Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1912-09-19
NEWsY GOSSIP FROM NATIONAL CAPITOL
aobSn N. Mew.de.


WASHINGTON, Sept. l9.-If the
republican publicity promoters were
worth their salt they'd whip the
starch out OF the stridulOus and braz.
en- yawpers who are trying to make
the country believe that It's going fast
10 the demnition bow.wOws, that we
are on the verge Of a woeful panic,
and that the only nan who a save
us-the w%orkingman especially, and
the farmers in particularly the BON.
bas,ic hero tD" Of Juan Hill. Ac.
cording to reliable adyices from ey-
cry section OF the country farm pro.
duction this year will be the greatest
ia the history OF the United States.
In proof OF that fact, the big bank.
ers OF the great and prosperous North
west, agree that this years crops will
mean for the farmers of that section
alone from sl50, 600, 900 to 5000, 900,
900 more than they gained last year,
and OF course, that tremendous har.
vest will have the desirable effect OF
reducing the prices OF some OF the
necessaries OF life, for it is truly re-
marked that a be done without
decrease in the earnings OF the farm.
ers, as they are likely to find that the
abundance of their harveAs marketed
at a lower price than in former years,
will suffice to make up the difference
between the prices they received In
years when harvests were not SO
plentiful and the prices they will re-
ceive this year" +.
Financial men who have their fin
gers on the agricultural and CONNER.
cial pulse of the United States say
that the country is on the v not so
much of a sudden and gigantic ex.
pansion as Of a gradual increase in
prosperity which, within the course
Of four or five years, will be discoy.
cred to be both relatively and abs0.
lutely the greatest this or any other
country has eve known.
Those are facts that speak for
themselves, and that no amount OF
v~ilification of opposing men and is.
sues a wipe out.
Figures are, az a rule, mighty dry
reading, but that's not the case when
we get down to dots regarding the
w0nderOuS natural resources OF our
country, especially in coal. The mere
statement that We have dug out Of
the bowels of the earth upwards Of
nine billions Of tons of bituminons
and anthracite coal, since we began
to mine it away back in 1914, staggers
even the most c%redulous, and yet it's
true. And this delving into the earth
for n of the greatest necessities Of
the home as of business life has had
a remarkable and instructive growth.
In 1914 the total amount of coal pro-
duced in the United States was ~
short. tons, all of it anthracite; the
next year so short tons were mined:
the next one Is tons; and in 1919 the
whole quantity mined was $50 short
tons. There was a big increase, how.
e. in 1920, when $3.50 short tons
were mined; and just a copule of
years later the quantity was $3.50
tons, due to the entrance of Ole Var
glnny into the field, with an output of
- iO60 short tons OF bituminous coal.
From that time coal mining increas-
ed by leaps and bounds, SO that at
the close of the first 50 years of the
industry the output was $780, 23
tons-almost incredible figures in
those early days. But those figures are
we'll nigh dwarfed into insignificance
when it is noted that the output Of
the mines of the United States in 1900
was 269,6S4,0 27 short tons. The larg-
est annual output so far recorded was
that for 1910, which was sol, 500, 1913
short tons; just the next year. the
total footed up 496, 221 ,16S short tons.
The anthracite coal industry has
increased from % short tons in 1914
to 90,464,067 in 1911, the largest
quantity yet recorded; and the total
amount OF anthracite mined since the
epochal year of 1914 is 2,27O, 1913, 1877
short tons.
The total amount of bituminous
coal produced by American mines
since the beginning OF the industry is
6,468. 1880 short tons, and the total
production of both anthracite and
bituminous coal is 8,739,572,427 short
tons.
Farmers, cattle raisers, and others
in the great Northwest are manifest.
ing considerable interest over the i'm.
portation by the Department of Agri.
culture Of some new hardy varieties
of alfalfa. Little, however, is gen.
orally known concerning the charac.
teristics Of these new alfalfas. or OF
the real purposes of their introduc.
tion. d.
In the search for hardy forms OF
common alfalfa (medicago satiya)
adapted to severe conditions OF
drought and cold, the potential value
of closely allied species became ap-
parent. A yellow-f ored species
(medicago falcata) found widely dis
tributed throughout Eurasia, forms Of
which thrive IN the cold, dry steppes
OF Russia and similar regions. seem.
ed to be the most promising, For
this reason. persistent efforts were
made to import many valuable torms
of this species.
Medica falcata, enormously called
Siberian alfalfa" and for which
there is no satisfactory common
name. is characterized in general by
it's drooping habit. narrow leaves,
and fine stems; but it is SO variable
that some plants may be readily mis-
taken for common alfalfa when not in
flower. Very few of the forms pos
sess true tap roots like the common
alfalfa; but they have a branching
root system by which new plants are