The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-26
Secretary Wilson Tells what Has
Been Accomplished and 4. Be-
ing Attempted.
SCARCITY OF TRAINED MEN
OPPORTUNITIES OPEN To BRIGHT
AND AMBITIOUS YOUTHS.
Much Money In spent, but the End
Justines the Outlay, Since All
i Are Benefited.


snedt to the masses of the people than
nother IL Is the one over which have
e honor to preside" said Hon. James
iison. secretary of agriculture, TO your
5rrespondent to-day, "and yet we have to
Rain practically nearly every expert and
Dkcientiet connected with the vast organiza-
tion- There are schools or colleges
anywhere which have either the equip
ment or the teachers to give such training,
and while that lack exists the department
will have to continue to provide for itself.
II has now In it's employ 700 young men.
with. good fundamental educations behind
them. who ara there chiefly to learn to do
the work. and when they have been trained
the demand for their services in foreign
countries and in the commercial world is
30 great that the department can hope to
keep only a small proportion Of them.
THE farmers. the creators of wealth.
the conservative class in the country, which
works all day In the sunlight and which
reinforees all other classes when they wear
out. needs more education and we are try
ing to give tt We are determining the in
f1uence OF heat and moisture as applied to
plant life, of winds and its course, OF evap-
grafton and its effects. In our bureau of
meteorology we are reducing these matters
TO science quickly as can be done.
and though we have expended millions the
husbandmen and seamen get benefits which
justify the expense. The parabolic paths of
the. hurricane, the tracks of the north
winds. are being figured as certainties
20 the great saving of crops, and ships now
know what weather they will have for
several days OF their passage. This impor-
fant subject whose usefulness everybody
knows, was not until within the last few
years studied in any OF our colleges. Now,
believe. thirteen have taken it up. For
eign nations are sending here for meteor
oIogists: the English government recently
asked me for one to take charge of its work
IN British India
I'VE sell annually a quarter of billion
dollars worth of animals abroad, besides
supplying own markets. We must see
to it that all these animals have a clean
bill Of health, and last year our department
Inspected 3s.4es.eo0 carcasses that were
1eavi,s the country. Then there is the
further problem of keeping our live ami
nnais. of which thirty-five million of dol
lars worth are sold abroad each year, clean
and healthy.
IMPROVING ANIMALS.
AS nation. however. we have never
made study of animals. We have devel-
oped a track horse and lard pig. but little
more. Our Bureau of Animal Industry is
now studying feeding problems at our ex-
pertinent stations and doing it's best to keep
sway every disease. We have imported
animals examined by experts on the other
side. and out of abundant caution hold
them In quarantine on this side, but even
these precautions have not been enough
to- keep the hoof and mouth disease from
Massachusetts. II took England, because
there they temporized with it, and hid it,
more than fifty years to stamp this plague
ont. but when they finally adopted the dras-
tic measures which we are using here they
rid themselves Of II. II the people of Mass
achusetts now. through their agents, will
ind where the disease exists we will stamp
It out. pay for the animals and raise the
dvsrsntins as soon as possible. The depart
uent has paid a quarter of million in an
effort to .extermoinate IL already. but while
diseased herds keep cropping out here and
there we must keep up the quarantine.
Another matter connected with animals
TO which we are giving attention is that OF
dairy products. This country Is engaged in
= large business of shipping grain abroad.
Denmark, for instance. takes most Of her
grain from the United States and sends $685.
10000 worth of dairy products annually
itosthe British markets in competition with
us. Here Is, chance Tor the United States,
for II doesn't cost much to ship grain to
New England as 1t does to Denmark and
our dairies ought to be able to enter the
market successfully. Still another thing
IN regard to our grain exports. Corn is the
second crop of Importance in the United
States and we send it extensively abroad
when there is a. surplus. 1t is used in
making starch. etc., but not on the tables
of the common people 1t has not the ele-
ments of a good cereal for working men:
s. will fatten but not produce muscle. We
are 'endeavoring by cross-fertilizing TO
make a corn that will furnish a more bal
snced ration and compete with other cereals
as food stuff.
NEW WHEAT AND RICE.
In this country we have long lacked a
good macaroni wheat. Our department has
found ar the headwaters of the volga a
wheat which grows in ten inches of rain
fall and is perfect for macaroni. OF this,
two million bushels were grown last year
and We shall soon have all we need. We
have turned our attention to cotton. too
Not long ago the Sea Island variety was
threatened with determination through a
root disease BY cross-breeding every kind
of cotton We finally found one that would
grow there. 1t took four years to do IT.
but now they have a cotton that is i'm.
naune. Rice is another example. They grow
large quantities Of IL along the gulf coast
and men from New England and men from
iowa went down there with labor-savine
machine in connection with IL. But they
found that too large proportion OF the
rice broke In the machine; II too soft
A round. finty rice was desirable, we
sent experts to the Orient. where they have
teen growing aIl kinds of rice for centuries
and brought back just what was needed
One American with his machinery can Low
grow in year what four hundred China
men could grow.
There Is this about department.: w,
open our doors, books and records TO every
body from all over the world. European
countries have come for our men. but often
times they explicitly forbid our getting any
thing in return. Our experts went to Bo
hernia one year for hop roots, and got 9
full scollections but when the government
found where they were going. the contractl
were cancelled and they came back empty