THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



159 



and that this should be accomplished either by lib- 

 eral national appropriations, or by ceding the lands 

 to the States. 



The Wyoming report, prepared by 

 Wyoming _, 

 Has Vigorous Elwood Mead, is one of unusual value 



Ideas. an( } interest. It says the great need 

 of Wyoming is agricultural development, and the 

 first step toward this end is to secure such changes 

 in land laws as will adapt them to the conditions and 

 needs of the arid region. "Present laws fail in the 

 following particulars: Control of land and water is 

 divided. Public land and public water should be un- 

 der one authority. Instead of this, the State is charged 

 with the supervision of the water supply. The fed- 

 eral government manages the land." Mr. Mead's 

 idea is, that the opportunity offered by the Carey law 

 should be fully utilized, and that there is no pressing 

 demand for further legislation in this direction until 

 this has been done. He also points out the patent 

 fact that settlement in the arid region can only be 

 successfully accomplished in groups or colonies. He 

 believes that colonies can be organized to reclaim 

 lands successfully under the Carey law. " It will be 

 possible to create communities consisting of hun- 

 dreds of homes with the same facility that the single 

 homestead is established under the present land laws, 

 and the occupancy and reclamation of the land, oc- 

 cupied by these communities, will be far more suc- 

 cessfully accomplished than is the establishment of 

 the isolated home under the operation of either the 

 Homestead law or the Desert Land law." The report 

 points out the injury inflicted upon the State by the 

 destruction of the native grasses and says, " To rem- 

 edy these evils it is suggested that changes be made 

 in the land laws by which the irrigable and grazing 

 lands will be united and a homestead made to em- 

 brace a portion of both." The report opposes the 

 limitation of the farm unit to forty acres as inapplica- 

 ble to Wyoming, and also opposes the division of in- 

 terstate streams under federal authority. It favors 

 the creation of a national commission to consider this 

 question with a view to its settlement on some fair 

 basis. 



No irrigation congress ever before as- 

 The Com- 

 mittee on sembled had such material for its de- 



JResoIutions - liberations as that furnished by these 

 reports. But it was impossible, in the time available, 

 to digest it. Even the Committee on Resolutions 

 was unable to more than glance hastily through 

 these admirable reports. The excursion to Rocky 

 Ford practically robbed the committee as a whole 

 of the only day available for its deliberations. This 

 was in marked contrast to the opportunities of last 

 year's committee. On that occasion the Committee 

 on Resolutions devoted three or four days and nights 

 to its work. At Denver the whole burden rested upon 



a small sub-committee. The committee as a whole 

 did not even have time to carefully review and revise 

 the work of the sub-committee. This was unfortunate 

 for the committee and for the congress. It rendered 

 it impossible to accomplish the much-desired end 

 the union of western sentiment upon a comprehen- 

 sive national policy. But in spite of difficulties pro- 

 gress was made in the right direction and patience 

 will yet do its perfect work. The early appointment 

 of delegates next year, so that the reports may be 

 placed before them several weeks in advance of the 

 meeting, will contribute much to the unification of 

 thought. Only a short session of Congress will inter- 

 vene before the convention at Albuquerque and the 

 instructions given to the National Executive Com- 

 mittee map out ample work for that session. 



The making of a great irrigation policy 

 the begins wisely and properly with a de- 

 Desert Act. manc i f or t h e re peal of the Desert Land 

 law. It was inevitable that this proposition should 

 encounter strenuous opposition. Powerful interests 

 have profited, and are profiting to-day, from the ex- 

 istence of this anomalous and illogical statute. These 

 interests found many spokesmen in the debate, but 

 on the roll call of States the convention voted over- 

 whelmingly for repeal. This action should not be mis- 

 understood. The Third National Irrigation Congress 

 was not hostile to capital, and still less so to vested 

 rights. It was emphatically in favor of protecting 

 and fostering investment. It had no harsh words for 

 those who have acquired valuable land under the 

 Desert act, but it was opposed unalterably to the 

 continuance of the policy of deception and absorp- 

 tion which flourishes to-day under that bad law. 

 The congress insisted that the remaining public 

 lands should be handled in a better and wiser 

 way. The National Committee will try to organize 

 a vigorous and effective campaign for the repeal of 

 the Desert act. 



The most important expression in the 

 A National _ , r . 



Irrigation Denver platform, as a matter for im- 



Commission. me( jiate consideration, is the demand 

 for the appointment of a National Irrigation Com- 

 mission. If this can be obtained it will prove an acorn 

 from which a mighty oak may grow. The demand 

 is for a commission having full power to consider, in 

 the name of the nation, the vast and far-reaching 

 problems involved in the development of a national 

 policy of land reclamation and water and forest con- 

 servation. Ultimately the commission should be em- 

 powered to carry out large plans of administration. 

 It should be an independent authority, and not a 

 mere bureau attached to existing departments. It 

 should be able to utilize the information and facili- 

 ties of the Interior, Agricultural and War Depart- 

 ments, and should be analogous to the Interstate 



