The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-09-25
Ry JAMES d. MORROW

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ling cart.
In little while chronic swaDlps were
added 10 the scheme OF systematic recla-
nation. Choked creeks and staggering
rivers that overflow their banks came
next. SO, engineers fighting permanent
droughts with dams and bitches were
closely followed by engineers fighting
Hoods and weedy marshes with levees,
pipes, and dredges.
Back 10 the land, as craftsmanship Is
now praetlced. is costing millions piled
on millions. The whole world is being
scrutiniZed and ransaeked in the impe-
rial names OF cheap food and more
wealth for the farmers. Thousands OF
agents, in railroad trains and steamships.
on foot and on horseback. are rushing all
over the universe looking for strange
seeds and hunting for secret truths.
Legislatively, the farmer, anelently toll
Grated as a rude necessity, and pictured
with a straw in his mouth has pleblfied
the busy aristoeraey OF Wall Street. He
kept shouting for his hesitating share,
and voting capriciously. until a pitchfork
was given the American eagle for perch
and the Goddess or Liberty was crowned
with wisp OF wheat. Plays and stories
once bearing such titles as only a Farm
er's Daughter have given place to No
body but a Bankers Wife"
Everything Comes from Soil.
Likewise, II Is now understood, regard
less OF section or occupation, that every
thing comes out OF the earth Man, hur-
rying around in the smoke and concus-
sions of industry, realized tho fact
vaguely, but he did not stop to think
upon the subject. Suddenly. so ii ap-
peared 10 him. white pine. from a penny
a foot became the wood OF the rich and
a sappy, blaek-knotted substitute the
wood of the poor and middle classes.
Prophets. dumb before. arose and fore
told the end OF coal and iron. Meanwhile.
busting men Of the West had visions
that peopled arid and desolate plains and
built cities and towns among the sage
brush
Coming together, vagrantly at first into
an incoheTent congress of new ideas and
disquieting facts, the forces OF economy.
defense and construction slowly de-
velOped an itemized policy of conserva-
tion, which, translated. means: Save the
American nation for other generations"
Thus water was poured on burning
wastes and fruits and grains bloomed
amid me deserts.
But more water than needed is no less
destructive 10 vegetation than not enough.
With a ditch full at hts door the farmer
may raise the gates and invite a food
Drainage, then, IS the correlate OF irri-
CATION. II so happened. therefore. that
the government found it necessary 10 pro-
vide an absorbent for its sprinkling pot
giving the same into the management Of
Charles Gleason Elliott. an engineer, but
in more definite English, a doctor OF the
swamps and trainer of rivers that
jump their banks
II the permanent swamps In the
United States were brought together
they would cover an area equal to the
whole of New England. New Jersey, Del
aware. and half Of Maryland. If the wet
grazing lands and the periodically over
flowed and the periodical swamp lands
were added, the area would be as large
as the States named, including all of
Ohio. There are permanent swamps IN
every State except Connecticut. Kansas.
Kentucky Nebraska. Ohio. Oklahoma,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West
Virginia, but in each OF those States
the services OF the drainage doctor are
also badly needed.
Swamps are associated with the South,
with New Jersey, and the Northwest,
but there are 100000 acres in New York.
10000 in Maine. 10000 In Massachusetts,
5000 IN New Hampshire. and 1900 in YER
mont: besides. there are 5000 acres In Il
linois and l5.000 in Indiana. AS a swamp
specialist, therefore, Mr.. Elliott's prac-
tice can be bounded east and west by the
oceans. and north and south by Canada
and Mexico. word concerning him
personally viii be helpful TO a compre-
henson of his unique. little known. and
highly-impOrtant labor for the public.
Native of Illinois.
IT was reared on a prairie farm in ITi-
nois.'' he told me. where sloughs. COM
ing out OF the earth IN round and irreg-
ular ponds, gave farmers considerable
trouble. although providing watering
places for their livestock The wet lands
I had seen as a boy opened a means for
a living. after left college thirty-three
years ago, and. oddly enough. shaped
the whole course OF my life. had taken
civil engineering al the University of Il
linois. but the panic OF 1873 having stop
ped all public and private Improvements.
I couldn't find any work.
MY mind just happened TO turn to-
ward sloughs. I bought a set OF instru-
- ha
neighbors that I was ready to advise
them about draining their fields. My
business grew. and from horse and
buggy. I began riding in trains. Before
long some OF my work was big enough
for steam dredges instead of shovels op-
Grated by hand. I also made plans for
sewers. But I was an agricultural en-
gineer before anything else. and as such
entered the services OF the government
eight years ago"
rs the government spending any
money on drainage projects?" I inquired
No; except small sums for testing
stations TO show how the drainage Of
certain districts may be done. Congress.
sixty years ago, gave all Federal swamp
and oyerfiowed lands to the States in
which they were located. Some of the
lands We're afterward sold or granted by
the States to companies and 10 persons.
The States have their own drainage laws.
Landowners do the work under the laws
and pay for it proportionally as each
IS benefited by the improvement. The
national government undertakes no more
than 10 give expert advice when il is
wanted"
do you instruct individual farmers
how TO get water of their land?"
Engineers Help Farmers
We send engineers To all parts Of the