Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1908-10-07
DR.. IsHAM RANDOLPH DISCUSSES
CONTRIBUTION OF
ENGINEER.
Madison, Oct. 2

did not come to a vote because of a
constitutional provision providing for
a different headquarters every year
At the morning session. Miss Edith
G. Charlton of the domestic science
department of Iowa state agricultural
j college, Ames. spoke to the women
of the congress on the value of diff
ferent kinds of food, while Professor
, George C. Humphrey lectured 10 the
men on the Different Types of Dairy
Cattle.
In the afternoon DR.. Isham Ran
dolph, who was scheduled for the
evening session, spoke on the value
of the engineer to the world in gem
eral and the farmer in particular.
Engineer a Benefactor
Nobody has contributed more TO
the wealth Of the world Or has helped
the farmer class as much as the sci
entific engineer was the gist of DR..
Isham Randolphs address. The rail
roads. said, Mr. Randolph, have pro-
badly been the most important mani
festation of the engineers labors,
creating a market for the great crops
of the northwest, and thereby raising
the price of grain so that farming
could be profitable Mr.. Randolph
also told how the railroads had raised
the price of land and had been the
only means of developing and settling
new countries. He instanced the
J rapid rise in population and wealth
of the great Mississippi valley, which
is now recognized as the dominant
agricultural region in the world.
without the engineer these railroads
could not have been built, aud with
cut TIE railroads this country would
now be a wilderness, was the speak
er's argument Not only in the United
States had the influence of the rail.
roads been the means of developing
agricultural lands and national wealth
South America among other nations
had become a factor in world com
merce by their aid.
The transportation facilities offered
by rivers, lakes and oceanic waters
had only assumed their greatest i'm
portance when the technical skill OF
the modern engineer came into evi
dence, said Dr. Randolph. Commune
cation by water because of its greater
economy should be used much more
in the future than 1t has In the pasi
was another of the speaker ideas
Inland waterways, he said, had no
been given sufficient Importance il
years Immediately past but were nov
coming to be carefully considered BY
far-sighted economists and statesmen
The value of waterways for engin
eering purposes besides those o
transportation was another Of th'
ideas considered.
Reclamation of arid western lands
for farming purposes was the thirt
benefit of the engineer to present day
civilization. said Dr. Randolph. Nil
lions of acres of such land, formerl!
barely able to support the flee
winged buzzards and small guam
tity of understood sage brush, have
now DeC ONE NtIlldDlE Edi uSlAS, : A~AA
ing immense crops of grain and fruit
California, the speaker said, was
good example of this, for there som'
of the formerly worthless lands cal
not be bought now for $1,000 an acre
Surely If the desert blossoms like
rose, the flowers are golden. So i'm
portant did the work of'reclamatioI
seem that the government Is nov
; pushing that kind Of work most sue
cessfully and energetieally
The lecture was doubly interesting
because of the prominence of th'
q. sneaker. DR.. Randolph was engineer
in charge Of the Chicago drainage
canal, consulting engineer on tbs
first Panama canal board and als'
engineer supervising the construction
of the Niagara Falls power dam
Word from Secretary Wilson.
A letter from Secretary of Agri
: culture Wilson was read by Secretar]
of the Congress George NJ. Whitaker
in which the veteran agriculturaiis
regretted his inability to address th'
delegates in Madison and lauded thei
work