The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-11-02

time forms of credits. That is quite a
different matter.
There are more political farmers"
in Washington than most any other
class of advisors. These many rep
resentatives of the agricultural inter
ground hat the farmers more than
any one class of our citizens have suf-
fered from the disturbed industrial and
financial conditions of the country.
One hears very little about the farm
bloc" nowadays, but the men in the
two branches Of Congress who com
posed it are not at all backward in
answering questions considering it and
concerning the claim that they got
all they went after"
The government OF Great Britain
has authorized the Dominion of Can
ada to negotiate direct with the Unit
ed States in the framing of the new
treaty to regulate naval strength on
the Great Lakes. Twenty years ago
the United States maintained the
armed tub" Michigan as a training
ship for our fresh water sailors. Can.
ada had a similar tub" of it's own.
Fortunately these two ships never
went to war-at least we never heard
that they did. Just what the present
naval strength of the W countries
may be along the Great Lakes is n
certain as the above twenty-year old
report seems to be about the latest
news regarding hostile equipment,
such as could be used for fighting pur-
poses by the two countries that are
neglecting the opportunities Of
ment along hundreds of miles Of wa
terways, and Washington is said to
house military st%rategists who worry
a lot because there is an unfortified
border line to our north that is four
thousand miles in length. The new
treaty between the United States and
Canada will replace the treaty of 1917,
under which peace and prosperity have
been maintained for over one hundred
years. 1t is understood that there is
at present no official desire to in
crease the naval armament on the
lakes, and that only a sufficient num-
Der of ships for military training and
customs law enforcement are to be
provided for in the new arrangement
between the two great neighbors of
North America.
Seven representative men appointed
by President Harding constitute a
commission for the purpose of getting
at the basic facts regarding the coal
industry. That there are "niggers in
the coal pile" is beyond question. The
Federal Trade Commission, a great
branch of the government that col
lects pertinent facts with regard to
industry, the trades, and trade prac-
tees, started a similar investigation
to that which is now being carried
forward by order of the President more
than two years ago.. The Trade Com
mission sought to obtain figures show
ing the amount Of return on the cap
ital investments Of the coal operators.
1t is said that the Commission carried
its Investigations to the point where
it was about to disclose the existence
OF ~profiteering Of the most sensational
kind among some of the operators who
had been quarreling with the miners,
and putting up poor mouths in their
attempt to make the public believe
they could not afford to pay decent
wages to their workmen. Neverthe-
less the Federal Trade Commission
succeeded in finding out that some of
the West Virginia and Pennsylvania
companies earned from "a to rs per
cent on their investments in 1919. For
the first nine months of 1920 the range