LEGISLATION THAT IS URGENTLY 

 DEMANDED. 



THE National Grange, various State 

 Granges among them the strong Illinois 

 body and the Illinois Farmers' Institute, 

 all recently in session, demand from Con- 

 gress and the Illinois and Indiana State 

 Legislatures pure food laws laws which 

 shall suppress the manufacture and sale 

 of bogus butter, bogus cheese and bogus 

 lard. And the National Dairy Union, 

 which has just closed its session in Chi- 

 cago, voices the same just demand. Com- 

 mittees were chosen by the Union to wait 

 on Congress and the Illinois and Indiana 

 Legislatures. Other Western and Central 

 States, except Illinois and Indiana, already 

 have State laws to protect honest products. 



THE attention of Congress and the Illi- 

 nois Legislature is also called to the fact 

 that a great and extensive business is 

 done in Chicago in horse meat sold as 

 beef. The stuff could be seized in hun- 

 dreds of meat markets at any hour any 

 day. Horses are not only slaughtered 

 here but supplies of corned horse are re- 

 ceived from western points in barrels and 

 cans. 



ANOTHER meeting, with more creden- 

 tialed delegates than there are to a na- 

 tional political convention, has also just 

 been held in Chicago. This was the first 

 annual meeting of the National Associa- 

 tion of Manufacturers. About 15,000 

 people were in attendance, representing 

 manufacturers of the country worth hun- 

 dreds of millions of dollars. A national 

 organization of the manufacturers was ce- 

 mented, and that great organization pro- 

 poses to have a voice in regard to future 

 legislation concerning the manufactures, 

 trade and commerce (domestic and foreign) 

 of the United States. Its very reasonable 

 demands for the present will doubtless be 

 granted by this or the succeeding Con- 

 gress. 



THE far Western States are waiting on 

 Congress for an act giving them the arid 

 land grants outright, and the Territories 



ask to be included in the measure. A 

 Government Commission for the regulation 

 of irrigation water supplies has been rec- 

 ommended by Commissioner Lamoreux. 

 Western America is also waiting on the 

 United States Supreme Court for a de- 

 cision of the constitutionality of the State 

 District Irrigation laws. 



THE commercial bodies of the country 

 demand a much more thorough recogni- 

 tion of the business interests by the gov- 

 ernment, and the bill in Congress for the 

 establishment of a Department of Com- 

 merce will doubtless be pushed through. 

 The head of the department will be a 

 member of the Cabinet. It is suggested 

 that the scope of the new department 

 should be extended to embrace a general 

 supervision of the tariff. 



MEMBERS representing $100,000,000 

 worth of lake vessel property attended the 

 annual meeting of the Lake Carriers' As- 

 sociation at Detroit. Congress was me- 

 morialized against the proposed railroad 

 bridge over the Detroit river, and in favor 

 of deep water in the connecting rivers and 

 canals. The proposed bridge at Detroit 

 was denounced as a scheme of the new 

 railroad trust to cripple the lake shipping 

 and retard quick shipments by water. 



THERE is nothing preposterous at all in 

 the demand for free rural mail delivery. 

 It can be performed cheaply enough by 

 postmen on horseback or on bicycles. 

 Every agricultural paper in the country 

 should advocate this proposed measure, 

 so that farmers may receive their papers 

 soon after they reach the country post- 

 office. 



FARMERS are crying out for the seed dis- 

 tribution, and a bill is to be introduced 

 forcing Secretary Morton's department to 

 furnish them. That investigation of the 

 Agricultural Department will bring out a 

 long list of complaints. 



