Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1920-12-18
SAYS DRAINAGE
COIN MISPENT
Richard Lieber Ayers Great In
diana Work Is Unscientific.
Special to The Times.

WARSAW, Ind, Dec. 1s-Notwith-
standing the apparent success Of drain
age which has reclaimed more than sew
cnteen million acres and made Indiana
one of the three greatest agricultural
| States in the Union, much of this work
has been unscientifc, uncorrclated and a
great amount of money misspent, ascord-
ing to Richard Lieber, director of con-
servation in Indiana
Mr.. Lieber was the principal speaker
Friday night before the Rotary Club at a
conservation meeting here at which 800
persons representing many sections OF
the State were present. 1t was the de-
sire to protect the lakes and retain their
water levels, which are threatened from
unwise drainage projects, that the Rotary
| Club planned this meeting. Mr.. Lieber
said i'll part:
1t is not economically true that any
! ana all drainage is good. Drainage prof.
| ects have heretofore been treated as pure
! ~ local affairs No study was made as
to the affect Oh the water table adtoin-
ing the district Immediately affected.
Lake levels and stream flows were dis
regarded.
1t is not true that all soil when it is
FRAMED will be good for farming. Like
wise there are often districts which do
more good In their present state as lake
and swamp lands than they could as
farm lands
with the proposed adoption of the
State Engineers Department under State
conservation should come the modern
scienti ic and up-to-date drainage and
levee law to replace the numerous CON
ffcting and Anticipated measures now on
our statutes. The citizens of Kosciusko
County are intensely interested in this
matter because 1t directly affects their
pocketbooks. Drainage petitions now
pending in this county, If granted, viii
lower the level of many lakes and result
In complete ruin to some
Mr.. Lieber called attention to the pro-
posed drainage projects in Koscfusko
and Marshall Counties, known as the
''Matchett and Krfng ditch" Here it is
proposed to straighten and shorten the
TlppecanOe river for twenty two miles,
which would reduce the water level ten
feet at the county line. The Tippecanoe
river Is one OF the best in the Middle
West for power projects and even now
Chicago, eastern and Indiana capitalists
propose a hydro-electric project on the
river that will involve the expenditure Of
uiA4ons- Inc MaIchefT ditch would
riously interior with this project, he said
In a plea for saving the northern In
diana sand dunes, Mr.. Lieber said the
people of the Middle West and espe-
cially Indiana owe it to themselves to
call halt, and set aside for all time to
come, as a tribute Of days gone by, this
wonderful land If for nothing more than
providing a social safety valve In a dis
triet that needs this precautionary APP
pliance so imperatiyely Industrial ex-
pausion win not be interferred with by
such a park. but the life of industry
might suffer grieyously without the So
cial safety yalUe-the park-he con-
tended. Mr.. Lieber proposed that the
Legislature set aside S1,OOO,C0O on the
contingency his department raise a like
sum toward acquiring a park eight miles
fronting the lake and a mile and a half
( back into the dunes.