Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1919-09-17

Washington, D. Gin spite of out. |
spoken opposition by Secretary OF
Agriculture Houston the Sinclair |
drouth relief bill has still a fighting
chance for passage.
Asbury F. Lever, chairman Of the
house agriculture committee in the
last session of congress and now a |
member of the federal farm loan
board, has this week entered the fight
on the side of the Nonpartisan con.
gresham and is using all his influ.
ence in an effort to make Houston
realize that he is making more than
customary blunder in knitting the
drouth relief bill.
At conference between Sinclair
and Lever, the farm loan board mem
Der heartily Endorsed the proposed
legislation, asserting that it is the
plain duty of the federal government
to render substantial aid to the north.
western farmers who are being forced
into bankruptcy from the drouth.
. Lever points out that the 100000
appropriation carried by the Sinclair
bill is for loan purposes only, and adds
! another Endorsement on the ground
that passage Of the bill would i'm
prove the business and security Of the
land banks In the seventh and eighth
districts, which would be charged
with the handling of most of the funds
involved.
AS the measure applies to loans for
the purchase of seed grain and live.
stock feed for the 1920 crop Houston's
holdup is not yet necessarily fatal.
Capltai-Labor Conference.
Out of 46 men who will sit in tn
industrial conference called by the
president for October 6, only three
will be in any way representative of
the farmers. This, however, is some
concession over past practice.
Commercial and Industrial interests
will have 10, organized labor will have
Is, and the president will appoint Is
more in behalf Of the public" The
fact that the Nonpartisan league, as
representing the most powerful body
Of progressive farmers in the nation.
has not been invited, is an indication
of the spirit of the conference.
It's impelling cause is the dissatis.
faction of labor with the prolonged
proffteering and generally hard con.
ditions. The profteers and near prof
iteers see that it is all important to
them to keep labor down. To do this
they must strengthen the hands of the
old conservative labor leaders and un-
dermine the new leaders whose leader
ship Is in line with labor's present
needs. The Nonpartisan league,
therefore, which sNmpathizes with
progressive labor especially in it's ef-
forts to gain political power by CO.
operating with the farmers, obviously
could not be invited.
Objectionable Amendments.
Amendments by Senator La Fol.
lette, which nullify some of the posi-.
bilities Of wholesale thievery in the
mineral lands leasing bill, passed by
the senate last week, have been class
ed as objectionable" by the senate
and house conferees now working to
get this infamous measure into final
shape for the presidents signature.
The conference committee has virtu
ally gone on record as favoring the
elimination of several of the La Fol
lette amendments, particularly the
one permitting municipalities to oper-
ate coal lands on the public domain
opened up by this bill.
II the La Toilette amendments are
cut out Representative Baer Of North
Dakota, Representative Kelly of Penn
sylvania, Representative Frear of
| Wisconsin and few other progress
sives in the house will, they promise,
use every effort to keep the house
| from accepting the conference report.
There is widespread dissatisfaction
with the bill itself among all mem
bers Of congress above the grade of
| politicians. 1t is characterized by
Mr.. Baer as "a disguised gift of our
| future heritage to private corpora
| tions hitherto noteworthy chiefly for
their utter disregard of every public
right
Wheat Exports.
During the week ending August %,
the last for which statistics are avail
! able, 1,233,826 bushels Of wheat were
exported from the port of New York.
| OF this total 704,017 bushels went to
Belgium, 369,364 bushels to Great
Britain and 16O,445 bushels to Italy.
Including August %, wheat shipments
from New York since July l have
reached the total of 2,759,097 bushels.
Some Packer Friends.
Frank Gerber of Fremont, Mich,
president of the National Gamers as
sociation, played prominent role
among the "unprejudiced" witnesses
testifying against the Kenyon and
Kendrick packer regulation bills be-
fore the senate agriculture committee
this week.
Gerber is the man who was prima-
rily responsible for the original deci-
sion of the war department to keep
323,000,00O worth of canned vegeta-
bles, included in the army food sur
plus, off the domestic market in order
to keep prices up, according to very
full testimony of army officers devel-
oped recently before house commit
tee investigating war department ex-
nenditures In the course of these