Arizona republican., 1906-04-24
OUT
 FREE SEEDS
The Farmers of the COun-
 try Oppose the Waste
Congress Is Inundated with Letters Protesting Against a Continuance of the Growing Evil.

| reSenUatlVeS last week, but the committee on appropriations asked | the chairman of the committee on az
 riculture. which prepares the agricul- | tural bill, to give way in order that
 the bill providing for the expenditures | in the District of Columbia during the next fiscal year might nave the right ! of way. After several consultations with Speaker Cannon. Chairman ! Wadsworth consented 10 the program | laid out. and in consequence the far
 mers of the country may not know | definitely for several days just what 1 it is proposed to do for their advance ment. The agricultural appropriation
 bill carries this year a total appropria-
 tion of about S7,OOO,OOO. in round fig
 ures. The first money appropriated by l congress was provided in a bill which
 authorized the commissioner of pat ! ents to eXpend "$1.OO0 in the purchase and distribution of rare and valuable seeds and in the publication of agri- cultural statistics" That was seventy ! five years ago. The department of az riculture was created in 1862 as bu- reau of the interior department. The 1 head of this bureau was designated as the commissioner of agriculture, and | later. during Cleveland's first admin i istration, the position was raised to the ! ui6iill9 OL d Cchiiltl OlliCt
 Through all the years since Norman | Coleman. of Missouri. was first ap- pointed to hold the portfolio of agri- culture. the amount of money provided | for the purchase and distribution of ''rare and valuable seeds has grown
 until last year a third of a million dol | lars was made available for this pur- pose. But in all these years the prin- l cipal use to which the money has been put has been the purchase of just as many cheap seeds as could be secured ! for the money at the disposal of the | secretary of agriculture. Instead of
 using this fund in the purchase and distribution of rare and valuable seeds" the secretary has apparently considered his duty performed when he bought as many seeds of the com monest varieties as he could get for | the money. It is true that some vaiu- able seeds have been secured. Sugar beets from Germany, Kaffir corn from Africa, and alfalfas from various parts
 of the orient have been introduced in | to the agricultural regions of the country. But the bulk of the money has been expended in the purchase of the cOmmonest varieties of garden seeds.
 such as cucumber, lettuce, turnips, onions, tomatoes and like garden veg tAdDitSr NALiAOuA oAilN DtllCAll MlidltNtI to the farmer or to agricultural sci ence.
 Some years ago President Cleveland l returned the agricultural appropria- ! tion bill to the house without his ap- proval becaused he disapproved of the ''seed item Since that time there has been a growing disposition to cut out altogether this useless waste of public i funds. Useless. because the seeds dis tributed are neither new nor useful in the way of educating the agriculturist.
 But all efforts to cut out the free seed clause of the bill have been abortive until the present time. This year, however, under the leadership of
 Messrs. Wadsworth and Cocks, of New York the committee decided to leave the free-seed clause out of the bill, and as it will be reported to the house that one item of about $3OO,000 is elimi- mated.
 Of course there will be a vigorous attempt to put it back when the bill comes up for consideration, but there | is a growing sentiment throughout the country in favor of the committees action. Thousands of letters have been 1 received by members of the house dur ing the past few weeks commenting the action of the committee in strik- 1 ing out the free-seed clause of the bill. These letters are evidently spontan- eous and they demonstrate that the people of the country generally. even the recipients of the bounty of the government, are not attracted by the receipt of five cents worth of veg etable seeds.
 Whenever measure of public inn portance is before congress for con- sideratiOn, interested parties find no difficulty in securing countless sigma l lures from people, especially in country districts, for or against the measure. But the letters received from persons opposed to the free distribution of seeds are not of the class. They come from individuals and are evidently spontaneous. Ono of these was re- ceived by Chairman WadswOrth from one of the most prominent farmers in his district and it reads as follows: Through your courtesy I am once
 more in receipt of a packet of seeds from our Uncle Sam's garden. Might
 l ask you to see the dear old gentleman
 and tell him that while appreciating
 his great kindness, think he had bet ter go out of this seed distributing business and use the money it costs in some other way. I hope your
 honorable body, by refusing to make an appropriation, will do away with
 the miserable practice of giving away
 seeds at the public expense. Be as-
 sured that you will have the hearty
 approval of all sensible citizens"
 This is only a sample. Hundreds of
 similar epistles have been received by
 members from every section of the
 country and they come by every mail
 And so far as can be learned at this
 time not a single protest, not a single
 plea for the continuance of the free
 seed graft has been received.
 The majority of the committee on
 agriculture. the secretary of agricui-
 ture. the chief of the bureau of plant
 industry and the president himself op-
 poses the continuance of this wasteful
 and useless expenditure of public
 money. It will shortly be known
 whether the house will stand by the
 committee on agriculture or not
 CHARLES c. RANDOLPH.