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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



ization. We have no land policy worthy of the name. 

 We have no proper supervision over the appropriation 

 of precious streams, nor over the construction of works 

 which, in case of sudden disaster, would endanger 

 life and property. We have no common system of 

 administration, nor even a common unit of measure- 

 ment. The conditions surrounding our development 

 are complicated and complex. 



The Desert Land Law is a fraud and a disgrace. 

 Under its baneful operations the most valuable desert 

 lands are being steadily acquired for speculative 

 purposes, to be sold back to the people whose herit- 

 age and birthright they are supposed to be. It is 

 not asserted that the Desert Land Law has never 

 been properly used, but it cannot be disputed that in 

 the vast proportion of instances it has been operated 

 as an instrument for the aggrandizement of the pro- 

 moters of private enterprises. 



Allow the present conditions to prevail and in a 

 very few years it will be more difficult to find an acre 

 of valuable public land than it is now to find a 

 buffalo, since the latter are occasionally discovered 

 in museums. Leave things as they are and every 

 stream will be found to have been over-appropriated, 

 every forest will have been denuded, and half a dozen 

 States will be in arms against their neighbors, fight- 

 ing for their share of inter-state streams. But that is 

 not the worst. There will be a new form of monopo- 

 ly which will hold in its iron grasp the source of 

 life to every field, orchard and garden hereafter to be 

 spoken into existence upon deserts now unoccupied. 



Up to this time no great injury has been wrought. 

 If capital has obtained great advantages it has taken 

 great chances and illustrated great possibilities. 

 Only about 280,000,000 acres have gone from the 

 people so far, and of that amount about 80,000,000 

 acres comes under the head of railroad selections 

 and other land grants. Nature was so prodigal when 

 she laid out this continent that an empire is still left 

 on which the genius of statesmanship may illustrate 

 its capacity to deal greatly with great problems. But 

 the time has come when the task must be begun. 



THE OLD CONTROVERSIES. 



Western irrigation sentiment has been sharply di- 

 vided between two factions holding widely different 

 opinions. One faction has insisted that the national 

 government should appropriate all the money re- 

 quired in the work of reclaiming the public land and 

 administering canal systems when built. This fac- 

 tion is unwilling to trust the States with any authority 

 over the public domain, and especially over streams 

 rising in one State and flowing through others. It 

 maintains that irrigation is and will always be na- 

 tional in its character. If this view is to prevail in 

 the West, the Desert Land Law should be instantly 

 repealed, as otherwise there would be no public do- 



main to be reclaimed when the people of the East 

 are at last persuaded to appropriate millions for its 

 reclamation. 



Another faction, despairing of enlightened legisla- 

 tion, and especially of the granting of enormous ap- 

 propriations, has favored the cession of the lands to the 

 States, in order that each commonwealth might deal 

 with its own problems. This faction has believed 

 that the result would be the development of intelli- 

 gent State policies. There is the best of reason to 

 believe that the present national administration and 

 Congress would readily agree to the plan of cession 

 if now urged with anything like unanimity by the 

 people of the West. 



I do not believe either of these extreme views 

 ought to prevail at Denver. Surely no man who has 

 had good opportunities for forming a judgment can 

 for a moment believe that in the present condition of 

 the national finances Congress will make the neces- 

 sary appropriation for this work. Neither can any 

 man familiar with all shades of western opinion now 

 believe that the plan of cession contained in the 

 Warren bill can command the support essential to 

 success before the country. Even if it could com- 

 mand it the measure would go into operation in an 

 atmosphere of distrust a condition most unfavorable 

 to the best result. 



I believe we have sufficient brains and tolerance to 

 arrange a compromise between these two views which 

 will be satisfactory to all. Let us see for a moment 

 what are the main points in these two contentions. 

 Those who demand national control say that this is 

 necessary in order to prevent the acquisition of the 

 lands by corporations. They also feel that there 

 could be no just and equitable management of inter- 

 state streams, forest reservations and pastoral lands, 

 except under Federal authority. 



Those who favor State control insist that irrigation 

 must forever be purely a domestic concern, like roads 

 and bridges. They say that to the West it is a vital 

 and local issue, and to the East a vague and remote 

 interest. They say that the lands in Colorado, for 

 instance, will always be occupied by citizens who will 

 look to Colorado for protection, and that these lands 

 will always^pay tribute into the treasuries of Colo- 

 rado, and that the profits arising from the products 

 of her soil will always be distributed in Colorado 

 channels. They refuse to believe that works can be 

 as wisely constructed under national authority as un- 

 der State control. They are especially firm in their 

 conviction that after the lands are actually reclaimed 

 and actually settled the irrigation system can be 

 administered much more wisely by the agents of the 

 State than under Federal authority. 



I think fair-minded men will concede that there is 

 reason in both of these arguments. Now, can a way 



