Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-08-27

guarantee IL seen in a statement -
sued by the senate agriculture COM
m1ttee. The committee has emphatic.
ally asserted the necessity Of chang
Ing the present wheat-grading rules to
prevent the millers continuing their
pronteering from both producer a1A
consumer on shrivsled wheat.
. For a long time Senator Gronna,
chairman Of the committee, as well al
other senators and Representation and
officers Of the National Board Of Farm
Organizations and the National
Grange In Washington, wore insistent
that to remedy conditions It would be
necessary to remove the wheat guar
antee. The idea Of having the wheat
grading rules changed never seemed
to occur to them.
Dreuth Bill Delayed.
The department Of agriculture, un-
der Secretary Houston's administra-
ton, has been frequently accused of
neglecttng the farmers interests,
honest effort in behalf Of which IL the
sole excuse for its existence and the
millions Of dollars It costs the xovern-
ment annually
Secretary Houston has been too busy
to pay any noticeable attention to the
drouth relief bill introduced in the
house more than month ago by Rep
resentatlve Sinclair of North Dakota.
No progress can be made on this vital
legislation until the secretary Of agri-
culture has reported on it, which he
has so far failed to do.
Not all of Mr.. Houston's subordi-
mates are so dilatory. From Leon M.
Estabrook, chief of the bureau of crop
estimates, Mr. Sinclair has received in
formation showing that passage of his
bill would be very good investment
for the government, as we'll as
source Of immediate relief for the
drouth-stricken farmers of the North.
west. The two million odd dollars
loaned to the farmers of Texas, Kan
sas, Oklahoma and New Mexico by the
department Of agriculture last year,
Mr.. Estabrook reports, resulted in
doubling the wheat acreage in these
states this year. Every cent loaned
will be repaid. The Sinclair drouth
relief bill calls for a federal appro-
priation of $5,000,00O as an emergency
measure. Without some such federal
aid, it is realized, the northwestern
crop returns are going to prove a
grave disappointment at critical
time.
Big Irrigation Project.
British agricultural experts intend
to make the new colonies acquired by
the war valuable granaries for the
mother country, according to advices
reaching the department of commerce
from its consular agents in England.
Sir W. W1lcocks, known as the British
irrigation WIZARD" who has made an
intensive study Of agricultural posi-.
bilities in Mesopotamia, has Just an.
nounced in London that 12,5OO,O0O
acres of arid land in that former
Turkish province can be placed under
cultivation by river irrigation.
Mesopotam1a, which is watered by
the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, con.
tatns the supposed site Of the Garden
of Eden, although all modern geology
shows that the greater part Of this
territory has been desert land for cen.
turtles. From purely practical motives
British agriculturists are planning to
make the new colony blossom like
the rose" once more.
Daylight Saving.
m t.
President Wilson has vetoed bill
passed by congress to repeal the day.
light saving law. This time an effort
will be made to override the presiden.
t1al viewpoint and secure the two.
thirds majority in both houses neces.
sary to defeat the veto. That Mr..
Wilson fears the likelihood of such
an outcome is shown by the fact that
he delayed his veto message on the
second passage Of the daylight say.
1ngs repeal until the last minute when
it would have been effective. It was
transmitted to the house on Friday
august 15) and If delayed day long.
er the bill would automatically have
become law.
President Wilson's reasoning in his
veto message is hard to follow He
says he fully realizes "the very con.
siderable and in some respects very
serious Inconvenience to which the
daylight saving law subjects the farm.
ers Of the country, to whom we owe
the greatest consideration. At the
same time,'' the message continues,
''the immediate and pressing need OF
the country is production" This; he
feels, is stimulated by having work
start an hour earlier and stop an hour
earlier than by sun time.
The house has again passed the bill
over Wilson's veto.
Worlds Largest Crater.
DR.. B. +. Griggs, who has been ex4
| ploring the volcano Of Mt. Katmai, in
Alaska, for the National Geographical
Aorietv Announces that fhia IN fhe