And State Papers 563 



nities to help themselves, and as will stimulate needed 

 reforms in the State laws and regulations governing 

 irrigation. 



The reclamation and settlement of the arid lands 

 will enrich every portion of our country, just as 

 the settlement of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys 

 brought prosperity to the Atlantic States. The in- 

 creased demand for manufactured articles will stim- 

 ulate industrial production, while wider home mar- 

 kets and the trade of Asia will consume the larger 

 food supplies and effectually prevent Western com- 

 petition with Eastern agriculture. Indeed, the 

 products of irrigation will be consumed chiefly in 

 upbuilding local centres of mining and other indus- 

 tries, which would otherwise not come into existence 

 at all. Our people as a whole will profit, for suc- 

 cessful home-making is but another name for the 

 upbuilding of the Nation. 



The necessary foundation has already been laid 

 for the inauguration of the policy just described. 

 It would be unwise to begin by doing too much, for 

 a great deal will doubtless be learned, both as to 

 what can and what can not be safely attempted, by 

 the early efforts, which must of necessity be partly 

 experimental in character. At the very beginning 

 the Government should make clear, beyond shadow 

 of doubt, its intention to pursue this policy on lines 

 of the broadest public interest. No reservoir or 

 canal should ever be built to satisfy selfish personal 

 or local interests; but only in accordance with the 

 advice of trained experts, after long investigation 



