172 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



IN the West popular sentiment is unanimously in 

 favor of the early reclamation and settlement of 

 the arid lands. 



Believing that the national government is either 

 unwilling or unable or both unwilling and unable 

 to undertake this reclamation, a large portion of 

 the people have advocated the cession of the 

 lands to the States. This plan has been opposed 

 by many whose objections are mainly of two 

 classes: First, that if the lands were ceded., the dis- 

 posal of them would be under corrupt influences; 

 second, that if the lands were ceded the several 

 States would be prevented by constitution limitations 

 or lack of credit from realizing any benefits from 

 such cession. This congress undertook to formulate 

 a plan whereby the consent of the government might 

 be obtained, and the capital secured for the work of 

 reclamation. In this respect it failed; in some other 

 directions its work was more successful and may 

 result in good. 



The first resolution, if strictly carried out, will work 

 a hardship to Arizona and other portions of the truly 

 arid region. Without doubt there have been abuses 

 under the Desert Land Law, but it should not be 

 repealed until there is something better to take its 

 place. 



The principle of the resolution asking for the cre- 

 ation of a National Irrigation Commission is an ex- 

 cellent one. The welfare of the whole West requires 

 that questions pertaining to irrigation should be 

 studied by men who are familiar with the condi- 

 tions which exist, who recognize the necessities to be 

 met, and who are qualified by technical training and 

 experience to handle these questions intelligently. 

 Congress should be urged to make appropriations on 

 a most liberal scale for the work of this commission. 



Beyond a reasonable doubt much good land will 

 remain when every available drop of water has been 

 utilized. In any locality, therefore, the problem of 

 irrigation depends mainly on questions of water sup- 

 ply. To fully determine these questions will require 

 years of scientific observation and experiment; the 

 cost of this work is beyond the means of corporations, 

 or even the States. This investigation should be re- 

 sumed at once, and continued without interruption. 



The resoluticn in favor of extending to the Terri- 

 tories the benefits of the Carey Law and such other 

 legislation on irrigation as may be obtained is one of 

 simple justice. Legal reasons why this cannot be 

 done may exist; but if there are none, the Territories 

 should not be compelled to await their admission as 

 States before commencing a work of such pressing 

 importance. 



The adjustment of international interests requires 

 the services of special commissions, formed under 

 treaties between the nations concerned. 



The present movement for irrigation extension had 

 its origin in the desire to reclaim from the desert the 

 vast extent of arid land, which without irrigation 

 will always remain worthless, except possibly for 

 grazing, and which with irrigation will be capable of 

 supporting millions of people who otherwise will never 

 possess homes of their own. If any progress is to be 

 made toward the attainment of this object, it will be 

 made by keeping the control of this movement within 

 the limits of the arid region, and not by handing it 

 over to States which have no real interest in it. 



THE irrigation movement in the United States 

 it certainly has attained tbe dignity of a "move- 

 ment 1 ' has thus far been largely educational in 

 character, so far as the major part of our population 

 is concerned. Although the best evidences afforded 

 by history and the remnants of ancient civilizations 

 indicate that irrigation antedates drainage, in the 

 progress of mankind from the root-grubbing, nut- 

 eating, savage state up to civilization, and has in all 

 ages supported, and still supports, a large proportion 

 of the world's population, yet it is to our people, as a 

 whole, something new, and largely regarded as ex- 

 perimental and of doubtful, undemonstrated value. 

 Details, constructive, administrative and practical, 

 have had to be mastered by the individual, and the 

 first and greatest steps of all in the general work of 

 reclaiming the arid lands of the United States have 

 been informing and convincing the American people 

 what irrigation is, what it is worth, what it will ac- 

 complish. These are lessons learned slowly and 

 with difficulty by those who, for many generations, 

 have depended upon the fitful and so often disap- 

 pointing dole of the clouds. 



The Denver Congress will, I believe, prove a his- 

 toric milestone on the highway of irrigation progress, 

 more because of its value as an educator in the larger 

 sense, than for any other reason. The preparations 

 for the congress, its sessions and conclusions, have 

 doubtless done very much to nationalize irrigation in- 

 terest and call the attention of the whole people to 

 the home-building possibilities of the great arid re- 

 gion, and while its effects in shaping a broad and uni- 

 form national irrigation policy may not prove so 

 forceful as hoped for, yet its influence in this direc- 

 tion will, I am persuaded, prove broad and deep. 



Of Arizona. 



Of Kansas. 



TO speak of the outcome of the Third National 

 Irrigation Congress recently held at Denver, 

 with regard to all phases of the subject in Mon- 

 tana, without mentioning the other States, would take 

 up too much space. It seems to me that the most im- 

 portant objects accomplished were, the continuation 

 of the National Executive Committee, with instruc- 

 tions as to what their work shall be for the coming 

 year, a general discussion of the needs of the West, 

 and a separation of the questions upon which the dif- 

 ferent sections of the arid region do not agree, leav- 

 ing them out for the present, agreeing on certain 

 fundamental principles, and getting to work with a 

 solid front to secure what we have determined we are 

 agreed upon. Another object gained, was a thorough 

 understanding by the people of the different States of 

 the Carey bill, and the benefits obtainable under it 

 through its proper application. 



To secure these benefits for their States, the new 

 State Commissions have a very important work 

 upon their hands. In every State, with perhaps the 

 exception of Wyoming, to take advantage of the 

 million acres donated under this new law, there must 

 be a considerable new legislation enacted by the State 

 Legislature, and a good deal now in force must be re- 

 pealed. To do this wisely and effectively will require 

 a thorough knowledge of local conditions, the existing 

 laws of all the arid States, and hard work on the part 



