Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-12-07
STORAGE RAISES
COST OF LIVING
Secretary of Agriculture, in
Annual Report, Tells of
Conditions in Nation.
FARMER GETS so CENTS
Who Receives Other Half of Dollar
Is Question Official Can't
Answer.

er pays dollar for food; the farmer
gets less than fifty cents of it Who
gets the rest?"
That is a question which Secretary
Wilson of the department of agricul
ture asks in his annual report The
secretary does not attempt to answer
it. He does explain in some detail
the results Of an investigation his de-
partment has just concluded into the
effect of cold storage on the whole
someness and cost of food. His in
vestigation leads him to recommend
publicity for the amount Of food in
cold storage, just as the department
now gives publicity to the condition
of crops from month to month.
COLD STORAGE DELIVERIES.
Instead of food remaining in stor-
age for longer than year or two
years, as rule, the secretary de-
clares that his investigation showed
that receipts into cold storage are en-
|
deliveries out of cold storage within
ten months"
Long storage is the exception, the
secretary asserts. warehousemen eX-
plaiued to the department that ex-
Cessiye long storage was due to law
suits and other circumstances of an
monumental nature The cost of
storage, including storage charge, in
terest and insurance, is considered as
barrier to very long storage.
Cod storage, the secretary reports,
has raised the cost of living by in
creasing the ANIMAL price level for but
ter and eggs.
The secretary says that an examina-
tion Of the record of prices gives a
suspicion" that there has been much
speculation in some years by the men
who keep commodities in cold storage
OvEREsTIMATE CONSUMPTION.
He refers to ''aI apparent mistake"
of the storage men in ovel estimating
the consumption of eggs by the public
at exorbitant prices last winter with
the Jesuit that in the spring the stor>
age men had to sell eggs at remark.
ably low prices and send abroad the
largest amount OF eggs ever exported
in order to get rid of the supply. The
secretary declares that the warehouse
men ought to be required to send to
Washington each month the amount
of commodities placed in storage SC
that the public may be able to judge
of the future trend of prices.
. A great variety Of subjects are dealt
with by the secretary In his report
he says that the day is not far dis
tant when the United States will cease
to import potash, Florida, Kentucky
Tennessee and Idaho are mentioned as
repositories.
RECOMMENDS ONE BUREAU,
Recommendation is made that al
government agencies that conserve
health should be grouped together IL
: one bureau. The success of the depart
+ ment in the southern states through
object lessons in the fields Is pronounc
ed to have been such as to justify tbs
extension of the work to all states.
e corn crop is moving northward b!
> seed selection.
2. The American systems of rentinj
e land are declared to be faulty and re
y suit il soil robbing. 1t is suggeste,
It that domestic animals be kept on farm
b even If the land owner must furnish
o them, and that there be a rotation O
!; crops.
+ Af'er years Of experimentation tn;
II department says that Egyptian cottol
3 can be grown 10 southern Californii
and bulbs in the state of Washington
The crayfish is pronounced to be
l. serious pest in the south. Carbon bi
sulphide is said to be sure remedy
J. The finest dates from the Sahar;
l. desert succeed in the Southwestern
g states.
y S750,0OO,0OO POULTRY
d Poultry products for the past yea
n are estimated to have been wort
$3.50, 100000.
The foresters of the forestry bun
5, eau are learning by experiments no,
g to reforest 10000 acres in year
y The secretary says that ten time
d this much must be planted annual
IT to cover all the bare acres ia a ger
q Grafton.
J. we are sending explorers to tn
E. ends of the earth for new plants an
q getting them," says Secretary Wilson
d The secretary warns the irrigatio
d farmers that they must conserv
If their soil; that irrigation will brin
r. maximum crops while the land is me-
!, and full of plant food. But wher
the crops are sold year By year, 1
rigation of itself will not of itse
assure good results.