THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



GEO. KINKEL, JR., 



Member of the Board of Directors of the Montana College of 

 Agriculture. 



prise will differ very materially with different cases 

 and it is not pretended that details can be definitely 

 suggested at this time. But merely to illustrate the 

 principle, let it be supposed that the average farm 

 would be forty acres and the average cost of moving 

 the people, building canals, outfitting and sustaining 

 settlers to the productive stage, $500 per family. 

 This would mean an indebtedness of 812.50 per acre. 

 If the cost were 11,000 per family the indebtedness 

 would be $25 per acre. It may be doubted whether 

 the thousands of families who have settled the West 

 up to date have possessed an average of $100 each, 

 but if in this class of settlement the cost were as 

 high as the figures above suggested the security for 

 the investment would be perfectly good, provided the 

 right sort of people were selected for settlers. The 

 security would rest (1) on the canal and water rights, 

 and (2) on the land and improvements. Back of 

 both these substantial elements would stand human 

 industry and the hunger for an independence. 



8. As a means of educating the masses to under- 

 stand the opportunities of Western America the 

 system of Colonial Clubs, suggested in the last num- 

 ber of THE IRRIGATION AGE, and described elsewhere 

 in this issue, was presented to the Boston conference. 



It was received with enthusiasm, and the first out- 

 come of the movement in New England will be the 

 formation of Colonial Clubs, with a carefully selected 

 plan of literature and, ultimately, courses of lectures. 

 In this way the people will receive fair statements of 

 the conditions in the West, illuminated by the history 

 of the colonists in our Western States. The literature 

 will pass under the supervision of a committee of 

 distinguished Bostonians and will, of course, be en- 

 tirely devoid of anything in the way of special plead- 

 ing for localities. It will be literature in the true 

 sense of the word. It is believed that the member- 

 ship of Colonial Clubs will mount high into the 

 thousands, that it will extend throughout the United 

 States and perhaps through Great Britain, and that 

 the result will be the formation of great numbers of 

 colonies in the next few years. It may be predicted 

 that when the men of the East are convinced that 

 great numbers of people desire to enter upon this 

 colonial life, and that it offers them a chance of in- 

 dependence and good security for the investment 

 required, capital will be found in great abundance. 

 The further development of the plan of campaign 

 will be noted in these pages. 



General Booth of the Salvation Army is 

 An Idea. . .. . . 



from dealing with problems which have a 

 Gen. Booth. dose re i at j on to t h e pro blems of the 



national irrigation campaign. In a recent speech at 

 Colorado Springs he used an expression in effect as 

 follows "" The greatest problem in dealing with the 

 poor is to find a way to give them employment, and 

 enable them to earn their living. I haven't solved that 

 problem yet, but in the course of a railroad journey 

 through England last spring I got an idea. Looking 

 out of the window I saw a large field of wheat, and in 

 a few minutes I came to an adjoining small tract of 

 land, which was walled in and used for a garden. I 

 noticed that everything grew in that garden with 

 great thrift vegetables, small fruits, orchard fruits, 

 etc. I could see that the family could live, and live 

 well, on the product of that small patch of ground. 

 Then I asked myself, ' Why is this large tract a field 

 of poor wheat, while this other little piece is a 

 garden?' And I answered it to myself, 'The difference 

 is human labor.' When I turn my eyes toward the 

 crowds in your old States, and the old countries across 

 the sea, and then ride through the great unsettled 

 districts in the West it occurs to me that these people 

 ought to be engaged in transforming these idle lands 

 into gardens, which would support them." Yes, 

 General Booth, that is the way out, but where lies the 

 pathway, and how are we to remove the obstacles 

 that encumber it? We have no doubt these questions 

 can be answered by the genius and energy of the 

 American people. They will be answered, and the 

 process of forming public opinion has begun. 



