FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART VI. 441 



drainage have no outlet, and that over 25 per cent of them would be 

 benefited by a drainage ditch of some kind. 



"Tiiese figures have been secured primarily to bring the attention of 

 the farmers and legislators to our pressing need for the revision of our 

 drainage laws as a preparation for more adequate drainage. This data* 

 came from the people of Iowa, from the farmers, from the land owners. 

 It is presented simply to bring before the people of this State these facts 

 as they really exist. We could undoubtedly offer you some other rea- 

 sons why we should have drainage, we could name the many benefits 

 which adequate drainage brings to the land, but the one thought that 

 I wish to leave with you this evening is that drainage is a good finan- 

 cial proposition; that it will pay you a handsome income for every dol- 

 lar which you expend for this improvement. Drainage in this State is 

 a good paying proposition. It is not an experiment. We can go to Illi- 

 nois and we find some of those low, level countries which were a few 

 years ago almost or wholly unproductive. 



"A man in that State told me that a piece of wet land which only 

 brought him a small return a decade ago, was made very pr'oductive 

 after a ditch had been put through. Champaign county, Illinois, was 

 low and flat, and today it is one of the greatest corn counties in the 

 United States. It was drained and the ditches were opened, and pros- 

 Ijerity has come to the people of! that county, and it will come to us if 

 the land owners of Iowa will! take up this work of drainage as energet- 

 ically as did these people in a neighboring State. I will ask you to give 

 thought to this point of financial prosperity; take these thoughts home 

 with you: present them to your neighbors for their careful considera- 

 tion; and labor with your legislators for a just, comprehensive and con- 

 stitutional drainage law w^hich will give us adequate drainage." 



GENER.\L DISCUSSION. 



At the suggestion of the chairman, a general discussion of the ques- 

 tion of drainage was taken up. The chairman called on Senator Brooks, 

 who said: "This is a great place for farmers to be; as I speak tomorrow 

 morning, I will not scatter my audience by speaking now. I feel this 

 is a most important question and that we should weigh it carefully." 



At this point Lawyer Hammill was asked the following question: 

 There are two quarter sections of land. Quarter section A receives the 

 surface water of quarter section B and there are no ditches. Has the 

 owner of quarter section B the right to tile drain his land and pour the 

 result of his tile drain, without the consent of his neighbor, upon his 

 farm? Lawyer Hammill answered, "No, according to the present law 

 he can not tile drain without the consent of his neighbor." 'Then," 

 said the questioner, "'the progressive farmer of quarter section A has the 

 power to 'bottle up' the progressive farmer on quarter section B." 



Mr. Inman, of Wright county, said: "I am happy indeed to find this 

 audience here tonight. I am happy in the thought that this drainage 

 question has begun to stir the people of the State of Iowa. The thought 

 that is raised when one considers drainage conditions is one that is in- 

 tolerable This unprogressive farmer at the lower end of a fertile slooe 



