how to do a hundred other things to change the nature of plants, he has invented a new kind of potato that is estimated to add seventeen million dollars a year to the farm incomes of America. He has also developed a spineless cactus which is good for food and which can be raised in the desert; he has developed plums and prunes that have no stones, the thornless blackberry, the strawberry

that bears every month in the year, and scores of other plants, flowers, fruits, and grains that make our country millions of dollars richer every year.

Irrigation. In the western part of our country there is a vast region where very little rain falls. It used to be called "the Great American Desert." In this desert are the Rocky Mountains and other mountains. Seventyfive years ago few people lived there, and most people thought the land was almost worthless. Then gold, silver,

and other metals were found in the mountains in great abundance, and people rushed from the other parts of the country to get them. These people obtained vast riches from the mines and then began to study the soil of the desert. Somebody suggested that they build dams to collect the water in the mountain streams and use it to irrigate the land. The dams were built. What is the result? To-day what were formerly waste places are inhabited by progressive and intelligent people who have built great cities, developed mines, and turned the desert into the finest farms to be found anywhere. Some parts of this great desert now yield twice as much wealth per capita as is produced on any other land in the country.

Canals. The United States is famous for its great canals. The Erie Canal, 363 miles long, was finished in 1825. It connects the Hudson River with Lake Erie. It has helped to furnish cheap freight between New York and the states to the west and has done a great deal to increase business and build up the country. Soon after this canal was opened, many other canals were built in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. The most important canal built by Americans is the Panama Canal which cuts the American continent in two and saves thousands of miles for ships going back and forth between ports on the Atlantic and on the Pacific coasts of the United States.

Other American Scientists and Inventors.-American scientists and inventors have made many great discoveries and inventions. Benjamin Franklin taught the world how to study electricity and so helped to make possible all the electrical inventions that we know. Samuel F. B. Morse invented the electric telegraph in 1844; Elias Howe invented the sewing machine in 1846; Cyrus W. Field laid the first Atlantic cable in 1858; Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone; and Thomas A. Edison produced the electric light, the phonograph, the

motion-picture machine, and a large number of other inventions of great value.

The Greatest Achievement.-The greatest of all American achievements, however, is the government of the United States, with its free public schools, its laws made by the people themselves, its most important officeholders elected by the people, and its business in the hands of educated and intelligent citizens who control their own welfare.

Under the government of the United States all citizens, whether they are native-born or immigrants from other lands, enjoy equal protection and should share equally in the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. Many countries have contributed to make the United States of to-day, and the best contribution of each country is the loyal, industrious, ambitious, intelligent men and women, boys and girls, who have come here because they love liberty, law, and order, and wish to live in peace and friendship.

1. What has made it possible for the Americans to do great

things?

2. Who invented the steamship?

3. Tell about the growth of railroads.

4. Tell about the number of automobiles in our country.

5. Who invented the airplane? The cotton gin?

6. Who developed the reaping machine?

7. Tell about Luther Burbank.

Desert.

8. Tell about our great canals.

About the Great American

9. What did Franklin discover? What did Morse invent?

Howe? Field? Bell? Edison?

10. What is the greatest of all American achievements?

CHAPTER XXV

AMERICA IN THE WORLD WAR

The Hague Conference.-In the year 1899 many nations sent representatives to a conference at The Hague in Holland. The great purpose of this conference was to find a way to prevent wars. Most of the nations paid heavy taxes to support great armies and navies, and they wanted to agree on some plan that would make these burdens lighter.

They proposed that all nations should reduce their armies and navies and settle their disputes by means of courts instead of by fighting. One nation was entirely opposed to this plan. That nation was Germany. Germany had grown powerful by fighting and conquering her weaker neighbors. She wanted a big army and a big navy that she might conquer still other nations. Her war lords wanted to make Germany the most powerful nation in the world. To do this Germany was ready to deprive every other nation of its rights.

Germany's Dream.-The German Emperor and his military leaders allowed the common people of Germany very little voice in their government. The people had to toil and fight that the rulers might live in luxury and enjoy the splendor and glory of their high position. Their love of power and wealth made them ambitious to conquer and rule other nations. They dreamed of a world empire. They were fond of singing, Deutschland über AllesGermany over all. They planned to annex Belgium and northern France with its rich fields of coal and iron.

After crushing France on the west and Russia on the east, Germany could control a great Middle-European empire extending from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf. Then the German war lords hoped to conquer England and rule the seas. After all this America was to be taught submission to Germany's desires and her people made to pay

They are, left to right: General Baron Jacques, Belgium; General Amando Diaz, Italy; Marshal Ferdinand Foch, France; General John J. Pershing, United States; Admiral Earl Beatty, Great Britain. This photograph was taken at the Convention of the American Legion in Kansas City, Missouri, in November, 1921, at which the five commanders were the guests of the Legion,

vast sums of money to purchase the right to live and toil like the people of Germany. Vast territories in Asia and Africa were to be seized as colonies for German settlers and traders.

Beginning of the War.-Germany depended upon her allies, Austria and Turkey, to help win this world empire.