111
Twentieth Year.
FIND AMPLE WATER
UNDERFLOW IN WEST NEBRASKA
DECLARED ABUNDANT.
CAN BE USED IN IRRIGATION
INVESTIGATIONS UNDERTAKEN AT
NORTH PLATTE.
Report of the Work Made Under
Government Auspices Asitntlon
" for Good Road Ileing
Pushed .Forward.
WASHINGTON, Jan.- 27. An inves
tigation of the underflow of the South
Platte valley was begun in July, 1905,
by the geological survey. The report of
its work is now published by the sur
vey as "Water Supply and Irrigation
Bulletin No. 184." The investigation
covered that part of the valley which
extends from Sterling, Col., to North
Platte,' Neb. The purpose of the sur
vey was to determine what resources,
if any, existed in the underflow wa-
ters of the valley and whether it was
practicable to make use of such wa
ters, if they we're1 found1 to exist in
suitable quantities for purposes of ir
rigation. Inasmuch as irrigation must
'of necessity be confined to the bottom
lands of the valley, it; is especially Im
portant to know to what extent these
lands can be irrigated by means of
water drawn from the underflow of
the river. This point was kept vvqII in
mind during the investigations.
The result of the survey's work indi
cate that there is an ample supply of
ground water for a large number of
small pumping plants located in al
' most any part of the bottom lands.
It is possible to count on an average
depyi of forty to sixty feet of good
. watsr-bearing gravels.. The most eco
i nomical well to construct for the pur
post of producing ground water in the
large quantities needed for irrigation
purposes is one from twelve to fifteen
inches, in diameter a.nd extending into
the water-bearing gravels a distance
of thirty to sixty feet, depending on
the thickness of the gravels at the
place where the well is drilled. Wells
constructed as described in this re
port can be relied on to furnish at
least one-fourth gallon of water per
minute for each square foot of strain
er surface in the well when the water
in the well is. lowered one foot by
pumping.
Probably the most satisfactory pump
for use in irrigation Is the centrifugal
pump. It should be remembered, how-,
over, that there are a great many
kinds of small centrifugal pumps on
the market which are designted for a
great variety of purposes. Points im
portant to those who are about to in
stall pumping plants are brought out
in the report together with interesting
data concerning the cost of pumping.
Thl. report, which covers only forty
pages, contains numerous illustrative
diagrams, maps, profiles, and tallies of
statistics and analyses of waters. It is
published for gratuitous distribution.
lultnlloit for Ctooil Rondo.
Notwithstanding the unusually se
vere weather conditions which have
prevailed of late in various sections of
the eoiiutry, the plan of co-operation
In the luii'i'o einent of roads, recently
atithore by Postmaster General
Cm t l i'U and Secretary Wilson, of the
d p rtui nt am ieulture, Is progress
ing In a satisfactory manner, IJeport
receive I by the postoffice department
from many Mate indicate forcibly Im
mediate tieid for systematic working
of lh'-ir roads. The heavy rainfall l.i
onie localities has rendered the road
Almost impassable, while in North Ia
kola rural delivery service lias been
practle-.'ly aipndd owhu to lm
men? ii'w drift which resulted from
the He ere blUssatdn reee)tl expert
rwe1 hi the northwest. Such road
condition u.s prevail In North lakna
A WEEKLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO
politics; agriculture and home
LINCOLN, NEBBA8KA,
are, of course, for the most part una
voidable, but many cases of impassa
ble roads during the heavy rainfall are
due to the fact that the roads have
not been sufficiently worked and gra
ded as to afford proper drainage.
Increased interest in the mattefr of
working roads with a- view to their
betterment generally and enabling the
postoffice department to expedite1 the
rural delivery service, is shown by the
fact that county road commissioners
are calling meetings of road supervis
ors and overseers for the purpose of
discussing the best methods of im
provements and securing uniformity of
action. Requests received by the post
office department from these commun
ities for advice in regard to methods
of road building and improvement and
for the detail of government road in
spectors are referred to the office of
public roads, department of agricul
ture. Within the last few days refer
ences have been made of requests re
ceived by Assistant Postmaster General-
DeGraw from Cuba, Illinois;
Huntertown,' Indiana; Lewis, Kansas;
Booneville, Mississippi; . Snyder, Okla
homa, and SangeV, Texas.
While the object of the postoffice
department in co-operating with the
department of agriculture and the va
rious state and county road commis
sioners is primarily to facilitate de
livery of the mails on rural routes, the
resulting road improvements incident
thereto are of great benefit to all the
people of the communities affected, in
maintaining ready communication be
tween the farms and villages. All ap
plications received for government ad
vice In the matter of road building
and improvement are giyen prompt, at
tention. ' . . - , , j
SUSPENDERS.
The decadence 'of the singing voice
among Americans ,and Englishmen , has
been 'traced by a New , York ''savant
to the ' habit of wearing .suspenders.
When a man carries the entire weight
of his trousers, loaded down with a
miscellaneous lot' of hardware, and al
so a heavy coat and waistcoat, on his
shoulders, the inevitable tendency is
to pull In his chest and puff out his
abdomen, to the great disadvantage of
all of the arts, and especially music.
So we must go to Italy for our pro
fessional singers. "But few Italians
wear suspenders," it is explained.
"Their attire consists principally of a
peek-a-boo shirt waist ' and knee
breeches in which they usually carry
only a light dagger, two piastres and
a piece of macaroni." Their abdomens
are held in by a belt, and their chests
swell out in song as " naturally as an
Englishman takes to brandy "and soda.
We are i.ble to develop good female
voices in this country because the sus
penders have as yet been monopolized
by the men. When the women take
them, wo might as well close the vocal
departments of all of our conserva
tories and depend on imported singers
and the phonograph for that branch of
the musical art.
THE GERMAN ELECTION.
Plurality elections for members of
the German reichstag are not per
mitted. Accordingly Friday's flections
resulted in a choice in only about L"5
ot the 397 constituencies, necessitating
second elections In 175 istricts early in
February. Until these elections are de
cided the claim of the government to
having gained a sweeping victory
through the gains of liberals, radicals
and conservatives as opposed to the
union of clericals and socialists, will
best b taken with a grain of allow
ance. The reichstag elections of U03
returned the following representation:
Social democrat. SI; clericals, 100; lib
erals, 51; conservatives, 75; radicals,
3t'.; particularisms, agrarians and antl
semltes, 51. Aeiorillng to the claims of
tlu government, which mado Its appeal
to country against th social demo
crats and the clerical, the clerical
have held their own. while the social
ist hnvw loM several seat to the rud
leal. Thl result leave the clerical
si 111 l.y fur the largest and most com
pact party In the reichstag. The rud
leu is. who gained nt tho expense of the
Hx I lliM. have : ever been depend',
bb allien of the conservatives. As one
radical paper nay, the two can mix no
rnoje than fire and water can mix. It
doj not appear certain n yet, there
foiv. that Emperor W.Il'm will Inve
a more trM table assembly than the
one h dismissed.
JANUARY 31, 1907.
LESS BOGUS PRINTS
PROPOSED REFORMS IN SECOND
CLASS MAIL MATTER.
CHANGES THAT ARE RADICAL
JOINT POSTAL COMMISSION IN
FAVOR OF Til EM. -
Lay Down Regulations a to What
Constitute Legitimate News- ,
paper A Plan for Mak
ing: Appeal.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 The report
of the. joint postal commission author
ized by the last session of congress to
investigate and report to that body its
conclusions on the operation and effect
of the existing law relative to second
class mall matter, and what changes,
if any, should be made, was made pub
lic today. The commission makes a
number of sweeping recommendations
looking to a reform in the postal serv
ice, and has drafted a measure em
bodying such changes as it thinks
ought to be made. Among the most
important additions to existing law as
regards second class mail matter em
bodied in this measure are the follow
ing: ' ' - ; " - V;V-; "j
A newspaper or other periodical may
be .in part composed of aayertisementit
which are permanently inserted in,' or
attached to the: same, but such adver
tisements shall not constitute more
than 50 per centum of the superficial
area of any issue of the publication,
nor shall any advertisement be printed
on card, cloth or any substance other
than paper nor upon paper of any
greater weight than the text of sucn
publication.
Sections Mont Be Uniform. '
An issue of a newspaper or other
(periodical may be composed of part3
or sections, but all such parts or sections-shall
be made of the same size,
form and weieht of naner. nnii sh.i..
when taken together form one com
plete and indentifiable whole. All pro
visions of law applicable to a news
paper or periodical shall apply equally
to every section thereof. With a regu
lar issue of a newspaper or other per
iodical the supplement may be en
closed or folded.
Supplements shall not be printed on
other-substance than paper, except in
the case of maps and plans illustrative
of the text, which shall be different
from the main body of the publication.
No supplement shall be composed of or
contain advertisements, but the amo
shall be confined to matter germane to
the regular Issue and supplied In order
to complete matter left incomplete m
the main body of the publication.
The proposed law refuses the second
class rate to periodical publication
consisting wholly or substantially of
fiction.
With each Issue a newspaper or
other periodical the publisher may mall
at the. second class rate of postago
samples of such issue, but "not to ex
ceed 10 per centum of the total num.
I ! of copies of each Issue mailed by
him to actual subscribers as thn miIim,
appears by a sworn statement of such
'" r -quired to be submitted to tho
postmaster at the office of malting."
PoMal A peal k Com iiilnMott.
The appointment of a postal appeals
commission In the postoffice depart
ment I provided Tor, to consist of
three members, at least one of whom
.shall be a person who has had aetual
cxpvrietiee In the conduct of the pub
lishing business, and nt least one of
" ..ni Mutll be learned In the law uud
a member of t u years' standing of
tho bar of the highest court of m)in
Mate or territory of the United Htate
or the District of Columbia. The com
inUMon 1 to i nter up u It duties July
1, tlent.
The object of thl commission Is t
life
Subscription $1.00
allow the proprietor or publisher of
any newspaper or periodical publica
tion, the application for the admission
of which into the second class of. mail
matter has been denied by the post
master general, to appeal to it and
which commission shall. hear, consider
and determine such appeal with re
spect to matters of fact, as well as to
law. Authority is given the postmaster
general to require a decision of - the
commission regarding questions of law
respecting the classification of all mall
matter and the right to admission to
the second class.
If, In the judgment of the postmaster
general, the class privilege of any pub
lication should be suspended, revoked
or annulled, he must submit the case
by petition or by information to the
commission. Publishers and proprietors
are , to be given' due notice of applica
tion to the commission, together With
the grounds on which such suspen
sion, annullment or revocation should
be made. Persons to whom such notice
is given are required to answer, such
rule, '. petition or application and tho
commission is empowered to hear the
case and render a decision. The find
ings, determination, decision or Judg
ment of the commission on any appeal
from a' refusal to admit second class
publications or for the removal from
the second class or the suspension, an
nullment or revocation of its second
class privilege should be final and con
clusive. ,'.''
Duty of the PodtuinNter.
The construction or' application of
any law or statute relating to classifi
cation of mail matter made by the
commission shall be controlling on the
postbfflce and "all its , employes', unless
overruled by some competent court of
the United States. Proprietors . and
publishers of. newspapers or. periodical
may apply to hav the same placed on
a register of the postdftice department
as being entitled-to second class rates,
such application to be verified by the
oath df the applicant and accompanied
by a copy of the newspaper or period
ical, as well as a fee of $3. Pending
final' action -on the application, tho
postmaster general Is authorized to
Issue a temporary permit for the 'trans
mission of such publication at second
class rates. The requirements are that
where an article is made for sale In
combination with the subscription for
a newspaper or periodical admitted to
the second class, the price of such ar
ticle shall be clearly stated in such
publication, together with the price of
the publication, and In all cases the
regular advertised price of the publi
cation. The proposed bill provides for the ap
pointment of a joint commission o
congress to investigate the entire pos
tal system.
The commission urgently urges a
new weighing rule, similar to that nov
in progress, but extended to embrace
for the pertod of six months,-beginning1
July 1, 1907, the weighing of all mail
matter transported throughout the en
tire United States, class by class,
accounting for all pieces of mail mat
ter, class by class, a weighing and
counting combined of the individual
pieces of third, fourth and second class
matter according to its natural sub
division in such matter as to show not
merely the average weight of a piece
of such matter, but the average weight
of the individual pieces according to
tho classification in respect of charac
ter and method of handling, the ascer
tainment of tho average haul of all
classes of matter under each subdi
vision of those classes, and the ascer
tainment of the average load of rail
way postoffice cars, as well as tho av
erage load of storage cars.
Need Thorouali (h rrliaulln.
Continuing the report says;
"Thl commbwlon I In accord with
the ?w of tho ftnstmafctcr generul
that the whohj buslne system of the
losta service nhould be examined and
overhauled by u set of expert nc
countunt and statisticians secured
from the rank of those profession
outside the department. It Us believed
thl examination can Uhi be mado
through the 'ncy of congress. Th
iouiuoWioii reaiies thit this u tuk
of great magnitude ' ut It must not
be forrotten that great Interests are
ut Make. It Involves, tin-! of all. the
expenditure every year of ti;.yeo two
of the p oj.le's money. It will shortly
Involve even more th.:n that, fur ut
the rate ut which the postal fcervlct 1
