THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



199 



man has been unkindly and unfairly criticized by in- 

 dividuals high in power is admitted by everyone who 

 knows the man and his work. To our mind, no single indi- 

 vidual has done more toward the clean development 

 of the West than E. H. Harriman, all statements from 

 those in high or low positions to the contrary not- 

 withstanding. 



It is moreover well known by those who closely 

 study the conditions and development of the west that 

 the antagonism shown toward Mr. Harriman and his 

 work has led to a slower development in recent times. 

 It could not be expected that he or his associates would 

 expend large sums of money in building branch lines 

 into remote sections of the west without a clear knowl- 

 edge of the unqualified support of individuals high 

 in federal or commercial positions. It is hoped that 

 affairs may so shape themselves before Mr. Harri- 

 man's retirement that he may be able to carry out 

 plans which -were, no doubt made a year or more ago 

 to more fully develop remote sections of the West 

 where there is a growing need of better transportation 

 facilities. 



In a recent interview Mr. Harriman stated as 

 follows : 



"I believe that things will right themselves when 

 people have had a chance to understand the situation, 

 provided we eliminate the self seeker. What we have 

 got to have in political and business life is the man who 

 is willing to work for others and does not undertake 

 to move the men on the chess board solely with a view 

 to what he thinks to be his own interest. If you ask me 

 when I think the equilibrium will be reached and con- 

 fidence restored, I say, frankly, that I do not know." 



Thousand 

 Miles. 



An Australian corporation has just re- 

 ceived a concession from the Eussian Gov- 

 ernment to take out thirty million feet 

 of timber a year from a forest in Siberia, 

 nine hundred miles from Vladivostok, to 

 be delivered in Melbourne, Australia, ap- 

 proximately eight thousand miles away, and nearly 

 three times the distance from New York to San Fran- 

 cisco. 



It is likely that no lumbering operation of re- 

 cent years more strongly illustrates the pinch in the 

 timber supply in all parts of the world. In the news 

 of the concession, told in an American lumber journal, 

 is the suggestion of the difficulty that all countries 

 may have to encounter in getting the wood which they 

 need in the future. Every year timber cruisers are 

 going further and further afield and cutting trees 

 which, in former times of abundance, they passed be- 

 cause of the inaccessibility of the forest. 



In taking out the Siberian timber the Melbourne 

 lumbermen will have to ship the entire year's cut 

 in July, August, September and October, for during 



the remainder of the year there is no open water at 

 the point of shipment. What makes this unusual 

 feature of transporting bulky logs 8,000 miles quite 

 feasible is that such unmanufactured stock is ad- 

 mitted free, while there is a heavy duty on all manu- 

 factured wood brought into Australia, the duty on 

 lumber, for instance, being nearly $5.00 a thousand 

 board feet. At Melbourne, a new mill is being erected 

 to manufacture these logs into dressed stock, such as 

 flooring, ceiling and other products, as well as into 

 lumber. 



These Siberian operations differ from the lumber- 

 ing methods in the United States, in that in this 

 country it is possible and customary to have new mills 

 conveniently near the place of production, though, with 

 the continually decreasing supply, the larger mills often 

 find it profitable to haul their timber by trams and 

 railroads many miles away from their saws. Forest 

 experts in this country say that the hope of the United 

 States for a steady supply of timber lies in the appli- 

 cation of forestry to all timber lands, private and 

 public, and the careful study of the economical and 

 better utilization of product. Even so, a severe short- 

 age in twenty to twenty-five years must be expected. 



A SUBSCRIBER FOR TWENTY YEARS. 



LAREDO, TEXAS, April 25, 1908. 

 IRRIGATION AGE COMPANY, Chicago : 



Dear Sirs Enclosed please find postoffice order for $1 to 

 renew my subscription for another year to your valuable 

 magazine. I believe this is my twentieth year. 



ALLAN MACDONELL. 



If the proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof, Mr. 

 Macdonell should be qualified to testify to the interest and 

 value of THE IRRIGATION AGE. Its publishers are gratified at 

 having been of service to an individual subscriber for so many 

 years, and hope that Mr. Macdonell will live long and pros- 

 per, and perhaps round out another score of years as a sub- 

 scriber to THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



IOWA DRAINAGE REPORT 



The report of the 1908 annual meeting of the Iowa State 

 Drainage Association has just been issued by Prof. W. H. 

 Stevenson, Ames, Iowa, secretary of the association. 



Many papers and addresses of great 'nterest and value 

 are contained in the report. The following subjects con- 

 stitute about one-half of the full report: "Dredge Ditches' ; 

 "Some Unsolved Problems in Drainage Engineering"; 'The 

 Manufacture and Use of Cement Tile"; "Some Legal Phases 

 of the Drainage Problem"; "Road Drainage," and The 

 Duties of the Board of Supervisors as a Drainage Commis- 



The report is a handsomely illustrated pamphlet of over 

 100 pages and will be sent to any address for 25 cents. 



An American consular officer in the Far East reports that 

 an inquiry has been received at his office for circulars and 

 catalogues on the subject of methods, machinery, etc., for 

 irrigation, dredging, and canal-cutting purposes. A commis- 

 sion which has been working for some time to improve the 

 depth and general availability for shipping purposes of a river 

 in that region, now proposes to buy its own machinery for 

 the continuance of the work. Manufacturers of machinery 

 will be given the name and address on application to Bureau 

 of Manufactures, Washington, D. C., referring to File No. 

 2213. 



