The Opelousas courier., 1905-07-22

cism in debates in Congress, Senate
Lodge, among others, having more THAI
once pointed to this as one of the grav'
mistakes in the conduct Of the Fed
eraI Administration.
A striking instance Of this lack o
cooperation which has just come t
light Is the failure Of the War Depart
ment and the General Staff to avail
themselves Of the maps, Invaluable
from a military standpoint, which arr
annually being produced under the di
rection of Professor Milton Whitney
of the Bureau of Soils. So far as cal
be ascertained, the General Staff has
never even learned that the Bureau OF
Soils is conducting q soil survey of the
entire country and preparing maps
which contain most of the importan,
features usually shown on military
maps prepared as the result of recon
~noissanceS.
For the last five years the Bureau
of Soils has maintained approximately
twenty parties of biologists ana soil
experts in the field, and the results
of their observations have been EN-
bodied in maps which now represent aI
most 10000 square miles Of the United
States. The vdlue of this work to the
agricultural interests Of the country
has led Congress to appropriate con-
stantly increasing amounts for the car
rying on of the work, and, as the mapE
are furnished to all foreign agricultural
institutions, it is probable that Euro
pean military authorities have a better
knowledge today of the topography
and soil conditions Of tie United States
than have American military officers.
Certain general officers of the army
have long urged that military maps OF
all parts of the country, and especially
of those parts adjacent to the seaboard,
be prepared by the engineer corps, but
little or no work in that line has been
ACCOMPLISHED by the army, and the
valuable data complied by the Bureau
of Soils have been persisteitiy ignored
The soil maps give not only the general
topography of the country, using the
base MAPS Of the Geological, Survey
for that purpose, but III addition thereto
the nature of the soil for Il depth Of no
less thai three feet, thus Indicating the
character of the roads to be met with,
the probable effect which heavy rains
would have on them, etc, Taken In
connection with the maps of the Geo
Survey, they furnish practically
all the information necessary from a
military standpoint, with the adyan-
tage I'VE reconnaissance maps, Oh
the military commander usually
is compelled to depend, that they are
prepared by experts who have ample
to devote to their surveys and OBJ
hitting the facts to paper.
With such maps, the feasibility of
erecting earthwofks, Entertainments,
etc. can be determined at 4 glance.
Moreover, the military quartermaster,
who must make careful calculations as
to the availability of the local roads to
sustain the necessarily heavy traffic en-
by the transportation of the sup.
plies for d great army, can easily per-
feet his plans when, with the aid of a
soil map, he a learn whether the
roads over which his heavy wagons
must travel are of earth, clay or stone,
On what sort of q base they are con-
structed, the liability to flooding during
heavy rains, etc.
Some military experts who have re-
Gently examined these maps point to
the fact that had the information they
beeii available at the beginning
If the Spanish-American Wa the War
would have been saved
from the error of selecting the site
chosen at Chickamauga for a great
military camp, because, from the soil
it would have learned that the
soil was only d few feet deep and I'M
lerlaid with a stratum of rock which
would inevitably force the drainage
md seepage back to the surface. The
of placing the Chickamauga camp
IN that site has cost the Government
Ii pCIiS1oho w tioSt "lOSN htbllh u
and to the families of those who
lied from typhoid fever probably more
han the entire cost of the soil survey
If the United States to date.
The same proposition is doubtless
rue of Camp Alger. A more thorough
of the topography and
drainage features of that site would
doubtless have led to the selection of
location more favorable to the health
# the troops CHARTERED there. In this
it is noteworthy that the
'ost of the soil maps 10 the Govern
nent does not exceed IN average Of
'2.S7 a square mile, while their value
O agriculture is regarded by those in
position to know as ample to warrant
he expense on that ground alone.
In most countries military maps not
dissimilar from the maps Of the
of Soils are being prepared I'M
Ter the supervision of the military au-
horities, and as far back as the early
eventies it was urged by members Of
he engineer corps of the United States
ARMY that a military survey, to be fol-
owed by the preparation of military
maps, be made in all parts of the
United States, particularly those por-
adjacent to the seaboard. Thus
ar, however, the engineer corps has
,een so limited in numbers as to rem
.er this work impossible, in addition to
he valuable services which the corps
lready renders in connection with
and harbor improvements.
While, sc far as can be learned, the
yalua of the soil mans has