THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



VIEW ON SUNNYSIDE CANAL, YAKIMA COUNTY, WASHINGTON. 



bonds and proceed to construct the work, and then to 

 open the lands for settlement, selling small farms with 

 water rights for actual cost of reclamation, and the 

 usual Government price per acre. 



6. When half the land is occupied by actual set- 

 tlers, the State shall form a district, under the Wright 

 law, the bonds of which will redeem the State bonds, 

 and thus in the end the control passes into the hands 

 of the community. 



The Holt plan is only one of very many 

 Me> r*(?n. the that will, no doubt, be presented to the 



State Commissions during the next few 

 months. It is by the discussion of these various sug- 

 gestions that a wise conclusion will be reached in the 

 end. It is hardly likely that the plan will find general 

 acceptance in its original form, because it departs so 

 widely from the present method of reclaiming the 

 arid lands. It is a long leap from private enterprise 

 to this scheme of pure, unadulterated public control 

 and operation, with no way station between. And yet 

 this particular plan has some very strong features, the 

 chief of which is the fact that it puts the responsi- 



bility for progress squarely upon the Western States, 

 while still recognizing the right of the nation to exer- 

 cise a controlling influence both in legislation and ad- 

 ministration, and thus to protect its interests. There 

 are two stern facts to contend with, i. e. (1) that the 

 nation must guard the great heritage of its people 

 represented in the public lands, and (2) that if public 

 works are to be built it must be done by the States, 

 because it will be many years before the nation will 

 think of spending money for such a purpose. We 

 shall be fortunate indeed if, in the policy finally 

 adopted, we steer between these two difficulties as 

 skillfully as Mr. Holt has done in his plan. If this 

 proposition could be enacted into law to-morrow, and 

 then command a cordial support by the people, we 

 believe it would prove to be an entirely workable 

 policy. But not every idea that is meritorious is 

 available, and it is easy to foresee where criticism will 

 attack this plan. The Cabinet officer will not come 

 very soon, but a Department of Irrigation, in which all 

 of this class of work might be segregated under the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, can very likely be obtained 

 if strongly demanded by the West. 



