Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1914-02-18

mic questions VINO QOlQ seats III COH-
gress. However, the tariff law is do
ing freak things and one of them per-
haps is not uninteresting as a human
interest document
A man has just come to Washing
ton from New Bedford. Mass. where
he is largely interested in cotton
goods manufacturing He was asked
how business was His answer was
this: Billiard balls came within one
of putting US to the bad"
What in the name of solid ivory
have billiard balls to do with the max
ing of cotton cloth?''
Billiard Balls and Cotton Cloth.
We'll, they came pretty near having
everything to do with it in our case"
and then this was the tale that he
told:
eve manufactured great quantities
of cotton cloth which we sold to
factor in New York city who shipped
it to East Africa where it was ex-
changed for tusk ivory. Cotton cloth
over in that country was recognized
as medium of exchange and in many
cases as more desirable than money.
The New York people, who took
our stuff and sold it for ivory started
seven factories, hired hundreds of
workmen, took the tusks which they
brought from Africa and turned them
into billiard balls and were doing a
business with a fair amount of profit.
Nov they have got to go out of
business, discharge their workmen,
stop buying our goods, and all be-
cause the Democrats put tariff on
billiard balls, in this case at any rate,
have to do with cotton cloth making.
You see, the Democrats wanted to
put duties on luxuries. There never
has been a duty on raw ivory, but be-
cause billiard balls and some other
things which people with a little
money want to buy are made out OF
ivory, they tackled duty on the raw
material. The New York concern
which bought our stuff and sold it for
tusks could not pay the duty and
make billiard balls to compete In the
selling market with the balls import
ed from France, Germany and other
countries which have no duty on raw
ivory. If we had not succeeded in Sc
curing another output for our goods,
we should have been harder hit than
we were. AS it is the New York con-
Germ makes no more billiard balls has
closed down it's factories and dis
charged it's men"
Houston and Farm Credits.
The senate of the United States has
in it's keeping a bill introduced by
Senator Fletcher of Florida which is
intended to give financial relief to
farming communities. The same bill
has been introduced in the house by
Representative Moss OF Indiana. The
measure, it is said, has the backing
of the administration.
Secretary of Agriculture Houston, it
is said, is of a mind to try to induce
the president to ask congress to post
pone action on rural credits for some
little time If rural credits are taken
up this year congress may as well
say ''goodby" to June adjournment.
The secretary of agriculture, who is
supposed to know much more than the
president about rural conditions, is
said to desire that the farmers shall
be given time to acquaint themselves
with certain things before the new
financial scheme is put into operation.
For some months the secretary has
been directing the work of investiga-
ton in the field of high prices for
things necessary to life. 1t is said
he believes the farms can be made to
produce three or four times as much
as they are producing now. although
it is understood some of the men who
have been looking into the matter for
him think a doubling-up of product
iveness is about as much as can be
expected.
Several Systems Studied.
There are just as many views on ru-
raj credit legislation as there were on
currency legislation. The two things
are more than first cousins. A COM
mission went abroad to study a
scheme for giving the farmers what
may be called ready money relief:
Mr. Houston has had investigators in
the home fields and a subcommittee of
the banking and currency committee
has been looking about for facts.
When the American congressional
commission was in Europe digging
into the rural credit subject it studied
several systems There is a co-opera-
tive plan which has its adherents.
Through the farmers cooperative So
cieties based upon a plan which has
been outlined in congress the indi-
yidual members could borrow money
through the organization to which
they belong. Some members of con-
gress say that a system Of this kind
would run the danger of falling into
the hands of wall street financiers.
One of the plans suggested is that
the government itself shall accept the
farmers mortgages and on this secur-
ity issue bonds the proceeds from the
sale of which could be furnished to
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