Norwich bulletin., 1913-02-15
HOW THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT IS
 SHORT CRCUTTED

(written Specially for The Bulletin,
 Last year our congressman at Wash ingeeza sent cut to various and sundrs of their constituents 63,364555 packets of vegeta ble and flower seeds. They weighed, all together. a little over 4S' tons. They would have filled twenty freight cars, if loaded all at one time ESa eh congressman had allotted to him 22, 60e packets, which were worth, al orairiary retail prices about $2o0e.
 The government i. Q. you and I buys these seeds in quantity or has themf raised by coRtIact,-and pays she bill
 It took big force, working four full saoHths, to fill the packets and paS them up for mailing.
 The government i. e. you and l, hired this force and paid it's wages. We also paid for the little paper; bags al nd aal1 the rest of the supplies de- l17aa6ed.
 Tken they were earted to the sts- tion and dumped on the shoulders of to post-ofiice, which was compelled to carry them free, under a. congress mans frank, slapped on by a hired clerk with a rubber stamp. If a scotsman had sent them out to his customers ne certainly couldn't have paid less than one cent packet. Thstss the smallest denomination in b5,0o cts, at a cent apiece, would have amounted to s63s. s.645.55 in postage
 The government, e. you and l, paid this. Moreover, these 4sI tons increased the weight carried by the ra6Rreads, and thereby swelled the to- tA on which they are paid by the post office department for hauling mail matter.
 Altogether the government i e. you and l, paid out more than mil ,R@<. .I.I1r l. lioRs.-on account of these free seeds
 This thing goes on every year; and year after year. It's going on again, right now
 But it isn't oftener than once in three-four-five years that you or l get a bundle of these seeds. When we do get hold of one it usually con tains five small packets. one each of lettnce. radish, cabbage, parsley and watermelon The lettuce, radish and cabbage are invariably old and com mon sorts, usually such as progressive gardeners have stopped buying, and of which the seed growers conse- Quenf1y have big surpIuses. The age farmers garden an ostrich feather duster would be to his horse stable The watermelons:-we about three years in four they won't mature
 
 them about four years in three, when they do mature
 Take it as a whole, this congress siona1 free seed'' distribution is quite the biggest humbug with which the shafty politicians think they can fool the sfmpie-souled farmer-man. As a matter of fact it neither fools the av- craze farmer. nor is appreciated by him He usually knows about what sort of seed win do well with him. what his kftchen-boss calls for, and what he wants
 once saw whole mailbag full of the stuR dumped on Grange table for the members to help themselves" And, when the hall was closed for the night, just one package had been talk a small girl who thought she could use some flower seeds.
 What became of the rest. I never knew, but I've always believed that the jainitor took them home with him to feed his chickens.
 1t is too bad that this farce should ever have been played at the expense of the farmers of the land. It is too 1ad that it can't be stopped The worst of it is that fully twe-thirds of the members of congress know it is ? farce and a humbug. but are afraid -o unite in stopping it for fear they nay lose a vote or two next election. l
 Not the least damage the fraud | aoes is in the shadow of ridicule l which it's own supreme ridiculousness l asts on the really useful and helpful | ;eed distribution managed by the | Department of Agriculture. For it | must not be forgotten that one of the 1 unda mental purposes for which that | was established was ito | roeure. propagate and distribute new l md valuable seeds and plants" From | he very beginning of our government | [ has been recognized that we | laTen't a monopoly of all the yalu- ! bic crop plants of the world. Far | eeing statesmen have worked to Lcclimate with us new grains and eeetables or improved strains of ex- sting plants Thomas Jefferson and 1 3enjan1in Franklin. when they were | broad for the government, used to be constantly sending home plants or L eeds of foreign crops for test under l NnIerican conditions In 1889 congress ] made first appropriation of thou 1 and dollars to enable the old Patent