Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1912-12-18


south was then one-crop countr!
and il anything happened to that ont
crop, they were out of business. TIL,
negro labor was packing up and NOV
ing away. Everybody was scared tt
death. Well, we did some good worl
down there to get rid of the boil
weevil; but more important than tina.
one thing was what it led to.
Taught South How to Farm.
I'VE began the business of teaching
the southern farmer how to make thu
| most of his farm. We found a mar
in each county best fitted to direc.
this work. He knew where the neeC
was greatest and could drive abou
from place to place showing his neigh
bors what ought to be done The
south isn't one-crop country any
more.
Then we saw that there had to b.
some animals on that land; that We
should have to look to the south
pretty soon for beef. The homestead
ers were taking up the land of the
great western cattle ranches and the
ranchmen were beginning to give up
So we tackled the pasture question
and helped the southern farmer abou
his hogs and cattle.
Secretary Wilson also talked upor
what has been done and what he
hopes may be done further in the
way of putting demonstrators on the
farms in all the states of the Union
There are no postgraduate insti
! buttons to supplement the agriculture
colleges" said he. I'VE have to train
our own men in many branches. Con
| gress has not permitted us to pay
the salaries that would keep then
with us in all cases, and these train
ed men have sometimes been taken
away from US But we keep on train
/ ing EN- just the same. 1t is the same
about road building; the technical in
situations turn out civil engineers, but
! they 10 not teach them practically
how to build roads. We are training
| road experts. We should like tc
train a half-dozen superintendent fol-
{ New York state
is what we did to redeem the dry
belt west of the Tooth meridian The
soil is good, but there is little rain
| fall There were great tracts of al
most useless land, given over to half
| wild animals. We visited the deserts
of the old countries in search of the
| plants and grain that could be grown
/ in soil like that and learned the ways
of cultivating them. Do you know
about Durum wheat? We are grow
ing 75,000,000 bushels of it year
now, and last year we exported 80.
! 900, 900. Then we had to have legumes
for that land-the plants that take
nitrogen from the air and put it In
the soil. We sent four times to Asia
and Africa in this search. We brought
over the yellow blossomed alfalfa
and installed it where it would dc
the most good"
Pensions for Ex-Presidents?
When Andrew Carnegie proposed
his plan to pension ex-presidents
of the United States at the rate
! of $4,000 a year In order that
they might take life easier and lend
their counsel as private citizens to the
lawmakers of the Union, it was strong
ly suspected that the Scottish-Ameri-
can philanthropist had no thought that
the pension plan would be accepted,
! but that it's suggestion might stir con-
gress to take action looking to the
care of ex-presidents and their fam
lilies.
The argument in congress against
pensions for ex-presidents is an old
one, and in many respects, apparently,
a perfectly proper one, that we should
have no civil pension list. 1t has been
| held that If this country once begins
to give pensions to men who have held
civil jobs under the government, there
will be no end to it, and also that the
pension giving might be much abused.
1t always has seemed to be the fear
of congressman that some men with a
pull or personal popularity who have
held some kind of government jobs for
| awhile might by their influence induce
congress to give them pensions. There
are some civil pensions granted by the
United states, notably those given by
special acts of congress to the widows
of presidents. AS a rule, however,
civil pensions have stopped at this
point and while it seems probable now
because of the agitation that some
plan may be evolved to pension ex-
presidents, probably long time will
elapse before anything like a plan for
general civil pensions will be sanction
ed by the congress of the United
States.
Plan Tariff Hearings.
The Democratic members of the
ways end means committee already
are mapping out a scheme for tariff
hearings in order that revision bills
may be presented to the hous as soon
as the extra session which is to be call
ed by President-elect Wilson opens. 1t
can be said on good authority that the
wool schedule will be given first at
tention at the hands of the commit
toe and probably will be the first of