Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-04-10
HON. @. B. STEVENS REVIEWS WORK
OF AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT
INANNOUNCING FOR REELECTION

made special ANALYSES OF thousands OF
samples of fertilizers for the farmers of
Georgia whenever called upon to do so,
and by reason of which the farmers have
been greatly protected and benefited. One
of the first rules adopted by the depart
ment in January. 1899. was that where
farmer desired 10 know what his fertiiiz
ers contained, upon request the depart
ment would send an Inspector 10 take
samples of such goods, and a special anal
ysis was thereupon made by the state
chemist connected with this department.
A large number of the best farmers in
Georgia have voluntarily declared this to
be a marked advanced and a most bene-
fetal change from past policies.
INSPECTION OF OILS.
OF equal Importance is the inspection OF
Illuminating oils. with which the depart
ment is charged; for the reason that upon
the careful supervision of this branch of
business depends the protection and safe
ty Of valuable lives and property. One of
the first efforts of this administration was
TO raise the quality of the oil sold In Geor-
gia, and il will be recalled that. as the
result of a more diligent and exacting
administration of the oil department,
more than a million and half gallons of
oil that was below graue was seized and
withheld from sale. Out of this seizure
grew the present oil law, which provides
the test from 100 to AZ degrees in an open
tester, or to 100 degrees in a closed tester,
which is the new instrument and new test
adopted by other leading states. While
this law is not all that we wanted nor
what we urged the legislature to pass, at
the same time 1t is the best law regulating
the sale of Illuminating oils ever placed
upon the statute books of Georgia. The
bill which was introduced in the house
and passed by that body provided that
although the oil should prove to be safe
from explosion, yet II of an inferior illu
minating quality it should be condemned.
When the bill went to the senate it was
referred to the agricultural committee. of
which my predecessor was member.
regret that this committee saw At to
strike out this important feature, that of
regulating the illuminating qualities.
1 was prompted to make this demand
for the better. regulation OF the illuminat-
ing qualities of oil for the reason that
the records OF my predecessors show that
there had been numerous complaints Of
the inferior Illuminating quality of oil sold
in this state" and 1t was my purpose to
remedy that defect in the law il 1t were
possible to do so. While this department
has used every means in its power to see
that the people not only had safe oil. but
oil of good Illuminating qualities, we have
had, like all former administrations, some
complaints from ten points within the
state in alb. though we are pleased to say
these complaints are fewer than ever be-
fore in the history of the department.
There was paid into the treasury from
the inspection of oils for the years 1900
and 1901 s23.410.S9 net IT Is only fair to
state that this department in no way sees
nor handles one dollar of this money, but
that the same is paid into the treasury
direct by the inspectors themselves. the
sole duty of this department being to see
that the money is so paid, that all oils are
properly inspected and the records aceu-
rately kept Under the law, wherever the
various oil companies doing business in
this state establish an oil tank, or distrib-
uting station, IL Is the duty OF this de-
partment to appoint an inspector at such
place, whose compensation Is fixed by
law With the advanced methods Of doing
business the establishment of these tanks
has greatly increased within the past few
years thereby lessening the volume Of oil
distributed from what were heretofore
known as the main stations. such as At
lahta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon, CO.
Iumbus, etc, and therefore necessarily
reducing the amounts paid by these larger
stations into the treasury; but, on the
other hand. giving the dealers and con-
sumers in the smaller places the advan-
tage of better service and more modern
business methods.
EG0tNQfWt@PN@F ~ WV
on the question of economy. can say.
with all confidence, that have admins
tered the affairs of the agricultural de-
partment with the very lowest cost coma
sistent with good service. feel that 1t is
but proper and timely to here present the
facts and figures, as taken from the rec
ord of my own administration and that
Of my predecessor, bearing upon the
question of economical administration of
this department
1t will be noted that these figures are
the amounts turned into the treasury by
these departments after all expenses have
been paid.
1t gives me pleasure to state, in this
connection. that for the present fiscal
year the department. is in still better con-
dition than ever before, the official rec
ords showing up to date with only one
half Of the fiscal year flnishedl as fol-
lows
Fertilizer Department.
Paid to treasurer up to April LIST. $40, 1864
Cash on hand and in bank........ 2T.S2O.25
SS7, SO
Oil Department,