SCIENCE 



FRIDAY, MAY i8, il 



There is now pending before Congress a proposition to enable 

 the United States Geological Survey to carry on the agricultural 

 work provided for by law. This movement was brought formally 

 forward by the California State Grange in October, 1887. It is 

 hardly necessary to dwell upon the desirability of collecting data as 

 to the agricultural value of land. Work of this kind has been done 

 in the States east of the Mississippi by State surveys and other in- 

 stitutions, but west of it Powell's report on the arid lands is almost 

 the sole attempt. The work falls properly under the scope of a 

 geological survey, as in this case it requires only little additional 

 work to the topographical and geological surveys that are continu- 

 ously going on, while under any other department it would require 

 the organization of a new survey, and involve great e.xpense. How 

 much good work can be done by geologists in this line, is shown by 

 the work of a number of State surveys, and outside the United 

 States by the survey of Newfoundland, which carries on also the 

 work of the land-office, and by several reports by members of the 

 Canadian Geological Survey, who, in the maps showing the results 

 of their reconnaissances, embody much that is of the greatest value 

 to the farmer. As a matter of fact, the surveyors of the land-office 

 in the United States as well as in Canada report in a general way 

 •on the character of the country, but general statements of this kind 

 are not what is wanted. Information on the character of the land 

 ■ought to be as definite as possible. If the lands were properly 

 •classified as to their agricultural, pastoral, and industrial value, the 

 new settler would find at once the place suitable to his demands, 

 the farmer would know how he can best develop the resources of 

 his land, and great profit would thus accrue to the country in gen- 

 eral. We print in another place an article by Professor Hilgard 

 which shows the close relation between geological and agricultural 

 conditions, and thus proves that the agricultural survey is properly 

 a subdivision of the Geological Survey. 



The international copyright bill prepared by Senator 

 Chace has been passed by the United States Senate, and it is un- 

 derstood that the leaders of the House of Representatives intend to 

 give it a chance in that body before the close of the present session. 

 This is good news to American authors, publishers, and to all classes 

 •of mechanics engaged directly or indirectly in the manufacture of 

 books. A few English authors and some English mechanics are 

 greatly excited over what is known as the ' manufacturing clause ' 

 of the bill, which requires that foreign books copyrighted in this 

 country shall be immediately published here, and printed from type 

 set up here; and the English printers have appointed a committee 

 •to secure the amendment of the bill if possible. The authors who 

 have been loudest in their protests have been those, so says a cable- 

 despatch to the Philadelphia Press, who have never had one of their 

 books republished in this country, either with or without their con- 

 sent ; those whose works are popular enough to find a market in 

 the United States being willing to submit to the extra tax which a 

 separate edition for America subjects them to, in consideration of 

 great advantages which the bill will confer upon them in enabling 

 them to prevent pirating of their works in this country, and placing 

 them in position to make terms with American publishers. The 

 English printers and other mechanics fear, that, if the Chace bill 

 becomes a law, many books copyrighted oa both sides of the At- 



lantic will be printed from plates made in America, and that their 

 business will therefore be injured. It is only necessary to say, that, 

 without the 'manufacturing clause,' no international copyright bill 

 would be likely to be passed by the American Congress in the next 

 ten years. Without it, the Chace bill would not even have been 

 considered during the present session. We hope the time will soon 

 come when the people of both countries will see their interest in 

 unconditional copyright in both for the literary productions of the 

 citizens of either, and the freest competition in the manufacture of 

 books that are read on both sides of the Atlantic. Then authors 

 will be allowed to have their books printed in London, or New 

 York, or Chicago, as may be most convenient or advantageous, 

 and readers will know that they are not paying unnecessarily high 

 prices for their reading-matter. 



The success of the ' land in severalty ' law as an agency for 

 the civilization of the Indians depends upon many conditions, some 

 of which are Uttle understood by legislators, or even by the officials 

 of the Indian service. " Cannot the government protect a man 

 from lazy Indians who eat up his crops ? " asked an intelligent 

 member of a South-western tribe of a white man whose acquaint- 

 ance he had made. A little questioning disclosed the fact that this 

 Indian had planted ground and raised some corn. About the time 

 the crop was ready to gather, his wife's brother arrived for a visit, 

 and brought his whole family, and showed no inclination to go 

 away as long as the corn lasted. His white friend asked him why 

 he did not turn them away, but he said he could not. And this 

 was a result of a state of society over which no individual Indian 

 has control, but which is appreciated by very few white men. An 

 Indian is just as much bound to share his provisions with his rela- 

 tives or the members of his clan, if they desire it, as to furnish food 

 for his children. This man saw the injustice of this, but knew no 

 way to escape it without the help of the government. There are 

 ' lazy Indians ' in every tribe, and the industrious ones are certain 

 to have as many visitors as they can accommodate, and the over- 

 flow will camp in the front yard. How many white farmers trying 

 to get a start in life, even if the land was given to them, would suc- 

 ceed under such circumstances ? Another obstacle to the success 

 of the ' land in severalty ' experiment is the natural indolence of the 

 Indians, — an indolence that is hereditary, and the necessary result 

 of the kind of life which the present generation and their ancestors 

 have led. " The white man gets up and goes to work before it is 

 light, but an Indian never wakes up until he is hungry," said a 

 native of the Indian Territory twenty years ago ; and the policy 

 that does not recognize this fact, and seek to overcome the indolent 

 habits rather than to destroy them by force or by placing the In- 

 dian in unequal competition with white men, is unscientific, and 

 will certainly fail. The only hope that good will come of the sev- 

 eralty law, therefore, is in the execution of it with discretion, and 

 in postponing the settlement of Indians upon lands of their own 

 until they are prepared for it. It may be necessary, also, to protect 

 industrious Indians from impositions by all of their own and their 

 wives' relations. 



The select COMjMITTEE of the Senate of the Dominion of Can- 

 ada, appointed to inquire into the value of the country north of the 

 Saskatchewan watershed, has presented a report which is founded 

 on a vast amount of new and valuable information. The inquiry 

 shows that much of this region, which was considered a few years 



