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Show CHIEFTAIN. MARYSVALE. V UTAH Status of Foreign Investments By SAMUEL WANT With government securities of the various countries of the world, so widely distributed as they have been during the past years, one of the important questions brought to the front by the present war is the obligation of a conquering state to respect the obligations of a state brought to a condition of subjugation. What, for example, are the rights of American citizens as to the collection and enforcement of bonds of Eoiunania, Belgium, Serbia and other territories now in the hands of the German authorities, in the event of the final annexation of the territory of any of such powers ? While the practice of the nations and the opinions of writers on international law are not altogether uniform, it may be staled as a general principle of international law that in the event of the annexation of territory of other powers, whether by cession or subjugation, and in the absence of controlling stipulations, or unusual circumstances, the predominant oblipower is under obligation to see to the satisfaction of the national gations of the ceded territory. There are, of course, exceptional circumstances, calling for a different rule. For example, the United States refused to assume in behalf Cuban debt, for which the Cuban of Cuba any portion of the it consisted of a mass of Spanthat the on were revenues ground pledged, ish obligations and charges, and was in no sense created by Cuba as a province or department of Spain, or by the people of the island. Indeed, it appeared that the debt in question had been mainly contracted for the purpose of supporting the Spanish army in Cuba. In a very recent English case it was decided by the English divisional court that the English government was not liable for the payment of an obligation of the South African Republic, the essence of which was a claim based upon the action of that republic in appropriating certain private property on behalf of the government during the war with England. The court held it to be a general exception to the principle above referred to, that there is no principle of international law by which a conquering state may be held liable to discharge the financial liabilities of a tortuous nature incurred by the country whose territory has been annexed by subjugation. American Navy as a War Factor By FREDERICK R. COUDERT Expert on International Relations The American navy, while deficient in certain classes of units, is yet the third most powerful navy in the world, and can, by relieving the numerous English war vessels in North and South Atlantic waters, and by assisting in the convoying of ships over the ocean greatly aid the allied navies now holding the seas. The great problem of today is to destroy the submarine menace, and, too, in a very real sense free the seas to the use of the nations. American in this respect can be of great value. The British, and Amercould make a kind of lane over the Atlantic, ican navies through which ships might sail and supplies be carried to the allied powers. It is quite possible that the distress in Germany, owing to the blockbeen exaggerated, but, in my opinion, it is only a question of time has ade, when irresistible economic pressure, coupled with thecgrowing strength of the allied armies in France, will force her to the wall, and the aid of the American navy can insure the success of this blockade. There should, in my opinion, be sent to France some contingent of This would have a American troops, properly organized and officered. effect that it would the know I incalculable. h sentimental value Russia as well, for a distant and in in in and France both England, have, few regiments from the now world to join hands with the descendants of La Fayette and Rochambeau on the stricken fields of old France. It would also have a great effect upon the American people, who would again see renew ed that old combination of France and America fighting for human liberty. This is a factor that cannot, and I believe will not, be ; well-nig- neglected. General military training is a necessity, first for our future safety, and, second, for the purpose of welding our somewhat heterogeneous in view of milipeople into a cohesive nation. In addition, the war may, which case the decisive in of a for on more, years couple experts, go tary factor might well become a million American soldiers transported to the shores of France and Belgium. Turning on the Spiritual Steam By BISHOP CHARLES BAYARD MITCHELL We are now living close to the greatest upheaval the human race has ever known. We are hearing so much that tends to weaken the faith of many and cause others to scoff at the collapse of Christianity that I would like to remind ourselves that there is no basis for any pessimistic doubts concerning the present or future standing of Christianity. The activities of the Christian program were never so many or so fruitful. Who so bold as to say that all such Christlike service for humanworks are dead. ity can exist without spiritual vitality? Without faith all these for cause abounding and upliftThere must be found an adequate Faith builds. only constructs never It Doubt destroys. ing agencies. and ventures. it Skepticism builds no schools or hospitals. To secure a hearing, elands on the curbstone or hires a hall. Today the Christian world is seeded down with unnumbered agencies and institutions which are toiling Christ-lik- e for the betterment of mankind. Try to sot a measuring rod to the the the on so bent is healing starving, which feeding today spirit wounded and comforting the bereft whom war has so devilishly injured. Whence came these unselfish helpers of a stricken continent? There is to men. only one explanation : the spirit of Christ has come In former times spirituality too often showed itself in the shouts of the redeemed and the ecstasies of the holy. Today the spiritual steam is no longer turned into the whistle, but into the steam chest. We behold benefid the revolving shaftings and whirling wheels of a works his for him to believe in world very a cence which compels doubting Christ-inspire- bake. Coierr GRowzrjirF&R yrt'JT 6y Robert H.Moulicix An enterprising Indiana farmer followed advice given by the department of Agriculture and planted sandy ifi vetch on dead soil T IS rather unpleasant to see that the world is being invited to face the eold, raw fact of a gradually increasing scarcity of the prime necessaries of life. Agricultural figures just published in Rome by the International Institute of Agriculture show that the process of scrapping the most essential of all our foods, grain, goes on apace. Steadily the arable land of the world shrinks as the area under permanent grass, often a euphemism for land that is derelict, extends Its At the present moment the United frontiers. States is dependent on imported supplies for an appreciable amount of wheat and for different cereals consumed in this country. There is not only a tremendous shortage of wheat in the United States today, but of corn also, ns is testified by tlie price of $1.20 per bushel paid in a number of instances recently for the latter grain. This is about three times as much as the fanner has received for it in normal times. Figures posted by the Chicago board of trade indicate that the visible supply of corn in this country today is less than half what it was a year ago. Of course, the war lias had much to do with the depletion of our stores, and a consequent rise in price. Cut even granting that the demand has been phenomenal, the fact remains' that our farmers are not producing as much corn ns they should. Evidently something is wrong with our system Most farmers understand the of growing corn. Importance of good seed for planting, and the majority of them employ scientific methods of cultivation. The trouble, then, would appear to lie with the soil. Everyone knows that, unintentionally perhaps, most farms In this country have been robbed of much fertility of the soil. In every state there are thousands of farms which formerly produced big crops but are now so woru out that the land will not return enough to pay for the labor of tilling it. Many a farmer says, as he gazes over his broad acres "I remember when I was a boy that field was fine for corn, but now it's only fit Cut if he only knew, that field is for pasture. capable of producing just as much corn as It did in the old days; it is even probable that It could be made to break the records established In its earlier prime. This, at any rate, is wlmt William C. Smith, an Indiana farmer, gays, and Mr. Smith ought to know, for he has performed some seemlaud down Iudiana ing miracles with worn-ou- t : way. Farm journals, agricultural colleges and the United States department of agriculture have been doing a wonderfully good work in telling the tanner how to increase the fertility of his soil, hut Mr. Smith, apparently, has discovered the easiest, simplest and most inexpensive way of all. Almost anyone can tell how to spend a hundred dollars per acre on fertilizer, crushed limestone, etc., and in the end improve the land. Cut it takes a practical, successful farmer like Mr. Smilh to demonstrate how a field never known to have on it a crop of any value" could be made within one year to produce 72 bushels of corn per acre at a cost of $3. HO per acre, aside from labor. The how and why of It all has been put Into a book, How to Grow 100 Bushels of Corn on Worn-Ou- t Soil, which Mr. Smith has dedicated to the American farmer. And he believes that any other farmer who will follow his teachings will he a fairy equally successful. It all sounds like story, but Mr. Smith lias facts to back up nil his statements. Furthermore, he is known nationally for the remarkable experiments he has made. In 1906, Mr. Smith purchased a farm that had Inthe reputation of being one of the poorest in diana. It had been kicked and buffeted about as trading stock. Each owner no sooner got into possession of It when he found he had purchased a gold brick, and never rested until be succeeded In unloading it upon some other victim. It nver seemed to occur to any of Its owners that tlie farm bad simply been bandied by soil robbers and was paying the penalty by withdrawing Its bounof Its ty. Mr. Smith purchased the farm because and uas and location possibilities, cheapness, given tlie laugh for so doing. The enUre farm in Its early history was covtimered with large walnut, poplar, oak and other having been as ber, the timber on tlie sandy land of the farm. The heavy as on the other portion land was a portion of an Indiana reserve, set In 1818 apart by the government to theinIndians 1835, and was and by the Indians sold again cleared more than 60 years ago, and for many been years produced large crops. It had always farmed upon the principle of getting out of it all back Into you can' each year and putting nothing the soil. Under this system of farming tlie soil had become so poor that In the best season It of corn to the acre. produced but 15 to 20 bushels was an entire fail- while In bad seasons the crop ure. Mr. Smith had read in one of the bulletins of the department of agriculture that the value of an acre of Sandy Vetch" plowed under was equiva lent to putting Into the ground $20 or $40 worth of commercial fertilizer, and straightway decided to try It on Ills farm. Accordingly, he ordered enough seed to plant two acres. The seed was planted In August, upon the y -- A, , "It "iV i? v If 'Ll eozvr crop jzftzr cArop gathered, hauled to market, and made by weight 72 bushels to the acre, and brought a money value of $35 per acre. The planter used to plant the corn was set to drop three grains to the hill, and never missed putting three grains in the hill, but too often dropped four grains, which made the corn too U Hu,' 'm' ..... ... t'Z'rcZf izrjfozti, j3isooTf poorest and most rolling two acres of sand land on the farm. 1 grew rnidly, and by winter the ground was so completely covered with its foliage lint washing of the land was entirely prevented. An examination of the roots showed them set thick with nitrogen nodules. Early in the spring, before any other grass or vegetation began to grow, the vetch plants wore pushing out their summer foliage, and by May 1 they were four feet in length. About, the first of June the two acres were cut for hay. Seeing that he had found a valuable plant for the farm, Mr. Smith planted 25 acres to vetch the next year, the sowing being done on the poorest and sandiest laud of the farm. It was decided to seed 21 acres of this land to field com and leave The vetch grew luxuriHie other for pasture. antly. The spring of 1908 was very wet, and it was May 1 before the ground was in condition to break for corn. Delays were such that the 21 acres reserved for corn were not entirely broken until May 25. The vetch had grown to a height of five feet, and the mass of vegetation was so heavy that it was almost impossible to turn under. A half dozen makes of plows were tried with complete failure, when finally success wns obtained with a double disk plow, and tlie field was finished. The prospect did not look inviting, for bunches of vetch showed here and there sticking out of the ground. The field was worked down to fairly good condition for planting by dragging and rolling, and on June 3 and 4 was planted to yellow c I corn. Dire were the predictions made as to the outMany contended that the heavy mass of vegetation would absorb all the moisture from the ground and the corn would die. But Mr. Smith gritted his teeth, held his counsel and awaited results. The corn came up a splendid stand. Dry weather set in, which added no little discomfort The corn grew slowly, and as to the situation. soon as it was sufficiently large the cultivators were set to work, and were worked with a little difficulty on account of bunches of vetch Insufficiently plowed under catching on tlie cultivator points. The neighboring farmers came around, leaned over the fence, and Indulged in sarcastic remarks. . The gist of these remarks was that they had never in all their experience seen so unpromising ,a prospect for corn as this field presented. The weather was dry, and the corn grew five or six Inches, aud made no further growth for more than a week. At the end of this time it seemed to take on new life, and grew with such rapidity that even Mr. Smith was astounded. When the com reached waist height the prophets who had predicted its early demise on account of the great mass of vetch turned under tried another tack: "Wait until it begins to ear, they said, and you will see it fire and wither up.But the corn refused to side with these chronic croakers, and grow up and up until It reached the height of eight to ten foot, silked, tasseled, and bore its ears of golden corn. It was subject to six weeks of dry weather after it bad silked, and yet it had not fired and every hill was bright and green. Across the road a neighbors corn fired clear above the ears of the corn, and did not make more than 20 bushels to the acre. But Mr. Smith's corn finally reached It was its harvesting stage, sound and solid. come. thick, and this condition reduced the yield fully ten bushels or more to the acre. But think of 72 bushels of corn being grown on land that had uot for over 20 years produced more than 20 bushels to the acre, and this feat accomplished in so short a time and with so little expense, as the cost of the vetch seed was but $3.50 au acre. This experiment with vetch made Mr. Smith a vetch enthusiast. The following year he planted ten acres of better and higher land to vetch, and the yield of corn on this land after the vetch was over 90 bushels per acre, the cost of the vetch seed for this field being only $3 per acre. Similar experiments were made with the growing of sweet corn and potatoes on land that had first been planted to vetch, aud the results were equally successful. Vefeh, according to Mr. Smilh, is no resided or of soils. It settles down and makes its home with tlie rich or poor clay as well ns the rich or poor sand, and commences its business of soil restoration at once. It has no terrors of frost or draught. Winter will grasp it with its hand and hold it in its icy clasp for months and months, and when the warm sunshine of spring releases it, it smiles with its freshness of green and continues doing business at tlie old stand. The drought of fall, but spring or summer will Mow its breath upon it, storit heeds it not, and continues its business of coning fertility in the soil as though it were being stantly caressed with refreshing showers. Big Elephant Butte Dam Will Curb the Rio Grande Floods The United States reclamation service has completed by the building of the Elephant Butte dam a reservoir capable of impounding 862,200,000,000 artifigallons of water. That is to say, within an cial lake 45 miles long and with a shore line of 216 miles, water enough will be stored to be spread a foot deep over an area of 4,285 square miles; or. if twice that depth, It would cover the state of Delaware. The purpose of this water Is to irrigate 1S5.000 acres in four valleys lying below the storage basin In New Mexico and Texas. While the dam Itself is not so high as others in the United States for a kindred service, still the massiveness of the structure aud the capacity of the reservoir make the project not only the biggest thing of its kind in the United States but the most ambitious in the world. Tlie famous Assuan s as much dam in Egypt impounds only water and cost $14,000,000 more than the Elephant Butte structure, or $19,000,000. Elephant butte Is In New Mexico, about twelve miles west of Engle, and in order to carry materials to the dam site it was necessary to build a branch railway nearly thirteen miles long tapping the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe line. The government constructed this road and operated something like a fourth of it, and in this way saved $130,000 in freight charges alone. The dam is built of great rocks buried in a mass of concrete and blocks a canyon on the Rio Grande. From the lowermost point of the parapet wall the dam rises 318 feet, and nearly n third of this Is below the river bed. At Its top the structure has a length of 1,674 feet and on It runs a fine roadway 16 feet wide. The dam is 225 feet thick at its base and the entire mass, which called for 610,000 cubic yards of material, represents a dead weight of 1,000,000 tons. This strength and Inertia are needed to halt the onrush of the erratic and the torrential Rio Grande and to hold the accumulated waters so that they may be supplied slowly and safely to the widespread norej reaching for 171 miles. Work was begun in 1911, and half of the succeeding six years was taken up in preliminary operations before the great bulwark could he reared. This preparatory work called for the construction of a great sluice to divert thp rivers finw and enormous bulkheads or subsidiary dams above and below the permanent dam. The cllnnile Is an equable one in the region opened to the farmer, and the soil is nhumlantly productive when properly watered. A practical husbandman with $5,000 working capital has a splendid chance. |
