THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



to which further irrigation can be carried on with success and 

 profit. 



A year ago he had a bill ready to put through the 

 Kansas Legislature, but the three-party political mud- 

 dle got so thick that he gave it up. Now, with inter- 

 national, national, inter-State and State interests all 

 awake, there is hardly any doubt that the Kansas 

 Legislature will act next winter, and the friends of ir- 

 rigation in Kansas propose that Mr. Hinckley shall 

 then accept the State engineership. 



Texas alive 



to irriaa- 



There is a pronounced awakening in 



, . . . 



Texas on the subject of irrigation. 

 tton. rj^g interesting article in this number 



of THE AGE by Robert J. Brown throws much light 

 on some unique phases of the subject. More letters 

 of inquiry are just now received at the office of this 

 publication from Texas than from any other State. 

 This is an unerring indication of the widespread and 

 growing public interest in the subject. It is asserted 

 that land lying near creeks and rivers has been 

 reclaimed at a cost of $5 per acre, and is now worth 

 an average of $40 per acre. It is also claimed that 

 several hundred thousand acres are capable of reclam- 

 ation by means of pumps, and that plants costing 

 from $500 to $2,000 easily pay for themselves in a 

 short time. The difference between a Texas drouth 

 and a Texas season with abundant water is so great 

 that it is believed even $20 an acre for reclamation 

 is a very profitable investment. 



If the new year shall bring statehood to 

 fhil e year. the Territories it will be a happy new 

 year for them. And statehood should be 

 given in precisely the same spirit that an enterpris- 

 ing merchant displays his latest and choicest wares 

 in his best show window. It is high time that Uncle 

 Sam went to his storehouse, unloosed the territorial 

 wrappings from Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, and 

 put their marvelous attractions on exhibition where 

 the millions of people and millions of dollars looking 

 for homes and investments could see them. A mis- 

 taken notion exists in the eastern brain on the subject 

 of what constitutes fitness for statehood. The popu- 

 lar idea is that a certain number of people is the 

 single requirement. On that theory Delaware, 

 Rhode Island, Vermont and some other insignificant 

 eastern States should be reduced to Territories, while 

 New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois should be par- 

 titioned off into several new States. Did anybody 

 ever inquire how many people there were in Massa- 

 chusetts when statehood was conferred upon her? 

 The matter of population is considered only with rela- 

 tion to western Territories. In any true estimate of fit- 

 ness for sovereignty actual population would be the last 

 consideration, and capacity for development the first. 

 The Territories each present a wonderful field for 

 enterprise. They are capable of supporting vast 



WILLIAM H. ROWE. 



Fresident Bear Kiver (Utah) System. 



numbers of people and adding enormously to the na- 

 tional wealth. The territorial form of government is 

 the effective bar to the attainment of the very condi- 

 tion which the eastern man prescribes as the one es- 

 sential to statehood. Is it fair to tie a man's legs and 

 then tell him he must beat the record as a sprinter? 

 Is it fair to impose upon Arizona, New Mexico and 

 Utah the political conditions which prohibit the rapid 

 expansion of population and then tell them they must 

 have a certain number of inhabitants before asking 

 for statehood? It is alike a matter of business and 

 of justice to admit the Territories to the circle of sov- 

 ereign States without delay. 



South 



Within five years there will be an urgent 



J 



California demand for the making of another new 

 Hopes. gtate in the We8t This call wiu be for 



the State of South California. The differences be- 

 tween Northern and Central California, on one hand, 

 and Southern California on the other, are fundamental. 

 They never can be reconciled. One part of the State 

 was born of the mining camp and the other of the 

 irrigation canal. San Francisco and Los Angeles have 

 each their individual charms and advantages, but they 

 are the capitals of two civilizations. The great baro- 

 nial estate is the type of one civilization, and the small 

 irrigated farm of the other. One end of the State 

 is full of the monuments and traditions of a race of 

 greatly rich, and its counterpart, the miserably poor. 

 The other end of the State has built an industrial sys- 

 tem based on something like human equality, and 



