264 



FIELD, CYRUS WEST. 



legislation were passed, and ordered to be sent 

 to the President of the Senate and the Speaker 

 of the House : 



Whereas, It is manifest that there are such imper- 

 fections in the national statutes creating the Inter- 

 state Commerce Commission and defining the duties 

 thereof as to render the commission ineffective in com- 

 passing the ends for which it was created, therefore, 



Resolved, That this National Farmers' Congress in- 

 struct its national board of" agriculture, or five of its 

 members, to confer with the Congress of the United 

 States as to the necessity and manner of so amending 

 the interstate commerce law as to remove all ob- 

 struction to its full administration, and to enlarge the 

 powers and jurisdiction of the commission so far as 

 the equitable demands of transportation may from 

 time to time require ; and that the commission raised 

 by this Farmers' Congress shall confer with the ap- 

 proaching session of the United States Congress and 

 report to the next annual meeting of this body. 



Whereas, The universities and experiments in the 

 interest of agriculture conducted by the national De- 

 partment of Agriculture have demonstrated their very 

 great value to the country ; and Whereas, The effi- 

 ciency of trained specialists is enhanced by continuity 

 of service, therefore, 



Resolved, That the National Farmers' Congress, in 

 council assembled, respectfully urges the importance 

 of maintaining the scientific work of this department 

 on a purely nonpartisan basis, to the end that the 

 benefits which science may render to the agriculture 

 of this country may be fully realized. 



Whereas, There have been made by the Government 

 surveys and estimates of numerous reservoir sites, 

 many" of which are feasible and not expensive, there- 

 fore.' 



Resolved, That we request Congress to make suffi- 

 cient appropriations to build such reservoirs as will 

 hold back the flood waters, which can be used in 

 time of low waters for irrigation and reclaim hun- 

 dreds of thousands of acres of arid lands, and enable 

 thousands of settlers to make homes on land that is 

 now a desert. 



Resolved, That we respectfully call the attention of 

 the Congress of the United States to the great im- 

 portance of a deep water way connecting the Atlantic 

 Ocean with the lakes of the Northwest, and, if found 

 practicable, so to shape its legislation as to bring 

 about its early consummation. 



Resolved, That the National Farmers' Congress re- 

 spectfully recommend to the Congress of the United 

 States the present and pressing importance of liberal 

 appropriations for the improvement of the navigable 

 water ways and harbors, as a necessary means of less- 

 ening the cost of transportation. 



Resolved, That we ask, upon the reassembling of 

 the Congress of the United States, that they will re- 

 consider their decision on the closing of the World's 

 Fair on Sundays, and thereby meet the approbation 

 of a large majority of their constituency. 



FIELD, CYRUS WEST, financier, born in 

 Stockbridge, Mass., Nov. 30, 1819 ; died in New 

 York city, July 12, 1892. He was educated in 

 his native town, and when fifteen years old en- 

 tered the employ of A. T. Stewart, the merchant, 

 in New York. At twenty-one years of age he 

 began, on his own account, the manufacture and 

 sale of paper, and in a few years became the 

 head of so prosperous a business house that he 

 was able partially to retire from active care only 

 fifteen years after its establishment, in 1840. He 

 then spent six months in travel in South Ameri- 

 ca. Mr. Field's brother, Matthew D. Field, was 

 a civil engineer. In 1 854, having built railroads 

 and suspension bridges at the South and West, he 

 was visiting New York, when he met Frederick 

 Gisborne, who was there to interest scientists and 



capitalists in his scheme for building a telegraph 

 across Newfoundland, to be connected with a line 

 of fast steamships that should touch there, and 

 thus should " convey intelligence between Eng- 

 land and America 'in six days or less." Mr. 

 Field heard the project of Mr. Gisborne with so 

 much interest that he promised to bring it to the 

 attention of his brother Cyrus, and this he did ; 

 but Cyrus said he had laid aside responsibilities, 

 had enough money for ease and enjoyment, and 



CYRUS WEST FIELD. 



was disinclined to enter upon any scheme so 

 vague and uncertain. Nevertheless, the enthusi- 

 asm of his brother prevailed, and he gave audi- 

 ence to Mr. Gisborne in his home on Gramercy 

 Park. After the guest was gone, Mr. Field pon- 

 dered the subject, and walking to the globe in 

 his library, turned it to the island and the ocean 

 that were in his thought, and said to himself, 

 " If that telegraph could span the Atlantic, it 

 would be worth while to undertake its construc- 

 tion." The idea was new to him, although 

 Morse and others had conceived it years before. 

 This was its practical beginning. The more Mr. 

 Field dwelt upon the suggestion, the more his 

 imagination was taken captive. He saw that 

 two questions must be answered before the first 

 step could be taken. The first was put by him 

 immediately to Lieut. Maury, of the United 

 States navy, " Can a cable be stretched across 

 the ocean ? " The second he as promptly sent to 

 S. F. B. Morse, " If a cable could be laid across 

 the Atlantic Ocean, would it be good for any- 

 thing?" Lieut. Maury wrote: "Singularly 

 enough, just as I received your letter, I was 

 closing one on the same subject to the Secretary 

 of the Navy." That letter he inclosed. It runs 

 in part : " The United Slates brig ' Dolphin,' 

 Lieutenant-Commanding O. H. Berryman, was 

 employed last summer upon especial service con- 

 nected with the researches that are carried on at 

 this office concerning the winds and currents of 

 the sea. Her observations were confined prin- 

 cipally to that part of the ocean which the mer- 

 chantmen, as they pass to and fro upon the busi- 

 ness of trade between Europe and the United 

 States, use as their great thoroughfare. Lieut. 

 Berryman availed himself of this opportunity to 

 carry along also a line of deep-sea soundings 

 from the shores of Newfoundland to those of 

 Ireland. The result is highly interesting, in so 

 far as the bottom of the sea is concerned, upon 

 the question of a submarine telegraph across 

 the Atlantic ; and I beg leave to make it the 

 subject of a special report. . . . The distance 

 between the nearest points is -about 1,600 miles, 



