The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1914-03-17
AMERICAN SEAMEN
ARE DIMINISHING
Andrew Furuseth Claims That White
Men Have Reduced Fifty Per Cent
While Asiatios Increased
LANCASTER COUNTY RANKS 1sT
Pennsylvania Land Declared Richest
Farming District in the United
States by Census Figures

Washington March 17,-Andre v
Furuseth, of the International Sea.
mems union, is making a tremendous
fight against the foreign vessel own
ers before the House merchant ma
rine committee which is now coz
sidering the LaFollette bill. It is
just 20 years ago this month that
Furuseth first appeared before a
Congressional committee in behalf of
legislation to improve the condition
of the American seaman All the
time since he has been fighting, and
victory is not yet.
SIN that 20 years l have seen. the
white man disappearing from the
SEAS" said Furuseth to the commit
tee. "In that 20 years on the Paci-
fic the number of white sailors has
been reduced half, while the number
Of Asatics has doubled. -.
If the seamen do not get this leg
islation soon Furuseth said the only
recourse Of the union will be to ad-
nit Asiatics to membership in the
union. - s.
Heretofore, for patriotic reasons
we have admitted to membership
only men eligible to become citi-
zens of the United States" he said.
Furuseth said that the Asiatic !ex-
clusion law now works to keep the
wages of Pacific Ocean sailors at the
starvation point. He said that the
law keeps Asiatic crews from desert
ing in San Francisco, where wages
are high, and where, in case of deser-
tons, the vessel owners would have
to recruit high-paid men to take the
places Of the deserters, thus tending
to elevate wages on the Pacific.
! The Richest Farming Counties
:. IS What. is the richest farming coun-
ty in the United States? That ques-
ton was recently asked and answer
ed in the House. It is Lancaster
County, Pa. The census figures of
1910. show that Lancaster County
ranked first among the IL richest
farming counties in the United States
The county embraces 602,240 acres,
of which 550,499 acres are in farms.
On this area in 1912 farm products
to the value of $20,767,147 were
raised. OF this amount $13,059,5S8
was in crops and $4,037,2s6 in live
stock products. -. 3.
Lancaster County was not only
the banner county in 1910, but it
has held this supremacy since 1870.
In 1900 it had a narrow victory over
the Chickasaw Nation, which was
ranked as a single county of India
Territory, but the Chickasaw Nation
had eight times the area of Lancaster
County. Yet the value of products
from the Pennsylvania County was
100000 more than those of the
Chickasaw Nation.
The next most productive county
in 1910 was Mclean County, ILL.,,
with, 733,161 acres in farm lands.
The production in this county was
worth $18,368,418. Then followed
Los Angeles County, Cal, with 1875
985 acres in farms and farm pro-
ducts worth $17,987,382.
Seven illinois counties were among
the IL most productive counties the
ranking being: Mclean, second |:
LaSalle, fifth: Livingston, Sixth;
Champaign, seventh; Cook, eighth;
|sangamon, tenth; and Vermilion
Twelfth. Whitman County, Wash,
ranked fourth among the most pro-
ductive counties of the United
States; Aroostock County, Me-, ninth
and Fresno County, Cal, eleventh.