Pullman herald. [volume], April 11, 1919, Page 10, Image 10

About Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989

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*i-*»v Pago ten
A. T. Wlancko, chief of soils and
crops, Purduo University.
B. H. Hlbbard, agricultural econom
•tjfi ist, University of Wisconsin.
Frank D. Gardner, agronomist, Penn
sylvania State College.
F. W. Peck, assistant, farm manage
ment, University of Minnesota.
11. M. Eliot, farm economist, Agri
cultural and Mechanical Coll.ge
of Texas.
If additional confirmation wore
needed, the letter of the author of
one of the wheat studies will be suf
ficient. It reads as follows:
October 26, 1918.
Honorable David F. Houston, Secre
tary of Agriculture.
Dear Sir:
, I beg leave to ask you to withdraw
the manuscript on the cost of pro
ducing wheat handed in to the De
partment about July 1, 1918. The
statistical data upon which tho report
la based is not sufficient to count it
a statistical and analytical study in
any sense and I could not defend it
on any ground that now seems to me
proper and substantial. The report
is based rather on personal observa
tion of local conditions and notes
taken on farmers' experience and
knowledge, supplemented with very
meager statistical data. For these
reasons I am convinced that the
manuscript should not be made pub
lic by the Department.
Your committee has made a thor
ough investigation of my work and
1 believe has a true estimate of the
value and reliability of the report on
the average cost of producing wheat
in the various localities studied.
Respectfully,
J. H. ARNOLD,
Agriculturist.
5. It is asserted that the Secre
tary rebuked Mr. Spillman in the
sternest manner for having gone be
fore the Garfield committee when it
was fixing the guaranteed price for
wheat; that he (the Secretary) stated
that it was well understood that tbe
price to be fixed for wheat was about
$1.90; and that Spillman, in spite of
the Secretary's views, suggested a
price of $2.30. .
This statement is false. The Sec
retary did not know that Mr. Spill
man was going before the Garfield
committee, did not at the time talk
to Spillman about the matter, and has
never since discussed it with him.
The Secretary did not then express
an opinion concerning the price that
should be fixed. The only informa
tion the Secretary had regarding Mr.
Spillman's attitude as to the price,
during the whole time the matter
was under discussion, was contained
in tho following letter from Mr. Spill
man, dated June 11, 1917, a few
months before the Garfield commit
tee submitted Its recommendation:
Juno 11, 1917.
Dear Mr. Secretary:
"I wish to call attention at this
time to the importance of consider
ing the matter of a minimum price
for wheat for next year. The farm
ers will soon be making their plans
concerning the seeding of this crop.
There is a widespread fear that if the
war should end before harvest time
next year the wheat market would be
demoralized, and the farmer would
not get a fair return for his labor.
If anything is to be done along this
line Its consideration should be taken
up at once.
I believe that It is important that
the government, or the allies, should
guarantee to the farmer a minimum
price for wheat. If this iB done and
the farmer knows that he will get
a fair price for his wheat Irrespect
ive of the outcome of the war, I be
lieve there would be an enormous In
crease in the wheat crop in this coun
try next year. There Is no question
that it will be needed, even if the
war ends. I would suggest that a
price of $1.50 per bushel for wheat
delivered at the nearest shipping sta
tion would probably accomplish this
purpose, ._-- -
Very sincerely yours,
W. J. SPILLMAN,
»_■ ■.•■'*' Chief.
You will observe that on June 11,
1917, Mr. Spillman believed that
$1.50 was an adequate price for
wheat. The record of this view im
peaches his whole contention on this
point. As a matter of fact, when the
Garfield committee was first organ
.zed and had the question of a guar
anteed price under consideration, I
myself learned, In a way that I could
not doubt, that it was in the minds of
some of the members of the commit
tee to fix the price of wheat at $1.50.
I laid the facts before the Secretary
and told him that I thought it was
much better not to stand upon cere
mony'and await the request of an
other department of the government
for,lnformation, but to go ahead and
present it. lest a great injury be done.
We therefore had a conference with
Or. Gartleli in my office, in which
resent etivas several branches
of the Department, including. I be
lieve, the Office ol Farm Manage
ment participated." We presented
some information that convinced Dr
Garfield that it would be a gross in- 1
£
justice to fix a price of $1.50.
6. Mr. Spillman attempts to play
the part of a cheap demagogue by
dragging In the name of John D.
Rockefeller. Ho asserts that, in the
early part of the Secretary's adminis
tration, there was circulated through
the Department by a member of the
General Education Board a typewrit
ten sheet outlining the duties of the
Department, said to represent Mr.
Rockefeller's views, in which Secre
tary Houston concurred. It is repre
sented that this sheet indicated that
there were to be no cost of produc
tion studies. The Secretary has never
seen such a sheet and knows noth
ing about lt.
7. An effort Is made to convey
the impression that Mr. Rockefeller,
through the General Education
Board, has some Influence in tho De
partment of Agriculture, lt is diffi
cult to believe that Mr. Spillman ac
tually believes that statement to be
true. No officer of the Department
has any connection with Mr. Rocke
feller and Mr. Rockefeller has no in
fluence of any kind over the Depart
ment of Agriculture.
Mr. Spillman, for selfish and par
tisan purposes, cheaply and unworth
ily attempts at this time to arouse
suspicion and gain support for his
assertions by referring to a relation
which the Secretary's predecessor es
tablished with the General Education
Board ln 1906. The simple fact is
that the General Education Board,
holding a charter from congress un
der an act approved by President
Roosevelt, having among Ita mem
bers at the time some of the moat In
dependent and upstanding men In the
nation, like Dr. Charles W. Eliot,
formerly president of Harvard; the
late ambassador to England, Walter
Hines Page; President Alderman of
the University of Virginia; President
Judson of the University of Chicago,
and the late H. B. Frissell, president
of Hampton Institute—desiring to be
of assistance to the South, which was
suffering from the ravages of the
101 l weevil, In 1906 placed at the dis
posal of tho Department of Agricul
ture a Bum of money to pay demon
stration workers. These workers
were to be controlled fully and com
pletely by the Department. Their
work in supplement of that done by
agents paid from federal and local
funds resulted in great and lasting
good to the farmers of the South.
The agreement, a copy of which is
attached hereto, was made in 1906
by the Hon. James Wilson, for 16
years Secretary of Agriculture. It
had been in operation for seven year 3 !
when Secretary Houston came to the
Department. Shortly after he as
sumed his duties, a small additional
sum of money was made available for
beginning studies in rural co-opera
tion. This arrangement proved un
satisfactory, and in December of the
same year it was agreed to discon
tinue it at the close of the fiscal
year.
The arrangement with the General
Education Board was well known to
congress, and the operations under it
were reported in committee hearings
at each session. On April 8, 1914, in
response to a senate resolution, the
entire matter was fully set forth by
the Secretary in a letter to the sen
ate. This letter was printed in Sen
ate Document No. 538, dated April
14, 1914. The question of the fed
eral government taking over the en
tire work and supporting it came up
and was affirmatively acted upon.
The Secretary fully approved the pol
icy. He believed then, as he believes
now, that the federal government is
able to support any work which it
does or should undertake.
8. Mr. Spillman says that in order
"to force the Secretary to change his
mind" he resolved to leave the De
partment. This seems to be at vari
ance with his letter of resignation,
dated June 6, 1918, in which he stat
ed that, during the war he deemed
it to be the duty of every citizen to
render the greatest service of which
he is capable; that he had discovered
that the editorship of a farm paper
in Philadelphia offered him greater
opportunity for service than the po
sition he held; and that, for this rea
son, he tendered his resignation. Tho
Secretary accepted his resignation as
tendered, effective, as requested,
three months from date. Obviously,
the Secretary was overgenerous in
the consideration of Mr. Spillman.
For some time ho had been aware of
hie Incompetency as an administra
tor and investigator. It became clear
that he was at least lacking in judg
ment. He did not know at the time,
as he does now, and as I know, that
he is lacking in certain other funda
mental qualities. If I were called
upon to say in what respect Secretary
Houston has erred, I would say that
it was in not asking for Mr. Spill
man's resignation long before it was
offered, because I had been here but
» few weeks when I discovered that
his management of his office was in
efficient In many respects, and that
ho was a theorist without Judge
9. The statement says that "The
Office of Farm Management was un-
der the ban" when the Secretary
camo to the Department; that the
Secretary had pledged himself to de
stroy the office; that the Secretary
stated in a public address, that he
would see that the office did not
grow any in the future; and that the
Secretary has kept his woi£ in this
matter. The evidence offered for
these untrue allegations is the asser
tion that when the Secretary came
into office the Office of Farm Man
agement had a fund of about $330,
--000 a year for field investigations,
whereas this fund is now aoout
$218,000.
Mr. Spillman evidently ls a man
of great vanity. He recommends
himself very highly. He seems to
have labored under the Impression
that certain people were sitting up
nights thinking of nothing but him.
He even goes so far as to say that
the Secretary had pledged himself to
destroy his office. As a matter of
fact, the Secretary had met Mr. Spill
man only once before he came to
Washington, had forgotten his ex
istence, and did not know that he
held such an office. One of the first
things that the Secretary did in re
organizing the work of the Depart-
A Standard Test for!
Gasoline
War needs made prominent the question of a standard test for gasoline. On July -
31st, 1918, President Wilson ordered a committee appointed under the United
States Fuel Administration to establish specifications and standards of test for gas
oline supplied to the Government. This committee consisted of the United States
Fuel Administration and representatives of the War and Navy Departments, the
United States Shipping Board, the Director General of Railroads, the Bureau of
Mines, and the Bureau of Standards. Standards were adopted for aviation gasoline
(export, fighting'and domestic) and for general motor use on land and sea.
The Government's Committee on Standardi
zation of Petroleum Specifications stated in its
report: "It will be noted that there are no grav
ity limitations in the specifications for aviation
gasoline, nor in the specifications for motor
gasoline which are given later, for it has been
found that gravity is of little or no value in de
termining the quality of gasoline." The stand
ards adopted by the United States Government
are based on boiling points.
Gasoline is known to the refiner as one mem
ber of the petroleum family. He distinguishes
each member of the family, not by gravity, but
by boiling points. Gravity is a fleeting stand
ard of test, but boiling points are unchanging
in their value and always determine the quality
of the product. Knowing them the refiner can
keep his product uniform and reliable.
A boiling point is the temperature at which
a liquid will begin to boil or vaporize.
In distilling a given quantity of gasoline the
refiner ascertains at what point each 10 per
cent will boil, until the entire quantity is evap
orated or distilled. In this way he determines
what is known as the initial boiling point, as
well as all intervening boiling points in the
phain, up to the maximum, high boiling point.
Boiling points determine the vaporizing and
Combustive qualities of gasoline. They decide
the action of the gas developed from gasoline.
They are the only true measure of gasoline
value.
An ideal gasoline has boiling points in a con
tinuous, uniform chain. There must not be too
many low boiling points, otherwise the loss in
PULLMAN" HI HMD
ment was to show his Interest in farm
management. He found it submerged
ii, the Bureau of Plant Industry,
which deals only with certain phases
... agriculture. Ho established It as
a separate office for the simple rea-J
son that he recognized its importance
and especially the fact that it dealt
with many other aspects of farming
than plant production. In his an
nual report for 1914 he stated:
•'Farm management conceives the]
farm as a whole. Its problem is not
primarily a plant industry problem.
It Is rather a business or economic J
problem. It is not one of which the'
agronomist has necessarily the requi
site training, although the service of
the agronomist as well as the serv
ices of experts of other bureaus are
invoked. Since its function is that
of studying the farm from the busi
ness point of view in all its aspects, i
It seemed advisable to relate the of
fice to that of the Secretary, so that
the officers might feel conscious of
no bureau limitations. Similar con
siderations led to the conclusion that
the farm-demonstration work should
not be attached to a particular bu
reau."
The facts as to the funds available
The third of a series of three statements
The Gravity Test Discarded
Boiling Points the Real Test
What Is a Boiling Point?
Boiling Points Tell the Story
STANDARD OIL COMPANY
(California)
for farm management are the re- j
verse of those given by Mr. Spillman.
The total appropriations for the of- \
flee in 1913, when the Secretary
came here, wore approximately;
$320,000. About CO per cent of this
sura, or $192,000, was used for farm
demonstration work, and 10 per cent, j
or $30,000, for work relating to cac
tus and weeds and farm structures.
None of these activities had any place '
in the Office of Farm Management.
In the reorganization of the work of
the Department, which became ef
fective on July 1, 1915, they were
transferred to other branches of the
Department where they properly be
longed—the farm demonstration
work to the State Relations Service,
the cactus and weeds work to an
other office in the Bureau of Plant
Industry, and the farm structures
work to the Division of Rural Engin
eering in the Bureau of Public Roads.
These transfers were in the interest
of economy and good administration. I
It will thus be seen that the sum
available in 1913 for actual farm
management studies was less than
$100,000. The total appropriations
of the Office of Farm Management
for 1919 are $305,090, an increase
storage by evaporation would be great. There
must be just enough low boiling points to va
porize freely and give easy starting. The higher
boiling points are necessary for quick accelera
tion, high power and long mileage.
As combustion starts with the lowest boiling
points and flashes on through the gas, the con
tinuous chain of boiling points—from the low
to the high —is necessary for instantaneous,
full-powered combustion. Only a straight-dis
tilled, all-refinery gasoline can have the contin
uous, uniform chain of boiling points.
The United States Government
Standard Specifications
for Gasoline
The United States Government standard
specifications for gasoline are based on boiling
points— not gravity. Drafted as they were by
impartial Government experts, they are gener
ally considered, the light of conditions today,
as the most practical standard for gasoline.
They insure an efficient and satisfactory gaso
line and at the same time have due regard for
the best utilization of our petroleum resources,
and the maintenance of reasonable prices to the
consumer.
Red Crown Gasoline Conforms
to United States Government
Standard
All Red Crown gasoline now being supplied
in the Pacific Coast States is refined to con
form to the United States Government Stand
ard specifications. It is straight-distilled, all
refinery gasoline having the full, uniform chain
of boiling points necessary for full-powered,
dependable gasoline: Low boiling points for
easy starting, medium boiling points for quick,
smooth acceleration, and high boiling points
for power and mileage.
Friday, April 11. \ 9 g.
■ i .1— __„ —fc--____^ww**-____.
of $207,000 over 1913. Vr_^
. crease has been made, over th i^
• six years,; upon the recommend.!?
of the Secretary, and shows\
• clearly that the Secretary not
i liad no prejudice against the Ofr''
1 of Farm Management, but that "*
has given it his active sup Port Jj
recommending increased funds -
These are the simple, Plain ' actl
bearing on the absurd statement n
out by Mr. Spillman. It i a a pity Kg
Mr. Spillman, If he has a desire _
render service,, can not find som
thing useful to do. If he persist* it
his present course he will s_L'd
only in destroying himself.
Very truly yours,
CLARENCE OUSLEY,
Assistant Secretary.
Lemonade weather approach*
Those large juicy lemons cost V
mere than small inferior ones. (^
a dozen from Sanders' Grocery,
' aprll 7M
■..i.—.. mmmmm. ■Mm n I im tmm
FOR Three-inch clay til.
ing. George Herboth, Uniontown
Wash. aprlimrt
: 1 .
INSURE WITH McCLASKEY. I