Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-10-26
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

will not be many years before the
by the process of Wholesale poisoning
| That there is a gold mine OF information
in government publications suitable for
! teaching material in
educational educational Institutions
rrf,-~.&;A Of all kinds has been
| AAao1 A"o tion. made evident in a
study conducted for the United States
bureau of education by Frederick X.
Noyes- A bulletin containing the infor-
nation compiled by Mr.. Moves will soon
be issued. and the thousands OF teachers
of the country will find between the COW
| ers of single compact booklet a COM
pilatiOn of all of the best documents is
sued from Uncle Sans big printery which
carry teaching material and have a spe-
| cial interest for educators.
| The government documents classified by
the author as teaching material include
publications suitable for text use, publica-
| lions containing pictures or facts service
able In illustrating or experimenting texts
already in use. and publications which are
suitable for a school library. The ma
|
| publications which have only local in
! terest. which are out of date. or which
contain only a few pages of available mat
| ter and many pages of matter which is
| useless DIS teaching material have been
| omitted from the new photography. All
Of the material which has a live interest
! to educators is retained, and carefully ar
| ranged under subjects and author in
| dexes
vast sums of money are spent by the
government each year for printing bulle-
| tins and circulars on a thousand and one
subjects. Printing a bulletin however, is
| only a small part OF the work of dis
seminating information, and IL the docu-
| ments do not reach the hands of the peo-
! pie who will need them. 1t is easily seen
that large part Of the printing appro-
priatfon Is wasted. To help teachers and
school administrators to find out quickly
| what Information the government has
gathered to interest them is the purpose
of the new bulletin. and officials of the
bureau OF education expect to see 1t 60
q long way in preventing many useful
publications piling UP In the Office of the
superintendent OF documents of the gov
eminent printing office to rot and gather
dust. only because people do not know
that they are available.
All publications in the Office of the gu
perintendent Of documents are sold al
cost. money order or cash payment in ad-
| vance. Many rare books are included In
the accumulation In the government
great store. but according to law all must
scarcity. The new bulletin gives the
prices of all the publications. and the au.
| thor has also added clear instructions or
! how to order from the lists which he has
compiled. AS soon az the booklet or
teaching material in government publica
tons comes from the press it will be sen,
free to all teachers. school librarians and
others who viii write postcard request
to DR.. p. P. Claxton commissioner United
States bureau OF education. Washington
D. C.
More systematic efforts will be made
In the future to assist the farmers who
have settled on govern.
Seclamat10n ment reclamation prof.
/. r.r,:, ects, IL plans for CO.
1aiMiHS.. operation between the
Interior Department and the Depart
ment of Agriculture are perfected in ac-
cordance with a report made by joint
committee representing the two branches
of the government. This committee con-
sists of Assistant Secretary 3. r. Gal
loway of the Department of Agriculture
Chief Engineer Arthur p Davis and c.
B. French of the United States reclafna-
ton Service, William A. Taylor and l.
C. Corbett of the bureau OF plant in
| dustry
Secretary Lane Of the Interior Depart
| ment.- Secretary Houston and Assistant
Secretary Galloway of the Department
| OF Agriculture have considered the re-
port together during the past week, and
agree that the bureau of plant industry
opportunity for profitable cooperative
work to help the farmer engaged in agri-
culture on the irrigation projects located
In the once desolate section of the west
known as the Great American Desert.
The plan which perhaps will be work.
ed out will be to have an agricultural
adviser" connected with the bureau OF
plant industry on each of the fifteen gov
eminent irrigation projects to cooperate
with the officers of the reclamation
methods of farming. 1t is planned thai
the work shall include all the differen,
phases of farming and farm operations
such as the growing of staple crops. fruit
husbandry. methods Of marketing farm
| products and general subjects relating te
| rural organization.
Little systematic effort has heretofore
been made in the matter of aiding farm
ers as they come upon the reclamation
projects In the arid and semi-arid Sec
lions OF the west. Such farmers are usu-
ally in need of immediate advice and
assistance In deciding the kinds of crops
and systems of rotation. possibilities OF
markets and other questions. On some
projects settlers have found government
officers who could give this informant ton
but on other projects the irrigation en-
gineers were not agricultural experts and
the best advice was not always easily
obtainable.
Officers of both the Interior Department
and the Agricultural Department agree
that it is highly desirable that there
should be a sympathetic and we'll inform.
is to give the best advice and en-
coura cement to settlers. and to help the
| farmer in the fullest way to help him.
self. In many respects the kind of helm
given will be in line with the principles
of farm demonstration work which has
proved so successful in the southern
states.
be assigned to each reclamation project
will be high-grade men. who are trained
in all phases Of work connected with ir-
rigation agriculture, and who have a
sympathetic viewpoint and are willing to
help the farmer in small things as well
as large The preliminary plans call for
the direction of this work by an eff
cient leader who will he connected with
| the bureau of plant industry. hut who
will always he in close cooperation with
the United States reclamation service.
Up to the present time the lines of
work which have been conducted on the
reclamation projects by the e~perts of
the Department of Agriculture have been
restricted largely to the testing of diff
ferent kinds Of crops and experiments IN
systems of painting. This work VIII be
and systematic plan of assisting the set
| tiers to devplOp their farms vill .le