194 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Here are four divisions of the arid region, presenting 

 different phases of the problem: 



First Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South 

 Dakota, eastern Colorado, Wyoming. 



Second western Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, 

 Nevada, Idaho, Montana. 



Third eastern Washington and Oregon. 



Fourth California and Arizona. 



A LIBRARY FOR THE BEST PLAN. 



I will be glad to correspond with farmers in each of 

 these localities on the subject of diversified agricult- 

 ure, and to the four parties who will furnish me with 

 the best list of products that can be grown in these 

 localities, taking into account the sustenance of a 

 family in comfort, and further, the production of a 

 surplus product for market, I will present a well se- 

 lected library of books on agriculture, consisting of 

 twenty-five volumes. In other words, I will give four 

 such libraries, one for each district. These lists 

 should be received at Chicago not later than Septem- 

 ber 1st, and the decision will be announced in THE 

 IRRIGATION AGE for October and the library deliv- 

 ered at that time. I would also like to have my cor- 

 respondents discuss the other features of attractive 

 model colonies, such as the size of farms, character of 

 towns, types of architecture and methods of instruc- 

 tion for new colonies. 



V. OPEN LETTERS TO GREAT AMERI- 

 CANS. 



But other elements besides land and water and 

 western brains and faith are essential to the rapid de- 

 velopment of our new civilization. We must arouse 

 the interest and secure the cooperation of powerful 

 influences in the East and in foreign countries. I 

 can call the names of a few prominent men who have 

 it in their power to enormously assist in this direc- 

 tion. Let me address them briefly by means of open 

 letters in this article. 



TO EDWARD EVERETT rfALE. 



If you are not weary of good works wrought for 

 your fellow men in the course of your great life, may 

 we ask you to help us build the Republic of Irriga- 

 tion 1 In other words, will you " lend a hand ? " You 

 have left your mark indelibly upon the old century. 

 Will you help to mould the institutions of the new? 

 Does it appeal to your reason when we say that we 

 can apply the results of the world's experience more 

 successfully on the virgin fields of western America 

 than you can hope to do in the forest of traditions 

 by which you are surrounded in Boston? If it were 

 possible, by some agency of magic, to transfer dur- 

 ing the night one thousand weary artisans of a tired 

 Massachusetts community to twenty thousand fresh 



acres of Arizona soil, and if next week they could 

 be taking from their fields what they consumed in 

 their living and sending to market a surplus suffi- 

 cient for other requirements and a modest deposit in 

 bank, would you consider that you were doing a ser- 

 vice for your fellowmen in assisting to bring about 

 the result? If so, may we not ask you to spread the 

 fame of Arid America and its opportunities and help 

 us to accomplish in two years, by practicable meth- 

 ods, what would be worth the doing if it were possi- 

 ble in two weeks by magic? And, by the way, irriga- 

 tion and electricity are magic in their way, after all. 



TO WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS. 



Can you not induce your "Traveler from Altruria' 1 

 to take a trip to Arid America ? We know he would 

 sympathize with the lofty aspirations of those who 

 are founding the Republic of Irrigation. As he would 

 be a pioneer in this field he would find it easy to in- 

 troduce reforms, since he would be relieved of the 

 embarrassment of existing institutions. Our scheme 

 of universal prosperity is nearer the earth than your 

 hero's, and yet we sympathize with his aspirations so 

 nearly that we would not ask a better name for one of 

 our model colonies than "Altruria." Your estimable 

 contemporary, Mary Hallock Foote, has given the 

 world some very charming pictures of our Arid West. 

 We cordially invite you to study the possibilities of 

 our new and practicable civilization and make it the 

 subject of your next novel. 



TO CHAUNCEY M. DEPEVV. 



In your speech at the World's Fair on Manhattan 

 day you remarked : "The depopulation of the country 

 and the overcrowding of the city present to each 

 municipality problems of employment and support 

 which unsolved are dangerous to peace and property, 

 and whose solutioners are not yet in sight." The in- 

 stitutions of Arid America hold out fair promise of a 

 solution. Will you join the band of "solutioners" 

 who are trying to carry this truth home to their coun- 

 trymen? Will you lend your eloquent tongue 

 your potent influence to the creation of a public sen- 

 timent which will support the men of the new West 

 in their effort to develop new and better forms of 

 civilization, based upon the small farm, industrial 

 independence' and the largest practicable measure of 

 human equality? 



TO WILLIAM VINCENT ALLEN. 



We salute you as a Senator of the United States 

 who knows the West and as the rising hope of a new 

 party. You have lived the hardships of the pioneer in 

 one momentous era of colonization. We need not ask 

 where your sympathies are concerning a movement 

 which aims to establish conditions guaranteeing a 

 good degree of independence and equality to the 

 average family. But we ask you to become a student 



