, Mr. Congressmnn, It would do
your eyes good to stop rendlpg figures which run
Into tho millions nnd lenm how nnd why you
should feed the birds this wlntor. If you will
, rend thnt poster I'll ngreo to shnvo off my chjn
whiskers In enso you don't tnko moro Interest In
tho protection of birds nn Inexpensive nnd de
lightful recrentlon.. Yen, thero nro lots of other
. posters, pamphlets, and folders npproprlnto to tho
varied activities of tho department; so many, la
fact, I can't remember them nil."
PINS FAITH TO RUSSIA
Confidence thut Russia onco moro
will be brought into effective co-operation
with' the entente utiles, und thnt
America will in good time give "ma
terial aid of overwhelming power
which will mnkc nn end of all doubts
lis to the completeness of victory by
he allies" was expressed by Sir Ed
ward II. Carson, minister without port
folio, In n statement to the Associated
Press In behalf of the British War
cabinet, of which ho is ft member.
Sir Edwnrd nlso voiced the deter
mination of Grent llrKaln "to see this
thing through until wo havo attained
Jtlio nlms we proclnltned ut tho begin
ning." Ills signed stntement follows:
j "During the third yeur of tho wnr,
which has Just ended, two events of
putstnndlng importance occurred
which must hnve decisive Influence on
the Inst phnso of tho war and on the
peace that is to follow. These ore
the revolution In Ilussln and the en
trance of the United States Into the war In nlllnnce with the entente powers.
"The Immediate effect of the Russian revolution, from n military point of
view, gives cause for great anxiety nnd bus, up to tho present, proved dis
astrous. But it must bo borne In mind thnt the government of the late Rus
sian emperor wns hutching positive treachery to the alliance nnd would hnvo
caused much greater disaster to us by concluding sepnrate peace with
Germany."
RED CROSS GETS GIBSON
This war Is challenging the big
gest men wo hnve with Its stupendous
problems. Thnt is how It comes thut
they were nble to get the president of
one of the big New York banks to
take the position of genernl mnnnger
of the American Red Cross.' Ilarvey
D. Gibson Is ndmlttcdly n big mnn, '
cnpuble of hnndllng big propositions.
But tho Red Cross in wnr time is a big
enough proposition to occupy any man.
There nre about 1,800 chnpters of
this legion of mercy In tho United
States. They are engaged in vnrled
nnd multifarious activities, aH directed
toward the amelioration of the suffer
ing soldiers abroad. They ore. engaged
In making more efllclent the women nt
homo In first aid, cooking nnd eco
nomicnl ndmlnlstrntlon of foods.
All these und mnny other uctivl
ties come within the range of the Red
Cross. But thero Is danger of over
lapping and of waste energy. There
wns need for a big ndmlnlstratlve head to boss the whole Job. So they got
Mr. Gibson. Do receives no pny for whnt he Oocs. Administrative work for
which the Liberty Nntlonnl bank of New York has been paying him liberally
ho does for the United Stntes for nothing. This is ids bit In tho wnr.
KEEPS GREAT BRITAIN AWAKE
Kennedy Jones Is teuchlng the
people of Grent Brltnln Just how they
may conquer the Germnn submnrlnes
touching them with enrtoons, with
posters, with leaflets, with slznble
pnmphlets with every hitherto known
udvertlslng und publicity device nnd
with some of his own invention used
uow for tho first tllne. Amerlcu very
profitably may study the extremely
nblo methods of this world-celebrated
specialist.
He wan called In to help the gov
trnlnlng to put things before the public-
well nnd strikingly, for he Is one
of the greutest editors In England nnd
not only that but n publisher, ns well,
being ono of the few outside of Lord
Northcllffo holding a considerable In
terest In tho vast enterprises of tho
Northcllffo press.
He wns called In to help the gov
ernment hammer Into tho heud of the
British public the necessity for food
economy when It beenme evident that It would be necessary to do this if tho
German fiubmarlno cnmpnlgn wus to be nullified, becuuso he nlready had
succeeded In opo of tho greatest publicity campaigns the world ever hns
"known, that which resulted In placing one thousnnd million pounds with the
British public In what has become famous ns the British Victory loun.
PRESIDENT OF ARMY WAR COLLEGE
Ji
Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Kuhn is n
particularly studious type of soldier,
nnd his work has been principally as
nn Instructor In the vnrlous mllltnry
schools of the country. He Is u versa
tile linguist. 1
Ho bus seen n great deal of actual
warfure us nn observer, having served
ns such during the Russo-Jnpanoso
war, nod in tho present grent conflict
while occupying tho position of mlll
tnry attache to tho American embassy
in Berlin. At tho outbreak of hostil
ities ho wns given considerable freo-.
dom by the German government, nnd;
spent considerable tlmo nt -the front'
mnklng observations.
It was on account of tho valuable
knowledge gnlned during this lntter
assignment that ho was brought back
to this country several months ugo,
promoted 4'rom colonel to brigadier
general nnd plnccd at tho head of tho
Wnr college, where ho would bo In a'
better position to Impart to his fellow ofllcers tho knowledge gained of
'modern warfare. It Is the duty of the War college to collect all data fur-1
nlshed tho wnr department by mllltnry observers, attaches'and secret service
operatives, and from this prepnre offensive cumpnlgns for tho student ofllcers
to work out. Tho Wnr college ulso prepures mllftury mups from informutlon
presented to It from the 4bove sources.
General Kuhn was born in Kansas, Juno 14, 1804, and nppolnted to tho
Military academy from thut state In 1881. On June 14, 1885, ho wns com
missioned n second lieutenant In the Corps of Engineers. During tho Spnn-lsh-American
wnr, while n captain In the regular establishment, he wns com
missioned a major of volunteers.