The San Francisco call., 1898-01-14
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= . v U - - U eS - - - - - - - - - 1 the Bank of Yolo as I always do and l filled out an application for 15,000 San l Quentin sacks. Then I went before a notary and made the usual affidavit that they were for my own use. This order was forwarded for me by MT. ! Diggs. So far as I know, my affidavit was regular in every respect; I follow ed the same course I do every year." Did you order any more sacks than you required?"
 No: but there is another thing I l have noticed, and that is that the deal- CTS are always anxious to have far mer order all he can possibly need | They assure him that they will take | all he may have left over. That has been my experience repeatedly. l have
 been told to be sure and get enough sacks, and there will be no danger of my being out of pocket by getting too many. But have never ordered more than I thought I needed, and if any of my applications have called for more, 1 the figures have been raised after signed them.'
 MT. Day would not say who it was that gave him the information regard ing culls, but as Marshall Diggs han dled his order for him and has done so before, it is not unreasonable to sup
 pose that it was he who gave the ad-
 vice to purchase them.
 Asa Morris, who has many acres ly- ing between Yolo and Knights Land ing, said:
 Tt has been no secret in these parts
 that San Quentin bags could be ob 1 tained at any time from dealers. DiggS
 and Hunt of Woodland have dealt in | these bags extensively, and merchants 1 throughout this section are always
 ready to supply either San Quentin or Calcutta bags at practically the same
 price as quoted at the prison.
 II have never bought any prison bags
 from dealers, preferring to get them
 direct from San Quentin. This season
 l bought Calcutta bags, but several of
 my neighbors bought prison bags and I
 am quite certain that some of them at
 least got them from Diggs and other
 dealers.
 ''I have often wondered how these
 dealers got hold of prison bags, and
 naturally supposed there was some
 thing shady about it. for the law is
 very explicit in regard to their sale
 and requires every purchaser to make
 affidavit that they are for his own use
 Consequently there must be something
 wrong when men who do not farm a
 foot of ground, or at most cOmpara-
 lively small tracts, stand ready to fur
 nish at any time more prison bags than
 they would need for their own use in
 twenty years. These men do not han
 dle bags as matter of accommodation
 to farmers, and if they get prison bags
 at a less rate than the farmers can the
 farmer is a double loser, for he not
 only helps to support the prison but
 he is charged more for an article oS-
 tenSibly manufactured for his especial
 benefit than few favored dealers are
 and the latter are thus enabled to
 make a profit out of the farmer on
 prison bags that the law intended there
 should be no traffic in. I sincerely hope l the entire matter will be thoroughly
 sifted.'
 G. B. Eustis, an extensive wheat
 grower, living about six miles from
 Knights Landing, was most caustic in
 his comments on the way prison sacks
 were being sold.
 "I have thought for some years that there was something wrong about the
 handling of the San Quentin product , and many of my neighbors have had
 the same idea. For that reason I and
 I think others have not cared whether
 I used prison or Calcutta bags. There has been nothing secret about dealers handling prison bags. Hunt, Diggs and others have sold both San Quentin and Calcutta bags to farmers
 throughout this section for years, and
 it has always been a mystery to the
 farmers where they got the former. This past season I bought 1900 bags , of Borach & Levy at Yolo, and they offered me either brand, but I took the Calcutta bags, as they hold more and are just as good as the San Quentin
 bags. It is known to everybody around
 here that almost every storekeeper in , the county is prepared to furnish any
 quantity at short order. Where they get them of course I can't say, but
 have all along thought that some. San f Francisco houses were handling San , Quentin bags and supplied the interior dealers.
 oII Iox, 41,1 f sale of San Quentin bags, and if a . farmer wants to purchase from the prison direct he has to make the usual !, affidavit that they are for his own use, but of course, with almost any mer- 2 chant handling them openly I be- lieved that the law was being evaded, T to put it mildly, and the natural SUD- ! ! position is that the Prison Directors must be aware of what is going on. l !; hear much about the defects in the law . governing the sale of prison bags, but 2 1t is my opinion that if 1t were proper ly enforced it would afford ample pro- = lection to the farmers, as it was intend ed to do."
 n T. F. Laugenour is one of the oldest and most highly respected farmers ir y Yolo County. His farm comprises one Il of the most fertile tracts along Cache . Creek. MT. Laugenour explained that
 his memory had failed him somewhat e and he could not recall the dates ot C his transactions with the dealers, bu e that bags of San Quentin make were d openly and constantly handled by then n there could be no doubt There were y several people in Woodland, he said d who dealt in sacks, as did also Boracl Q & Levy of Yolo, and other merchant. O in the county. He could not remembe d anybody in Knights Landing who han h dled them, and it was his impression e that there was nobody there who wa, e engaged in the business.
 'I have not used any San QuentiI e bags for the past two seasons" saiC r. Mir. Laugenour, flor the reason tha W Calcutta bags have been cheaper, ant 1t I find them just as good. But in 1895 d I think it was, I bought a number O prison made bags from M. Diggs O e Woodland I do not remember just hoy d many I purchased or what I paid fo IT them, but I am sure it was in tha
 year that I got them.
 y 'Of course San Quentin bags are sol' c f0 -rlln