The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1922-01-26
NEWS SUMMARY
OF The /: !; CAPITAL 7 } 4
Secretary Wallace Charges Certain
Money Lenders Are Extort-
ing Unlawful Interest.
COAL STRIKE. is CERTAIN

Agricultural Conference TO Consider
Problems of Overproduction
and Low Prices.
With. the announcement by Secre-
tary Of Agriculture Wallace that he
intends placing before the national
agricultural conference charges that
certain companies lending money on
farm mortgages are taking advantage
of the present crisis to charge extor-
Tomato interest rates, the agricultural
department also made public informa-
ton it had gathered for possible use
Of the conference showing that the
banks Of the United States had out
standing approximately 869,891,415
in personal and collateral loans to
farmers and $1,447, 482,926 in farm
mortgage loans at the end Of 1921.
"In all lines of business" the secretary
declared in a statement, 1--WE find pred
atory individuals who seek oppor-
'tunities to take advantage of the mis-
fortunes Of others. We expect that
from men of certain type, but it is
a great shock to note that the same
sort Of thing is now being done by
some insurance companies and farm
mortgage loans companies Of whom
we have a right to expect higher
code of ethics" -...
"a strike in the bituminous coal
fields, beginning on March 81, appears
to be inevitable" says Secretary of
Commerce Hoover The administra-
ton, after conferences with represen-
tative. operators and leaders of the
mine workers, perceives no feasible
means Of averting the threatened
strike, if the union persists in demand
ing a renewal Of the present wage
terms. As in the case of the bitumi-
nous fields, the contracts Of the an
thracite workers expire on March 81
and a strike Of the hard coal miners
is also possibility. Increased wages
are being demanded by some Of the
organizations in the anthracite fields.
A nationwide farm policy will
probably result from the agricultural
conference now in session. Two ma
jor problems are being considered:
The present emergency Of overproduc-
tion and low prices that threatens the
agricultural pursuits of the nation and
the future Of the nations food supply.
Senate republicans, in party con-
ference, approved the allied debt re-
funding bill, with the addition of
provision that the interest rate on the
refunded bonds should not be less than
that fixed in the Liberty loan acts au-
thorizing the loans TO the allied ma
lions. This rate is ga per cent, or
one-fourth of per cent less than the
the debtor nations now held by the
treasury department..
A constitutional amendment prohib-
lting the future issuance of tax ex-
empt securities was advocated before
the house ways and means committee
by R. c. Leffingwell, former assistant
secretary of the treasury, Professor
Edwin A. Seligman of Columbia uni
versity, and Benjamin C. Marsh, ex-
ecutive secretary of the Peoples Re-
construction league. Mr.. Leffingwell
said that not only should bonds of
states and municipalities be made tax
able, but the government should issue
no more tax free bonds.
The Shantung question must and
probably will be settled between China
and Japan and cannot be taken up by
the arms conference, Senator Oscar
Underwood of Alabama, one of the
American delegates, declared in the
senate in discussion of the contro-
versy.
The grade crossing must go and will
be eliminated wherever possible on
the roads of the federal aid highway
system, which will be built as result
OF the passage of the federal highway
act. When the roads which form the
primary or interstate system are con-
structed no grade crossing will be al
lowed to remain that it is at all prac-
ticable to avoid. Every effort will be
made to make the roads of the secon-
Diary system equally safe, but in this
case it is recognized that elimination
may not be practicable in all cases at
this time.
The constitution of the United
States is to be reprinted. This is not
an alarmist statement. It does not
mean there.is to be new constitution
written. It simply means that every
so often there is published a reprint
Of the constitution of the United
States, together with citation of cases
decided by the supreme court of the
United States constituting the provi-
sions of the constitution and the sew
eral amendments. This is very val
liable document, not only to the legal
profession, but to members of con-
gress, newspapers, students of govern
ment, etc. ,
The postoffice department has Sc
lected so of the larger postoffices for
inspection in order to ascertain if the
service is satisfactory anG 1ub o+Lo,