The evening times., 1896-12-04
WHAT THEY DID WITH SEED
Secretary Morton Publishes a
Long Roll Of congressman.
AID FOR THE COUNTY PAPER
Willy Statesmen, Headed by Senator
German, Had Their Lots Disap-
pear in Their Committee Rooms.
Oranges, Grand Army Posts, News
papers, etc., Made Beneficiaries.

The report of the special agent on seed
distribution for the Department Of Agri-
culture has been submitted, to accompany
that of Secretary Morton when laid before
Congress.
1t shows that last spring the seeds were
sent out in twenty-nine days, whereas here
tofore the time occupied has been from
three to five months. The SMALLEST ship
ment ON any day was 81 mail sacks, con
tanning $4,000 packages, on April 20, and
the largest was on May 20, when 9o3
sacks Were forwarded, containing l20, ,2S3
packages.
An accompanying table gives the acreage
that would have been sowed with each
vegetable If all the seeds had been used.
There would have been 1886 acres of Gu
cunbers, S,34S OF sweet corn, 1919 of
tomatoes, I0,TS6 OF lettuce, and 2l,0oS
OF cabbage.
The Interesting calculation follows that
this, the total, makes ll0 square miles
of ground, and il cut into strip rod
wide would he 36 ,S1T miles long, or one
and half times the girdie OF the earth.
II would take an express train going sixty
miles a n hour nearly tw % months to 20 from
one end Of this garden patch TO the other,
II made into n single row it would keep a
mule and plowman busy for lifetime to
go round IL once.
Finally there is added a table showing
what each Congressman did with the seed
allotted 10 him. Some of the facts revealed
by this statement are interesting and sug-
gestiye.
MADE OF MONEY VALUE.
+ AS a matter of fact, II is well known
that the seeds are turned to all sorts of uses
and go along with the public documents in
many instances to increase the member'siI siIi-
come from his office.
IL has been estimated that If the seeds
were sold at ordinary retail value they
would nearly double his annual stipend.
They cannot, however, be disposed at any
such rate. If the clerk can MAKE a trade
or arrangement Of any kind that VIII bring
even a tenth of this amount the perquisitc
il thought to have been used to very good
effect.
Not so very unusual is the plan of turn
ing the whole lot OF seeds coming to him
over TO some person to whom he is ia
debted In this way IL sometimes happens
that member will send his whole lot to
some county paper to which he is indebted
and the editor then has the worry to see
that they are made useful
He will advertise IN ms paper that any
citizen can get the seeds by calling for
them at his office. Then when the sub
scriber calls he can collect the old sui
scrption, il in arrears, and get renewal
and where nothing Is due tie can uSuJtIy 4,,J
a renewal. Men who are not subscribers
are induced to become SO. This in no
fancy
There used TO ne an cmpIoye of the de
paTtment, who said frankly that for four
years the distribution OF his Congress
mans seeds had been the winning card that
kept alive the paper he owned a his home
II was the one advantage he had over his
only rival, but it was enough.
MORToN'S UNIQUE TABLE
The ike of the table giving the dispoSi-
ton each member made OF rs supply OF
seeds has never before been published
Congressmen do not as a rule know thatitis
to be put in the appendix of the report
When the Y do souA of them will be benolittle
wroth IL viii take about 100 pages of the
report. aud the cost will be several hundred
dollars. But Secretary Morton is soon to
retire and he cares little for Congressional
Indignation.
To "a man who has saved the government
81 300, GOO, only to have it treated as a
mere bagateie, an extra expense Of n
hundred dollars or two for the purpose
OF making plain the folly and iniquty of
the distribution of see Is makes little diff
ference. Mr.. Morton would think 1t cheap
at ten times the price il by this means he
could have the system abolished.
Some OF the uses made of th seed are as
follows:
Senator Aldrich sent $50 packages to
each of four Rhode Island agricultural So
cetics Senator Berry had 1900 pack
ages sent to W. II Hyatt, Bentonvile, Ark.
Chairman Rahcock of the Republican COM
mittee in some way got nearly twice as
much the average and sent out in all
6,045 packages 10 various addresses in
Wisconsin.
Hon. J II. Walker OF Massachusetts had
5000 packages semitic Hon. L 7. Herrick
at Worcester, Mass. Senator white had
500 packages each sent to the Los A ngeles
Times and the Los Angeles Herald. Sena-
tor VOORHEES, allowance WIS distributed
among about forty chairmen of Democratic
county committees in Indiana: each re-
ceived from fifty to 100 packages. Hon.
st. George Tucker distributed his share
to postmasters throughout his district
fifty packages to each.
SCATTERED BY YOUNG TOwNE.
Representative Towne. the young silver
orator, sent his allotment broadcast all over
Minnesota, from Duluth to st. Cloud and
st: Paul, in fifty-package lots.
Senator Turpie sent two Democratic ed
itors 100 packages each and one editor
500 packages. Representative Strobe OF
Nebraska sent dozen fifty package orders
to the Women's Relief Corps in his district
Representative sparkInan, of Florida,
sent Hon. W. ID. Chipley, now talked of to
succeed Senator Call, sack of 200 pack
ages. Representative Poole, of New York
the secretaries OF about fifty Oranges in
his constituency, sixty-two packages each.
Senator Proctor also distributed his
among the Oranges, usually sending fifty
packages to the master of the Grange
Representative Mercer sent each news
paper In his constituenc y that had his favor
$50 packages. Senator Lndsa Y sent seeds
To Kentucky editors, from the Breaks of
Sandy TO the Mississippi, forty packages
each.
Representative Kleberg, of Texas, sent
seventy-fcur packages to each county Judge
In his district. 1t would be interesting
To know what those county iudunS IA