The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1908-11-18
Educational Congress

Continued From Page One)
warranted in adding more or less ele-
mentary forestry instruction to the
courses it now gives. 1t is warranted
in establishing an advanced and COM
plete course if it can prepare finan-
cially to make the coarse so good and
so practical that it will appeal to
business as we'll as scientific men.
! There is no doubt whatever as to the
great service to the commonwealth if
! it does So"
Irrigation and Education.
Mr. Allen was followed by President
PenrOse who read a paper by d. c..
| Henney, sup rvising engineer of the
| United States reclamation service. on
The Education Advantageous to Irri-
| CATION
Mr.. Henneys paper Illustrated the
| great increase in the value of land
! placed under irrigation. and the large
| amount of work yet to be done in or
| der to reclaim all the irrigable lands
| of the country He eStimat d the
| amount of land which has been re
| claimed by the government at about
! 100000 600 acres, or about one per cent
! of the total area of the arid and semi
! arid region. on the low basis of $40
! Mr. Kenny showed that an aggregate
, Of $200,000,000 per year now being re-
| ceived from land which was practic-
! ally unprodUctive before the artificial
| application of water
Referring to the educational needs,
| Mr. Henry said:
TIL study of mathematics and of
/ natural law is. of course. essential, but
| in addition to this it IS highly desire
! able that in future engineers the power
| of accurate observation be trained. an
accomplished far mora rare than is
| usually assumed. In many engineer
| ing schools this is done by work In
| large laboratories, supplemented by eX-
perimental work in the field, utilizing
actual engineering structures. Work of
| this kind is of the highest value in
| teaching accuracy in observation. It
| will incidentally cause the student to
| realize that while natural laws may ap-
! pear simple as laid down in textbooks
their manifestations through actual
materials are exceedingly complex, that
| our knowledge is quite limited. and
| that our conclusions are not to be
| drawn without the application of sound
| Judgment
The above applies to all branches of
| engineering and has no special refer
| ence to education advantageous to irri-
CATION.
ITO students who intend to devote
| themselves to irrigation there should
be open a course specially covering
| irrigation engineering, and in this con-
nection it may be wise to deal to a
| large extent with agriculture, although
too early differentiation of engineering
studies is undesirable. The location of
| the college within easy reach of irri-
| cation works is of the greatest impor-
lance and advantage In this connec-
| ton, and the location of Walla Walla
| is highly favorable in that respect by
| reason of the diversified class of irri-
! cation engineering and irrigation prac-
| tice which is within easy reach, and
| in regard to the PROBABLE large devel-
! opm mt in the immediate future
1.-The suggestion which l wish to pre-
| sent as the result Of the above consid-
! erations are that one member of the
! faculty be chosen from engineers who
have made a speciality of irrigation en-
| cheering; that the college be provided
| with a well equipped laboratory in
which the students can be trained in
| the use of measuring devices to which
may well be added apparatus for the
study of percolation of water through
various materials occurring in nature;
/ that the student be taken into the field
as often as opportunity serves in or
der to examine engineering works. and
! that as frequently as possible engi-
neers of eminence be invited to lee
| ture upon any work in which they are
| expert