THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



99 



P. H. PORTER, OF TENNESSEE, 

 Member of National Executive Committee Irrigation Congress. 



Nebraska's Let us assume that Nebraska means 



Industrial business this time. What will be the 

 Future. . . . 



character or the changes wrought in her 



economic life by the adoption of irrigation? It will 

 be a revolution. The quarter section will come down 

 to 80 acres, then to 40 acres, and ulti mately to 20 acres. 

 The Nebraska farm will no longer be merely an 

 insignificant segment of the cornbelt. It will be in a 

 modest sense a sovereign republic, for within the 

 limitations of his own little farm the landed proprie- 

 tor will be independent. He will learn from Utah 

 the philosophy of diversified crops, and will try to 

 produce nearly everything his family consumes. 

 Then he will laugh in the face of panics as well as in 

 the face of dry years. He will learn from Southern 

 California scientific methods of irrigation, and so will 

 intensify the product of each acre to the last degree. 

 He will learn from New England the social advan- 

 tages of thickly populated communities. The result 

 will be a new kind of civilization and the gradual 

 evolution of an American commonwealth, which will 

 withstand every shock and strain that can come with 

 time. The people of Nebraska should look forward 

 to the next ten years as altogether the brightest in 

 their history. There should be no faltering this time. 

 All sections of the State should stand shoulder to 

 shoulder, and the best talent of the people should be 

 consecrated to the work from this time on. 



"Tom" The Rocky Mountain News, one. of the 



-Patterson's principal daily newspapers of Denver, 

 Nightmare. , ,. , 



publishes in its issue of August 3 an 



article under sensational headlines, alleging that the 



chairman of the National Executive Committee has 

 packed the Third National Irrigation Congress so 

 that it may execute his will. It alleges that the gen- 

 tleman who has thus neatly put the destinies of 

 Western America into his vest pocket proposes to 

 turn them over to corporations, to which he is said 

 "to be bound hand and foot." It can be said to the 

 credit of "Tom " Patterson, the distinguished editor 

 of the Rocky Mountain News, that he is never dull, 

 but always picturesque and interesting. Even his 

 nightmares are entertaining. And this one is no 

 exception to the rule. The chairman of the National 

 Committee thought so well of the dramatic interest 

 contained in this article that he ordered marked 

 copies of it sent to all officers of the congress and to 

 the leading newspapers of the arid region. It is 

 hoped that the result will be increased attendance at 

 the congress. If it were possible for every man, 

 woman and child in the arid region to attend the re- 

 sult would be vastly pleasing to the officers of the 

 Irrigation Congress. If these people are about to be 

 robbed of their heritage the least courtesy that can be 

 shown them is to invite them to be present to see 

 how the thing is done. 



The Truth article in the News is based on an 



about the alleged interview " with a gentleman of 

 Charges. 



national reputation." This reputation " 



is so delicate and fragile a thing that its owner 

 hesitates to exhibit it in the desiccating air of the 

 arid region. But let that pass. The charge is that 

 the call was framed so that the Chairman of the 



M. F. MERCHANT, M. D., OF NORTH DAKOTA, 



Member of National Executive Committee of Irrigation Con- 

 gress. 



