THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



9 



very glad to participate. Mr. Mead, in his present 

 paper, confines himself to a statement of the difficul- 

 ties which surround the problem, and of the impor- 

 tance of attempting its settlement without further 

 delay. This will be one of the foremost topics at the 

 next Irrigation Congress. 



The article in the May number of this 

 a The 



Republic of journal, entitled "The Republic of 

 irrigation." i rr jg a tj on , M attracted wide attention 

 throughout the country. It was the subject of news- 

 paper comment in Boston and San Francisco and at 

 many points between these two extremes. It called 

 out many pleasant personal letters and the tenor of 

 all that has been said is extremely favorable to the 

 ideas which the article promulgated. The open let- 

 ters to prominent Americans have also met with re- 

 sponse. The following is an extract from a very en- 

 couraging letter from the distinguished author of 

 "The Man Without a Country:" 



Irrigation has interested me greatly ever since I have known 

 anything about it, and the organization of emigration, which was 

 the earliest public work I went into, as long ago as 1845, seems to 

 me our most important home duty to this day. We ought to have 

 some young Raleigh, or John Smith, or Miltiades, or Themis- 

 tocles, who would start such a civilization as you propose. 



EDWARD EVERETT HALE. 



What 



One of the most satisfactory responses 

 Alber't'shaw is that of the editor of the widely-circu- 

 Says. lated and very influential Review of Re- 

 views. It is as follows: 



To the Editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE: I have read nothing 

 of late more inspiring than your presentation of the claims of 

 Arid America. In the midst of the social and political unrest of 

 the day and the general depression that has overtaken our indus- 

 tries, it is most encouraging to meet so irrepressible an optimist 

 as the editor of THE IRRIGATION AGE, with his splendid proph- 

 ecies and magnificent promises. Such a picture of possibilities as 

 you have drawn helps us to see how transient after all must be 

 the mood of national depression under the shadow of which we 

 now languish, and quickens us to definite plans for the ever- 

 brightening future. I believe heartily both in the possibility and 

 the certainty of a much higher average of civilized life for the 

 masses of the human family as the decades succeed one another, 

 and am ready to believe that the great region to whose future you 

 have pinned your faith may ultimately be the seat of a better and 

 more prosperous social condition than the older countries. I can 

 at least pledge you that the Review of Reviews will be at all 

 times open to conviction, and more than ready to help the 

 pioneers of the irrigation belt to make their claims known and 

 read of all men. 



With heartiest wishes for the continued success of your 

 interesting and high-spirited journal, I am as ever. 



Sincerely yours, 



ALBERT SHAW. 



What has already been done in the val- 

 Projects on c ' . 



the ley ot the lower Rto Grande is a splen- 



Rio Grande. ^ i nS pj ra ti O n for future achievement. 

 There are several great projects on foot in this local- 



ity, the most important of which proposes to reser- 

 voir the waters of the Rio Grande at Elephant Butte, 

 consolidate all the rights on the river from that point 

 to El Paso, bring the whole valley under a compre- 

 hensive system and vastly increase the area of land 

 reclaimed. The project is a bold one, and is being 

 vigorously prosecuted by enterprising citizens of El 

 Paso. We are not sufficiently familiar with the de- 

 tails of the engineering and physical problems to 

 express any opinion upon them, but there can be no 

 question about the character of the country that can 

 be created if the enterprise is carried to completion. 

 No portion of the arid region presents more attrac- 

 tions for colonists, all things considered. 



California 



Some subscribers complain that THE 

 and AGE deals too generously with California 

 The Age." topics in view of the fact that there are 

 sixteen other States and Territories in its western 

 field. THE AGE has a very large circulation in 

 California, as is natural, since the number of irrigators 

 there is far in excess of the number in any other 

 locality. For the same reason the industry there is 

 in a very advanced stage, and hence is able to teach 

 lessons of the utmost value to other localities. And 

 yet a careful scrutiny of our pages for the past few 

 months convinces us that California has not been 

 accorded space at the expense of other sections. We 

 are inclined to believe that these criticisms arise from 

 the prominence of California in the advertising de- 

 partment. We should be glad to see the enterprising 

 land companies a little more evenly distributed, and 

 think this will be the case hereafter; but just at this 

 time it happens that nearly all the active under- 

 takings of this character are located in the Golden 

 State. There are many others elsewhere nearly ready 

 to come to the front. 



Elsewhere in this issue is published an 

 >pen r L,etter. P en letter addressed to the editor of 



THE AGE by Mr. Charles W. Greene, 

 formerly financial agent, president and manager of 

 the Bear Valley Irrigation Company. It is written in 

 reply to the article published last month, in which 

 Bear Valley was treated as a type of irrigation invest- 

 ment. That article did not aim to ventilate the his- 

 tory of the famous California enterprise, and certainly 

 not to praise or blame individuals. Mr. Greene's 

 name was not mentioned in it. We attempt no 

 answer to the open letter. We have admitted it 

 rather than do even an unintentional injustice to Mr. 

 Greene, whom we highly esteem as a man of brains 

 and conscience. Just at this time the public is not 

 deeply concerned with the personal aspect of the 

 Bear Valley affair, however. 



