The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1920-06-17

living; thus grief and Joy, despair and
hope, mingie our devotions with out
proposed legislation. Tears for the
dead and greenbacks for the living"
What Senator Thomas says does not
necessarily settle the controversial
points concerning the soldiers bo-
muses.. and even though he has char
aCterized the legislation as a "raid
upon the treasury" there is a uni
versal division of opinion as to what
are the merits or demerits Of a class
o Legislation of this kind which adds
two or three billion dollars of add
tional taxes upon the people of the
country at a time when rigid econ
omy should be in force in legislative
expenditures. However, it is very
questionable whether statesmen or
politicians who spend the money be.
/ longing to the public, succeed in carry,
ing with them into public life the es-
sential un nrstanding of the meaning
Of the word extravaganza, which thev
effect in their private life and carr
in TO their own business affairs. An.
other senator, in referring to legisla-
tive extrayagances, has used unvar-
nished words. Senator Reed Of Mis-
SQUIRT, told congress that it voted
$500 100000 a year for the army
without batting an eye. You
10 do, tn
soldiers in Europe who ought to have
been back here twelve months ago.
and it does not disturb the peaceful
serenity of your dreams"
Senator Reed was speaking in de.
fense of the congressional seeds. He
declared that the distribution of seeds
has been pictured before the country
as a congressional graft" He com
mented: ut is like a great many
other claims that are put forward, no
one sees fit to deny them or explain
the facts upon which the charge has
been accepted as fact"
Since the days of antiquity the lit |
tie government seed has been held up
as a wanton extravaganza. But Sena- |
tor Reed says that it is all wrong, |
and he gives plausible reasons why |
free seeds should not be abolished. 4,
IL have not the slightest doubt in the |
world that there is not an item in |
all the appropriations made by con /
gress that so directly and Immediately |
o11 Ap ITpit
States as the item in the appropria. |
tiOn bill which provides for the dis
tributiOn Of seeds" said Senator Reed .
THE man who thinks that seeds sent .
reproduced, do not pay for themselves !
many times over is a very peculiar .
sort of an individual. Here is com !
munity that has just an ordinary kind |
of tomato. Some one sends in and |
gets from the government a superior
variety and one of the good old ladies .
in the community raises them in her .
garden. III the other women folks |
get that seed the next year. The re-
suit is that the little package of seed |
that is sent out from Washington |
may be the cause Of the introduction |
into an entire county of a superior |
variety Of that product. This has |
gone on for years | have no doubt |
in the world that the seed sent out |
from Washington have produced in |
products one hundred thousand times |
the VaIua Of tha entire cost "
The department of labor in its in i
yestigatiOns has not been able to
discover any particular reduction in |
the prices of food stuffs. Meat prod |
ultimate consumer has not noticed the |
difference at the butcher shop. The |
farmers are talking about a strike be- !
cause they, in common with everyone
else, are paying exorbitant prices for
everything they buy. A half million
soldiers left the farms to go to war
and it Is estimated that only fifty
thousand have returned to farming
as a livelihood, the majority being
attracted by high wages paid in the
industries. The expectation of food
stuffs in April Of this year was fifty
per cent less than for the same month
last year, but even though there were
no exports whatever, it is estimated
that the greatly reduced acreage in
crops planted this year would not be
sufficient to take care of the needs
Of the nation. The 1920 crop is a
short one, and some of the reasons
for II are enumerated above II is