The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1919-09-20
COL. .EVA'S ARMORY BUNCH
WASTED MUCH DISABLE HAY
Farmers Were Refused Hay That Eventually Rotted Sew
eral Absorbing Stories Of Neglect, lnef6ciency and
Waste Are Narrated By Fire Victims.

Now comes Charles Anttila, town Of
Thomson, county Carlton and state Of
Minnesota, with startling statement
to the effect that many tons Of hay
| shipped to Coquet for benefit Of the
forest fire sufferers have been permit
ted to rot and 60 to waste instead Of
being given to the needy farmers for
their use by the State Relief commits.
sion.
For many months, from time to
time, the Rip-saw has had brief men.
ton Of hay denied to those badly need
ing it or to hay that was unfit for
feeding to farm animals or Of hay
that has been permitted to 60 to
waste.
There was one story that can be
proven to the satisfaction of the most
skeptical, to the effect that wire
grass, used in making so-called Krex
rugs, was bought at high hay prices
and then given to the farmers for
stock food. No animal on earth can
make much better use of wire grass
than it can Of excelsior or cedar bark.
Mr.. Anttila, in a formally signed
statement before two witnesses, says
that he was burned out in the forest
fires of last October. He was left
with seven head of stock and no hay
to feed it.
Early in the winter Mr.. Anttila al
leges that he received what was sup.
posed to be enough hay to feed his
stock through to spring. The hay,
however, was Of such a poor quality
that his stock would have persisted
had not Mr.. Behren fed the animals
hay from other sources. During the
last of April, 1919, Mr.. Anttila re-
ceived eight bales of good hay from
| the Relief commission. He afterwards
was given ten bales by Mr.. Connors,
| who said that the committee had re-
fused further hay supplies for the
Anttila stock but that he, Connors,
would give the hay on his own re-
sponsibility.
At that time there were from ten
to fifteen carloads of good hay in Clo-
quet, at the disposal Of the Relief
commission. Settlers and farmers were
denied more hay and, finally, grass
started and became heavy enough for
sustenance of farm stock, but not suit
able for hard-working teams.
There that hay has lain until, as
Mr.. Anttila states, many tons Of it
have rotted and become worthless be-
cause of exposure to summer sun and
rains. Now, to get That worthless and
unused hay out of the way and out of
sight, farmers have been offered it as
manure. It's value as manure is negli-
BILE, as any practical farmer knows.
| In June or July, Mr.. McKenna Of
fered Mr.. Anttila all the hay he could
move away for manuring purposes.
The farmer told McKenna that he
could not use the hay for that pur-
pose and then wanted to know why it
had not been issued to the fire suf-
ferers, when they actually needed it
to feed their cattle. McKenna re-
Piled that hay and other supplies had
been cut off by the Relief commission,
at the head of which is the aspiring
Col. Eva.
Although that hay was refused and
eventually rotted, Mr.. Anttila bought
seven sacks Of feed from the Relief
commission in August for which he
paid 1925 a sack. He also bought
eight sacks at the same price for his
neighbors, paying the money to Mr..
McKenna, agent Of the Relief com
mission.
| As another story, Mr.. Anttila says
that, for time after the forest fires,
he was in Duluth, undergoing treat
ment for injuries received in the
flames and that Mr.. Behren butch
cred beef belonging to him, the car
cass Of which was delivered to a
branch of the Relief commission at
the Finnish church on the Cloquet-
Duluth road. The managers of that
branch agreed to pay Mr.. Anttila for
the beef but, to date, he has received
no pay, although he has repeatedly
asked for it.
That, gentle reader, is how one fire
sufferer was treated and how hay that
cost a heavy price was permitted to
go to utter waste.
There are stories of hay going to
waste at a number Of small places.
Twig, Saginaw, possibly Munger, and
similar places, furnish instances OF
needless waste Of hay.
The Rip-saw was informed some
weeks ago that several tons Of hay
were rotting and going to waste at
Kettle River, Mimi, although the Re-
lief commission refused hay to one
Harold johnson, an American citizen
and fire victim who lost his entire
property in those terrible October
flames. The Rip-saw's informant de-
clares that the hay is lying there on
the ground and that there Is "a good
story" in the case If the great family
journal wishes to work It up.
A Duluth lawyer recently had q
business errand out on r. F. D. Route
No. l, some miles from Duluth. There
he saw several bales Of alleged hay
lying on tho ground. The farmer de-
clared that it was nothing but waste