CHANGES IDE
IN LAND LAWS
TANANA VALLEY AGRICULTUR
AL ASSOCIATION URGES OF
FICE AT FAIRBANKS.
SALARY TO DISPLACE FEES.
Federal Government Will Be Petition
ed to Declare Unnavigable That
Part of Chena River Above Wagon
Bridge.
Resolutions have been drawn up by
the Tanana Valley Agricultural asso
ciation, asking the government to
change the homestead regulations
in Alaska; and also asking that a reg
ister and receiver of the land office be
appointed for the Fairbanks division,
whose only duties shall be that of at
tending to land office business.
At the present time, the United
States marshal is ex-officio receiver
o fthe land office at Fairbanks and
the clerk of court is eff-officio register
of the land office there. It happens
often that by the very nature of their
duties, both of these officials are out
of town on business and that the work
is then thrown on the hands of a
clerk, who, regardless of his capabil
ity, is unable to transact the business
of the office as it should be cai ried on,
-o that the homesteaders and o^hcr
•esidents of Interior Alaska suffer.
Pay Very Small Fees.
At the present time there are only
( y small fees paid to the register
,nd receiver and the Tanana Valley
Agricultural association urges that
he office be established with such a
alary that the appointee may be
•equired to give his whole time and
ittention to the work.
Another resolution adopted by the
'.ssociatiorf calls upon the govern
nent to declare the bridge across
he Chena river in Fairbanks to be
ne head of navigation. The farmer
along the upper Chena river are haz
ing difficulty in securing patents to
their ground, owing to the idiotic reg
ulations regarding ground along “nav
igable streams,” and it is with the
hope of removing this annoyance that
the association asks to have the river
declared to be unnavigable above the
bridge.
Another change wanted by the
farmers is that in regard to the resi
dence requirements on homesteads.
The law now requires all homestead
ers to live on their property seven out
of twelve months.
Want Requirements Changed.
The homesteaders of Interior Alas
ka want this changed. It has been
pointed out to the government that in
Alaska it should be the reverse of the
rule applicable outside, as there is lit
tle chance for development on a farm
for more than five months in any one
year.
In this same connection, it has
been pointed out to the government
that the majority of the farmers are
bachelors and that being required to
live on their homesteads, far from the
social centers, during the long winter
IYlOnulS, teiHlS tu mjuic nil'll ncaiui
and happiness. And in cases of fam
ilies, the hometeader is under hard
ship in that people with children have
to keep two establishments , one in
town so that the children may attend
* school and one on the farm so that the
homesteader may comply with the law.
He has to do this or take the alter
native of not allowing his children to
attend school.
Several other changes are asked
also, in regard to the land laws, es
pecially with regard to the amount of
land that must be cleared each year
before the final proof can be made to
secure the much-coveted patent.
If all the apples trees in the coun
try should be brought together they
would more than cover the states of
Connecticut and Delaware and the
District of Columbia. New York pro
duced 12,600,000 barrels last year.
Two counties of that state grow a
greater quantity of apples than are
grown in Oregon, Washington, Idaho
and Montana combined.
I !>'
SIX-CENT BEEF
COES BEGGING
BUTCHERS REFUSE TO BUY LOW
PRICED STEERS FROM RANCH
ES OF MEXICAN GENERAL.
RESORT TO VARIOUS EXCUSES.
Horse and Burro Hides Cannot Find a
« Market — Indications Are Small
Clique Regulates Supply and Fixes
Cost to Public.
SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Nov. 17.
Despite the high prices of meat and
' irrespective of meatless days, D. B.
j Eastman, representing cattle inter
ests in Mexico, said yesterday he had
been unable to sell in the United!
! . j
! States a herd of 50,000 prime beef i
I steers from the Mexican ranches of
I General Obregon. The beef, Mr.
| Eastman said, had been offered at
| six cents a pound.
Butchers, he declared, resorted to
j various excuses in turning down the
beef. Usually they said their stor
age rooms were full.
Mr. Eastman stated he was posi
tive that if a market were offered in
the United States to Mexican beef,
j Mexico could furnish great quantities 1
jof it, but he insisted all the evidence
j points to the fact that the people of
| the United States are in the hands
i of a clique that regulates the beef
| supply and dictates the price.
Mr. Eastman said the same condi
tion applies to leather. He was un
able to sell 10,000 horse and burro
hides in the United tates, despite the
jhigh prices of leather goods, particu
1 larly shoes.
RAILROADS ARE BUSY.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 20.—
Fairfax Harrison, chairman of the
! railroads war board, says that the
railroads are doing their bit to relieve!
the sugar shortage. Telegrams just
received from the Sunset Central, The
Texas & Pacific, and other railroads m
1
the cane-sugar be!' state that a sufvi
j •• cut number of empty cars aie avail- ‘
ao' ’ throughout Louisiana and other
cane-growing territory to handle the
entire care crop.
Hundreds of cars have also been
moved into the northwest to protect
the sugar beet crop, which is already
moving. An adequate supply of cars
I is also on hand to move the northwest
i
potato crop.
In Texas the railroads are bending
every energy to prevent waste of the
available meat supply and to protect
the cattlemen from loss of live stock
! because of drought.
Thousands of head of cattle were
i moved from eastern Texas last week I
I into territory where there is a sur- j
plus of feed stuffs, such as Georgia j
I and Alamaba, and hundreds of stock
cars are now being rushed into the
southwestern part of the state in order
to make possible a similar movement
of cattle there.
JOINS FUEL ADMINISTRATION.
WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 20.—
The United States fuel administration
announced today the appointment of
A. S. Learoyd, of New York City, to
the staff of the administration. Mr.
Learoyd’s name was suggested by the
anthracite coal industry. He will serve
under L. A. Snead, head of the division
of fuel supplies, and will be put in
charge of the distribution of an
thracite.
NO MEATLESS DAYS IN NOME.
Herds of reindeer have been
brought to Nome and slaughtered for
the market. Three men slaughter and
prepare about forty head per day.
A herd of 120 has been prepared for
the market and along about the mid
dle of December Judge Marx of
Nome, will bring another herd from
the Teller country, and will place the
major portion of them on the market.
W. W. Morrison, of New Orleans, an
economic expert, estimates that the
cotton crop of this year will have an
aggregate value of $2,000,000,000.
Sfasnli?
THE RANCH |
THE SOLDIER’S REAL FRIEND.
We really didn’t know how extrava
gant we were until Hoover hove in
sight. He estimates that the gross de- j
livery expenses of retail grocers in
;he country is over $75,000,000 each
year, and asks that we now carry
home our purchases from the corner
grocery. He says this sum is used for
the hire of men to put up packages, to
run the number of wagons and trucks
required to put the groceries at the
door of the consumer, not once each
fay but sometimes half a dozen times
per day.
Mr. Hoover says that from this day
henceforth, a package in the hand is
as truly a badge of honor as a Red
Cross button on the coat lapel. He has
ascertained that in the city of Wash
ington it costs 7¥2 per cent of the
gross sales of food to pay for its de
livery to the consumer. On a food
bil of twelve and three-quarter million
dollars in 1916, Washington paid al
most one million for sending the stulf
to the purchaser.
But what will all these delivery men
and boys do ,asks the pessimist? “Oh,
they are in France,” replied Mr. Hoov
er, “and they ask that you carry your
own packages home and send them
the extra 7 ¥2 per cent.”
Now, economy is like charity. It
should begin at home. The real Red
Cross woman is not the one with a
button pinned on her breast, but the
one who has a package under her arm
or in her hand.
The report of the commercial econ
omy board declares that in our great
cities the cost to the department stores
of delivering packages is from eighi
to twenty-five cents apiece. It is no un
common thing for the cost of deliver
ing an article to exceed the cost of the
article, and probably one-half of the
daily purchases of a department store
may be carried home by the women
themselves.
rriTo Wnms
f^nmmitfpp nf flip
Council of National Defense urges
women everywhere to aid in the re
form.
SQUEEZING THE FARMER.
Some who can remember when one
dollar a bushel was considered a good
pi-ice for wheat, may feel perplexed
at the protests of farmers against
the price of $2.20 fixed by the gov
ernment. Yet there is a sound reason
for the protest. It is thus expressed
by the Utah Labor News:
“Uncle Sam would raise $2
wheat on $300 land; It can’t be
did.”
During the decade from 1900 to
1910 farm land values in the United
States increased more than 100 per
cent. The increase has since contin
ued at about the same rate. That
means that the farmer who would add
to his acres, or the young man who
would become a farmer, must pay ex
orbitant prices for land. But land is
the one thing needful to industry
which costs no more to produce than
it ever did. There is just as much of
if am linnrl n c* f li nvn time
There has been no increase in rur
al population to account for increased
prices of agricultural land. What
doep account for the increase is that
much of it is held by speculators who
will neither use it themselves nor let
others do so, and the government,
while taking steps to regulate prices
of commodities produced from land,
has done nothing whatever to regulate
the price of land itself. Instead, while
fixing prices for commodities, it is
about to put an additional load of tax
ation on industry, but has made no
provision for taxes on land values.
These taxes increase the prices of
everything that farmers and other
producers must buy. Failure to tax
land values encourages speculation,
not only on farm lands, but other
lands, and thus checks production of
things that the farmer needs in ^iis
business.
Is it any wonder that farmers ob
ject to a fixed price for their product
which takes no account of the ob
structions the government insists in
naintaining in their way?
«
EGGSACTLY.
Caught with a great surplus of cold
storage eggs, on which they are losing
$400 a car at present prices, Chicago
egg speculators have appealed to the
government to save them by making
cold storage eggs a part of the army
ration. If their plea is granted the
eggs may endanger the supremacy of
the army bean in the soldier’s diet.
Government reports show that there
are 881,175 cases, or 26,615,250 dozens,
more of eggs in storage this month
than a year ago. They were bought
in April, at an average price of 37V2
cents a dozen. In 1916 the April stox
age eggs were put away, at an aver
age cost of 25 to 27 cents. Stoi*age
eggs now ai’e selling at wholesale at
33 V2 cents a dozen, or an average loss
of 2% cents a dozen.
The reason for the surplus is that
the egg crop last spi*ing was large,
and in older to hold up prices many
more eggs than usual were stored. An
export demand was counted on, but no
eggs have been shipped abroad.
_
CAN WE LICK THE HUN?
Our corn crop is ten times as big
i as that of any other nation.
Our wheat crop is bigger than that
I of any other country,
j The United States has twice as
j many cattle and swine as any other
j country.
j Our cotton is half the supply of
i the world.
! Our coal production is twice as
•large as that of Great Britain, our
nearest competitoi*.
' Our copper output is more than all
I the l est of the world combined.
Our steel and iron output is twice
j that of Germany, our nearest com
| petitor.
Our manufactured goods each year
; are worth $40,000,000,000.
j Our oil production is 300,000,000
•barrels a year—twice that of the next
[;ru«uter, ima&m.
We have twice as many railroads
las all Europe.
We own one-third of the world’s
j gold.
I Our export balance is $3,000,000,000
| to $5,000,000,000 a year, and our to
tal wealth $2,000 per man, woman and
child, exceeding that of Great Britain,
| France and Germany combined.
MEXICANS AID RED CROSS.
I Residents of Juarez Participate ia
Festival at El Paso.
EL PASO, Tex., Nov. 8.—Mexican
| participation, both official and unof
| ficial, in the Festival of the Allies held
! here recently under the auspices of
the local chapter of the Red Cross
came as a surprise and was one of
the most gratifying features of the
occasion.
Crowds attended daily and the pro
ceeds netted the Red Cross more than
$6,000. Because of Mexico’s position
of neutrality, no requests were made
for booths or other exhibits from the
southern republic, but General Fran
cisco Murguia ordered his military
band of eighty pieces to play nightly
at the festival. Hundreds of the most
j prominent residents of Juarez attend
ed while young Mexicans girls and
boys gave typical native dances in
the “street of nations” for the benefit
of the fund. Juarez also subscribed
liberally to the Red Cross fund.
ZEPPELIN ATTACKS SHIP.
STOCKHOLM, Nov. 8.—The Swed
ish steamer Flandria was attacked by
a Zeppelin on its latest trip home
ward. The first bomb which was
dropped narrowly missed the ship. The
engines were stopped and the crew
orderd into the boats. Four more
bombs were dropped dangerously near
the vessel. Before all those on board
had entered the boats there was a
panic, and the captain had to use his
revolver to enforce discipline.
The ship’s company, after remain
ing for about two hours in the boats,
returned to their ship. Several hours
later another airship appeared and
hovered about the ship for a time, but
departed without doing any harm.
CO-OPERATORS TO
ESTABLISH COLONY
IN LOUISIANA
One of the most extensive co-oper
ative organizations in the United
States has recently completed ar
rangements to invade the south, and
before January 1, 1918, it is expected
that several hundred persons will be
engaged exclusively in co-operative
work there, devoting their entire
to it.
This is the Llano Colony, of Llano,
California, which has just purchased
16,000 acres of fertile soil in the high
lands of Louisiana, and is planning to
establish industries, farm land and to
build homes without delay. The Llano
Colony was founded in May, 1914, in
Los Angeles county, California, by
Jab Harriman and others and has be
cofne the largest co-operative colony
ever organized. This Louisiana pro
ject is the first extension of the col
ony.
The new highland plantation is
about five miles square and is in
Vernon parish in the extreme west
ern central portion of the Queen State
of the South. This tract was select
ed after a careful investigation had
been made and after tracts in various
parts of the country had been given
consideration. It is high, well-drain
ed, extremely healthful and the soil
is rich and productive. The land has
been held by a large company and has
been lying idle for years.
The plan is to farm the 16,000
acre tract collectively, using the most
modern methods. Everything collect
ively used will be collectively owned.
Thus the land, the machinery, the
livestock? the tractors, the industries,
the hotel and such things will be
owned by the community, while those
things which are individually used
will be individually owned.
The chief outstanding features are
the eight-hour day and the equal wage
system. Private profit has been com
pletely eliminated. There are no spe
cial privileges. Interest and rent are
abolished, so far as individuals are
concerned. The marketing of prod
ucts will be by a similarly organized
department—as will'the buving. Costs
are reduced through co-operation.
Social service is a community charge,
so that doctor’s bills, hospital fees,
insurance, etc., are not worries for in
dividuals to shoulder.
The new Highland plantation in
Louisiana is to be developed as rapid
ly as possible. Socialists fi-om Texas
and Oklahoma are going into the new
district, and it is expected that sub
stantial crops of corn and cotton as
w^ell as vegetables of all kinds will
be harvested the first year. Much
interest has ben aroused by the spread
of the co-operative colony work by the
Llano colony. •
EGYPT NEEDS FUEL.
Government Experts Home to Solve
Difficulty With Cotton Stalks.
CAIRO, Nov. 8.—The fuel question
threatens to become serious in Egypt
during the coming year owing to the
impossibility of obtaining adequate
imports of coal. Government experts
hope to solve the difficulty partially
by developing a useful fuel from cot
ton stalks. Experiments to this end
are being carried out by Prof. J. F.
Wells.
Egypt produces no coal, grows very
few trees and those not for firewood,
and her oilfields are not as >ret suffi
ciently developed to meet local re
quirements. Both fuel and coal im
ports have fallen off more than fifty
per cent since the war. To economize
fuel, stz*eet lighting has been decreas
ed by a quarter, all shops are closed
at 7 p. m., all restaurants at 10 and
all places of amusement at 11.
TO OBSERVE MASSACRE.
WALLA WALLA, Wash., Nov. 16.
—The seventieth anniversary of the
massacre by Indians of the Whitman
mssionary party at Waiilatpu, Wash.,
Nov. 29, 1847, will be celebrated by
a union service under the auspices of
Whitman college and the churches of
this city at the scene of the massa
cre, it is announced.
An effort will be made to have all
the survivors of the massacre pres
ent, and committees have been named
to take charge of the observance.
NATIVE HAT TO
BE CURED IN
B. BULLARD, OF TAKU, WILL TROT
METHOD THAT HAS BEEN
USED WITH HOPS IN STATES.
TO EXPEDIMENT NEXT SEASON.
Fortunes Await Farmers of South
eastern Alaska if Plan Can Be De>
vised to Defeat Effects of Mount
Climate.
Ben Bullard has returned to Juneau
from a trip to his ranch on the Taku
river and is planning to put into effect
an innovation to overcome the damp
ness of Southeastern Alaska climate
by drying hay artificiall, says a Ju
neau newspaper. He was accompan
ied to the city by R. Morgan, one of
his partners.
“While the present season,” said
Mr. Ballard, “has been marked by a
heavier rainfall than ever before
known, there is always more or less
' dampness to interfere with certainty
of curing hay in the field. On tke
ranch this summer despite the adverse
conditions the boys raised a fine stand
of oats and barley and experimental
alfalfa reached a .height of two feet.
“There is never any question as to
growing hay crops—the only question
is how to cure them. I believe this
can be done artificially, by means of
drying hops in the states. By properly
curing hay most ranchers in this part
of the country could realibe small for
tunes. Ihave not fully worked out the
details, but am intending to put in an
experimental plan next season and see
what can be done.
“We have plowed considerable
ground this fall and planted it so that
the crop will have an early start next
spring. Most of the stock has been
killed off for meat, and we shall keep
just enough pigs over winter for
breeding purposes.”
ISLANDS GO ON CRUISE.
Floating Earth in Lake Coeur d’Alene
Blockades Log Boom.
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho, Nov. 17.
—Two floating islands, which have
been cruising about Lake Coeur
d'Alene during the summer, have
started to the Pacific ocean through
the Spokane river, and are holding up
navigation of log-boom tugs,
j Declaring that heer is danger that
the source of the river would be en
, tirely blocked in case of high water,
lumbermen have appealed to the coun
ty commissioners here to get the
islands out of the way.
OUR ORGAN OF BALANCE. r
When It Becomes Affected It Pro
duces an Attack of Vertigo.
When any one feels dizzy and per
I haps almost about to faint his brain
cannot properly control the working
of his eyes. They may move round
from side to side, perhaps independ
i ently instead of together, and so it
may look as if things were spinning
| around.
Another reason for dizziness has
to do with a wonderful part of the
body near the ear and without which
none of us could sit upright, much
| less stand, though few people have
ever heard of it. This organ, which
used to be thought to have something
to do with hearing, really controls
our balance. In some people it is af
fected by disease, and these people
a feeling that everything is spinning
round and round.
As every one knows, we can make
ourselves dizzy and so think every$
thing is spinning round by whirling
; around ourselves several times in one
direction. This disturbs the organ of
balance, and this disturbance gives us
the feeling. If you turn round the
other way you put things right by re
storing the original state of affairs
within the balancing organ. The name
for the feeling that things are spin
ning round is vertigo, and “vert”
simply means “turn.”—Kansas City
I Star.
' SSjSptc* - c- “ " ■