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Show SECRETARY WILSON ON IS TOUR Says Damage to Crops Not so Great as at First Expected. Special to The Tribune. OGDEN! Aug. 2. James Wilson, secretary secre-tary of agriculture, arrlvdd In Ogden this afternoon, accompanied by his son. The secretary, is on an extended tour of the west, during which he Is making an Inspection In-spection of the different forestry districts, dis-tricts, and also getting a. line on the status of agricultural conditions. Secretary Wilson Is at the Reed hotel, and when scon by a Tribune reporter this afternoon he discussed freely these topics. He said he had found that the long dry spells through which the western west-ern states are passing had not resulted in a groat deal of damage, the crops not being damaged so much as he had expected ex-pected to llnd them. This he believed to be due to the expert knowledgo which haa been lately acquired regarding dry farming. Mr. Wilson said that spring wheal had suffered considerably, but that winter wheat would bo better than usual. Mr. Wilson expects to Inspect this, the fourth, forestry district xomorrow. One of the problems now confronting the forestry branch Is the great damage which results from forest fires. The damage this year, on the reservation alone, has amounted to several million dollars, and the destruction Is heavier than has ever been suffered before. The officials of his service have taken up the matter with the railroads, but with little lit-tle success, and a fortune awaits the man who Invents some method of preventing the starting of fires by railway locomotives. Asked about the reserving or wator in Ogden river by tho government, Mr. Wilson Wil-son said that It was mentioned several vours ago, but that tho matter Is outside out-side his Jurisdiction and would have to be taken up bv the reclamation service. If by any. He refused to discuss politics and would say nothing about tho Pln-chot-Balllnger controversy. Secretary Wilson sold ho did not know how long he would be In Ogden. but he would like to remain until Friday In order to moot Chief Forester Henry Graves, who will be here on that day. He was met at the depot by District Forester A. E. Sherman, whose offices he will inspect tomorrow. He said he would decide tomorrow whether or not he would stay here until Friday. President A. R, Heywood of the Weber club said that In case the secretary remained re-mained until Friday he would be tendered ten-dered some sort of a reception by that club. |