412 



IRRIGATION. 



Several instances can be cited where corporations have been formed, 

 stocks and bonds issued, and a million dollars invested in great recla- 

 mation works, in buiidinj^- reservoirs, dams, and canals, resulting in 

 increasing land values in the vicinit}' to $3,000,000, yet the investors 

 lost every dollar, because the}^ could not control and bring to them- 

 selves the profits of the enterprise. These went to the public, and 

 under existing conditions could not be realized by the men who took 

 the risk. The people who bought stocks and bonds of irrigation enter- 

 prises are no longer willing to play the part of philanthropist to bene- 

 fit the public; and they saj' that "although the schemes offered are 

 equalh' enticing as those in the past, we will not be led into another 

 enteri^rise of this character." Hence, development has practically 

 ceased, and compared with what might be done, the country with its 

 vast opportunities seems almost stagnant. 



The following table gives the extent of irrigation at the beginning 

 and end of the decade 1890-1900, and shows the gradual increase of 

 this method of tilling the soil: 



Area irrigated. 



Private enterprise has already accomplished what it can in the utili- 

 zation of the smaller streams, but there still remain great rivers and 

 torrential floods whose control is beyond the possibility of individuals 

 or corporations .seeking profitable financial enterprises. The work of 

 reclamation, if done at all, must be through public agencies. (PI. II.) 



These facts have been recognized by President Roosevelt in his first 

 mes.sage to Congress, and by his Secretary of the Interior, as well as 

 by numerous writers upon .social and economic questions, who are 

 beginning to .sound the note of warning against further delay, against 

 the policy of procrastination, which allows the speculative element to 

 gradually acquire possession of the places where water can be stored, 

 and to render difficult or impracticable the ultimate reclamation of the 

 public land and the creation of homes for workers. 



President Roo.sevelt, in his clear-cut, decisive fashion, has reached 

 to the very heart of the matter and has recommended that the Gov- 





