THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



is room for a vast population in the arid region. It 

 will not be engaged exclusively in agriculture. It 

 will be diffused through the various occupations of a 

 complex civilization. Only a very slight proportion 

 of the population to be ultimately attracted by the 

 opportunities of the West will be drawn from the 

 ranks of the unemployed and the very poor. The 

 great bulk of our new citizenship will come from the 

 fairly prosperous middle classes. We never shall 

 solve the problem of getting population until we 

 have found a way to interest and educate the middle 

 classes of the East and of Europe. We must implant 

 deeply in their souls the desire for better conditions 

 of average prosperity. The second feature of the 

 programme, relating to the organization of Colony 

 Home Clubs, suggests the machinery by which we 

 may begin to make real progress in this direction. 

 The plan is to direct the agitation to the formation 

 of these clubs in all parts of the country. There is 

 no doubt but what tens of thousands of people can be 

 enrolled in time. The only man who is not fertile 

 soil for this part of the propaganda is the man who 

 is satisfied with what he has, or who is too old to 

 undertake to improve his situation. The vast pre- 

 ponderance of wage-earning people live in hopes 

 of something better. They are willing to give a hear- 

 ing to a movement which deals with new opportun- 

 ities and new institutions. And a hearing is all that 

 the system of Colony Home Club aims at. To illus- 

 trate, supposing one thousand people, mostly heads 

 of families, should be enrolled in a club at Pittsburg. 

 The moment this is accomplished irrigation has a 

 foothold in that great city of toil. A channel has been 

 made and through that channel will be passed a series 

 of attractive books and pamphlets, followed by a series 

 of lectures. Now, this thing cannot be done in the 

 interest of any land company, nor of any state. It can 

 only be done in the interest of enlightenment and 

 human progress. Individuals, companies and States 

 will undoubtedly be benefitted in the end by these 

 new processes, as- benefits accrued from the settle- 

 ment of the Atlantic seaboard, of the Ohio Valley and 

 the Mississippi Basin. But these will be incidental, 

 while progress and enlightenment are the fundamen- 

 tal considerations. The Colony Home Clubs, if they 

 shall be extensively organized and then properly cul- 

 tivated in the spirit suggested, will become the means 

 of educating the masses to a splendid appreciation 

 of Arid America and its opportunities. This is the 

 way in which real relief will be found for the over- 

 population of the East, and real prosperity devel- 

 oped for the vast unsettled regions of the West. 



It is perhaps necessary to say a word 



to Timid in respect to those timid souls who fear 



Souls. t h at tne development of new enterprises 



and the inauguration of new movements will have an 



unfavorable effect on things already under way. Sec- 

 retary Morton has tried to teach the farmers that irri- 

 gation means more competition. In the same spirit 

 those who have undertaken private enterprises have 

 sometimes deprecated further development. This is 

 a narrow view, and views that are narrow are always 

 mistaken. On the theory that to make anything new 

 is a menace to all that existed before, Columbus and 

 all other discoverers, as well as all the inventors and 

 all builders of cities and states, were enemies of the 

 race. And yet these are the men whom the world de- 

 lights to honor. The truth is that prosperity and de- 

 pression are great fabrics which cover all communi- 

 ties like a garment. There may be occasional excep- 

 tions, but as a rule the railroads, the banks, the stores 

 and the land companies of California, for instance, 

 will prosper when California prospers and suffer 

 when California suffers. The same principle applies 

 to nations and races. The idea of stopping the revo- 

 lution of the earth until somebody has disposed of 

 his town lots, or unloaded his stocks and bonds, is 

 hardly tenable at this time in the nineteenth century. 

 There is no doubt but what a few men will continue 

 to hold this view while time endures. When they 

 hear the first warning toot of the Angel Gabriel's 

 horn they will petition fora few hours' delay in order 

 to convert their assets into cash. But Gabriel will be 

 like the genius of human destiny. He will keep 

 straight ahead. Everybody is fof more consequence 

 than anybody. 



_ , , The outlook for legislation in western 

 Remarkable 



Conversion states is better than ever before. The 

 of Oregon. most remarkable awakening is in Ore- 

 gon. It is largely due to the indefatigable efforts of 

 Chairman F. H. Brigham and his associates on the 

 State Irrigation Commission. Oregon has been pop- 

 ularly known as the "Webfoot State," because of its 

 excessive rainfall. But nearly all its rain falls west 

 of the Cascade Mountains, while two-thirds of the 

 State lies east of the mountains. This part, contain- 

 ing some sixty million acres, is semi-arid. There is a 

 vast domain of public land and the fullest opportu- 

 nity to utilize the Carey law. Mr. Brigham early en- 

 listed the interest of Governor William P. Lord, 

 and then secured the cooperation of several of the 

 leading lawyers and public men, Senator Dolph among 

 them. The result was the preparation of a measure 

 providing for a State board and for the reclamation 

 of one million acres of land. We have not the details 

 of the matter at hand as we write, but we are advised 

 that the prospect of early and favorable action is very 

 bright. Nothing could be more profoundly encour- 

 aging to those who have labored day and night to 

 wake up the West than the conversion of Oregon. 

 Western indifference is giving place to Western en- 

 thusiasm, for which we devoutly thank God. 



