Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-11-15
NO SILVER TRUST.
THE NEED OF AN" "ELASTiC CUR
RENCY" is NOW SEEN.

The Cost OF Coal and Provisions on the Trip
to the Pacific Will Amount to S1.229.OOO
Each of the Ships Will Be Supplied With
700 Charts Necessary for the Long Voy-
age The Soil Bureau of the Agricultural
Department Classifying 1880 Square
Miles of the Soil of This Country. and q
Soil Map is Being Made The Nitro cul-
ture is Likewise UNDERGOING Investigation
1T is Said to Make Peas and Beans
Grow on a Brick-Pile.
Special Correspondence of the STANDARD
WASHINGTON. Nov. 9. 1907.
Whatever other sort of trusts
there may be in this country, the
Treasury has concluded there is no
silver trust. The Department has
just concluded the purchase of 300, =
900 ounces of silver at 81. 623 cents an
ounce. This is drop of about ten
cents an ounce from the price of the
white metal year ago. 1t will be
remembered that while Mr.. Shaw
was still Secretary of the Treasury
there was n good deal said about the
existence of Il silver trust and it was
thought that an attempt was being
made to squeeze the government on
the price of the metal, But there
has been Il steady decline in the
price, which is good practical evi-
dence that there is no combination.
Preparations are being RAPIDLY
completed for the voyage of the
battleship squadron to the Pacific
Admiral Evans was in Washington
this week consulting with Secretary
on the subject. 1t is estimated by
the Department that the cost of the
coal and transportation of the same
to supply the squadron till it reaches
San Francisco will be $1,229, 900.
Another item of interest is that each
of the ships will be supplied with
200 charts especially for this voyage.
This will make a big map library in
itself. All of the charts have been
prepared by the photographic Office
of the Navy Department and not one
of them is of foreign origin.
A report has just been issued by
the soil bureau of the Department of
Agriculture, showing that the bureau
has finished mapping and classifying
about $500 square miles of the soil
of the United States, This is per
cent of the available farming area.
The work of the bureau ut first sight
seems rather empirical. but it has a
very practical side. The soils of the
different sections are studied and
classified so that it is possible to tell
at glance from the soil map what
sections of the country are available
for certain crops and where new var
ieties can be profitably introduced.
When the work is completed, there
will be available as complete IL fer
tility map of the country as there is
a geological map.
Along with the soil mapping, it is
interesting to note that the work of
the Agricultural Department with
nitrO-cultures is going on quietly
and benefcially. There was great
deal in the papers year and half
ago about nitro-cultures and how they
"OuiNt ihSiCd ttlC lCItiIlty vi tuC
soil so that carnations and cabbages
could be grown on brick pile. All
this was yellow paper eXaggeration
and did good deal of harm to a legit-
innate branch of practical scientific
work. The nitrO-cultures were good
for just one class of crops, the le-
gumes, that is to say, peas, beans
and all the lentils. There was
great deal of trouble in getting the
cultures put up in such form that
they could be sent through the mails
and retain their vitality. But this
had been done by the use of an air.
tight glass tube. The bureau has
sent out tens of thousands of trial
cultures and received reports in
thousands of cases. These all show
that the cultures when properly used,
have a marked effect on the produc-
tiOn of legume crops, There use is
being extended and there are more
culture tubes being sent out this
spring than ever before. The cost
of the whole work has not been much
and the benefit according to the re-
ports received has run into the hun
dredS of thousands of dollars.