The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-08-22
Underpaid Experts

IN no nation IN tne world are the
enlisted men of the army and navy
paid so we'll as those in the service
of the United States, and in no coun-
try do clerks in the civil departments
of the government receive such large
salaries as those on Uncle Sans pay
rolls. 1t used to be that the higher
officials at Washington were under.
paid, but the salaries of the Presi.
dent and cabinet have recently been
increased, and, while our chief magis-
trate and members of his official fam
| lily are not drawing the big pay that
many foreign governments allow their
dignitaries of similar rank yet it is
adequate perhaps, and. all in ALL in
| keeping with the simplicity of Amer
lean institutions.
But there is one class of officials
whose compensation is far too small
for the special training and ability
required. Reference is made to the
scientific experts and technically edu-
Gated men who are doing work of far
reaching Importance, but whose pay
is far below that of high-class men
! il the commercial, industrial or pro-
| fessional world. The Outlook, in its
magazine number for August, contains
a timely article entitled Patriots in
the Public Service" in which the
duties and splendid achievements of
certain poorly paid officials are set
forth Among these men are scien.
lists who are recognized in this coun-
try and abroad as savants. Notable
in this list is DIR. Leland o. Howard
chief of the bureau of entomology in
the department of agriculture. His Ia
bors have been of incalculable bene
fit to farmers and to the public gen
orally. The writer in the Outlooli
says:
DIR. Towards contributions to the we'll
being and prosperity of the people may
| be divided into two groups; first those
resulting from his personal Investigations
for which he is solely responsible; sec
| ond, those resulting from the investiga-
tions of his assistants under his super
| t-iGi DT rd Snapial H.
vestigation has to do with insects thai
carry disease and the parasites of in
furious insects. He knows more about
| mosquitoes and house fes than any other
man. BY experiments in Washington he
discovered that house flies carry typhoid
fever germs. He discovered, too. the
paticular species of mosquitoes which
caused the germs of malaria and yellow
fever. This knowledge, as used by the
doctors of the public health and marine
hospital service as well as by private
physicians, has saved thousands OF lives
His work on mosquitoes started the eff
fective crusades against those death
dealing pests and showed the practca
blity of their ultimate determination. II,
| is now visiting the capitals of Europe ar,
making arrangements through the of
fetal entomologists to have shipped t.
this country consignments of the natura
enemies of injurious insects who hav,
not been already provided with parasite,
foes. The orange and lemon orchards o
California would have been completed,
destroyed by the white scale had not DR.
Howard introduced its natural enemies
from Australia. The control of the Mexi
can boil weevil by the Introduction o
parasites has saved the cotton growing
industry from virtual destruction
The following are a few of the concret
items for which DR.. Howard is responsible
as head of the bureau: A saving t,
the farmers of over s190,OOO0Oo annual,
in wheat values through a knowledge o
the methods of controlling or avoidin,
the Hessian fly; increasing the value o
the apple crop of the country from
5000 900 to 100000 annually through
knowledge, as yet incomplete, of how
to control the coddling moth; the savin,
of uncomputed millions annually to TIN
corn-growers by the partial battling O
the root worm through the use of tn
| principle of rotation of crops. In recog
milton of this mans services to his coun
try Congress in 1904 raised his salar
from $4,000 to $4,000 a year.
Another official who is doing import