The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-03-16
Washington Snapshots and Sidelights

'llOlS dnQ DlQellgntS
tatlves of temperance, and many or tho
Undergraduates were answered in d.
manner which showed that the case OF
the proponents of prohibition has not
been prepared with anything like the
care which has been expended by It's
opponents in preparing their case. The
latter have an array OF facts, or alleged
facts, which the prohibition people do
not appear to be able to meet. though
they may do so at q later stage in tho
! hearings.
| 1t is absolutely safe to say that the
| bill Will not pass the House, and as
| safe to assert that IL 1t should get
! through that body 1t would die In the
Senate. But 1t is not at all impossibie
\ that Congress at this session or tho
/ next Will enact a law giving the res
idents of the District of Columbia the a
privilege of voting on the question
Of wet or dry"
Representative Sims. the author OF
i the bill, says he introduced 1t at the
request of people who represented tho
4 temperance sentiment of the District
of Columbia. Mr.. Sims is temper
ance man, though not a strict tee
! totaer.
II never took a drink in saloon In
II tOIt SdIu BINS, ana 1t. ID
/ a rare thing ever take a drink any
where. / am not a fanatic on the sub
iect of the use of liquor. But, I said
in speech on the floor of the House
that whiskey was responsible for the
so-called crime wave" which swept
over Washington recently"
i The investigation of the Inter
national Harvester Trust, which
/ farmers claim do them moro harm
than any other half-dozen monopolies. il
i hanging fire, and has been doing so
for months. The explanation given
is that the President called off. the
forces of the Bureau of Corporations
OF the Department of Commerce and
Labor which had been set to work to
lay bare the methods of the harvester
combine and set them to probing the
/ Standard OIL.
The apologists for the Standard are
few, but had tho bureau been allowed
, to uncover the methods of the 'Har-
vester Trust, and then had the De-
, partment of Justice proceeded to put
1t out of business and succeeded, it is
!, claimed that the farmers OF tho United
4 states would have been far moro
s greatly benefited than by the irnpo-
. sition of s29,00o,Oo0 fines upon the
! Oil Trust.
1t is claimed that the trust which
: SoitioiS- Tie OIL harvest
a ing machinery does more injury to the
!, farmer in the matter of repairs to such
machinery than In any other way. 1t
, Is charged that the trust will not al
/, low retail dealers to handle repairs for
more than about one year after a
machine is put upon the market. For
instance. the repairs for a reaper OF
the model of 1905 will not be obtain
able this summer 1t is claimed, as the
manufacturers will not furnish them
to the retail dealers. In some in
+ stances, individual farmers have tried
to get repairs from the factory with
out success. The result Is that new
reaper has to be purchased long be-
fore the machine Is worn out for the
reason that repairs for 1t cannot be
| obtained.
1t is understood that the Bureau of
, Corporations will devote much time to
! Investigation of this phase of the trusts
!, business. Commissioner Smith the
|. head of the bureau, says that the in
| lvestigation will be resumed-in fact it
Is already under way again.
The House Committee on Agriculture
n has agreed that the usual appropriation
f for vegetable and flower seeds to be
: distributed by Senator'S and members
: of the House OF Representatives shall
: be made, but 1t is provided in the agrf-
n Secretary OF Agriculture shall have only
. one-twentfeth instead OF one-sixth as
i many packets to distribute as We're
allowed members of Congress. It has
1 been asserted that members were in
r the habit of imposing upon the good
, nature of Secretary Wilson to the eX-
: tent of wheedllng him into giving
+ them portion Of his allowance. with
, the result that certain members had
r far more than their share Of those
1 seminifsrous vote-getters
If the experiments conducted by the
$ Department of Agriculture to deter
u mine The comparative germnative
0 value of Commission" seeds, and the
: seeds distributed by members were
Il fairly conducted and honestly reported,
c and there is no reason to doubt either.
= constituents of Senators and Repre-
! sentatives who receive seeds get very
much better than when they buy. Ac-
c cording To a report of the Department
: of Agriculture, recently issued. the
: average termination for six years on
: seed sent out on congressional orders
y was S7.3. while the average for com
g mission" seeds was only GIG per cent
J, La difference OF a5.7 per cent
Q These experiments alluded TO were
I interesting and Illuminating. The de-
S partmens people found, after expert
d ments With AIS packets of twenty-six
K kinds of seeds purchased from twenty
D seven eed-packeting houses. that only
e lC2.3 per cent. would terminate. The
a average termination from the seeds of
i one firm was only 37.a per cent. 1t was
: found that twenty-one of the twenty
/. seven sendsmen whose seed was tested
d had put up 200 lots. which gprmiEated
n 10 per cent. or less. Thirteen packet
ing houses put up siSty-two lots OF
seed which entirely failed to ger
h inmate.
]. Seedsmcn who have been opposing
q congressional distribution of seeds have
. contended that the seeds sent out by
= members were not good. The expert
9 |ments conducted by the seed labora-
4 tory of the department would show
: that the recommendation of the. de-
: |partment that the purchaser OF seeds
!, should be given some sort of guaranty
!, is rather reasonable.