Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-02-16
RECOMMENDATIONS OF STATE
COMBINATION COMMISSION
ELICIT LIVE DISCUSSION.
NORTHERN IOWA HAS SPENT
S1sooo,ooo; BUT HALF ENOUGH
Association Endersss Recommended ion
That Governor Appoint Drainage and
Watsr~ays Commission, But Not
That His Rulings Be Absolutely
MISREPRESENTATION for Legislature.

Mason City, Feb. 16.-"Fifteen mill
lion dollars has already been invested
in drainage in northern Iowa. and 1t
will take as much more to bring the
soil to the fertility 1t should have"
were the words used by Hon. J. NJ.
Blake, of Webster City. in discussing
some OF the legal phases of benefit as
sesments OF railroads.
The Iowa State Drainage Association
meeting is full Of debaters and they
had plenty OF opportunity at express
sion in the discussion of the recon-
mendations of the Iowa State Drainage
Waterways and Conservation Commits
sion, and they succeeded in expung-
ing one of the recommendations. This
commission is composed Of A. c. Mil
Ter. of Des Moines; L. w. Anderson, of
Cedar Rapids; E. A. Burgess. of Sioux
City; A. +. Frudden. of Dubuque; I. w.
Keerl. of Mason City; T. III. Macbride.
of Iowa City. and W. II. Stevenson, OF
Ames. This committee was unanimous
in the recommendation that the gov
ernor appoint a drainage and water
ways commissioner whose services
should be free to boards of supervis-
ors. That part was all right. but fur
Their on the committee recommended
that when the commissioner was re-
quested to pass upon drainage Ques-
tions his advice and decision shall
be adopted by the board. This was
vigorously fought on the floor. At
torney w. H. Killpack. Of Council
Bluffs, leading the fight. The recon-
mendation was voted down. and the
governor will not be asked to appoint
such commissioner.
Conditions ont Identical.
1t would appear from discussions
that, while drainage is quite an old
problem, it is still new and it will take
years before definite knowledge is
gained. So much depends upon condi-
tons that what seems to be best in
one county will not apply possibly in
the next adjacent county. For in
stance. the question was asked: AT
what size should tile be abandoned and
the open ditch be used?" The answers
varied from ffty-four inch tile. as
used in Boone county. laid from twelve
to fifteen feet deep, to fifty-One inch
tile used in southern Minnesota. laid
in some places to a depth Of twenty
six feet. One engineer recommended
in draining a 1.0c0-acre tract with
one.tenth grade to use twenty Inch
tile, while others would use twenty
four-inch.
Engineer Wheat, Of Pa1o Alto county.
wants q thorough wedding out Of in
ferior engineers and contractors and
better service and better pay. The con-
vertion did not go into OBSTACLES over
the better pay problem.
Resolutions Adopted.
Many Of the discussions Of the en-
tire convention were embraced by the
resolutions that passed the associa-
ton by reclamation. Condensed they
read:
Recommend that the next session OF
tho Iowa State Drainage Association
consider the advisability of asking the
legislature to make drainage district
q corpora ton or some kind of a legal
entity, so that it may have standing
in the courts as such instead of re-
questing the boards OF supervisors to
stand behind all adversary proceed
ings.
That the next session consider the
advisability Of asking the legislature
to rewrite the drainage laws, in the
light Of the experience Of the last sew
en- years, to the end that some matters
therein contained may be made
plain.
Sparboe Elected President.
H. NJ. Sparboe. Of Webster City, was
elected president Of the association
for the ensuing year and Professor w.
II. Stevenson, member Of the faculty
at the state agricultural college, was
continued as secretary-treasurer.
The publicity committee was also in
structed to interest the boys and young
men Of the state in drainage matters
by offering them prizes for the best
written articles on drainage. to be de-