Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 1900)
■ 1 ■ " ■ PORTO RICAN SUGAR. SPANISH, ENGLISH AND GER MAN LAND OWNERS. Department of Arrleoltnr# OffleUI Sep* They Would Be the Only Gainer* by An Abtolnte Free Trade Tariff With Ike Vailed State* v"; Mr. C. F. Saylor, of the Department of Agriculture, has recently been on an official trip to Porto Rico. He shows clearly that those who would benefit by absolute free trade are the Spanish, English and other European owners of the plantations, and not the native islanders. He says: _ c £_ "Let us look into the factories themselves, and I do not fear chal lenge In this respect because I have been in every factory in Porto Rico. Whatever capital is invested in those factories emanating at all from island sources is purely Spanish. It does not belong to Porto Rico. The peculiar system maintained by Spain through all of the business concerns, and so far as their own capital was employed, threw everything into the hands of the Spaniards, who were simply in Porto Rico doing business. They do not belong to that element of Porto Ricans that we feel so tender about, and would not become citizens of Por to Rico or this, country, whatever be comes of the constitutional question. Other factories are owned and con troled by English capital; others by Qerman, and the entire factory sys tem by Spanish, English and German. ! "These factories mainly through their cheap labor, can, with absolute free trade, put sugar on the market of New York, at cost to themselves, for 2 cents a pound. This would be $40 for a short ton of sugar. Sugar has been selling this year for $70 per ton. With free trade this would be a profit of $30 on an outlay of $40, which I figure is 75 per cent. Who gets this profit? There is only one way for handling Imported sugar in this country and that is through the two or three sugar combinations, mainly through the sugar trust. They agree with the planters or manufac turers to take this sugar, refine it, and place it on the market, dividing the profit on a certain basis, as is now being done and as has boen done be tween the Hawaiian planters and the sugar trust for years. How will they divide the profits? Even? Each get ting 87V4 per cent? We do not know. Only the parties interested know. This point is clear, however, and that is that the Porto Ricans are not bene fitted. Simply the sugar combinations of this country and the foreign plant ers or manufacturers of Porto Rico. "Isn’t it a great deal that we should have freed the Porto Ricans from a condition as bgd as slavery, making what concession we of right ought to make, in justice to the people of this country, assuring them that after they had attained the standard that one ought to have to enjoy the rights and privileges of the constitution of the country, that then they might be ad mitted with equal privileges with the rest. Do you think this ought to be before wages are paid in that country somewhere near in comparison with wages in this country, or before the average citizen of that country shall at least be able to understand the pri mary principles of our government and institutions? We say no. We should especially not bring in this great horde of cheap laborers who re ceive less per day than one person could live on in this country, and yet they are supposed to support families on this. We believe the laborers of this country will en masse resent this proposition. “Of course we don't undertake to say that Porto Rico in Itself is afford ing all this great hazard, but in the .Porto Rican bill we have the princi ple at stake. Only 16 per cent of the present McKinley tariff is exacted, and this only to maintain the principle that we jhave the constitutional right to place a tariff against the Philip pines and Cuba when the time arrives. “Porto Rico has been able, at her maximum, to export about 60,000 tons of sugar.' She would be able if all her resources were brought into play, to send us about 3 per cent of our consumption. But when the Philip pines and Cuba ask for the same priv ilege, then it will be an entirely dif ferent question. And yet the same principles are involved that I have discussed fti Porto Rico. Isn’t it enough that we have expended so much blood and treasure in wresting these Islands from the condition they were in, at the same time offering every help in the future that is con sistent with fair and honest dealing* with our own Interests and people? “I am a thorough believer in ex pansion. I believe that expansion is fraught with incalculable benefit both to the inhabitants of the island and to the people of this country, when con gress shall have framed such fair, honest, Just and equitable regulations as are consistent with the right of our own labor and Industries.” SOME TRADE FAILURE8, Buord of Years of Prosperity and Busi ness Depression. Business failures during the first three months of this year were even ldss in number and liabilities than In tbs early months of 1899, notwith standing the fact that there are a larger number of business concerns in the country. Less than 900 business failures in each of the three months of this year is a fact that stands out prominently as a record of business pros parity. But the value of this year’s record can be better appreciated A CONSPICUOUS SIGN OP THE TIMES, by the following tabulated compari son: FAILURES—JANUARY TO MARCH. (From Bradstreets.) Year. Number. 1891 ....3,400 1892 ....3,207 1893 ....3,069 Average 3,226 1894 ....3,969 1895 ....3,812 1896 ....4,512 1897 ....4,042 Average 4,084 1898 ....3,515 1899 ....2,779 1900 ....2,697 Average 2,997 During the Liabilities. $44,348,783. .Harrison 35,861,749. .Harrison 39,424,144. .Harrison $39,878,225. .Harrison $49,085,088. .Cleveland 46,910,443. .Cleveland 62,513,926. .Cleveland 51.994.482.. Cleveland $52,625,985.. Cleveland $36,198,566.. McKinley 31.221.658.. McKinley 29.157.101.. McKinley $32,192,442..McKinley Republican administra tion of President Harrison, with the McKinley protective tariff In opera tion, there were on an average 3,226 failures In the United States in the first three months of 1891-93, with lia bilities averaging less than $40,000, 000 a month. But the Democratic president, the Democratic administration, the Dem ocratic congress and the Democrtlc free trade tariff of “perfidy and dis honor,” changed this moderate record. They made a new record for the coun try, a Democratic record of failures, and brought the monthly average number up to 4,084—an Increase of 858 a month—and the average liabilities up to $52,625,985 a month, an increase of $12,747,760. This was a great Dem ocratic record of failures. It was un paralleled. Nearly everything went smash. But a Republican president, William McKinley, a Republican administra tion, a Republican congress and a Re publican protective tariff began to build up the country again, and the three months’ records of 1898-1900 show only an average of 2,997 failures —1,087 a month less than the Demo cratic average, and only $32,192,442 of liabilities, or AN AVERAGE OF $20, 600,000 LESS OF LIABILITIES EACH MONTH THAN THE DEMOCRATIC RECORD OF BUSINESS BREAKING. The figures are from Bradstreets. MILITARY NOT GUILTY. Idaho’s Stats Official* Alons Responsible In Mining Riot Acts. Bartlett Sinclair, who was the active representative of Governor Steuenen berg In the Idaho mining riots, has been giving his testimony before the committee on military affairs' of the house of representatives. He declared that the military authorities, who had been called into that district by the labor troubles, never went beyond their bounds in a single instance. As it is the acts of the military which are made the subject of this investiga tion it matters not, so far as congress is concerned, what may have been done by the state authorities of Idaho in suppressing the riots and maintain ing order. It there was any miscon duct on the part of those officials they must answer to the people, or the authorities of the state. In reply to the questions of Mr. Robertson as to why the sheriff and county commissioners of Shoshone county had been suspended from of fice and martial law declared witness Sinclair said that his actions were in accordance with the Instructions of Governor Steueneberg, and were in the interest of law and order. He sus pended the county commissioners be caused he believed they were In col lusion with the lawless element, and because he feared they might wrong fully expend the county’s money and do other things antagonistic to the state. He assumed from the attitude of these county officials, who, instead of assisting in the apprehension and i prosecution of those who had been guilty of conspiracy resulting in the destruction of the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mills and the murder of two men, that they favored the miners, and obstructed the process of justice. He believed that the interest of the community demanded that they should be prevented from interfering with the execution of the law, and from comforting the lawless element, and he accordingly placed them under ar rest. For that, he said, he was answerable to the people of Idaho, and that the military officers were not to be held responsible in any degree. Western Proa parity. One of the oldest transportation of ficials In Indianapolis said the other day that during the last six months every car and locomotive had been kept in constant service there. “Usually.” he added, “there is. In winter months especially, a week and sometimes a month when there are empty cars in considerable numbers standing on sidetracks and dead en gines in the houses, but in the last six months—yes, twelve months—our business has been limited to cars and the power to haul them, and there is as yet no sign of a decrease.” Shipments' of grain and provisions for export have considerably increased, and the east-bound movement of live stock and dressed meats was the heav iest ever known in April. West-bound the tonnage of both high and low class freights continued heavy. Agri cultural and harvest Implements are being carried by train loads, and in heavy groceries, hardware, glass, paints, oils, etc., the shipments • are also unusually large. ELI PERKINS DOWN SOUTH. Oats Strange Admissions from a Dyed In-the-Wool Democrat. The other day, says tho Louisville Commercial, Eli Perkins was intro duced to Judge Scott, an old dyed-in the-wool Kentucky Democrat. The judge is well known in the Blue Grass region and the grand old Kentuckian has always been looked up to as a High Priest of "befo’-the-wah Democ racy.” Perkins was introduced by an old Democrat and Judge Scott supposed that Eli was a Democrat too and he became confidential with him at once. “How are we Democrats getting along, Judge?” asked Eli in a confi dential tone. The Judge looked at Eli a moment to see if he really wanted information about the party, and slowly remarked: "Well, sir, we are getting on very well financially, but politically we are running behind.—Yes, I’m afraid we are running behind.” "What causes this?” asked Eli. "Well, sir,” said the Judge, sadly, "I am afraid our party has not been altogether right. We have erred in some things.” "Where have we erred, Judge?” “Well, sir, I hate to admit it, but our Grover Cleveland policy hurt us Ken tuckians. I wouldn’t say it to a black Republican, but we Democrats all ad mit it among ourselves. You see,” said the Judge, “we used to get 35 cents for wool, and a big price for hemp and tobacco before Grover came in, but that Wilson bill hurt us. It knocked wool down to 12 cents. Free jute, put in to help the cotton fellows, ruined our hemp and it rotted in the ground. Then we lowered the tariff on tobacco and our tobacco went down on us. We didn’t complain, but we Democrats did a good deal of think ing. Cattle and hogs got lower and lower and when Grover went out we were pretty poor—yes, dog-on hard up, sir!” “Are they still bad—the times?” asked Ell. “No, honestly the times are good. Wool and hemp and tobacco have dou bled In price and are still going up. Cattle and hogs are high and our blue grass farmers are getting rich.” “Well, what Is the matter then?” “Why these good times have knocked out our dear old Democratic party. Our Democratic farmers say they will never vote for free trade or low tariff again.” “Well, what can we Democrats do?” asked Ell. “I hate to admit it,” said the Judge, Badly, “but if we Democrats want to win in Kentucky again we’ve got to keep the tariff right where It is.' That old Wilson bill and Bryan’s free silver will be a scarecrow to every farmer in Kentucky and Tennessee. We’ve tried low tariff and we know—I’m ashamed to say so—but we know it hurt us! No, sir, the people are pros perous, . but our Democratic party is doing poorly. I wouldn’t say it to a black Republican but that is the way we Democrats talk among ourselves.” As the Judge got off the train at Lexington, he remarked: “Yes, and there was another mistake we Dem | ocrats made. Grover Cleveland want ed to sink the Republic of Hawaii and put a nigger on the throne. We Dem ocrats didn’t complain, but it made us sick, for, between you and me, we Democrats ain’t puttin’ niggers on thrones. McKinley’s white governor over a republic suits old Kentucky and the South.” Led Into Temptation. Mr. Cleveland could not resist the temptation to write that letter to Mr. Burchard. There is a pleasing remin iscent sound to the name. EAEM AND GAEDEN, MATTERS OF INTEREST TO AGRICULTURISTS. 8om# Up-to-Da t« IllnU A boat Cul tivation of tha Soli and Yields Thereof—Horticulture, VI t leal taro and Floriculture. Conaming Hanaro. In common with other things that are nnder control of trusts there has been a sharp advance in the price of chemicals that the farmers use for the manufacture of commercial fertilizers or that the manufacturers use in the making up of commercial grades. This Is said to be especially true of the materials that contain nitrogen. It therefore behooves the farmer to look after the fertilizers he has on the farm. By the ordinary manner of handling manure at least half of the nitrogen Is lost. One-half of the value of the excrement from our cattle and other stock is in the liquids, which on many farms are% not saved at all. Ni trogen especially abounds In the liquids, as is evidenced by the am monia they throw off. We want again to urge that every farmer take meas ures to save these valuable products. Ihe farmers that have manure piles that are exposed to all weatherr^ind that have no arrangement to save the liquids should at once stop the waste. It means hundreds of dollars to the pocket of every farmer. Remember that the manure pile is not only as sailed by the rain but by the air, and the latter helps to deprive It of Its ammonia—a form of nitrogen. It is not enough to prevent manure from leaching and washing, it must be kept from drying out and thus losing its ammonia, or a large part of it. Horticultural Observations. A well cultivated orchard on deep rich soil should send down its roots much deeper than an orchard not cul tivated. Consequently it should be able to stand cold better than trees in uncultivated orchards. It is true the frost may go deeper, but the root should outstrip the frost. • e • Mr. John McDonald of Michigan says: "I learned last year that fruit trees standing in grass winter better than those well cultivated. A great many apple and pear trees died last summer owing to the hard preceding winter." The general conclusion that Mr. McDonald draws from that experi ence is not well founded. If all our winters were like the one of 1898-9 we would have to stop cultivating our orchards, and we could then state as a general proposition that cultivate! trees are liable to be frozen out be cause the frost can strike in deeper and stay longer. But that winter wa3 one of exceptional severity, and it is doubtful if we will have another like it for 60 years to come. The ground was bare and froze deeply. Probably in some sections the roots of the trees did not thaw out till after the buds and leaves had appeared. But we must figure on ordinary and not on extra ordinary years. An orchard planted now may grow to maturity and fail with old age and be succeeded by an other orchard that will likewise dis appear from old age before we have another winter with conditions iden tical with the one named. Cultivation is desirable, and we will have to take our chances on the unusual winter. * * • S. T. Wilkinson of Branch county, Michigan, sends the following to the State Board of Agriculture: All apple orchards in this vicinity that had been both cultivated and sprayed bore a full crop of fine apples. Most or chards sprayed and not cultivated had a partial crop of fairly good fruit, while but few orchards not sprayed had more than 10 per cent of a crop. With peaches I have ‘experimented some for three years with some varie ties in same plot and set at the same time. The first crop in 1898 from the cultivated portion bore 60 per cent of a full crop of fine, large, well formed fruit, while the uncultivated trees bore 20 per cent full crop of second class fruit. Cultivated trees killed by last winter’s freezing, 60 per cent; uncul tivated killed, 2 per cent. Have reset cultivated portion and cultivated whole plat. All have made good growth and look fine. I think that it pays to cultivate Judiciously all peach orchards and sow rye or some other cover crop about August 1. Heel in with dirt all trees under bearing age at least one foot high, as our winters are very likely to be bare of snow, and would both cultivate and spray all apple orchards._ Potash and Starch Potatoes. The Connecticut Experiment Station made experiments to compare the ef fect of muriate with that of sulphate of potash on the starch content and yield of tubers. The potatoes were grown on very poor soil which was dressed with 400 pounds nitrate soda. 615 pounds acid phosphate and 120 pounds of muriate or sulphate of pot ash. The yield was increased from 43 to 228 bushels of salable tubers per acre. Doubling the potash, applying 240 pounds per acre, increased the yield only twelve bushels per acre over what was produced when 120 pounds were applied. Muriate produced a somewhat greater yield than sulphate, but the tubers contained slightly more water and less starch than when sul phate was used. The evidence in re gard to the relative effect of sulphate and muriate of potash on potatoes Is somewhat conflicting. Most of the ex periments made in this country and Europe show that sulphate produces better tubers with less water, and a slightly higher starch content, but the difference is slight Some German ex perimenters, f.eiffer and others, have recently published results of experi ments showing that pure muriate has no injurious effect on the tubers, but impurities, noticeably chloride of mag nesia, are Influential in depressing the proportion of starch. Sheep Staggers. This Is a disease due to the form of one of the tapeworms of the dog (toenia coenurus), which becomes located in the brain or spinal cord of the sheep. The sheep becomes In fected while pasturing where the eggs of this tapeworm have been scattered by dogs. The dogs in turn are In fested by eating the brains of sheep containing cysts. The symptoms In the sheep are stupor and Involuntary muscular movement. The pupil of the eye usually becomes fixed and the sight or hearing is impaired. There is no inclination for food, and the ani mal loses flesh rapidly. If the para site be located in the side of the brain the animal will turn its head to one side, and is liable to walk in a circle, if located in the middle, the movement will be irregular and Jerky. Some times the breathing is very difficult, due to the location of the cyst ip the medulla, which is the center of the nerves controlling respiration. If the cyst is located at the top of the bead the skull over the cyst will enlarge and become soft in about a month. The cyst may then be removed through the operation of craniotomy. The brains and spinal cords of sheep that have died of this disease should be burned or buried so deeply as to be out of the way of dogs. Wolves, coy otes and foxes are also capable of ; spreading the disease. Branch Ivy. This is called also hemlock, calf kill, leucothoe, dog laurel. It is a poison ous shrub, evergreen, two to four feet high, with thick, tapering, sharply saw-edged leaves and numerous clus ters of small, white, tubular, ill-smell 1 ns. *1.—Brunch Ivy (LtnteothSe cateibati) t m, flowering brunoh; b, fruiting capsule*—both one-third natural site. ing flowers, which appear la April or May. It grows abundantly, often forming dense thickets along the stream banks In the Alleghany moun tains from West Virginia to northern Georgia. Utilising Windmills. In parts of Kansas and Nebraska the farmers are utilizing their wind mills to irrigate small patches of ground near their homes for garden purposes. In some cases indeed these patches .include not less than ten or twelve acres of ground. There are numerous windmills scattered through the middle west that Bhould be more fully utilized than at present. At some of our experiment stations irrigation has been tried on strawberries and vegetables with very good effect. Even a quarter of acre brought under irri gation should give good results. This will be found to be easily accomplish ed where the soli is sufficiently clayey to puddle well. The cost should be small, as the water used is surplus water that would otherwise remain unused. In the states near the Great Lakes the effort should prove effective tor tne reason that the rainfall is usu ally quite good and the supply of mois ture in the ground practically inex haustible. The soil water is within a few feet of the surface, while in the regions west of the Missouri the soil water is frequently 25 or more feet below the surface, and the problem «f lifting becomes great. Cleanliness In Pasteurisation. In a conversation with a represen tative of the Farmers' Review H. B. Ourler said that he had got beyond Pasteurization—he had reached the point where he could produce milk so clean that it does not need pasteuriza tion. That Mr. Gurler is doing this is quite evident from the fact that he has a large trade in Chicago that pays 12 cents a quart for bis milk, while other milk is selling at 6 and 7 cents per quart. Pasteurization of milk is bound to be a very important factor in the handling of milk, for the reason that few men will give the attention to the matter that is necessary if absolutely clean milk is to be produced. Cleanli ness is preferable to pasteurization, but unfortunately it is much more dif ficult to produce milk that is absolute ly clean than it is to pasteurize. Vegetable Coloring.—The green col oring used for ice cream, frosting candies, etc., is called pistachio, but is made from spinach and is perfectly harmless. A red coloring matter Is made from beets, and a yellow one from carrots. A few drops of the red will give a delicate shade of pink. Feeding Value of Alfalfa. rX The feeding value of alfalfa depends somewhat on the time at which it is cut. Tests at the Utah station gave the following result: 1. The first crop gave the largest yield in each of the five tests and in fourteen out of the fifteen cuttings, while the third crop gave the lowest for every test and in every cutting but one. The average acre-yields for the five years, including all cuttings, stand in the following relation: First crop, 100; second, 78; and third, 39. For the early cuttings alone, first crop, 100; second, 83; third, 66. 2. In the average composition of all cuttings for three years, the nutrients of the three crops vary but little. The second has slightly the highest per cent of protein and fiber; and the third the most fat and nitrogen-free extract. 3. The third crop has the largest proportion of leaves to stems; but the per cent of protein in the leaves is highest in the second crop, and next highest in the first. The leaves of the first crop contain the most fat and of the second the least. ~~ 4. The third crop produced a higher average rate of gain in the feeding tests than the first or second and also higher than any of the separate cut tings. The amount eaten daily was also highest of all, but the dry matter and digestible matter for a pound of gain were the lowest. In a pound per pound comparison the gains stand >s follows: First crop, 100; second, 8l; third crop, 126. Dry matter for a pound of gain, first crop, 100; second, 115; and third. 69. 5. The beef product per acre, tak ing the average result of all cuttings for the five years, was very much the highest for the first crop and decidedly the lowest for the third, standing as follows: First crop, 100; second, 61, and third, 45. But taking the early cuttings alone they stand, first crop, 100; second, 80, and third, 69. 6. Pound per pound, taken as a whole, the results show the highest feeding value for the third crop and the lowest for the second. 7. The average annual beef product from early cut alfalfa was 705.61 pounds per acre; it required 9,675 pounds of timothy to produce an equal weight; 11,967 pounds of red clover, and 10,083 pounds of shredded corn fodder. Treat Oats for Surat. The sowing of oats without first ' treating the seed for smut is a cause of great loss to farmers. This loss Is far greater than one would suppose without investigation. Investigations in Illinois show that the annual loss to the oat crop in that state is from 5 to 47 per cent, with on average of about ten per cent. This means about 1,500,0000 bushels per year. One rea son why the loss to the oat crop from smut Is underestimated Is that many of the smut heads are whipped off ^by the wind and so are unnoticed, but at harvest,time the stalk that is cut is bare. Then again the stalks affected by smut are frequently dwarfed and do not show among the other heads, even in the sheaf. Then, too, smut sometimes exists without being rec ognized, it being set down as blight. This loss can be entirely prevented by treating the oats with hot water, dip ping the seed oats in water for five minutes at a temperature of 130 to 137 degrees. For this work a kettle is needed as well as two barrels and a thermometer. One barrel should con tain warm water and another cold water. The oats should be sacked in quantities of one to one and a half bushels. The kettle should be large enough to hold one bag at a time. / After the bag of oats has remained r for the specified time in the kettle of hot water It should be lifted out and dipped at once into the barrel of cool water. The barrel of warm water Is used to take off the chill from the oats before dipping in the water at 132 de grees. If the day be warm this pre caution will not be necessary. The oats can be sown at once by hand without drying. A Qatar Appetite. Occaslonaly we hear of cattle thal develop an abnormal appetite for wood, eating rotten pieces of boards, etc. A contributor to National Stockman states that at one Crawford county in stitute, a gentleman complained that one of his cows bad eaten a pig-pen, a string of fence and other lumber on the premises, and be had been com pelled to fence her away from the barn to save it. He has fed her many and various feeding stuffs, besides bone meal, sawdust and other side-dishes. With lumber at present prices, the cow has expensive tastes. He wishes to know what produced the appetite, and what will cure it. He things he has provided foods that furnish all the y mineral elements needed, and the inH[ clinatlon to chew sticks and boards seems now to be only a vicious habit. Temperature of Incubators.—It is de sirable to keep the thermometer as near 102 degrees as possible. This will be hard to do unless the ther mometer is a reliable one. If it is one that registers five or six degrees too low the temperamture will be kept at a height that will be likely to shat ter all hopes of a hatch. A slight falling in temperature for a time will not do great damage, especially in the warmer parts of the year. The Oregon State Fair Association has announced a premium of .$150 for the best display of animals from one farm, the collection to include at least two horses, five cattle, five sheep, five Angora goats and five swine. “Wing-bars" is a term applied to any line of dark color across the middle of the wings, caused by the color or marking of the feathers known as the