Arizona republican., 1904-12-07


 and by profting by the experiences of
 the different states and cities in these
 matters, it would be easy to provide a
 good code for the Ditsirct of Columbia.
 Several considerations suggest the
 need for a systematic investigation in
 to and improvement of the housing | conditions in Washington. The hidden
 residential alleys are breeding grounds
 of vice and disease, and should be | opened into minor streets. For num-
 ber of years influential citizens have | joined with the district commissioners
 in the vain endeavor to secure laws
 permitting the condemnation of unsan- | itary dwellings. The local death rates, ! especially from preventable diseases, are so unduly high as to suggest that
 the exceptional wholesomeness of
 Washington's better sections is offset
 by bad conditions in her poorer neigh ,borhoods. A special committee on housing and health conditions in the national capitoP' would not only bring about the reformation of existing evils, but would also formulate an appropri- ate building code to protect the city from mammoth brick tenements and other evils which threaten to develop here as they have in other cities. That the nations capital should be made a model for other municipalities is an ideal which appeals to all patriotic citizens everywhere, and such 9 special commission might map out and organ ize the city's future development in lines of civic social service, just as Major LEnfant and the recent park commission planned the arrangement of her streets and parks.
 It is mOrtifying to remember that Washington has no compulsory school attendance law and that careful in- quiries indicate the habitual absence from school of some twenty per cent of all children between the ages of eight and fourteen. It must be evident to all who consider the problems of neglected child life or the benefits of compulsory education in other cities that one of the most urgent needs of the national capitol is a law requiring the school attendance of all children, this law to be enforced by attendance agents directed by the board of educa- tion.
 Public play grounds are necessary means for the development of whole some citizenship in modern cities. It is important that the work inaugurated here through voluntary efforts should be taken up and extended through congressional appropriation of funds sufficient to equip and maintain numer- ous convenient small play grounds up- on land which can be secured without purchase or rental. It is also desirable that small vacant places be purchased and reserved as small-park play grounds in densely settled sections of the city which now have no public open spaces and are destined soon to be built up solidly. All these needs z;e,4 1Ix them would entail expenses; but a cor responding saving could be made by stopping the building Of streets and levelIing of ground for purposes largely speculative in outlying parts of the city.
 There are certain offenders, whose criminality takes the shape of brutality and cruelty toward the weak, who need a special type of punishment. The wife beater for example, is inadequately punished by imprisonment; for in- prisonment may often mean nothing to him, while it may cause hunger and want to the wife and children who have been the victims of his brutality. Probably some form of corporal pun ishment would be the most adequate way of meeting this kind of crime.
 AGRIcuLTURE
 The department of agriculture has grown into an educational institution with a faculty of two thousand special ists making research into all the scienceg of production. The congress appropriates, directly and indirectly six millions of dollars annually to carry on this work. It reaches every state and territory in the union and the islands of the sea lately come under our flag. Cooperation is had with the state experiment stations, and with many other institutions and indlVsd- uals. The world is carefully searched for new varieties of grains, fruits, grasses. vegetables, trees, and shrubs, suitable to various localities in our country; ard marked benefit to our producers has resulted.
 The activity of OUT age in lines of research have reached the tillerss of the soil and inspired them with am bition to know more of the principles that govern the forces of nature with which they have to deal. Nearly half of the people of this country devote their energies to growing things from the soil. Until recent date little has been done to prepare these millions for their life work. In most lines of human activity college trained men are the leaders. The farmer had no opportu- nity for special training until congress made provision forty years ago. Dur ing these years progress has been made and teachers have been prepared. Over five thousand students are in attend &nce at our state agricultural colleges. The federal government eXpends ten millions of dollars annually toward this education and for research in Wash ington and the several states and ter ritories. The department of agricul- ture has given facilities for post-grad- Uate work to five hundred young men during the last seven years, preparing them for advanced lines of work in the department and in the state institu- tions.
 The facts concerning meteorology and its relations to plant and animal life are being systematically inquired into. Temperature and moisture are controlling factors in all agricultural operations The seasons of the cV-