Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-04-20

abuse we desired to make out In complete
shape a typical case in which Represen-
tative sold for money the seeds which
were received by him from the government
for free distribution. The law expressly
provides that the seeds shall be distributed
among the constituents OF the respective
Congressman. Thus the transfer OF seeds
by one member to another is wholly illegal.
Yet we have record of more than 100 trans
fers of this kind. One member wrote to
the department the other day inclosing
paper which assigned to him the quota of
another member. We replied that the other
member had no seeds to transfer, mas
much as he had already drawn them all
out Whereupon the applicant rejoined
that he must have the seeds. fnasmuch as
he had already paid the other member for
them. Where such transfers between
Congressman are made, it Is not uncom-
mon for the agricultural member to give
public documents In exchange for the seeds
Of the city member. Yet the law allots
the seeds to the district and not to he
man representing it. They belong to the
people Of the district and are not the per-
sonal property of the Representative.
THE other day." continued Mr.. Harm
to me a handsome dwelling in The fashion,
able part of Washington. He said: The
owner of that house bought it, paid for the
lot on which 1t stands, and furnished 1t
with money made by buying and selling
Congressmen's seeds and documents Here
are figures which show that in 1884 1885,
600 packages of seeds were purchased and
put up by Uncle Sam for distribution by
members Of the House at a total expense
of $127. 7OS In view of the practice pre-
vailing. it is no wonder that government
seeds are drug in the market. 1 let pass
offers that were made to me Of 100000
packages of this years seeds. merely be-
cause the evidence relating to their sale
by Representatives would not have been
complete. These 100000 packages were rep
resented by Representatives orders held
by brokers, who offered to assign them to
me. One member actually came to me to
buy seeds. He was from rural district
constituents, He had received offers of
quotas at s. per 1000. and desired to know
If that was an excessive price.
An Abundance of Cases.
1.-The quota which purchased for SIS was
certainly a bargain. 1t consisted Of l., $50
packages Of vegetable seeds. 1895 packages
of flower seeds. and 50 packages of field
seeds-corn, grass and clover. The total
was 1897 packages which cost the gov
eminent s14 per 1000. So you will see that
Uncle Sam paid about $22s for what I got
from the Representative for SIS.
I'VE could easily have worked up more
cases IL we had desired, but the sort of de-
tective work involved was by no means
agreeable. I had to make 1t my business
to gain the confidence Of the dealers, while
young friend Of mine industriously spread
report to the effect that I was trying to
purchase seeds in large quantities. One
broker transacted business with me right
here in my office in the Department of
Agriculture. We were very secret about
1t, and l put on as much of an air of mys-
terry as IL l had not been acting throughout
under the orders of Secretary Morton. This
broker required references from me. He
said that he had to be very careful, mas
much as he had got into a scrape last year
through buying books from a Congress-
mans clerk. The clerk had forged the.
Representatives signature to an order for
the documents, and the dealer was arrest
ed for selling the stolen goods.
THE alleged reason for distributing seeds
gratis among the farmers is that they may
have an opportunity to obtain new and
fresh varieties tending to the improvement
o. agriculture. OF course as a matter Of
fact, the whole business is for political
purposes solely. Congressman find it use
full to throw sopS in the shape of free seeds
to their constituents. Hence the enormous
annual appropriations for this purpose
The appropriation last year was 100000.
The truth is that the farmers have oppor-
tunity to get the best seeds of all sorts in
the open market. Such seeds may be pur-
| chased in the stores of every city, town and
village throughout the country. In fully
four-fifths of the towns of population of
| more than 200 there are merchants who
| make a speciality of garden and field seeds
in bulk or in packages. There are more
over. i52 seedsmen in the country who issue
catalogues that are mailed to farmers and
Illustrated catalogues are filled with extra
ordinary descriptions of vegetable products,
and tell stories that would do credit to