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LAND IS WASTED ? SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE SHOWS UP BIG LOSSES + WANTS BETTER FARMING + In Speaking Before Meeting of Farmers Secretary Garrison Gives Advice Which if Ileedetl, Will Lead to Better Cultivation of the I^and by Its Tillers. Less than 4 0 per cent, of the cultivated land in the United States is reasonably well cultivated and less than 14 per cent, is yielding maximum returns. Secretary Houston of tho department of agriculture told the .National Grance of Patrons of Husbandry in 4 7th annual convention at Manchester, N. H., that the best llgures ho could procuro led to such a conclusion and that only in a very few localities had conditions been developed to insure maximum returns. Secretary Houston touched unon rural credits, marketing methods, extention of agricultural education and the cost of living. Ho spoke of "manipulations of those middlemen who perform no useful or necessary service", as one of tlie causes of soaring prices. "I do not entertain the thought for a second that we have approximated the limit of our output from the soil," said he. "We have not even reached the end of tlie pioneering stage. We have heen so bent on building up great and artificial device that wo have had little time to think of the very foundation of our industrial existence. "Wo had better frankly face the fact that we are relatively inefficient, take stock of our shortcomings and earnestly seek the remedy. That we havo practically reached the stage where we have ceased to ho an exporting nation of food products and are becoming dependent on foreign nations for the necessaries of life, is a sad commentary upon our use of the opportunities bestowed upon us." ~ r ---1 * 11 c?!>t;uiYiiiK ui wuat me agricultural department hopes to do to solve the problem of the increasing cost of living Secretary Houston expressed the opinion that "the existing chaos and consequent wastes, result from faults on the part of the farmer in the growing and handling of his products; from tho machinery of distribution including physical equipment and physical handling; from the manipulation of those middlemen who perform no useful and necessary service; and from ignorance on the part of tho consumer and of the producer of the character of the product which is placed upon the market." Secretary Houston urged co-ordination of federal and State agricultural agencies as essential to success, deplored the jealousy which, he declared, exists in many States between State agricultural commissions and the agricultural colleges, and decried duplication of work in many localities. In tho field of marketing, he declared, there was danger that pressure would he brought, to bear to force the department to act everywhere before it was intelligently prepared to act anywhere. He explained that his department, which started last summfer to make a careful study of the marketing problem, was studying it from every angl.o There was tho same danger in regard to tho question of rural credits. "I am not impressed," ho said, "with the wisdom and justice of proposals Hint would tnko tho mnnpv nf nil tlio people through bonds or other devices and lend it to the farmers or to any other class at a rate of interest lower than tho economic conditions would normally require and at a rate of Interest lower than that at which other classes are securing their capital. This would be legislation of a particularly odious type, and no new excursions in this direction would he palatable when we are engaged in the gigantic task of restoring tho simple rule of equity." Before the. problems of rural credit and marketing, tho secretary declared tho Individual farmer acting alone was helpless. Nothing less than concerted action would suffice, ho said, and tho "same business sense and tho same organizing gonius which have placed this nation in the front rank of industry must bo involved in agriculture". The problem of tbo individual farmer, said the secretary, bad received scant systematic attention and tbo problem of rural lifo as a whole bad until recently been practically ignored. From every section of the country, bo declared, came the story of "increasing tenancy and absentee ownership, of soils depleted and exploited, of inadequate business methods, of chaotic marketing and distribution of Inferior roads, of lack of supervision of public health and sanitation, of Isolated and Ill-organized social activities and of inferior intellectual provision." Tie added, however, that bo was not of the pessimists and expressed bis belief that out of the chaos would come order, better and bigger crops, improved living conditions in tho country and relief to tho city dwellor through greater productivity of the soil and a busi/ CHICKENS GIVEN SAND NEW ADULTERATION PRACTISED FOK OLD I'UK POSE. ? Government Inspectors Take Trail of Those Who Weight Fowls With Gravel. "Look out for sand in the chickens," is the latest slogan of tho department of agriculture and its sleuths who are on the trail for violation of the pure food law and the sale of impure and deleterious food products. Tho government inspectors have for some time been investigating tho practices of certain poultry shippers who collect chickens from farms and kill and ship them in large quantities. In some of these places tho inspectors found that tho practice was to tako tho chickens as they came from tho farm, nearly always below weight or out of condition because of their being ill-fed on tho farms and handled roughly on the cars, and keep them in fattening pens for from three days to two weeks. The chickens aro fed corn meal anil water or finely ground mixed grains and buttermilk. This practice is becoming more and more general and is highly desirable because both quality and quantity of edible llesh is increased. It is also profitable, as the cost of care, feed and interest on the investment necessary to add a pound in weight still leaves a good margin of profit provided tho fattening is rld-ll <1 V /Innn a ViWUUi Not content, however, with adding legitimately to tho weight of the chickens, some of these poultry shippers, a day or two before the chicken is killed, feed red peper, which makes tho chicken have an abnormal appetite, then they food fi mixture of fine sand an a little corn meal. The chicken eats this mixture ravenously and as a result large quantities of sand are introduced into the craw and the intestines as well. This may amount, in tho case of a single chicken, to only an ouee or two, hut where thousands of chickens are sold the aggregate charge for sand becomes important. It simply means that the poultry dealer is selling sand to the customers at the rate of 20 cents or moro per pound. Tho housewife should scrutinize the crops of poultry before buying and make it. very plain to her poultry dealer or butcher that sho will not pay at the rate of 20 to 20 cents per pound for an ounce or more of sand introduced into the body of a chicken with the view of defrauding the purchaser. In fact, sho could rebel against, food in the crop, because, quite aside from fraud, the presence of food means that the chicken has not kept as well as it would have kept had it been starved for 2 4 hours before killing. All reputable poultry packers starve the birds before slaughter, which results in empty intestines as well as empty crops. The makeshift of cutting a slit in the crop and squeezing out that food is not satisfactory, becauso that does not empty the intestines. Tf the housewife would have the poultry drawn in her own kitchen she could catch frauds of this character and take means to prevent them. ? + RIDDLED WITIl SHOT. Posse Surrounds and Kills Man Whc j Shot Sheriff McCain. Edward Winbush, a negro, was (killed Tuesday afternoon by a sheriff's posso in a canebrako near Frost, a station about five miles from Columbia. Winbush was almost shot tc pieces, seventeen bullets taking ef ieet in ins oody. Tlio negro Is the one who shot at Sheriff McCain Monday and was surrounded in the swamp Tuesday. It is said that ho was in the act of shooting at one of the posse when a bullet ended his life. Wlnbush was about twenty years old. He had fought off his pursuers all night and all morning. Hloodhounds were used to trail the negro. Ho fired upon Sheriff McCain Monday night on a crowded street car when his arrest was attempted. IIo was subsequently located by rural policemen but escaped after firing at tlio officers. Paroled Convict Arrested. Eddie Hand, a paroled South Carolina convict, was arrested in Augusta Friday night on tlio charge of pick ing pockets. It is alleged ho stole n gold watch and a wallet containing about $100 from Dock and Kennedy Stranes, of Charlotte, N. C., who had stopped In the city on their trip home Hand admits that ho was a convict and says he was paroled not long ago ness-like overhauling of marketing methods. Speaking of tho need of better educational opportunities in tho country, Secretary Houston declared that if more enlightened attention were devoted to the conservation and development of the people "wo shall be relieved of much of tho concern about tho conservation and development ol our natural resources". The approach to tho problem of tho organization of rural life, he declared, was clearly economic. The great need he said, was to give the rural popula tlon, at least, approximately the primary advantages which the town enJoys. I MAKES DARING ESCAPE ? ? YKCCMW SAWS 1I1MSKLF OUT OF PEN ITKNTIAKY. John Fislior, Notorious Safe-lllo\vcr, Serving Fifteen-Yenr-Terni, Climbs Prison Wall to Freedom. John Fisher, a notorious yeggman, serving fifteen years for safe-blowing, escaped from tho State Penitentiary Saturday night by sawing the bars to his cell, lie climbed over the wall, via tho old Hosiery Mill, let himself down by a rope and vanished. Penitentiary oilicials Sunday night sent out description in every direction and have offered a reward of $50 for his recapture. When tho prisoners were lined up for roll call Sunday afternoon Fisher was absent. An investigation disclosed the broken bars to his cell, where he had cut his way to freedom. A search of the grounds and buildings was made, and dangling over the wall behind the old Hosiery Mill was? found a ropo showing how he had gotten to freedom. Ho had climbed over tho Hosiery Mill on the top ol tho eighteen-foot wall which encloses i the Penitentiary grounds and let him self down on the banks of the Congaroe River. i Fisher was sent up from Lancaster > County in 1905 for safe-cracking foi 1 f? years. lie is also wanted by ttic United States government for post i otlice robberies. IIo is said to have been a member of tho gang which . cracked post ofllce safes in all parts , of the South until rounded up bj Post Office Inspector Gregory. It is claimed Fisher was a pal of "Port , land Ned". There is a warrant lyinp in the United States commissioner's , office for Fisher as soon as he serves his term in the State penitentiary. The penitentiary officials furnishes the following description of Fisher: Five feet, 2 7-S inches high; weight 1 Rr? pounds; black hair, brown eyes dark complexion, scar on outside o left, thigh, large scar on outside o ^ right leg, scars on both forearms am wrists. He is 5 4 years old and has the appearance of a typical yeggman There is no clue as to how Fishoi got the rope by which he escapee over the walls. A rigid investigatlor is being made by the penitentiary of ! fieials. A general alarm sent out ii all directions, it is hoped, will be the means of quickly recapturing tin - yegg. The police of Charleston, Nor folk and New York, where the favor ' ito haunts of tho yeggmen were locat ed in their palmy days, have beer notified of the escape. Fisher had ; ' number of aliases nnd tf- Uinntri, that his picture adorns tho rogue's ' galleries in several cities and sliouh ' be ihe means of assisting in identify ing him. ? 1IIKKTA HOLDS OV. Says it Is Case <>l' Life and Dcatli am 1 lie Will Not Design. What doubt remained regarding . Gen. Huerta's intentions with rospec j to compliance with tho American do 1 niands for his own elimination wat > removed from the minds of inos Mexicans and foreign residents by his peremptory dismissal Sunday of Man uel Garza Aldape, minister of into rior, who was looked upon as tin head of Huerta's Cabinet. Manuel Garza Aldapo led tha group of the Cabinet which held tin conviction that it would be best t( i accedo to that portion at least o Washington's demands which mean . tho total abandonment of power b3 the Provisional President, and he Is said to have been the only one witl sufficient Cniirnfn tr? rllcnuaa flic ~ ... vv-' VI*?JVyUCIO 11 wit > bio frankly with his chief. Senoi ' Aidape's resignation was demandoc ? at a Cabinet meeting at Presideni > TTuerta's house early Sunday morn > ing. 1 Tluerta is said to have reiterated ai ' this meeting the statement that h< 1 would not resign, that with him ii 1 was a case of life or death and h( 1 was disposed to play out the game k Certain intimate friends of Gen Tluerta Tiave heen indicating to him is is said, for some time that the min " ister of interior was Intriguing foi the presidency and that the Cabinet had become divided into two camps Those who opposed Senor Aldane in elude Querido Mohono, minister ol l foreign affairs; f!en. Blanquet, minis ter of war, and Joso Maria Lozano. t Women Send Silver Service. A silver service costing $1,500 I the gift of women voters of northeri California to Miss Jessie Wilson : daughter of President Wilsor on tho occasion of her wedding > next Tuesday was sent from Sar - Francisco Thursday. The service wai purchased by subscription and is o old colpnlal design. Killed by Parlor Rifle. , Littlo 12-year-ohl Thomas E. Fish . er Jr., of Charleston, was instantly . killed Monday by being struck by i I bullet from a parlor rifle In tbe handi f of Jewell Bremer, 14 years old. TIk . shooting was purely accidental. ? ) Fear Causes Suicide. Miss Leila Reed, aged 4 8, commit tod suicide in the reservoir near At - (lanta, Oa., because she feared sin - would be sent to a sanitarium for th< feeble minded. . . , READY TO RESIST ?, SO HUERTA INTIMATES TO MEMBERS OF STAFF ?. . ORGANIZES CONGRESS +. Quorum Mustered l;y Mexican Senate ?Believed That t inted States Will 1 Soon Inaugurate Blockade of All Important l*orts?lluerta Appears to he Undisturbed. Organization of President I-Iuerta's new Congress was completed Monday, i when enough senators were gathered > to form a quorum in the upper house. . Gen. Francisco Pronces was chosen ) temporary chairman of the Senate, . and a committee on credentials was i appointed. A similar committee of I tho Chamber of Deputies began the i work of revising tho Deputies' cre[ dentials, and there is nothing to indi[ cate that tho formal opening of Con' gross next Thursday will he postponi ed. President lluerta talked Mon. day night informally to the members . of his staff and a few personal friends regarding the possibilities of inter volition by the United States. Ho in tiinated that ho would bo ready to re? sist such a step. , mi? * ? - i no opinion is expressed in various j circles that the United States will i soon inaugurate a blockade of Mexii can ports. Kuinor has it that Presi' dent Wilson would bo content with 5 such an action and might even per. init the embassy to remain in Mexico r City until an open rapture occurred. $ (Jen. lluerta resumed business at the * National Palace, apparently with no thought of any questions pending be1 tween his government and that of the : United States. Ho seems to regard , recent incidents growing out of , Washington's demand that he vacate f the presidency as closed, and so they f are, so far as he is concerned, if his 1 statements and those close to him, ^ are to be believed. I by President, Iluerta's friends, the r attitude of the executive is described ] as one of expectancy and curiosity as i to prospective action by tho United - States, rather than one of anxiety, i They say he has given no indications 3 of changing his mind about not re3 signing and proceeding with the af fairs of the government with equa nimity. They add that he regards as - probable intervention by the United i States and an order was sent. Tuesday i to the State governor to report immet diately how many soldiers they can * have ready by November 20. The of 1 flcial explanation of this is that it is - part of the plan announced in a recent, decree increasing tho army to 150,000 men. Otherwiso there has been no development with one exception, and j that of a rather negativo character, the day was almost' devoid of acts relating to the tense situation which < xists, notwithstanding the indiffer* ent attitude assumed hy Mexico. The f American charge d'affaires received instructions to continue to advise '* Washington with respect to develop-] ' ments, but ho was not instructed to ' approach the Mexican government of" flcials again; nor did his instructions include anything relative to tlie with3 drawal of the embassy. Rumors that the charge had been ordered to leave 1 persisted, although an emphatic de3 nial was made at the embassy, all 3 trains leaving for Vera Cruz were ^ watched anxiously by Americans, f who have made up their minds not to ' delay their departure, if O'Shaugh3 nessy goes. 1 Rumors of plots and intrigues were common throughout tho day, but no facts wero forthcoming to indicate ' that Gen. Iiuerta was losing his grip t ? - L on afTalrs in the Capital. Reports from outlying points, especially in the north, were far from reassuring t to tho war department. Ciudad Vici toria, tho capital of Tamaulipas, the t capture of which by tho rebels was > denied last week by tho government, is admitted to he in a bad way. Pas sengers from that part of tho country ? confirm tho report that tho city is - already in tho hands of tho rebels, r Tho Mexican government has not t- even confirmed the capture of Jaurez, and tho newspapers are still holding out hope to their readers that posf sibly tho report of its capture by (Jen. - Villa is not true. ? ? ? Sends Message in Pottle. A message written with death M ~ - - r\\?! - Tr * - ~ ? im-cu ny, v nriH iveenan, united states i marshal, and custodian of tho barge . Plymouth, who lost his lifo with six i others In the storm of November 0, ! was found Thursday in a bottlo five i miles from Pentwater, near Meno9 mineo, Mich. It was addressed to his f wife and children and was written when tho bargo had been in the storm forty hours. Keenan's body was washed ashoro near Manistee - last Friday. / ? v Calls Florence Man. 3 The Rev. Piston D. Pass, of Flor3 ence, publisher of tho Commonwealth, a weekly newspaper, has just received a letter from Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan ask ing him to accept a position in the - diplomatic service, and to como to 3 Washington in January to stand the 3 requisite examination undor the civil service commission. X. ? ^ ENTERS HIS PROTEST ( imsmm: i>is< rssi:s tiik m.ivxsi; c.\i ci s. ? Seems to Think It Was (iotten I p to Parrel Out the Ollices to the favorites in the Peal. Mr. \V. R. Cheshire, in his newspaper, The Harpoon, gives liis views of the lato Rleaso caucus in Columbia. Hero is what ho says: Wo have given a great ileal of thou gilt to the complicated situation which so suddenly developed in this State during State Fair week. Nobody expected not even the actors anything hut torn results from the Please conference, and, presto: hero are the woods afire, with weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. The way it looks to us is that flovernor Rleaso really sees that he lias pushed diseord and strife to where a reaction is bound to set in. We have novor (lowI)tod that at heart he really desired to seo McLaurln governor. It didn't suit the gang of job-huntors that ho has gathered around him; they wanted McLaurln to grovel in the dust at Blouse's feet, and promise to continue raising h 1, until each one of them landed his piece of pie. They were fooling with the wrong man. John L. McLaurin made a speech on a high plane and utterly refused to foam at the mouth or wear anybody's collar. We have been supporting McLaurin for governor; we are going to continue to do so. lie lean not refuse his services to the Stato beeauso a squad of hungry camp-followers did not know a man when they saw him. Both Senator Tillman and (Governor Blease say that there is no kinship In Tillmanism and Bleaseism. Maybe both of them are right, and that after all it is a fight, for the spoils of office. The people do not look at it that way; they are trying to get good government and law and order. They don't want the State I run by the gamblers, blind tigers and Southern railroad, while the so-called leaders arc deciding who shall go to congress or the Bnited States senate. The editor of The Harpoon is one of the people, lie is a candidate for congress, he was for Blease in the last election; now why should he not have rights equal to any other man's? Is an office-holding oligarchy to pareel out things from Columbia, and j tho Ttleaseites to be voted like a flock of sheep as a master directs. If so we are unfit and unable to appreciate! and enjoy the blessings of a free government. Following the "caucus" of some of the friends of (lov. Blease, the newspapers would have the people of the State believe that the BJeaso forces had settled on ('has. Carroll Simms for governor. There's nothing to this report, for the reason that those who wore present, were not delegated by all the r.leaseites of the State to make a selection, and we understand hut few of those present favored Mr. Siimns at least they were not yet ready to commit themselves to Mr. Simms or any other man, for the game is young yet. ? hoy nm:s h.akn. Lancaster Negro Intended to Scare Neighbors Hut Caused Loss. Saul Vaughn, a well known and prosperous old negro farmer of Lancaster, sustained a loss of about $4 00 early Tuesday morning in the complete destruction by tire of his barn and contents. His grandchild, a boy 10 or 12 years old, wishing to see a blaze, it is said, deliberately set fire to the building, probably thinking he would extinguish it after scaring the neighborhood with an alarm of fire, but as tho barn contained about a bale of ginned cotton, a lot of cotton seed, several bales of hay, fodder, corn, and other highly inflammable material the fire soon got beyond control of the little neuro and in a fow minutes all was lost. Vaughn carried no insurance. The little negro fled, but has been apprehended and will ho dealt with. ? SHOT BY BUOTIIKR. +. Chester County Man I'ses Fatal Unloaded (Jun. Thinking a shotgun was unloaded James Thompson snapped it and almost tore off the lower Jaw of Jake Thompson, his brother, on Miss Sallie Halsey's plantation in the Halsellville section of Fairfield county, Saturday. They were unloading some cotton, when Jake playfully threw a basket at his brother, James, who picked up the gun lying on the cotton and thinking it was empty pulled the trigger. Jake is in a precarious condition at a hospital while James was ruteuseu on $zou bail. Shoots Women and Self. Charles Deltz, an electrician of Pittsburg, Pa., and 35 years old, Thursday morning at Braddock, a small country suburb, shot his wife, his mother-in-law, Mrs. Caroline Miller and himself. The trio was hurried to the nearest hospital where physicians said Deltz would likely dlo, but the women were not dangerously hurt. Deltz and his wlfo have not been living together and the shooting ended a visit Deltz paid to her mother's home. WITHOUT A COUNTRY I OllTIK McMWKiAIi IS AFIIA1I) TO It MM AIX IN I'. S. * Dynamiter Whoso Confession Drought the McNumurns to (?rief Ih'lievCs He is Marked for Death. Ortle McManigal has become a man without a country?a fugitlvo, not from the law but from his own fears of the men lie served and betrayed. The dynamiter, whose confessions resulted in the revealing of the plots of the McN'amara brothers, and their going to prison, and which led to the convictions of nearly two score labor leaders on charges of complicity in the dynamite plots, lias left Los An- ( geles with the intention of thwarting the vengeance ho dreads by losing I his identity. Kver since the McN'amara cases were tried, McManigal, indicted with them on the strength of his own con- 1 fesslon, had been kept in jail at Los Angeles, nominally awaiting trial, but actually to protect him. He has said from the first that he could never again livo as ordinary men do that the vengeance of the men ho betrayed, more implacable than the | law, would dog his foot steps and exact his life. Hut it became evident that ho ' could not live forever In jail. His | health suffered from too much com- j fort, too much food and too little exercise. Ho left the prison for the ' linonltnl K.. ? H...I l - - * ' ..vriMuii, iiii< i.niii w <in miiy ior a I6W I days, and llion ho loft tho prison entlroly, ostonsibly for Tampa, Fla. Whothor ho will ovor get. thoro Is not known. Hut whothor ho (loos or not, < it is known that his hopo of lifo lios in losing himself from tho world that lias known him of finding rofugfi whcro the men lie fears can not trace him. 0 It is not tho law that lie fears. Tho t Indictments against him still stands, t hut. it will never lie used. His hopo * lies in tho belief that liis enemies ? have neither tho money to waste in a 5 protracted and far-flung search for ? him, nor tho aid of an army of ofli- ( cials in distant countries, if ho can ! once lose the pursuers lie believes t are now following him, ho thinks ho 1 will be safe. a His plans, of course, are secret. It is understood I10 intends to go to ' South America, where, in tho many opportunities open for men of whom no questions are asked, among renegades, fugitives from justice, nameless men and adventurers of all kinds, ho may become another man than tho terror-stricken informer. q But he believes his exile will lie per- j manent. Tlo will he a man without a country and without a name. ? i (OAK .MINKKS i:\TO.M III:I). ^ 1 I Mine lv\ plosion in Alabama Unties Thirty Men. Nino minors are known to have boon killed, and at least a dozen oth- i ers were still missing at a late hour Tuesday night, as the result of an explosion Tuesday afternoon in the ^ Alabama Fuel and Iron Company's ^ mine No. 2 near Acton, Ala. The jL usual quota of men employed in Mine No. 2 is 70, but the exact number at \ work when the explosion occurred is k not. certain. While ofTlcoals would \ make no estimate of tho number of men in the mine, miners at work near tho scene of the disaster insisted that at least twenty men must have been e cut off by tho explosion. Some esti mates ran as high as forty. It was said, however, that tho number certainly would not exceed this figure, as Monday was pay day and many of tho seventy men usually employed in e the mino did not go to work Tuesday. The cause of the explosion has not been learned. That many of thoso n entombed were killed by its force seems certain, as two men working ^ near tho surface at tho time were blown several feet from tho mine en- w trance. Officials of the mine, accompanied b v rescue wnrkoru or><i ^ w? .t.v? ^ U1IV4 OUI geons, wore hurriodly sent from P.Irmingham, and every effort was made to reach the entombed men. Mine ' < No. 2, which is known as Acton mine, !* Is comparatively new, and is one of e the most productive in this district. It has a daily output of .100 tons. Of- I ficials of the company said that all equipment was first class. ' 3 Acton Mine No. 2 is 2 1 miles south 1; of llirmingham on tho Acton branch of the Louisville and Nashville rail IV road, six miles from Helena, in Shelby county. Tho mine lias a ?iDgle _ (rack slope and used an I S foot fan m with tho split air system. J. G. Steele is superintendent of the Acton branch. Tho names of tho dead brought to the surface Included: L#. \j. Patterson, K. Bright, John Langston, Henry Childers, Boss Driver Burns Kittrell, two negroes. All except Bright wero married. Kittrell went Into tho mine only five minutes ^ before tho explosion to do somo J cleaning. Threo of tho rescued aro C.reeks and a number of dead in tho ft mine aro thought to bo Greeks. Thirty Passengers Itescuod. t Tho British battleship Iron Duke effected a timoly rosuco of the thirty passengers and crew of tho steamer Scotsdyko whilo tho stoamer was burning in the English channel early <v Wednesday. 81