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About The commoner. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-1923 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 1913)
' The Commoner VOL. 13, NO. 28 8 Mf- iy m ft" 8m ir ? taw nation In Oklahoma. Arrangements havo boon mado for tho sale of 1,279,000 acres of timber land in the Choctaw and Chickasaw na tions in tracts of 100 acres for agricultural lands and 640 acres for timber land. Tho patont office has in rdund numbers re colved 37,183 applications for patents, re-issues, designs, trado marks, appeals and -notices, prints and labels, and it has issued 17,9 G3 patents, trade marks, etc. Cash receipts have amounted to $925,086.64, and receipts for certificates havo amounted to $24,465.30, making a total of $949,551.94. Now governors havo been appointed in tho territories of Hawaii and Alaska, and in Alaska instructions havo been given to moro rigid en forcement of tho laws protecting game and sup pressing liquor traffic among tho natives. Auto mobiles havo been allowed to enter tho Yose mite and Sequoia national parks in California, and a part of the Yellowstone park in "Wyoming. Tho gonoral land offico has made arrange ments to open to settlen.Gnt and ntry under tho homestead laws in the Fort Peck Indian reservation in Montana 486,667 acres of agri cultural lands and 737,181 acres of grazing land. Arrangements havo also been mado to open 15,040 acres, or ninety-four tracts of 160 acres each under tho general provisions of the home stead laws of Fort Niobrara lands, at Valentine, Nebraska, and 29,440 acres, or forty-six farms of 604 acres each under the Kinkaid acts. Pro visions havo also been mado to sell 37,000 acres of land in Tripp county, South Dakota. No bid for leas than $2.50 per aero will bo re ceived. There havo been restored to entry and set tlement from reclamation projects 458,090 acros; from national forests, 1,177,695 acres; released from temporary withdrawals for for estry purposes and restored to entry, 111,743 acres. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE A number of important changes and improve ments havo been effected since March in the department of agriculture. Tho aim of these is to increase tho department's usefulness, unify and correlate its activities, bring homo to tho individual farmer on the land the losults of its investigations along agricultural lines, and ren der moro effective tho enforcement of tho laws passed for tho protection of tho public from adulterated, Impure and unwholesome products. A rural organization service, the object of which is to investigate rural conditions with a view to providing a basis on which to develop & scientific economic rural country life and to stimulate those agencies which will lead to bet tor business methods and better living on tho farm, has been established. One of the chief divisions of this work has to do directly with investigating tho marketing and distribution of farm produce. The object is to aid farmers and others to work out more economical methods for tho transportation, marketing and handling of such products. This, It is believed, will lead to somewhat better prices for the producer and while the consumer will benefit by reduced costs and bettor products when expense and waste in tho handling of those products from tho farm to tho consumer have been eliminated, studies of the underlying principles which make for the success or failure of rural organizations' and rurcl federation co-operative ar.d otherwise re now being carried on by specialists in this field. The character of many of the publications of the department has been adically changed in order to make information more quickly acces sible and to provide information in a simple form which the actual producer will be able to apply to his own immediate profit. The number of popular bulletins giving results of researches in simple non-technical language will be in creased. Scientifically stated matt r heretofore incorporated in bulletins for the reading of lay men will hereafter be published in the newly established Journal of Research, in the journals of tho scientific societies and in monographs to be issued by the department. In order to bring its communication more directly into the hands of the individual producer, the department has established a weekly news letter for prop co-respondents through which it will communicate Ub moBt important practical discoveries each week directly to the leading farmers of the 2,800 counties of the United States. In tho administration of tho food and drugs act, decisive Btops have been taken to afford greater protection to tho people ofhe United States, from impure, unwholesome and adulter ated meat, food and dn g products entering nto interstate commerce or offered for entry into the country. The regulation of the three secre taries, of tho treasury, agriculture and com merce, in force since the passage of the food and drugs act, which exempts meat and meat food products from the application of that act, was revoked on June 16, 1913. As a result the food and drugs act has been made fully applicable to these products in Interstate com merce. Expert veterinarians, sanitarians and animal physiologists not connected with the de partment have been selected to inspect and re port to the secretary on conditions prevailing in the principal meat packing centers and estab lishments with the object of effecting improve ments in the meat inspection service. Other experts have been dispatched abroad to investi gate the method of handling and inspecting of meat and meat food products in countries which export these things to the United States. The work of tho weather bureau has been the subject of much study and consideration. A reorganization has been effee'ed which will re sult in the direction of the 'attentio- of the staff of the bureau to the necessity of dealing with every problem on its merits and along strictly scientific lines. In particular the relation of its work to the agricultural interests of the country which has heretofore not been given sufficient thought will be thoroughly rl.udied. There is little doubt that much greater efficiency will characterize the work of this bureau. Similarly, a careful exami atioi has been made of tho organization and operations of the bureau of statistics, and plans have been de veloped which will place it on a much sounder basis. A determined effort is being made to bring ; "jout more effective co-operation 1 etween the department and tho state agricultural colleges and experiment stations. The end sought is that of securing a better understanding, more effective co-operation, and a correlation of the operations of the different agencies in attacking tho many problems having to do with the ad vancement of agriculture in the United States in which tho states and federal government have interests in common. It is believed that as a result of the understanding thus fa? arrived at duplication of effort, friction and waste will be reduced to a minimum. m w DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE It is not easy to condense in a few words the outlook of the department of commerce, cover ing as it does all our coasts and the navigation upon our seas, rivers and lakes ant the fish be neath the surface of the sea. The agents of tho department are actively working in the Philippines, Hawaii, Alaska, throughout the con tinental union, in Porto Rico, in Chinat in South Africa, i- South America and in parts of Europe. Briefly, however, the one word which best ex presses the ideals of the department today is "forward." How this is working out will ap pear in the following case: In the bureau f navigation not only is a spe cial vessel constantly at work enforcing the navigation laws providing for the safety of all who navigate whether in small boats or large, and another force guiding the development of radiotelegraphy, but spech.1 attention is being given to preparing in definite statements Amer ican Ideals of what is required fcr preserving safety at sea. These statements, covering all phases of mari time life, will be presented to the international conference for safety at sea to take place next spring in London. It is believed that the Amer ican delegates there will present clear and sound suggestions the adoption of which wo aid make a repetition of the Titanic disaster impossible hereafter. The bureau of corporalions is reaching out into a broad and deep study of the laws under lying industrial production. It will try to de termine whether giant combinations do not vio late economic laws as well as statute laws, and as to whether the profits sought by promoters are not gained at a double cost to the people namely,' first tho cost of the promotion itself which is undoubtedly imposed upon industry but also and perhaps more important a further continuing cost in the shape of an excessively high price for production. Many thoughtful men there are who believe the trust an economic mistake aB well as a local wmnof. An ate. will be made to find out. It is intended that tho bureau of foreign and domestic commerce shall reach out as never be fore to represent legitimate American industry throughout the world. In a plan of reorganiza tion which the president has approved and which will be submitted to the next congress, it is hoped to put commercial attaches, accredited by the department of state but under the instruc tions of the department of commerce, into some of our more important legations. These officers will be charged with the sole duty of studying continuously the industry and commerce of the nation to which they are accredited. They will supplement and aid the c nsular force, giving to this latter the general outlook added to the particular interest which the consul must chiefly feel. This will further be suppleir ented by the commercial agents who travel throughout tho world on special lines of industrial and com mercial inquiry and who will be instructed to personally put before American chambers of commerce and business men the results of their study in writing, in addresses and face to face. It is expected also to establish a representative of this important bureau in each cf several im portant commercial and industrial cities that so far as possible the results of this work may he made available everywhere. In the bureau of the census an administrative head has been substituted for a statistical one with beneficial results which are already clear. It is intended that the statistical work coming under the scope of this great office be brought more closely up to date. It will no longer do to publish facts and figures three and four years back. They must be made available as quickly as possible after the facts and flgu. s are them selves developed. On this great stress will he .laid. It is not our purpose to treat statistics so much as a refined science as it is to deal with 'hem as working tools finished, indeed, and sharpened for use, but tools meant for use and not to be put in cases for the admiration of men. The bureau of fisheries, aims to develop large ly that food supply of the people which it has in charge. One or two additional sources of fish food have already been found. The preserva tion of the food supplies in Chesapeake bay are now in conference between the bureau and the states of Maryland and Virginia. The saving of the supply of fish food where it exists, its propagation where it does not exist, the increase of the fur seal herd under the wise lagislation of the last congress, these are among the lead ing duties of this important branch of the de partment. The work of the coast and geodetic survey in making our shores safe ta the navigator will be continually pushed as a part of the broad duty of making the department a sc .'vant of the plain people. The bureau of standards will develop further studies into the causes of the railway accidents which occur from broken rails, broken car wheels and broken axles, and the' definite purpose of making it safer for citizens to travel. It will continue also in many ways which space does not permit detailing, its deep and broad studies into facts underlying all our industries and our engineering construction. The discipline and efficiency of the lighthouse service on which so many lives' nightly depend will be maintained and increased, and so far as funds permit, the warning eye of the St house and the warning voice of the "siren" will be eeen and heard more fully than before. An experiment is making in wireless signals to ves sels approaching shore in fog from which it is hoped greatly to reduce the dangers arising un der such conditions. Finally the steamboat inspection service which has for its prime duty the caring for the safety of passengers on our rivers, lakes and harbors and seas will be kept free from all questions of partisan politics. It is i.ot and cannot be a political service. It is a human one. It ha8 under its care women and children often in conditions in which they are helpless to care for themselves. Honor does not permit allowing to enter this service any considerations save those of loyal, faithful, firm, strong and kind J enforcement of the law provided for the safety of the people. Everything that can be done to increase the efficiency and certainty of this ser vice will be done. Notlinw that seems likely to decrease its efficiency, to open the door to pres sure or temptation, or to weaken the safeguards thrown around the innocent by law will ue willingly permitted. DEPARTMENT OF liABOR The department of labor, created in the clos ing days of the Taft administration, but iuu first head of which was named b P res loeut Wilson, took over from the department or com Iv. jjfr.fr i kTVU., - jiiL,'ii !-