Big Timber Pioneer 1912

              The
VOLUME XXIV, NO. 6
BIG TIMBER, SWEET GRASS COUNTY, MONTANA, THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1912
PRICE $1.50 PER YEAR
MONTANA STILL LEADS
in wooiraoDucnoN
Wyoming   Stands   Second   With New Mexico Third—
Figures of Interest to Flockmaster Gathered
From Authoritative Source.
Montana is still the nation's premier
sheep and wool state, with Wyoming
second and New Mexico third.
These places are accorded the respective states in the twenty-third annual
wool estimate compiled by the National
Association of Wool Manufacturers,
based upon the number of sheep fit for
shearing April 1, 1911. In addition to
showing the condition of the wool and
sheep industry in this country, numerous tables are given which relate to
riheep in other lands. The document is
accepted everywhere as reliable and
the most authoritative of its kind.
Sheep In United States.
According to the ligures given in the
estimate there were in the United
States   a total   of  39,701,000 sheep  of
LAND  SELECTION  RULES   TO  BE
ENFORCED.
WILL DO  WHAT'S FAIR
Interior Department Officials Heed Presentation   Made  by  Assistant
Attorney General Poorman.
According to W. II. Poorman of
Helena, who returned last week from
Washington, the government has resolved favorably to the state in a number of land matters in controversy between the state and the government.
Mi*. Poorman, who is assistant attorney general, went to the national
capitol to argue the appeal taken by
Quong Wing, a Helena laundry man, to
the United States supreme court from
the decision of the state courts sustaining the license law as it applies to
laundries. After presenting the state's
side of the case, Mr. Poorman took up
the different department matters with
the secretary of the interior, with
whom he filed a brief covering the contentions of the state with reference to
land matters.
Was Treated Cordially.
"I was treated with unfailing courtesy in every department, and found the
officials not only anxious to rectify mistakes and, irregularities," said Mr.
Poorman, "but also anxious to obtain
full information concerning administrative policies that are not giving complete satisfaction."
State Given Preference.
As a result of Mr. Poorman's conferences, the general land office has decided strictly to enforce the rules of
the department to make operative the
statutes of congress giving to the state
a preference right of sixty days in
which to make selections after the filing of a township plat, and also those
requiring the local land offices immediately to notify the state when any one
seeks to make an entry on sections sixteen and thirty-six on the grounds of
settlement thereon, prior to survey, so
that the state may have the opportunity to investigate the facts relating to
such prior settlement.
The commissioner of the general land
office granted the application of the
state Carey board for an extension of
time until Jan. 14 to make selections of
land in segregation list No. 14. This
list includes land under the Conrad
Land and Water company project, and
the effect of the extension will be to
permit the company to revise its application to take in lands susceptable of
being reclaimed.
Indians and School Lands.
Indians on the Flathead Indian reservation no longer will be permitted to
encroach upon the rights of the state.
As late as 1910 Indians, who theretofore had been allotted, relinquished
their allotments and took up claims on
the school sections, sixteen and thirty-
six. Mr. Poorman conferred with the
commissioner of Indian affairs and that
official decided that Indians, in order to
have a right to a claim on a school section, must have held it prior to the
time the land was surveyed. Inasmuch
as the reservation was all surveyed
prior to the time it was opened for
settlement, the Indians cannot relinquish a trust patent to select lands in
the state grant.
shearing age. Their clip totaled 318,-
547,900 pounds, of which 41,000,000
pounds was pulled wool. The entii-o
clip had a value of $6G,571,.'577, or an
average value of 20.9xcents per pound,
unwashed, or 47.7 per pound scoured.
The shrinkage averaged 60.1 per cent
for the clipped wools and 27 per cent
for the pulled wools, which brought the
total net amount down to 139,896,195
pounds when scoured. Fleeces averaged 6.98 pounds each.
Montana Leads the Nation.
Montana hud the largest flock, 4,650,-
000 sheep, with fleeces averaging seven
and a half .pounds each. The clip
amounted to 38,S75,000 pounds in the
grease, or 12,905,750 pounds scoured.
Wyoming was second, with an even
4,000,000 sheep and fieeces averaging
heavier, eight ivx\ a half pounds each,
bringing the clip up to 3-1,000,000
pounds. However, the shrinkage was
greater, being seventy per cent, which
brought the scoured product down to
10,200,000 pounds.
Montana received $6,968,025, or 54
cents a pound for her clip, against an
average of 56 cents for the preceding
year. Wyoming received S5,304,000 or
52 cents a pound, compared with 55
cents for the previous year.
How the Others Stand.
New Mexico is third. She had 3,000,-
000 sheep, with a total clip in the
grease of 20,250,000 pounds, worth S3,-
304,800. Ohio comes fourth, with
2,900,000 and a clip of 18,850,000
pounds. The value of the Ohio clip
was $1,013,080. Idaho is the fifth
state, with 2,200,000 and a clip of
16,5000,000. The growers got S2,S37,-
500.
, Then conies Utah with an even 2,000,-
000 sheep and a clip of 13,500,000
pounds. This was worth $2,295,000.
The state of Oregon is next with 1,800,-
000 sheep—and a clip of 15,300,000
pounds, having a valuation of $2,466,-
360. California is the eighth in line.
She had 1,700,000 sheep and produced
11,900,000 pounds of wool. Michigan
comes ninth. She had 1,600,000 sheep
and her clip totaled 10,880,000 pounds.
Then comes Texas with 1,400,000 sheep
and a clip of 9,450,000 pounds last year.
Colorada is eleventh with 1,300,000
sheep and a production of 9,100,000
pounds. Missouri comes twelfth with
1,150,000 sheep and a clip totaling
8,050,000 pounds.
These are all the states that have
over a million sheep within their borders. The smallest number is in Delaware, whore there are 5,000. New
Jersey, which formerly had but a small
number, has shown an increasev Rhode
Island, too, has but 5,000. The Rhode
Island clip was heavier than the
Delaware, however, being 30,000 pounds
against the latter's 27,000.
GATHERING DATA ON FLAX
Movement   Success   of Which  Would
Materially Benefit Sweet Grass
County Farmers.
With a view to interesting manufacturers in the establishment of a
factory somewhere in eastern Montana,
the Billings chamber of commerce is
engaged in gathering data on flax, the
purpose being to secure if possible a
plant for the manufacture of binding
twine.
Cultivation of flax in central and
eastern Montana has been conducted
long enough to demonstrate its worth
as a/crop, the yield l-anging from eighteen to twenty-five bushels per acre.
The price received for the grain is so
much greater than for wheat that flax is
one of the most profitable crops a farmer
can raise. Under a decision that has
been criticised for its unfairness, Montana flax was accorded second prize at
the recent St. Paul land show, affording evidence of the superior quality of
the product.
Estimates place the amount paid last
year by the farmers of the Yellowstone
valley for binding twine at $120,000.
The price was about 11 cents per pound.
It is said that binder twine can be made
from flax straw by a recently discovered process at a cost so low that the finished product can be sold for 8 cents a
pound and still leave a fair margin of
profit. In addition it is claimed for the
flax twine that it is stronger, does not
rot so readily and is free from molestation by insects and rodents.
Extent of Trade With
Russia Now Threatened
By That Country
Russia's threat of retaliation in the
form of a tariff war against the United
States in return for this country's
abrogation of the treaty between the
two nations, has caused a great deal
of speculation as to the amount of injury, if .any, this nation would sustain
in the way of lost trade, should Russia
make good its threat and shut out
American goods. In answer to the.
many inquiries received by the department of commerce and labor at Washington, the bureau of statistics of that
department has prepared a statement.
Trade Practically Doubles.
It shows exports from the United
States to Russia of approximately
twenty-five million dollars; imports
from Russia twelve million dollars for
the fiscal year 1911, and indicates that
trade between the two countries has
practically doubled in the last decade,
the increase ocurring in both exports
and imports. Hides and wool are the
principal articles imported from Russia,
and cotton, agricultural implements,
binding twine, manufactures of iron
and steel and manufactures of leather
are the most important of the exports
to that country.
Their Figures Don't Agree.
The above figures, however, differ
materially  from the official  figures  of
the Russian government. The latter's
figures of imports from this county are
much larger than the United States
figures of exports to Russia. These
discrepancies between the official figures of the two countries are due principally to the fact that in many instances goods in the trade between the
two nations are not consigned directly
to the country of ultimate destination.
In such cases goods sent from the
United States to Russia or from Russia
to the United States are consigned
first to a German, English or other
middleman who forwards them to their
ultimate destination. This is particularly true of cotton, which is the most
important article of export from the
United States to Russia.
The United States figures of total
export's to Russia in the calander year
1909 .show a little less than $17,000,000,
while the Russian figures show nearly
830,000,000 worth of imports from this
couni ry. On the other hand, United
States ligures for the same year, show
imports of over $16,000,000 worth of
merchandise from Russia, while Russian figures for the same period show
a little less than $6,000,000 worth of
exports to the United States.
The following table, compiled from
(Continued on Page 8)
HOUSE PASSE
PRAY MEASUR
PROVIDES    FOR   SALE   OF   FIRE
KILLED TIMBER.
S
FEDERAL COURT
CHANGES MADE
NEW ORDER HAS GONE INTO
EFFECT.
ENEFIT EASTERN MONANA
FORESTALL
THE TARIFF BOARD
Democrats Will Make Wool Schedule Wait Upon Steel,
Sugar and Other Commodities Duty on
Which is to be Changed.
Montana Representative  Acts on Peti- .Two Terms  of District  Court Yearly
tions From Settlers of North- ''        Provided for Billings Under
Western States.
Present Law.
Just before the adjournment of the
house for the Christmas holidays, Representative Pray's bill for the sale of
burnt and fire killed timber was passed.
At present the forest service is selling
fire killed timber on national forests.
The Pray bill authorizes the department
to sell such burned timber outside of
national forests. Mr. Pray's bill was
the first to be introduced last spring
and the democratic committee on public
lands favorably reported it unanimously
by Representative Robinson, democrat,
of Arkansas, chairman.
Mr. Pray spoke on the bill ir the
house during the debate, saying that
before inti-oducing the measure he consulted with the officials of the interior
department and followed their suggestions. "They believe," said'Mr. Pray,
"that the bill is workable and that
there is no danger of any fraud being
perpetrated."
Representative Foster of Illinois asked Mr. Pray if he consulted the department as to starting a new lot of
officials outside of the forestry service
to sell the timber. "Gentlemen are
laboring under a decided misapprehension as to that," said Mr. Pray.
No Likelihood of Frauds.
"There is no desire or intent on the
part of the department officials to employ anybody outside of the regular
force or any need of addition to the
regular force. The special agents in
the land office and the men in the forestry service are able to attend-to the
matters provided in the bill. It will
not be necessary to employ anybody.
If gentlemen could see some of the
photographs taken by the forestry ser-
ice of this burned and destroyed district
they would not believe frauds are likely to be perpetrated. I do not see how
any frauds can be committed under
the bill. There is nobody in my state
who has any desire or intent to perpetrate a fraud under it. Certainly
these poor homesteaders, three or four
hundred of them in number, who have
lost their property, do not intend to defraud the government'. I am satisfied
of that. What they want is the relief
provided in the bill."
Homesteaders Suffer.
"From two hundred to four hundred
homesteaders in Montana lost timber on
their lands in the forest fires," said Mr.
Pray. "Thei'e are also large numbers
in Idaho and other western states suffering similar losses. The bill will enable the departments of agriculture and
the interior to take charge of the burnt
timber districts and sell the timber and
upon application of any homesteader or
I Continued on Page 4)
No more sessions of the United States
circuit court will be held in Montana.or
any other state, for that matter, as
circuit courts have ceased to exist.
Their end came last Monday, when the
new law went into effect. Hereafter
all the business that formerly was transacted by the circuit court will be taken
care of by the district court.
There were seventy-seven circuit
courts and had been in existence for
almost a century. When the federal
circuit courts of appeals were created,
in 1891, the existence of the circuit
courts was regarded as unnecessary,
and at the suggestion of President Taft
they were abolished.
Many Terms for Montana.
Under the new law many chances in
the federal judiciary of this state were
made. Terms of the district were given
to Billings and Missoula for the accommodation of the people living in the extreme eastern and western ends of the
state. In respect to the changes, section 92 of the code says:
"Terms of the district court shall be
held at Helena on the first Mondays in
April and November; at Butte on the
first Tuesdays in February and September; at Great Falls on the first Mondays
in May and October; at Missoula on the
first Mondays in January and June, and
at Billings on the first Mondays in March
and August. Causes, civil and criminal,
may be transferred by the court or judge
there from Helena to Butte or from
Butte to Helena, or from Helena or
Butte to Great Falls, or from Great
Falls to Helena or Butte, in said district, when the convenience or the
ends of justice would be promoted by
the transfer; and any interlocutory
order may be made by the court or judge
thereof in either place."
Elsewhere in the act provision is made
for the payment of the expenses of the
judge when holding court at other places
than where he resides. Under the present law the judge is forced to pay his
own traveling expenses.
Some Other Changes.
All unfinished business remaining in
circuit courts last Monday was automatically transfierred to- the district
courts. The latter have been vested
with all the powers and duties of the
circuit courts. In quite a few districts
this resulted in dropping circuit court
clerks, who are thus forced out of good
paying jobs. No such change was
made in this state, as G. W. Sproule
was clerk of both courts.
The minimum amount in  controvei-sy
which henceforth can be sued for in the
United States courts has been raised.
(Continued on Pag° 5)
(Special Correspondence of The Pioneer)
Washington. Jan. 1.—The democratic
house of representatives is not going to
start tariff legislation with schedule K
as was expected. Underwood, chairman
of the ways and means committee, announces an entirely different schedule,
that puts wool along after a revision of
the iron and steel schedule, and chemicals and sugar. The democrats in taking up these measures so hurriedly, are
no doubt trying to forestall the tariff
board, and enact some of their laws
that will "put the president in a hole"—
a popular diversion instituted last summer, when Mr. Taft climbed out of the
"holes," and plugged them up with
vetoes.
Underwood is the real power of the
house, and it will be remembered talked
back to William Jennings Bryan like a
"Dutch uncle" a few months ago. His
plan is to try and riddle the report of
the tarilf board on wool, before revision is attempted and to show by comparison, if possible, that the house bill
of the special session was really more
scientific than one that can be prepared
by aid of the tariff board data. It is a
part of the attempt to make democratic
campaign material, and to discredit
administration efforts, and the tariff
board is to be made the goat, if possible, notwithstanding their splendid
work for scientific tariff revision. Oh,
but there is a campaign coming.
No More Fake Pictures.
The average visitor to Washington
goes hunting for "sights" and cele-
j brities, and usually finds of both, for
the capital abounds with fine things to
see and gentlemen of national prominence. Of course the president is inaccessible to most people, much to their
disappointment, but a Washington
photographer found a way to partially
fill the gap by making pictures at a
reasonable price wherein anyone who
wished might appear in the act of shaking hands with the nation's leading
citizen. The trick photographs were
fine, too, and no one could tell but what
they were genuine. But with the popularity of the photographs came publicity to the enterprise, and news of the
industry reached the White house a
few days ago, with the result that Mr.
Taft requested that this indiscriminate
use of his picture be discontinued—
therefore future visitiors to the capital
will be deprived of the pleasure of
sending these indications of their own
greatness to the friends.
Notes.
Poor old Ohio, the home of presidents,
is having a hard time of it. Besides
being the Taft home state, it also has
Gov. Harmon to push as a presidential
candidate—and as though these two
burdens were not enough, there are the
difficulties of the Garfieldites and about
all the other ites going. The Buckeye-
ites have also listened to La Follette,
who has invaded the state and added to
the joy and confusion of political knowl-
KNOWN AWAY FROM HOME
Big Timber Schools Come in for Favorable Mention from Educational
Publication.
In the December number of the Inter-
Mountairi Educator, published at Butte,
appears the following concerning the
schools of this city:
"The county high school at Big Timber has placed a domestic science course
in the school. Miss Grace Kirk, graduate of the State Agricultural college at
Bozeman, is in charge of the work. The
course is very popular. More girls desire to take the course than can be accommodated. The board of education
rented a cottage, fitted it up like a modern home in many respects, and in it
the girls are learning all that pertains
to the household arts. What city will
come next?
"Principal Brown of the Sweet Grass
county high school came to the school
highly recommended. He is a graduate
of the Central Michigan Normal school
and also of the University of Michigan.
He is more than meeting the expectations of the board.
"Principal E. A. Erickson of the Big
Timber schools had every eighth grade
pupil pass. The high school faculty say
this class is the strongest freshman
class they have had for years. Evidently Mr. Erickson is some teacher.
edge. Ohio seems to be the storm centre of the political cyclone, and this
rush of politicians to it must indicate
that all classes of party leaders are
eager to be on hand, when the rainbow-
comes up, in hopes that the pot of gold
may be theirs.
Admiral Dewey, seventy years young,
celebrated the anniversary by doing a
full day's work, as is his daily custom.
For many years the patriarch of the
navy, who hung Manilla crepe over the
Spanish fleet twelve'- years ago, has
been leading a quiet life in the capital,
enjoying the comforts of home and his
chosen cronies.
Mrs. Tom Thumb, the smallest woman
in the world, has called  at  the  White
house and was introduced to  President
Taft. She is about 70 years old, and
only two feet hight.     She was accom-
(Continued on Page 8)
STATE'S CLAIM
SUSTAINED
WINS IN STUBBORN CONTEST WITH
GOVERNMENT.
GETS FOREST LIEU LANDS
Given Compact Body of Timber Land
for School Sections in National Reserves.
Persistency in demanding a square
deal for the state from the government
is at last to be re%varded. From Washington comes the news that President
Taft and Secretary of the Interior
Fisher have given their-approval to the
plan submitted to them by Gov. Norn's
and Attorney General Galen while the
Montana officials were at the national
capital recently.
Under the plan mentioned the state
is to be given lieu lands in place of
those embraced in sections sixteen and
thirty-two of townships included within national forests. This will give the
state a solid piece of timber land of
from 400,000 to 500,000 acres, which
will be proclaimed a state forest.
Long Drawn Controversy.
By the approval of the scheme of the
Montana men a long drawn controversy
has been brought to an end and-the
state secures what has always been
contended was its right. Ever since
the creation of national forests in Montana the state has sought to secure
from the general government an equivalent for the lands of which it has been
deprived through the operation of the
forest reserve law.
The state has claimed that it possessed title to sections sixteen and thirty-
two of all townships in national forests,
whether they were surveyed or unsur-
veyed. This claim the government
stubbornly resisted. 'A couple of yeai*s
ago, in order to secured ground upon
which it could go into court, the state
forcibly asserted title to a section of
land near Belton, in one of the national
forests. Here the matter was permitted to rest until the governor and
attorney general had personal interview
with the president and secretary of the
interior.
Told to Go Ahead.
President Taft, as already stated,
gave his approval to the plan of a state
forest and told the Montana officials to
go ahead with it, promising federal cooperation. If legisletion should be
needed, he said he would support it and
in every way help the state.
The first step will probably be to
appraise the state lands that are to be
surrendered. After this has been done
a suitable compact body of timber land
of equal value will then be selected in
one of the Montana national forests,
when the president will issue a proclamation excluding the selection from
the forest, so that the state may file on
it.
The arrangement will prove to the
benefit of both the state and the national government, as it will remove the
cause of the long existing friction between the two. It will also give Montana something of real value, while at.
the same time none of the land reserved
by the national government will beclouded by the state's claim of title to
part of it.