212 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Bordeaux Mixture to arrest the progress of blight, is 

 absolutely necessary to success in potato culture. Ordi- 

 narily less difficulty is experienced in coping with bugs 

 than with blight. In combating them, it is really the 

 larvae we have to contend with. The parent bugs pass 

 the winter underground, emerging about the period of 

 early potato growth. The eggs, which are orange in 

 color, may be found deposited on the under side of the 

 tender leaves, in groups varying from four or five to 

 fifteen or twenty in number. In five or six days, ac- 

 cording to^ the temperature, the young larvae appear, 

 and, being voracious feeders ,rapidly consume the plant 

 foliage, unless the necessary precautions are taken. 

 [Concluded in June issue.] 





Reclamation Service 



Pleasing to Service. 



There was jubilation in the Reclamation Service re- 

 cently when the secretary announced after personal investiga- 

 tion of the charges of graft in Idaho that they were entirely 

 without foundation, and further that the two principal engi- 

 neers involved deserved recognition for efficient and faithful 

 services rendered in safeguarding the interests of the Gov- 

 ernment. 



Director Newell, in reply to questions, stated that he was 

 particularly pleased at the outcome of the investigation, as 

 it strengthened his hope and belief that the Service is not 

 only a strong organization, but is composed of men upon 

 whose integrity he can rely. 



"The publication in several newspaper of vague charges 

 affecting the integrity of engineers in Idaho was naturally 

 a source of deep chagrin," said Mr. Newell. "While at no 

 time has there existed in my mind the slightest doubt as 

 to absolute honesty of the engineers against whom charges 

 of graft were leveled, the complete exoneration by Secretary 

 Garfield of every member of the Service in Idaho is very 

 gratifying. 



"We have understood perfectly that the charges were 

 attributable to parties financially interested in discrediting 

 the engineers. The recent attacks were made in the en- 

 deavor to intimidate the engineers and to coerce them into 

 taking a less positive position in protecting the Government's 

 interests. These men have boasted that they could bring suf- 

 ficient influence to compel the removal of engineers who 

 stood between them and the payment of doubtful claims 

 against the Government. 



"While proof is lacking of the existence of an actual 

 conspiracy to injure these engineers, all the elements of col- 

 lusion in this regard are found in the statements which 

 have been made in unison by a number of men. Taken 

 singly none of these statements would be considered as 

 worthy of much consideration, but when combined they had 

 an appearance of plausibility. 



"Careful analysis of the papers on file in the department 

 show that this collusion probably stopped just short of 

 being within the reach of the law on the score of libel. 

 The communications are of a character which, while un- 

 doubtedly libelous in the ordinary use of the word, may 

 not be quite covered by the law, so that the engineers and 

 others who have been the subject of attack may be unable 

 to obtain legal redress. Public opinion, however, in the 

 long run will render full justice to the men who have been 

 so unjustly accused. 



"Some of the yellow journals have taken the oppor- 

 tunity afforded by the attack to intimate that the entire 

 Service was involved. The papers on file do not contain 

 any basis for such broad charges, and I am convinced that 

 the Reclamation Service as a whole stands on the highest 

 plane of personal integrity and devotion to the public in- 

 terest." 



Interview With Arthur P. Davis, Chief Engineer, United 

 States Reclamation Service. 



I am exceedingly glad but in no way surprised at the 

 decisive vindication Mr. Ross and Mr. Horn have received 

 at the hands of the Secretary of the Interior after very 

 fully and carefully considering the facts in the case. 



No one who is well acquainted with Mr. Ross has ever 

 doubted for a moment that falsity of the charges of dishon- 

 esty, nor that he would be promptly and triumphantly exon- 

 erated. Mr. Ross was for several years state engineer of 

 Idaho and in this capacity it became his duty to protect 

 the interests of the State in many ways, a duty which he 

 never shirked for an instant regardless of its consequences 

 to himself. 



In this way and in similar defense of the interests of 

 the Reclamation Service, Mr. Ross has made many enemies, 

 some of whom are quite influential so that one knowing the 

 history of past struggles is not surprised that occasionally 

 attacks are made upon him as they are bound to be upon 

 every public servant who is aggressively faithful to his trusts. 



A stranger going into the state and happening to fall 

 in with a number of disappointed victims of Mr. Ross' 

 fidelity might readily get the impression that he was an easy 

 mark for any one interested in discrediting him. His record, 

 however, is so well known both in Boise and in Washington 

 that it does not take long to fathom the motives behind 

 these attacks and to vindicate his fidelity to duty. 



That charges of dishonesty were at the same time and 

 by the same people made against Mr. Horn simply added 

 to the absurdity of the whole affair in the minds of those 

 knowing Mr. Horn, for his record for probity and fidelity 

 is as long and as clean as that of Mr. Ross, although he 

 has not been thrown in a position of making as many 

 enemies. 



All honest men who knows the facts are delighted with 

 the outcome of the investigation and with the prompt and 

 decisive action taken by the Secretary of the Interior. 



By a simple stroke of the pen Secretary Garfield has 

 effected an annual saving of several thousand dollars in the 

 Interior Department. He has signed a formal order which 

 makes it no longer necessary for the employes of the de- 

 partment to have their signatures to traveling expense ac- 

 counts acknowledged before a notary or other official em- 

 powered to administer oaths. 



The jurat fees of the employes alone amount to several 

 thousand dollars each year, and the inconvenience and loss 

 of time entailed upon them probably costs the Government 

 as much more. 



The order is in line with the new policy of the depart- 

 ment for economy and efficiency in administration, and 

 eliminates a form of red tape which the secretary regards 

 as unnecessary, although sanctioned by long observance in 

 the past. 



The interests of the government will not be jeopardized 

 as the penalties of the federal statutes of fine and imprison- 

 ment for presenting a false account will be equally applicable 

 to the new method. 



The secretary's action is particularly gratifying to the 

 departmental officials, as it places them in the "on honor 

 class" which heretofore included only the officials of the 

 army and navy. It is exceedingly probable that this order 

 will be followed by similar action in other departments, 

 and will result in the saving of tens of thousands of dollars 

 annually to the Government. 



Secretary of State Robert Lansdon has transmitted to 

 the Secretary of the Interior a joint memorial of the State 

 Legislature of Idaho, urging that a pumping system be 

 installed on the Minidoka project for the irrigation of a large 

 area of land on the south side of Snake River. 



In acknowledging the memorial Secretary Garfield stated 

 that it is the purpose of the Reclamation Service to inaugu- 

 rate a pumping system, but it is not practicable at this time 

 to fix a date for beginning the work. 



This season 65,000 acres on the north side will be sup- 

 plied with water by means of a gravity system which has 

 just been completed. The project is therefore on trial, and 

 it is not deemed advisable to extend the work of construc- 

 tion or to largely increase the expenditures of the reclama- 

 tion fund on this project until the success of the first unit 

 is fully demonstrated. 



