THE REPUBLIC OF IRRIGATION. 



193 



through a system of production which furnishes what 

 each family consumes, equality by reason of close set- 

 tlement of communities on small farms. Around 

 these two fundamental principles will be grouped all 

 the advantages of a twentieth century civilization. 

 The loneliness of country life will be banished for- 

 ever. The really desirable features of town life will 

 be carried to the country, and the charms of country 

 life will be carried to the town. The most inspiring 

 and satisfying features of both will be perfectly 

 blended in a new order of civic life, underlaid by a 

 foundation of certain and enduring industrial pros- 

 perity. 



THIS IS THE WESTERN ASPIRATION. 



These are the convictions and aspirations of the 

 new generation of western Americans who to-day, in 

 seventeen western States in a thousand valleys of 

 Arid America are waging a war of conquest upon 

 the desert. This is what they mean when they say, 

 We will evolve new forms of civilization! We will 

 give new life to popular institutions! They are more 

 than imperialists, for their imagination grasps new 

 possessions, not only for their country, but for their 

 race and kind. We have been approaching by slow 

 and painful steps the realization of this dream, where 

 men shall be free and equal and prosperous beyond 

 the power of legislation and greed to injure. We 

 have our Greeley, our Riverside, our Valley of the 

 Great Salt Lake, but everywhere, from the Republi- 

 can river in Nebraska to the Yakima in Washing- 

 ton, from Canada to Mexico, we want to hasten the 

 coming of population and the making of prosperous 

 communities. 



IV. PRACTICAL METHODS OF PROG- 

 RESS. 



It seems to me that events world-wide in their sig- 

 nificance have suddenly opened the way for a more 

 rapid progress than we have dreamed of. All the 

 old States and all the old countries are to-day in need 

 of an outlet for surplus population. In Arid America 

 we have the land, the water and the plan of self-sus- 

 taining human industry which will do more than all 

 the tariff policies and financial remedies to restore 

 general prosperity and relieve the pressure of hard 

 times. If we can promise no more to each family 

 than simply that we will show them where they can 

 own a home, and sustain themselves from the product 

 of their own soil, we promise them more than the most 

 confident reformer in Congress or Parliament has 

 dared to suggest. That this promise can be fulfilled 

 is demonstrable. We can do more. In ordinary years 

 the little irrigated farm will not only sustain the fam- 

 ily, but furnish them with a surplus the proceeds of 



which will go to improve their conditions or provide 

 a competence for old age. But first of all the great 

 heart of the world must be reached, and then the 

 thoughtful leaders of public sentiment must unite in 

 formulating plans for model communities. I have 

 some practical ideas to suggest. 



A LEAGUE OF WESTERN BRAINS. 



If the civilization of the future exists anywhere it is 

 in the brain and heart of those who best know and 

 love Arid America and its institutions. Some of this 

 class of men are prominent in public life, but many 

 of them are humble men living on irrigated farms. I 

 have already submitted to several distinguished men, 

 through private correspondence, plans looking to the 

 development of model colonies which may illustrate 

 the highest possibilities of irrigation, applied to 

 diversified agriculture, and of electricity, applied to 

 domestic and industrial uses. The replies so far 

 received are extremely favorable. At the next ses- 

 sion of the National Irrigation Congress I propose to 

 call together the most influential and thoughtful men 

 of the various States and Territories and invite them 

 to join me in formulating plans for these model com- 

 munities. We will map out a number of schemes of 

 diversified farming, applicable to different localities, 

 taking into consideration, first of all, the great princi- 

 ple of self-sustenance, and, secondly, the production 

 of the best surplus for market. We will take up the 

 question of the farm unit for the different localities, 

 forms of administration for the colonies, plans for 

 economical and attractive architecture, and the best 

 manner of training settlers in methods of scientific 

 and intensive cultivation under irrigation. I will 

 undertake to marshal the brains and the heart of 

 Arid America in order to hasten, by downright practi- 

 cal means, the making of the new civilization. I will 

 leave it to be determined how the results of these 

 labors shall be applied, whether by giving them com- 

 mon publicity, or by the creation of model colonies 

 under a business administration to be hereafter 

 developed. 



FARMERS ASKED TO ADVISE. 



But equally important is it to have the counsel of 

 those men, unknown to public life but schooled 

 in the practical problem of irrigation farming, and 

 deeply interested in the welfare of their country and 

 race. I would like to learn from men of practical ex- 

 perience just how near it is possible to approach the 

 ideal I have set forth, the production of what each 

 family consumes. I would like to have this question 

 carefully studied, as it presents itself on the plains of 

 the semi-arid region, in the valleys of the inter-moun- 

 tain country, in eastern Washington and Oregon, and 

 in the semi-tropic belt of California and Arizona. 



