Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-23

been marketing soms.t,of his stock Mr,
Dubois 1t will be remembered, was
of the silver republicans, who, headed by
Senator Teller. left the st. Louis conven-
ton which nominatsd4MeKinley. During
the conversation ASKED him to tell me the
story of that movement. HE replied:
THE bolt of the silver republicans from
the party had its origin several years be-
fore that convention: I'VE were all dele
gates to the presidential convention at Min
neapolis. and we there DICTATED to a certain
extent the financial panks of the platform.
The platform was a combination of BIZ
metallism and protection and was satisfac-
tory to us. We soondfsund, however, that
the republican party, was. not standing by
Its platform, and ws;cthen decided that
unless We could havedwhat We wanted for
silver we would not vote. for the Dingley
bill. This was along Kbolpe 1893. We stuck
together and defeated the Dingley bill. This
excited the. whole country and showed
that the silver men were determined to
have a say in financial legislation.
1T was at about this time that we be-
gan to have regular conferences together
as to what we should do" continued Sena-
tor Dubois. The bimetallists of both par
ties held regular meetings in my committee
room at the Senate. and We discussed and
laid out our plan of action. You see. many
would vote for the gold standard We fin
ally resolved that the bimetallists of both
parties would break away from the respec-
tive parties and form new party in case
neither of the parties adopted a bimetaIlic
plank in its platform. This was our posi-
ton when we left the st. Louis convention
We had the same idea when we went to
Chicago. There we had a silver headauar-
tiers, and 1t was our idea that we would
combine there with the silver men of the
democratic party and perhaps have a con-
yention of our own and nominate Teller as
President. Associated with us in this plan
were Senator Daniel of Virginia. Senator
Jones of Arkansas, Blackburn of Kentucky
and John Mclean of Ohio.
I'VE We're all for Teller. and yyare uoitipc
for the proper time to- stampede the con-
vention to him. when Bryan made his
speech and carried everything by storm.
We saw then that it would be better to 20
fer Bryan. The platform which was
adopted suited us very well and we sup
ported Bryan. This was not our plan. how
ever. for we expected to nominate Teller
Suppose Teller had been nominated, sem
ator. what would have been the resuIt?'
He would have been elected / think"
said Senator Dubois.
Something About Idaho,
The conversation here went from politics
to farming. and I asked Senator Dubois
how the farmers of his state were getting
on. He replied:
They are making meney. I know a man
who has 800 acres of alfalfa, and he will
get thousand tons off of it this wear
This Will net him at least three thousand
collars at the present price of hay and
the price will SO rise later on that his
profits will be five thousand dollars in all
probaninty. There is nothing so nice as
alfalfa farming. You plant your crop once
and the stuff grows right along year after
year. All you have to do is to cut it. stack
1t and sell it. If I had thousand acres
that I could possibly spend. 1t ought to
bring me in fifteen thousand dollars a
year. This man who has the 32O-acre farm
has invested only six thousand dollars and
his income, as I told you, will be from
three to five thDllS1n0 dollars
You see, We have a great grazing country
We have tens of thousands of sheep. which
can iced out of doors on the plains in the
summer. but which have to have hay in
the winter. This gives ms plenty of mar
ket for feed, and the alfalfa farmer has a
sure thing of it. 1t does not cost him
more than a dollar a ton to raise, harvest
and stack his hay, and he can sell it for
four dollars a ton in the stack
But where are farms of this kind Sem
ator Dubois?' 1 asked.
There are lots of them in the Snake
River valley" was the reply Land can
be got there for about $50 an acre. in
cludlng the perpetual water right; for the
lands are irrigated. you know There is
also some government land which is not
taken up but not very much We have
any amount of good and lin Idaho and we
could have great deal more if the govern
ment would make appropriations for irri-
CATION purposes
Money in Fruit.
1T is not generally known" said sena-
tor Dubois. that Idaho Is fast becoming
one of the chief fruit producing states of
the Union We are now shipping apples,
peaches and pears to Chicago. Our apples
sell there when the eastern apples are rot
ting under the trees. They are much
larger and finer than those in the east
We nave already at least 30,VO0 acres of
orchards. and about one-third of this is de-
voted to apples. We are also raising a
great many prunes. We have as fine
prunes are raised anywhere The fruit
business is very profitable. l know men
who net from 800 to $500 per acre out of
their orchards. Edgar Wilson, who now
represents Idaho in Congress, has an ample
orchard of sixty-four acres near Boise. He
sold his apples on the tree this year for
% cents a box. This was about % cents
a peck as box holds about three pecks.
His orchard is still young When it is in
full bearing it will net him $1,000 or 5000
a year"
Gold Which Floats.
How about minerals, senator? Is there
much gold in Idaho?'
I'VE have mined altogether since the be-
ginning about a quarter of billion dollars
worth of the precious metals" said Senator
Dubois. Last year we produced nearly
$15,O00,000 worth. Our gold comes from
, both quartz and placer mines. Out of the
Boise basin s25,0OO0 coo worth and more gold
mas DttH "dSHSu ana we nave DuItFeuS OF
millions left N the beds Of the streams. 1
see that Edison has invented some new
method of collecting fine gold from placers.
If nc can save the gold that now goes to
waste in the Snake river 1t would make
the whole nation rich. The Snake river
has a winding course through southern and
western Idaho 1t is a big stream, and its
bed is permeated with flour gold that is,
gold Gust so fine and faky that it will float
upon The water. 1t is SO light that it can
not be caught by quicksilver as the heavier
gold which comes from the ordinary placer
mining. The result is that most of 1t goes
to waste. Different methods Of gathering
1t have been attempted, but so far without
success, II Edison's new method will save
1t Idaho will be the richest state of the
Union
How about your quartz mines. senator?"
Some of them rich. The Trade Dol
lar mine sent one car load of ore to the
Denver smelters which was sold for over
$4,000. 1t assayed forty-one ounces of
gold and about 5000 ounces of silver to
the ton. 1t is said that 1t was the richest
car load of ore ever sent to Denver. The
Occur d Alene mines are rich in lead and
silver. and many others of our veins carry