Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-16
AN APPROPRIATION CUT OFF
About One Hundred Families in This
City Affected.
HOW THE WORK HAS GROWN
Records Available for Interstate
Projects-Saving Much Money
Curious Point of Order.

tions committee of the House has delivered
a more or less unintentional but rather
serious swipe at the geological survey. 1t
has cut off on a point of order the whole
of the appropriation for stream gaging that
has been carried on for years over much
of the United States, and unless the appro-
! priation is put back in some way before the
| sundry civil bill passes the whole of the
4 photographic division of the survey will
| have to go out Of business on the first of
July.
| This is a rather important matter for
| Was shington locally, as the office force en-
| ployed here in this work amounts to fifty
people while Washington is the headquar-
| ters for about fifty more of the engineers
and assistants who are employed In the
eastern work II means thus cutting off
I the job from about 100 families in the
| city.
| In speaking OF the matter today one Of
| the officials said: "Of course, this would
| be no argument in favor of an appropria-
| ton unless the government was getting fuil
value out of 1t. But in the present case
| the photographic bureau Is returning more
| than full value for its work, and the hard
| ship on the families, If 1t should go out of
| existence, is merely side issue"
Work of the Bureau.
| The work of the photographic bureau
| has grown up In several years past from
an unimportant beginning to a bureau
| that carries an annual appropriation OF
5000 600 About half of this is spent in the
| east and half in the west, and since the
| records have begun to be continuous and
| can be relied on, they have been drawn on
| very largely, not only for irrigation works
| In the west but by eastern cities and mu-
| inequalities wherever there was need of in
| formation as to stream fiow river polu-
| ton, food waters and even the utilization
| OF waste products from many factories that
were otherwise spelling the streams on
whose banks they stood.
| The way that the appropriation came to
be Knocked out In the House was little
curious. The House has passed the ap-
preparation as a regular part of the
dry civil bill for some twelve years, and
the work has a good many warm friends
on the floor, who realize what it is and
| the good that II has done in their states.
| But this year, when the bill came up, there
was a thirst for economy In the appro-
| priation committee, and somebody arose to
| point of order against the item. The or
| ganic act, under which the geological sur
vey operates, provides for the topographic
and geologic work, and an investigation
of the mineral resources of the public do
main." 1t was claimed THAI water was not
| a mineral, and the Speaker sustained the
| point of order, the appropriation fell
dead Some of the members of the survey
who were interested In the work pointed
out that all the dictionaries said that water
was a mineral that became solid at
| temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit. But
| this was after the Speaker had made his
| ruling, and, unless the item Is put back in
| conference in some other way water
will not be a mineral for purposes of ap-
preparation no matter what the dictionary
| says about It,
How Washington is Affected.
| The way that the stream gauging affects
| Washington may be indicated from the
| port that has just been issued by the survey
on the drainage of the Potomac basin. This
was one of the most comprehensive pieces
of photographic work ever done by this or
| any other government. AS the Potomac
/ flows from four states and Washington
gets the dregs Of the stream. it were, for
drinking purposes. it is easy to see how up
| stream pollution affects the city. The
| port showed that there were many factories,
distilleries and other plants on the upper
waters OF the stream that were not only
running the water and killing the fish, but
were actually letting valuable waste prod
ucts run to waste in the water. Several
| OF the factories were shown how they could
| trap and utilize these waste products, and
| they are now doing 1t, not only saving the
! stream, but making money at the same
| time.
The same thing was alluded to in the re-
| cent meeting of the state health officers In
| Washington. The representatives from I'LL
nOtS ana ONO spoke oI SpcSiiS SasCo' Ohc
! OF them a distillery and the other steel
| tube plant that were running the streams
where they stood They called in the ex-
| perts OF the geological survey and were
shown how at small expense they could
| reclaim the waste products. This WAS done,
| and the health officers reported that one
| firm was getting clear income of some
| thing like "a per day of plant that had
I cost them 50 2000, while another was getting
| SIS or $40 a day from plant that had cost
| them proportionately no more.
! Another use to which the records OF the
| division are put may be instanced in the
work of the New York barge canal, where
the records OF the photographic bureau of
| the survey were used and saved an ex-
| pense OF about 100000 and several years
| OF delay in showing the character of the
| seasons .the sedimentation that had to be
| combatted and other like points
| Nearly all of the rivers thus gauged are
| Interstate propositions. and the general gov
| ernment has to do the work on them II 1t Is
| to be done systematically and be OF any
| value.
| There are a great many cases In past
years where. lacking the data, private indi-
| viduals have had to do similar work. but
/ these observations have always been Short
lived and for an especial purpose. and were
| seldom available for general use. They
could seldom be accepted as impartial
| either. The work of the general govern
| ment on the other hand. is universally ac-
cepted as unpreiudiced and is available to
4 all comers.
If Appropriation is Cut Or.
| II the appropriation is cut of now IL will
| cripple great many private irrigation
projects in the west and stop the important
| to A.,{x, f,~x