THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL. VIII. 



CHICAGO, MARCH, 1895. 



No. 3. 



THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



Tne Amer i can people have begun to 

 to Listen, listen. It has taken a good deal of 

 time, much hard work, and very persistent effort, but 

 the ice has been broken and the work of conversion be- 

 gun under the most encouraging circumstances. The 

 country has hitherto thought of irrigation as the 

 peculiar problem of a remote and rather unpromis- 

 ing portion of the United States. This year's work 

 of the National Committee is directed to an effort 

 to make the country see the relation between the 

 irrigation empire and the economic problems of 

 Eastern America. It is with very great pleasure 

 that THE IRRIGATION AGE reports progress for the 

 committee in this great undertaking. No man who 

 has not attempted such a public work can begin to 

 appreciate the difficulties in the way. It is hard 

 enough to get the public to listen to a new idea of 

 any sort. It is immeasurably harder to induce the 

 public to give a fair hearing in a matter where pre- 

 judice amounts almost to bitterness. The people of 

 the East have lost much money in Western invest- 

 ments. During the past few months their morning 

 newspapers have fed them with a steady diet of 

 calamities which have overtaken farmers in the 

 West. They have been called upon to send money, 

 provisions and clothing to relieve the urgent neces- 

 sities of unfortunate people who have settled in cer- 

 tain States. Under theie circumstances it has required 

 a considerable degree of courage and patience to ob- 

 tain a hearing for a proposition which calls upon the 

 East for men and money, and for both in unlimited 

 quantities. 



God Bless ^od bl ess Boston and New England! 

 Boston. Many a great cause which has elsewhere 

 appealed to deaf ears has knocked at the door of 

 Boston, found ready admittance, and been invited to 

 sit down and warm itself at this generous fireside. So it 

 has proven in this case. The chairman of the National 

 Committee did not find it necessary to remain in 

 Boston more than three days before the hearty sup- 



port of its leading men and newspapers was secured. 

 And this speedy result is principally due to that 

 famous author and divine, that great-hearted friend of 

 humanity Edward Everett Hale. Dr. Hale has 

 long been of the opinion that the surplus people of 

 the East must be transferred to the surplus lands of 

 the West, and there rendered independent by a 

 scheme of industry capable of indefinite expansion 

 He was thus anxious to ask only, " What can I do for 

 your cause?" His letters of introduction resulted in 

 the publication of conspicuous newspaper articles, 

 quickly followed by a meeting of the most prominent 

 citizens of Boston, and to be followed this month by 

 a mass meeting. The Boston Herald of February 

 17th, devoted two columns to a vigorous and enthu- 

 siastic presentation of the irrigation idea. Its manag- 

 ing editor, Mr. John H. Holmes, immediately tendered 

 the cordial support of his greatly influential news- 

 paper. The Boston Globe and the Boston Post of the 

 same date also contained very conspicuous articles, 

 and gave themovement their most unreserved support. 

 Dr. Hale's own newspaper, The Boston Common- 

 wealth, also took the matter up, and these great 

 journals are being followed by the press of New 

 England. 



The Boston ^ n l ^ e afternoon, of Wednesday, Feb- 

 Conference. ruary 20th, Boston gave the chairman of 

 the National Committee a most representative hear- 

 ing. The meeting was called for the purpose of 

 listening to the plans of campaign, and of inaugurat- 

 ing a definite movement, provided these plans met 

 with approval. Edward Everett Hale presided. 

 Among those present were Robert Treat Paine, the 

 famous leader and philanthropist; Frank B. Sanborn, 

 the friend of Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau,and 

 one of the most conspicuous figures in the intel- 

 lectual life of Massachusetts; Edwin Ginn, the promi- 

 nent publisher, who has become in the late years one 

 of the most conspicuous of Boston's practical philan- 

 thropists; Dr. A. A. Miner, another of the best known 



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