THE CAUSE OF THE WEST IS THE CAUSE OF THE 



NATION. 



A FACT WELL EMPHASIZED BY MASS MEETINGS FOR THE MOVEMENT 



IN BOSTON AND CHICAGO. 



THE legislative triumphs won for irrigation in eight 

 States of the West, as well as its significant rec- 

 ognition by the Executive Departments at 

 Washington, have been discussed in THE IRRIGA- 

 TION AGE. In order to appreciate the extraor- 

 dinary strides which the cause is making it is also 

 necessary to understand the full scope and meaning 

 of the campaign under way in the East. The fact is, 

 that popular and official influence have both been or- 

 ganized and brought to bear upon the great common 

 end, the reclamation and settlement of Western 

 America. The work that has been done in the East 

 is supplemented by the work done in the West, and 

 the work that has been undertaken by public officials 

 at Washington will supplement both. 



In the future men will look back upon the winter of 

 1895 as the period which marked the simultaneous 

 awakening of the potential forces in the East and in 

 the West to the opportunities of national achievement 

 between the 97th meridian and the Pacific ocean. 

 The work of shaping results is still before us, but the 

 almost equally difficult task of enlisting those ele- 

 ments of support which alone make results possible 

 has been accomplished. 



It is expected that the Eastern campaign will be 

 pushed forward several stages more before the Sep- 

 tember session of the Irrigation Congress at Albu- 

 querque. Chairman Smythe is now in the West, ar- 

 ranging for the literature of the Colonial Clubs and 

 considering plans for the development of labor col- 

 onies on the lands opened by the Carey act. He will 

 shortly return to push the work in New England and 

 other Eastern States. 



I.-THE MOVEMENT IN NEW ENGLAND. 



During the month of March Mr. Smythe addressed 

 the Twentieth Century Club, composed of some of 

 the strongest intellectual elements of New England, 

 in Boston, and also the Parker Memorial Science 

 Club in the same city. He was also invited to meet 

 representatives of several of the notable literary and 

 economic organizations of Boston, including young 

 men from Harvard. These meetings have been al- 

 ready referred to in these pages. 



THE BOSTON MASS MEETING. 



The Boston mass meeting in the interest of the 

 Western cause was held in Wells Memorial Hall on the 

 evening of March 25th. The call was signed by a 



144 



dozen of the most prominent Bostonians, including 

 several labor leaders. 



The Boston Herald ^speaks of the meeting as ''large 

 and enthusiastic,'' as indeed it was. 



Dr. Edward Everett Hale presided, and made a 

 vigorous and practical address, in which he said that 

 Mrs. Partington might as well strive with her broom 

 to sweep back the tides of the sea, as any selfish op- 

 position to prevent the moving of population to the 

 West. He said that though our government does 

 nothing to inform us as to the statistics of interior emi- 

 gration, it is known that two per cent, of the popula- 

 tion of the seaboard States go West every year. This 

 means that at least 40,000 people will leave Massa- 

 chusetts this year. The object of the Colonial Club 

 system will be to guide this inevitable emigration into 

 channels where'it can prosper, and to prevent people 

 from being fleeced. [Dr. Hale's article in the Com- 

 monwealth, quoted elsewhere, presents quite fully his 

 idea of the usefulness of the Colonial Clubs.] 



Mr. Smythe began his speech with the declaration 

 that " the cause of the West is the cause of the na- 

 tion," and proceeded to show the relation between the 

 surplus public lands and the economic problems of 

 Eastern States. He quoted the revelations of recent 

 strikes and the statistics of tenantry in various 

 countries to prove the startling decadence of the 

 American middle classes. He then asserted that 

 past prosperity was due to the extension of civiliza- 

 tion over new territory, and that the national pros- 

 perity would be restored by the renewal of the policy 

 of continental conquest. The industrial and social 

 systems of the Mormons were analyzed, followed by a 

 study of the development of Greeley and Riverside. 



The Carey law, and the action of Wyoming, Idaho, 

 Colorado, Montana and Washington were described, 

 and the plan for labor colonies from Boston, New 

 York and Chicago fully set forth. The plans of the 

 Colonial Clubs were then presented, and the first of 

 these organizations formed with fifty members. Dr. 

 Hale requested that his name should be enrolled as 

 the first member. 



Mr. Smythe preceded his address with an illustrated 

 prelude, using stereopticon views, representing all 

 parts of Western America. The views from Garden 

 City were perhaps received with the greatest inter- 

 est, as New England has large investments in Kansas 

 mortgages. The audience was amazed at the differ- 

 ence between irrigated and non-irrigated farms on 

 the great plains the difference between poverty and 

 hardship, and an assured living and prosperity. 



