Evening star., 1931-06-21

over q coast-to-coaSt network of the
Columbia Broadcastt4g System, last
night at $3.50 o'clock, from Station
wMALt here:
n YOT long ago went on fishing
N trip to the Dry Tortugas. These
islands lie about so miles from
i Key West, the farthest piece Of
American territory outward.
- our boat drew up to the pier, we
Wpre greeted by the entire population,
which consisted of one man. This
hardy soul proved to be an employe Of
tloned on this lonely island to protect
the birds which were nesting by tens
Ct thousands nearby.
Contrast that incident with another.
On both of his Polar expeditions Ad-
niiral Byrd took with him two of our
Weather Bureau people. The admiral
was generous enough to say that those
department men, in the case Of each
OF the expeditions, had been able to
set dates for his flights which proved
TO be the only dates upon which they
could have been made successfully.
Forests POIiced.
Are you going to the country for a
picnic? If you live in the West, or at
tional Forest for your outing. There
are 160,000,000 acres of them to select
from. They are policed, protected from
f1re, and administered by the Forest
Service with view to recreation. wise
use and conservation. The road you
will travel over was constructed on
plans, sometimes originated but GER
tainly approved by the Bureau of Pub
lie Roads. Store in your hamper an
abundant lie
from which the meats came were
healthy; that the conditions of slaugh-
ter were sanitary, and that the meat
Itself Is wholesome Is certified by the
Bureau of Animal Industry. The milk
you brought was probably produced
under dairying practices standardized
by the Bureau of Dairy Industry. The
fruit you are taking was probably
graded by the Bureau of Agricultural
EconomicS-the grain from which your
bread Is made certainly was. Have no
fear Of the canned goods. There was
q time when buying a can of food was
a voyage of discovery, fraught with
perilS that we're both deadly and un-
seen. That time has long since passed.
Labels must speak the truth, and adul-
terants must be declared thereon. Our
food and drug inspectors kept tab on
one lot Of 100000 cans of decompoSed
canned salmon for five years. The
minute they attempted to land it in
our port it was seized and destroyed.
When you come to spread your table
cloth, it will be interesting to reflect
that If it was made in 1880, the chances
are two to one that it was made of
American fax. If it is a cloth you
have had since 1917 or 1918, the
chances are it was made Of fax grown
elsewhere. The tariff of 1880 has given
the American fax grower and the
hot - 6Af-
ter break than he had. There were
about two and a half million acres more
fax in this country last year than there
were from 1914 to 1922 when the tariff
was so low as to discourage our own
producers. If the cheese on your bill
of fare is Roquefort, you will be encour-
aged to know that our dairy people have
imported the fungus and duplicated the
temperatures of the caves in France
so that we can now make a fine Amer
ican Roquefort, not out of sheep or
goats milk, but out Of clean cows milk
produced under sanitary conditions. If
it is Swiss cheese, I'll take bet that
you don't know whether it was made in
Switzerland or right here in the U. S. A
If 1t is the ordinary Cheddar cheese, I
want to let you in on little secret.
We have perfected q can so ventilated
that the cheese can be packed fresh
and kept 80 for long time.
Markets Reported.
After the lunch Is over, fog up the old
pipe (the tobacco was probably graded
by our mem and open up the news
paper. On page / read the only news
story which Is front page stuff with
every newspaper in the country, every
day in the year-the weather report.
Turn to the financial section. Many of
the market reports were furnished by
the department. In between you will
find the crop forecasts, stories of road
construction, of plant breeding, of grim
battles waged against invading hosts OF
insect pests and Of many other branches
of our work, all of them merely incl
dents of the days work in the depart
ment.
Without prolonging the recital, am
sure you will agree that the Department
of Agriculture, through a multitude OF
quiet and unobtruSive services, touches
the lives of every person in America in
more intimate ways than is commonly
imagined.
In many other ways than can be de-
tailed here the Department of Agricul-
tIlre Is a great educational, research and
service institution, not alone for farm
ers, but for every citizen Of the Nation.
The service of the Weather Bureau
transcends the interests of farmers
alone. 1t warns ships at sea and air
planes on land Of approaching storms,
as well as warning farmers Of impend-
ing froStS. The Bureau of Public Roads
serves everybody. In research as to
nutrftive values of foods, the Bureau OF
Home Economics is thinking Of all our
people, not farmers alone. In estab-
fishing game refugees and protecting mi
gratory wild fowl, the Bureau of Bio
logical Survey Is conserving wild life
for all nature lovers.
Nevertheless, our fundamental job Is
agriculture. Our thoughts are first OF
all of ways and means to help the
farmer solve his problems-problems OF
the kind and volume OF his crops; prob
lens of production; problems Of or
RaniZation and management; problems
of marketing Our quest for answers
to these problems takes us into the
realms of business, Of economics and
of nearly every known science.
One or more scientists representing
the department are almost continuously
securing odd hooks and corners OF the
world for new plants or new varieties
of plants-in Arabia for date shoots
which will resist rain and add new
enterprises to our Southwestern states,
or in Siberia for wilt-resistant alfalfa
which will replace less hardy varieties
9n the Middle West, or in Madagascar
Cor rubber plants which offer opportun-
tiles for development here. Other SCI
entistS are working in our forests study
ing insects whose ravages threaten to
bring low the lordly pine, in in Hawaii
to learn more of the Mediterranean
fruit fly or in the Virgin Islands at
tacking the agricultural problems of
the people of those islands. Our econo-
mists and crop specialists are stationed
in a score of foreign countries to re-
port crop conditions, or market pros
pects for the guidance of our farmers
or our shippers. Add these facts and
YOU. will readily agree that the battle