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The Commoner
VOL. 13, NO. 31
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The Work of the President's Cabinet
I NTEK IOR DEPARTMENT
Hon. G. M. Saltzgaber, commissioner of pen
fimnfe, ' declared that statements being -widely
published to the effect that certain persons are
availing a recent order of the commissioner of
pensions fa regard to furnishing proof of the
dates of birth of soldiers in connection wth
olaims for pension, is based niton an entire mis
apprehension of tho facts.
Tliero has been no order issued Of tho char
actor mentioned in such reports. Tho erroneous
statements are based solely on the fact that a
circular letter sent to pension claimants names
the various ways in which tho date of birth may
be proved in order to meet tho requirements of
tho law in such matters.
Such circular letter is not now in its important
features, but is a modification of that which has
been in uso ever since the act of May 11. 1912,
has been in effect. The modification in such
letter is only made solely in the interests of tho
Holdior claimants themselves with a view to aid
ing them to ascertain tho correct date of birth
in cases where they find it difficult to secure a
public record or Bible record. This consists of
a request that a soldier state where and with
Whom ho was living in the year 1850 and the
year 1SG0, in order that if it may become neces
sary to seek additional information as to his
exact ago the records of tho census bureau for
the years 1850 and 1860 may be searched with
out trouble or expense to the claimant himself
to ascertain the age given to the census enumer
ators at that time, and thus to determine the
soldior's present age.
Mr. Saltzgaber states that there to no founda
tion whatever for the statement that soldiers are
required to furnish proofs as to their employ
ment for the ten years preceding 1860, and tho
only purpose in inquiring as to the soldier's
residence in 1850 or 1860 is to aid him in meet
ing the requirements of tho law, which render
it absolutely necessary that the date of his birth
should be fixed in order that tho increased rates
of pension may bo allowed beginning on the date
that he attains the age of sixty-five, seventy and
aeventy-flve respectively.
The necessity of fixing such date i3 imposed
oy tho acts of congress approved May 11, 1912:
and March 4, 1913, and is not the result of any
ruling or holding of the bureau of pensions,
whose sole duty is to execute the laws as enacted.
:The commissioner .further states that this
order has no application whatever to, .nor does
it-affect the claims of colored soldiers. It goes
without saying that ordinarily they were, not
listed in the census of 1850 or 1860, and no such
information is required of them, nor is there any
purpose in any manner to discriminate against
them. The inferences and insinuations from
tho article which is widely quoted are entirely
wrong and do injustice both to the old soldiers
Rnd to the pension bureau, which is doing every
thing it can under the law in their interest.
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.
' ThQ plan of telegraphing the figures of the .
crop report for individual states to the central
weather bureau in that .state and having that
bureau duplicate tho figures and mail them to
state editors has prpved so successful that in
structions Were given to extend tho plan to tho
jntlre forty-eight states. Under this plan the
newspapers and agricultural publications In
BT(Xyt.stnt-e- eet wIthut delay the monthly crop
statistics for their special territory. Heretofore
these figures have been printed in the Agricul
tural Outlook which was mailed from Washing
ton to the several states and in the case of the
more distant states in the west did not reach
them until aftor several days' journey In the
mails. Under the new plan the figures for a
single state are -telegraphed, at a cost of about
seventy-five cents, to the central weather station
of that state and placed in the mails at a central
point in that state on tho day that the crop
figures are completed in Washington. In this
way practically every editor gets these figures
the next morning or during the next day in time
for immediate publication. This information is
furnished only to regular publications and is not
supplied to individuals by the central stations
TJio regular edition of the Agricultural Out
Jook was extended to twenty-nine pages, and
thirteen pages of this publication were devoted
to a serious discussion of the outlook for meat
production In the United States. This followed
an introduction which made it clear that the
present situation need not occasion alarm and
that the country is well able to meet present
deficiencies which are due largely to important
changes in our system of cattle raising. There
were carefully prepared papers by specialists on
the general meat situation, the need for local
markets for live stock, the future meat supply
of the United States, and the influence of the
average farmer on the meat supply. After point
ing out that the number of beef cattle in the
country has apparently fallen over 30 per cent
while the population has increased, which means
a decrease in beef cattle of over fifteen and a
half millions, the specialists deal in a practical
way with the next steps and subsequent steps to
increase tho meat supply. The conclusion in
general was that the hope of an increased meat
supply, in the face of the cutting up of the large
ranges into tilled farms, rested with an increase
in the production of meat cattle on the farms in
the more settled areas. This makes the ques
tion of economical feeding of meat cattle, which
was interfered with by the Increase in tho value
of corn, an essential feature of the problem. It
is pointed out that the methods of feeding dairy
cattle are not necessarily profitable in the rais
ing bf meat animals. This involves the question
of the successful use of large areas of land not
now put to pasture. It is also .pointed out that
the change from the time when the meat raiser
had a local market to the present time when
meat cattle, to be handled profitably, have to be
shipped in carload lots has made it more diffi
cult for the small farmer to market his meat
cattle, and that this makes necessary a new
method of distribution, cooperative or otherwise,
or the establishment of local abattoirs. Accord
? to ??e writer "Public abattoirs, with public
sale of the meats of animals slaughtered at them,
have become a crying need in this country."
The specialists also dealt with the increased
raising of sheep and poultry, and the bearing or
the Southern cattle tick and hog cholera on the
production of meat animals.
Several important hearings and conferences
were held during the month. Representatives
or the grain exchanges and corn growers ap
peared on October 29 to discuss the tentative
standards for the grading of corn previously pub
1 shed by the Department. Representatives 6l
the Arkwright Club of Boston appeared to con
fer on methods of promoting the growth of long
staple cotton. A committee representing various
cotton exchanges appeared and asked that the
SlhKent Ti8? tJle cotton standards so as to
establish a universal standard for cotton. Dur-
JS5 coming month tliertf will be public hear
ings on the labeling of certain wines, and the
"IBEX" of what can properly be ca"
The first number of the newly establish M
Journal of Agricultural Research was issued 'on
October 10. It consists of eighty-slven pages o
letterpress and line drawings and five platfs in
cluding one colored plate. iates, m-
The introduction was written by Dr B T
Galloway, Assistant Secretary Thi in,ini 7'
limited to the publication of fechnical andSen--tiflc
papers and its circulation will be limited to
certain colleges experiment stations and scien
tific bodies making suitable exchanges and
scientists. At present the Journal 55? SubHsh
only papers by the Department's staff but later
fitensin mK b0 mde t0 lude papers pre
pared in the state agricultural colleges and IT
periment stations, in which cai ?!? 7
board will be extended trincluepJLenta?1
from this class of institutions P esentatlves
A number of important warnings dealinir with
the Southern and Western corn rootworm th
eel-worm which attacks onions, and varX
eases affecting Irish and sweet potatoes the'
cottony maple scale, hog cholera, and parasites
affecting meat, and methods of combatina thlZ
dangerous to crops or consumers were ei
wide popular circulation. The South waS SEX
special information about the cotton Tn ven
which often is confused with thelweev'i?
California avocado growers were uWr ? ;
only varieties that have proved thXV ? pla
utility and not to be tempted to SS
untried kinds. The discovery oJ "the Sl?
in Arizona where it was found breeding Jn thl
seed pods of a wild cotton-like plaSt was maSo
public (and the. importance to tho nrn.n
cotton industry, of Arizona of dest?ovinlPn vo
plants which support the boll weS was $"
sized. Among the visitors at tho Den2 a;
were two Australian scientists whohaft
making a world-wide search for an in Ife
w 11 prove destructive to the prickl? pea? V
which is a devastating pest in the SinSS B
The Bureau of Entomology recomme ds'toft
they experiment with the Longicorn Bppio 1!
with the Chelindea Vittigera. Ue and
An order freeing- the balance of the state of
Missouri from quarantine for Texas fever amoni
cattle, and also lifting the quarantine from tho
parish of Madison, Louisiana and from Boono
county and portions of the counties of Marion
Baxter, Jackson and Sharp, Arkansas, was issued
during tho month,
T1V? wrk f the Bureau of Chemistry enforc
ing the food and drugs acts was carried on
vigorously during the mouth. Among the
notices of judgment made public were several
for dirty or adulterated milk; tomato catsup
containing decomposed or putrid vegetable sub
stances and having a high bacterial count or
being offered for sale under misstatement of
actual contents; sparkling ale made from pro
ducts other than malt; butter that vas rancid
and moldy that was offered for shipment to
Porto Rico; lemon and orange extracts and olivo
oil misbranded or adulterated; cheese in which
butter fat had been taken out; many wines and
liquors made with imitation flavoring or other
wise adulterated; confectionery containing
arsenic; adulterated feed meal; a headache
remedy which improperly stated the proportion
of acetanilid; and a large number of prosecu
tions against misbranders and adulterators of
insecticides and fungicides agi.Inst whom the
government .had maintained successful prosecu
tions. Among the seizures recommended during tho
month were the following: Seizure of wines
held to be adulterated and misbranded; flour
alleged to be putrid; stock feed said to contain
sand; beer and vinegar alleged to bo adulte
rated; canned tomatoes and raisins containing
filthy and decomposed vegetable matter; chest
nuts suspected of being filthy or decomposed;
tomato pulp deemed unfit for human consump
tion; phosphate of lime suspected of containing
matter deleterious to human health; an onion
product suspected of containing saccharin.
There were also five cases of seizures of oil of
birch and oil of wintergreen in which the pro
duct was " suspected of containing artificially
added methyl salicylate instead of being wholly
a natural product.
. Following is a partial list of publications
issued by the Department during October:
Bulletins of -the Department of Agriculture (a
new series) :
No. 4. The Reseeding of Depleted Grazing
Lands to Cultivated Forage Plants.
No. 7. Agricultural Training Courses for Em
ployed Teachers; with a Suggested Reading
Course in Agriculture Based on Farmers' Bulle
tins. , .
No. 10. Progress Report of Cooperative Irri
gation Experiments at California University
Farm, Davis, Cal., 1909-1912f
No. 12. Uses of Commercial Woods of the
United States, Beech, Birches, and Maples.
No. 1G. The Culture 'of Flue-Cured Tobacco.
No. 22. Game Laws for 1913. (Includes re
vised regulations for the protection of migratory
birds, as proclaimed by the President.)
Farmers' Bulletins:
No. 555. Cotton Anthracnose -nd How to
Control It.
No. 556. The Making uid Feeding of Silage.
No. 557. The Potato-Tuber Moth.
No. 559. Use of Corn, Kafir, and Cowpeas in
the Home. (Contains cookery recipes.)
Monthly list of publications, September, 1913:
List of Free and Available Publications of
the United States Department of Agriculture of
Interest to Farm Women. ' "
Promising! New Fruits. Yearbook Separate
589.
Truck Soils of the Atlantic Coast Region.
Yearbook Separate 603.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE.
Dr. William J. Harris, Director of Census, re
cently appointed Hon. William E. Merriain, Ex
Governor of Minnesota, and Hon. S. N. D. North,
former director of the Census, Professor Walter
F. Willcox, of Cornell University and Mr, w. &?.
. fA L.
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