Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-16

time III was not right or fair for Mr.. DOlli-
yer to deceive the Senate by representing
in a sweeping assertion that such conditions
exist wherever mud is found.
Products of Stony Soil.
The contrary is the case. Taking the en-
tire surface of the earth into consideration,
the muddest countries are the least civil
lied. Human culture and morality, If we
may consider those qualities evidences of
civilization, have reached their highest de-
gree in the countries where gravel and
rocks abound. The Century Dictionary
says that civilization is the state of being
reclaimed from the rudeness of savage life.
and advanced in arts and learning" That
definition applies particularly to Switzer-
land, Sweden, Denmark, the valley of the
Rhine and other parts of Germany, several
of the interior provinces of France and the
midlands of England, where there is very
little mud and a great deal of gravel
and rock, and if Mr.. Dolliver will con-
suit MIR. Cabot Lodge or Mr.. Redfield
Proctor he will ascertain that the highest
degree OF civilization is found in those parts
of New England where the farmers are
compelled to build stone fences in order to
have room to plant their corn. and file the
noses of their sheep down to wedgelike
points in order that they may pick the
spears of grass between the stones.
One of the most striking illustrations that
may be brought into the controversy Is Of
fered by China and Japan. Japan is a
gravel country, without any mud. Ii is a
land of running water-Of babbling brooks,
roaring cascades and gravel roads, and a
traveller cannot go mile in any direction
without crossing a stream of cool, pure
water. In China the reverse is the case.
The rivers are few, but large, turgid and
muddy. The soil of China is loose. call
careous clay; what Senator Dolliver would
call an aeolian deposit; the dust of disinte-
grating rocks picked up by the western
winds In the interior OF Asia and blown
eastward until 1t has dropped upon the sur
fna ay,1 ,1u,1
depth. There is no gravel, no rock, but only
mud in China.
Glacial Deposits of Iowa.
The Iowa mud is glacial deposit-the
-four of the rocks that were ground up by
the great ice-cap that once moved slowly
across the country which Senator Doliver
so ably represents, crushing everything In
its way. This was before he moved up from
West Virginia however so he has no per-
sOnal knowledge of the occurrence The
mud around Fort Dodge has been there a
long time-several millions OF years. 1t
makes very rich soil, for 1t is full of the
chemicals that are required to create corn
and other crops. The soil is very deep also.
In the neighborhood of Fort Dodge 1t Is
probably deeper than anywhere else in this
country except in the valley of the Red
river of Louisiana and the valley of the
YaZoo In Mississippi, which are modern al
luviai deposits, brought down by the floods
no one would look on the banks of the
Yazoo or Red river of the South for the
highest degree of advance In arts and learn
ing any more than in the valleys of the
Amazon or the Orinoco, which are also
very muddy.
Professor Hayes of the geological survey
says that the deepest and stickiest mud in
the world Is the gumbo clay of Texas. IL
any one ever gets stuck in it he has to wait
until there is a drought in the country be-
fore he can get out. 1t is made of rotten
chalk mixed with the marine deposits that
<-dexico to form what is known in geology
1.-The gulf coastal plain" The great black
soil belt of southern Russia is similar, and
in both districts Is found a very low stage
of civilization. If Senator Dolliver had said
that mud and agricultural wealth went
hand in hand he would have been more ac-
curate. He judges the earth and the in
habitants thereof by his own neighbors
without explaining that they are exceptions
to an otherwise universal rule.