THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



23 



about the selection and operation of different kinds of 

 farm motors and other farm machinery. In the ab- 

 sence of any special arrangement for dealing with these 

 problems, they have been referred to the Office of Ex- 

 periment Stations and dealt with by the irrigation and 

 drainage division of that office ; but there are at present 

 no funds which can be utilized for systematic work 

 along these lines. I am of the opinion that results of 

 great value, alike to the farmers and the manufacturers 

 of agricultural machinery, will come from the extension 

 of the department's work in agricultural engineering 

 to include studies of this character, in cooperation with 

 the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. I 

 have, therefore, asked Congress for an appropriation 

 which will enable us to employ an expert in farm build- 

 ings and farm machinery, in connection with the irri- 

 gation and drainage investigations. 



The inauguration of this work on July 1st and the 

 selection of Professor Zintheo to carry out these inves- 

 tigations, is, I feel confident, destined to mark a most 

 useful and important extension of the work of our 

 national agricultural department. 



Professor Zintheo will explain some of the work 

 he has begun and what we hope to do. This is a new 

 field and our plans' must depend on the funds provided 

 by Congress and on the clearer understanding which 

 further experience will give. It is on this account an 

 appreciated privilege to submit our views and plans 

 to this association and solicit your suggestions and 

 criticism. 



Supplementing what Professor Zintheo says, there 

 seems to be a few general lines of work in which the 

 Department of Agriculture can be of great practical 

 benefit to both farmer and manufacturer. One is in 

 the conducting of investigations and the publishing of 

 bulletins regarding mechanical principles involved in 

 the construction and use of farm machinery. This 

 work will contribute to the efficiency of instruction 

 in agricultural colleges and affect both the present and 

 future generations of farmers. Another line of work 

 is original investigation of the adaptation of new forms 

 of power' to farm work and their value as compared 

 to animals. The studies of wind and alcohol outlined 

 by Professor Zintheo are examples, of which many oth- 

 ers might be given. The collection and publication of 

 information by the Department regarding improvements 

 in the design of machinery, or of new devices used in 

 agriculture, would have great practical value. Such 

 work ought not to be restricted to machinery made 

 in this country, but should keep track of progress in 

 all parts of the world. The German and French gov- 

 ernments have done much in this direction, and its 

 influence is shown in the improvement in design of their 

 machines and implements, some of which are begin- 

 ning to rival or surpass our own. The farm machinery 

 museum connected with the agricultural high school of 

 Berlin, and the laboratory maintained by France in 

 Paris for testing the principles of farm machinery and 

 their adaptation to the work of the different French 

 provinces, have done much for the farmer at home and 

 to extend trade of manufacturers abroad. The estab- 

 lishment of such a museum or laboratory in Washing- 

 ton and the gathering there of the leading types of 

 farm machinery made by different countries; would be 

 an educational agency worth far more than its cost. 



THE RAILROADS AND IRRIGATION. 



Under the heading', "The Railroads and Irrigation," 

 the Omaha Bee of recent date has the following to say : 



While it has been an open secret for some time that 

 the commissary department of the irrigation propaganda 

 that culminated in the national irrigation law of three 

 years ago was supported by a combination of transcon- 

 tinental railroads, we believe that the details of the 

 arrangement were for the first time made public under 

 official authority in a letter directed by James J. Hill 

 to the irrigation congress in session at Portland last 

 week. In this letter the great railway magnate lays 

 claim for the railroads to the credit of inaugurating the 

 irrigation campaign and explains that "at first three and 

 a little later five of the great railroad systems of the 

 west united and furnished each $5,000 a year as a 

 working fund to make the necessary inquiries and to 

 spread the facts abroad." 



Had it been known when the Maxwell promotion 

 bureau was enlisting support of western commercial 

 bodies that the agitation behind this beneficent project 

 came simply from an aggregation of paid lobbyists, 

 absorbing $25,000 to $30,000 a year as compensation 

 and incidentals in their work, the response would hardly 

 have been so prompt and so vigorous. That does not 

 detract from the fact, however, that the underlying 

 principle that the national government should assist 

 by congressional appropriation in the reclamation of 

 our semi-arid lands is none the less founded in wisdom 

 and justice, nor will any one object to the railroads 

 sharing in the returns sure to accrue from the enter- 

 prise. But while accrediting the railroad magnates with 

 foresight and shrewdness it is a little too much for them 

 to pose, as Mr. Hill would have it, as disinterested phil- 

 anthropists when it is known that the inspiring motive 

 on their side was not only the prospective increase in 

 traffic coming from the settlement of the uninhabited 

 parts of the public domain, but also the more direct 

 and immediate creation of a market for unsalable lands 

 still remaining in their possession out of their early 

 land grants. With the railroads owning alternate sec- 

 tions it would be impossible for the government to 

 reclaim any considerable part of the public domain 

 without at the same time bringing, the railroad holdings 

 within the reclamation area and it is a safe guess that 

 the railroads have already gotten back the money they 

 spent for promotion. 



In this one thing, however, namely, the occupation 

 of the vacant tracts of the western states by self-sup- 

 porting bona fide settlers, the interest of the railroads 

 and of the general public are identical, and in the 

 execution of pending irrigation projects and the perfec- 

 tion of the irrigation law to the end of safeguarding 

 reclaimed land against misappropriation by land grab- 

 bers both can work together. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 1 year $1.00 



THE PRIMER OF IRRIGATION, a finely illustrated 



300-page book 2.00 



II both are ordered send .... 2.50 



Address, IRRIGATION AGE. 



112 Dearborn Street, Chica-go. 



