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Show BASIS FOR LOIS TO HMjlHEBS Federal Board Issues Rules for the Guidance of Land Banks.. MANY MECHANICS ARE NEEDED Ten Thousand Skilled Men Wanted for Service In the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps New Kind of Bullets. Washington. The federal farm loan board has Issued the following rules for the guidance of the land banks In determining what area constitutes con-stitutes a farm for loaning purpose: "First, Generally The farm must be of sufficient area to yield at the hands of an ordinarily capable farmer, putting put-ting It to the use to which It Is generally gen-erally adapted and using average methods, meth-ods, an Income sufficient to malntnln the family of the applicant and discharge dis-charge the Interest and amortization payments. "Second, Specially. Where through Intensive farming or the practice of a specialty a sufficient Income has been regularly derived from a tract deficient de-ficient In area for ordinary farming, or where the application of the prospective pros-pective borrower shows that he is by experience capable of producing such an Income from such a tract, such area may be accepted as sufficient, provided provid-ed the land has a stable and permanent perma-nent market value sufficient' to warrant the loan applied for. This ruling does not apply to fruit and orchard lands which have already keen the subjects of definite rulings by this board." Under the first paragraph of this ruling rul-ing loans may be made to the ordinary fanner on the basis of average eklll and efficiency, and no tract of land will be accepted as a farm eligible for a loan under the federal farm loan act unless It Is large enough to support the family and take care of the loan under the average farm conditions of the neighborhood. But under the second paragraph of the ruling the intensive farmer or the man who practices a profitable specialty, special-ty, or who shows himself able to do so, will be given financial support by the federal loan system, even though his farm may be too small for ordinary farming purposes, provided that the land quite apart from its use has a stable and permanent land value which will mike the loan safe whether, it is well operated, or badly operated, or not operated at all. i; Qualified men registered tinder the selective service law may be Inducted into service to fill the call for 10,000 stilled mechanics needed by the aviation avia-tion section of the signal corps, by applying to their local boards. Men not registered may enlist at recruiting recruit-ing stations. The present call Is particularly for machinists, auto mechanics, engine re- The use of gas in warfare dates back to about 400 B. O. The Spartans saturated sat-urated wood with pitch and sulphur and burned it under the walla of cities which they were attacking. For several sev-eral centuries gas has not been used in warfare, and The Hague convention definitely ruled against it. However, on April 22, 1915, the Germans liberated liber-ated great clouds of gas against Canadian Cana-dian troops near Ypres. Terrible destruction de-struction and demoralization resulted from this first gas attack, and within a week England was making plans for gas warfare against the Germans. Soon .after the first German gas attack at-tack English and French women sent to the front hundreds of thousands of home-made gas masks. For the most part they were merely bandages Impregnated Im-pregnated with chemicals to wrap around the mouth and nose. These emergency masks saved many lives, but afforded only limited protection. Commenting on the decision to regulate regu-late the consumption of bread in Paris by means of tickets, reference is made by some of the Paris newspapers to the success of the bread card in Switzerland, Switz-erland, where the bread has been rationed ra-tioned for several months, resulting in an economy of 45 per cent of the amount consumed previously. The average amount allotted per person per day is 250 grams (which will soon be reduced to 200 grams). Each Individual card contains a certain cer-tain number of coupons for 250, TOO, 50 and 25 grams of bread, amounting in all to the total monthly allotment. These coupons may be used whenever the holder desires, either at the nak-er's nak-er's or at a restaurant; In fact, guests in private families are expected to detach de-tach from their individual bread cards the coupons equivalent to the amount of bread consumed. More than $11,000,000,000 of war-risk war-risk Insurance has so far been written, covering over 1,500,000 persons in the military and naval services. The average aver-age amount of insurance applied for 13 nearly $9,000. The maximum permitted permit-ted Is $10,000, and the minimum $1,-000. $1,-000. Final figures show the United States army, both here and abroad, is well over 90 per cent Insured. In many camps 90 per cent of the personnel is protected by government insurance. The insurance now on the books of the bureau is more than three times as great as the ordinary insurance held by the largest commercial company in the world! All new persons Joining the service may apply for Insurance within 120 days ofter Joining the colors. Automatic Auto-matic insurance ceased for all men, regardless of enlistment date, on February Feb-ruary 12. An ordnance base that will cost approximately ap-proximately $25,000,000 is under construction con-struction in France. It will include a gun-repair plant equipped to rellne more than 800 guns a month ; a large-capacity large-capacity carriage repair plant; a motor-vehicle repair plant capable of overhauling more than 1,200 vehicles a month ; a small-arms repair plant to handle 58,000 rifles and machine guns a month; a large shop for the repair of horse and Infantry equipment; a reloading plant capable of reloading about 100,000 artillery cartridges a da v. The ordnance base will include 20 large storehouses, 12 shop buildings, 100 smaller shops and magazines, and machine and tool equipment costing $5.0(10,000. Approximately 470 officers and 16,iHK) men will be required for maintenance. According to an announcement by Secretary Lane additional parks will be open to tourlHts this year on the following fol-lowing dates: Yosemlte, California, Mny 1 to November No-vember 1; Rocky Mountain National park, Colorado, May 1 to November 1; Sequoia National park, California, May 15 to October 10; Oenerai Grant National park, California. May 15 to October 10: Mesa Verde National park', Colorado, June 1 to September 30; Mount Hauler National park, Washington, Washing-ton, June. 1 to September 16; Glacier National park, Montana, June 15 to September 15; Crater Lake National park, Oregon, July 1 to September 30; Yellowstone National park, Wyoming, June 25 to September 15. An illustrated catalogue of official war photographs and stereoptlcon slides hns been Issued by the division of pictures of the committee on public pub-lic Information. In it are listed about 1.0W pictures available to the public, Including photographs taken by the signal corps, navy, marine corps and French and Iklglnn official photo-grnphs. photo-grnphs. Kach picture listed may be had either ns a plffitographle print or as a stereoptlcon slide at a small price. The catalogue may be secured by sending five cents to the division of pictures, committee on public information, Wiixhlnirtrin. D. f!. pairmen, gunstuitns. ennurreurs, carpenters, car-penters, blacksmiths, tinsmlthts, sheet-etal sheet-etal workers, propeller makers, ilreless operators and constructors, tailors, tent-makers, sail-makers, truck masters, vulcanlzcrs, welders, and experts ex-perts on magnetos, Ignition systems, camernsj watches, and flocks. Men' wl'li be sent to San Antonio, Tex., for segregation by trades, followed fol-lowed by a brief course of Instruction at flying fields or factories, then organized or-ganized into squadrons mostly for service overseas. Additional information informa-tion may be secured by application to the air division, personnel department, Washington, D. C. The present war hns brought forth a new kind of ammunition for airplane use In the form of special cartridges containing bullets foy annor-plerclng. tracing, and Incendiary purposes. All of these cartridges are of the small rifle calibers, according to n statement authorized by the wnr department. The three-tenths of an Inch diameter and short length of the bullet left little lit-tle space for the nrinor-prerclng "element "ele-ment or for tracer and Incendiary com-posHIn com-posHIn -but such combinations have been made. : The bullets devefoped by the United States ordnance department have been, tested on land an't from airplanes to see if there Is any difference In their performance when fired from a quickly quick-ly moving airplane In the upper atmosphere atmos-phere and when fired on land. These tests Indicate that the United Stntes has developed a class of special cartridges with a performance fully equal to or surpassing that attained abroad. More than 1.000 tons of anthracite coal were condemned In Pennsylvania markets by representatives of the fuel administration recently In tin campaign cam-paign to compel the delivery of clean coal. Following the plan adopted for California Cal-ifornia and Colorado, the food administration admin-istration has appointed a commission to determlno the cost of producing sugar beets In Nebraska. The commission com-mission has no power to fix price, but It Is expected that Its figures will serve as the basis for voluntary price sgreements between growers and pur-i'hnser pur-i'hnser of sugar beets. ' All cheese now In storage must be uirketeil before June 15, unless spe-ial spe-ial permission to bold Is given by the oo(l administration. About twenty English woman gardeners gar-deners are going to France, where they will take up the duty teudlng to the graves of dead British soldiers. The new "Mexican service badge" will soon be Issued to officers and enlisted en-listed men who served under certain conditions In Mexico and on the border. bor-der. Persons, not now In the army who would have been entitled to the badge and whose separation from the service has been honorable may secure authority from the adjutant general to purchase and wear the service badge. The mayor of a suburb of Antwerp has been ordered to deliver to the Germans Ger-mans forty fat cats. |