Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-12-07
BLOCK THE ATTACK REVIEW OF IS YEARS.
Fourth Class Postmasters Re- Secretary Wilson Submits Last
main Under Civil Service. Annual Report.
Attempted REPEAL FAILSIS LENGTHY DOCUMENT
Resolution Setting Aside Presidents Various Activity
Order 0verruled. Fully Described.
DEMOCRATS OF HOUSE DIVIDED NEARLY $4,000 EMPLOYEES
Lively Discussion Yearly
Executive Judicial Have Risen
priation in
is LENGTHY DOCUMENT
Various Phases of Activity Are
Fully Described.
NEARLY
$4,000 employees
Yearly Farm Production Said to
Have Risen to SO, $50, 600, 900
in Value.

Secretary of Agriculture Wilson sub
mitted to Congress today the sixteenth
and last of his annual reports He leaves
the department March 4. after having
served by far the longest term of any
cabinet officer in the history of the coun-
try. The report is big volume not only
because it comprises the workapf very
large department for the past year. but
because it includes also review of six
teen years work, practically the life his
tory of the department.
The Secretary speaks in high terms of
his scientific employees and with manifest
departments activities.
In speaking of the development of the
department the report SAYS:
Sixteen years have been of interest
in the history of this department
Bureaus have been created and expand
ed. Lines of research. investigation and
demonstration have been multiplied. Con-
gress has piled duty on duty from year
to year. The corps of experts needed In
the increasing amount and variety OF
service has grown greatly. The depart
ment has become a great agricultural uni
versity for postgraduate work. Dis
coveries for the benefit of farm practices
countless. The department has both pro-
NOTED and begun a revolution in the arts
and sciences of agriculture. Its infu-
ences for agricultural betterment have
penetrated all regions of the national
domain.
AT the close of long administration,
filled with accomplishments. 1t is fitting
that the record of sixteen years should
be written
Nearly $50 Pages.
The review avoids minor details and
yet it occupies nearly $50 pages. The
variety Of the department. work and its
resources are set forth. and those OF
1897 appear Insignificant in contrast
From 2444 employees in that year the
number has grown to 1883 July L.
1872 and the appropriations have In
creased from So 2729O2 for the fiscal year
1898 to $24,743,45 for the fiscal year
1913.
About 800 requests for publications were
received weekly sixteen years ago ana
now the number is $1,000. During this
period 225OO0.OOO copies of publications
have been distributed.
The narrative of the work concerning
plant industry mentions the Introduction
of plants from foreign countries and even
remote regions. The rice farmers We're
aided by bringing seed from eastern
countries; varieties Of wheat, oats and
special cereals were brought in; alfal1a
seed was sought in semi-arid and cold
climates Fruits were introduced from
Mediterranean countries. from China ana
Japan and Central America.
Much space is devoted to the encour-
agement and development of dry-land
farming by means of which great areas
have been taken into cultivation where
semi-desert conditions naturally exist. The
Secretary says that IF this country Is to
continue to produce food for its own
.1,re- fN,. nrf oil of
the fertile semi-arid lands must be made
to produce some kind of food product,
and this must be done without the fearful
loss in ruined fortunes and wrecked lives
which has accompanied the unsuccessful
attempts in the past to develop the agri-
culture Of some parts of this area
Fight on Boil weevil.
The main features of the work done to
combat the boil weevil in it's advance
from the Rio Grande eastward are mar
rated improvements in grain culture and
the results of tobacco investigations are
described. Successful efforts have been
made to induce the farmer to provide
better seed for himself. The department
has done much toward aiding fruit grow
ers in the direction of fruit marketing.
transportation and storage. The grow
ing of grain and its Standardization are
commercial problems that the depart
ments experts have attacked with much
success. Details of what has been done
for the beet-sugar industry are told in
terestingly. The many problems of plant,
fruit and vegetable disease have been at
tackled by many experts and some OF the
successes have been conspicuous. Soil
bacteriology has been investigated and
work done on drug and poisonous plants.
The widespread and effective efforts put
forth in the farmers cooperative demon
alton work in the south constitute one
of no la UaSf of he or art.
ment, and somewhat similar to this is
the extensive work carried on in the
teaching of farm management
Insect pests have received growing at
tention. and much knowledge concerning
them has been disseminated. The cam
paign against the gypsy moth and brown
tail moth is mentioned and the journey of
one of the departments entomologsts to
the interior of China to obtain an enemy
of the San Jose scale. The fig wasp was
brought from Algeria to make possible
the growing of figs in California. Mos
quitoes that carry malaria and yellow
fever have been studied, and publica-
tons have been issued warning the peo-
pie and giving remedies. In the same
way. the relation of the house fly to the
carriage of typhoid fever and other in
testinal diseases has been studied.
In the soil investigation work during
the last twelve years surveys have been
made of -f23.OGO squares miles. or an area
as large as the combined areas of Ger
many, France Great Britain, Ireland and
Italy.
Bureau of Animal Industry.
The story of the development of the
bureau of animal industry includes the
establishment of the meat inspection sery-
ice. the fight against the cattle tick in
the southern states and the handling of
dairy cattle with a view not only to milk
production and the increase of butter fat
in milk. but the relation between bovine
and human tuberculosis and the proper
handling of milk from the dairy to the
consumer.
The department has supervision Of the
importation of wild animals and birds
from foreign countries: it enforces the
laws relating to interstate commerce in
game and also the law relating to the
protection of birds on bird reservations;
it administers fifty-siX bird reserva tons
and one or two big game reservations,
and it cO-operates with several states in
the protection of game. 1t is charged
with preventing the Introduction of birds