70 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



not in the least upon the cost of satisfy- 

 ing them, any return which is sufficient 

 to provide these is remunerative, and un- 

 less a rise or fall in prices could govern 

 the amount produced from a given area of 

 land by a given amount of labor (which 

 proposition is absurd), it is clear that this 

 return will be both stable and reliable, 

 and thus exactly meet the demand which 

 it is required to satisfy. 



That such a result is possible is dem- 

 onstrated by the facts. The product 

 from an acre of irrigated land under any 

 crop has not yet been even approximately 

 determined, nor does it appear capable of 

 such determination. It is, therefore, a 

 legitimate assumption that while the irri- 

 gationist is perfectly safe in his estimate 

 as to the population which may derive sup- 

 port from a given area under conditions 

 favorable to intensive cultivation, it is alto- 

 gether out of the question for objectors to 

 urge either that the limit of production 

 will soon be reached, or that the available 

 land will be exhausted. 



But supposing any such objection were 

 well founded, which it evidently is not, it 

 simply amounts to the proposition that un- 

 less our unoccupied lands will absorb the 

 whole of our unemployed labor it is use- 

 less to utilize them in the absorption of 

 any part thereof; a position so nearly ap- 

 proaching the ridiculous as to demand no 

 consideration. 



Presuming, however, it be conceded pos- 

 sibleto fix on the one hand the limit of pro- 

 duction, or on the other the extent of cul- 

 tivable land, it will be at once seen that 

 even this by no means determines the 

 amount of labor provided with employ- 

 ment. The development of the mining 

 districts of the West depends almost en- 

 tirely upon the ease with which suste- 

 nance may be obtained for the labor em- 

 ployed therein. If 100 acres of irrigated 

 land in the neighborhood of such of a dis- 

 trict will produce a surplus equal to the 

 support of five men, those five will assur- 

 edly set to work upon unoccupied land 

 (other than agricultural) which can now 

 afford no return whatever. And so wide- 

 spread are these effects that wherever 

 such surplus can be transported at any 

 reasonable cost they are found to operate; 

 without the irrigated fields of Colorado 

 one half at least of her mines would be 

 idle, and all her dependent industries 

 suffer in proportion. 



The State of Wyoming today, with her 

 river sands full of gold, her hills rich with 

 mineral, her subterranean shales saturated 

 with oil, waits for what? The intensive 

 cultivation of those fertile acres which 

 will afford not only support to those who 

 till them, but from their surplus main- 

 tain the army of workers who shall render 

 these treasures available to the uses of 

 mankind. 



Hence it follows that while intensive 

 cultivation means enormously increased 

 returns from the land (and the aim of 

 the irrigation movement is to secure not 

 only larger yields per acre but also ex- 

 tended area under crop), it is by no means 

 a consequence that such a result implies 

 over-production or even any increased com- 

 petition in the markets; for the bulk of 

 the labor which would derive its direct 

 sustenance from the soil is just that which 

 now is unable to enter the market as a 

 purchaser, while the surplus, as we have 

 seen, would go to supply the demand 

 created for it by the opening of fields for 

 industry which are now non-existent. 



If it be true that the real advances in 

 civilization have always been made 

 through its industries, it would therefore 

 appear that the irrigationist will be large- 

 ly concerned in the transformation which 

 our social life is now undergoing. The 

 possibilities of production from a very 

 small area of land surely point to the 

 massing of population, not in overgrown 

 cities, but in colonies of small holdings, in 

 which all the advantages of urban life may 

 be enjoyed, and many of its evils eliminat- 

 ed. Unless there be any disadvantage to 

 mankind in the exercise of the traits com- 

 mon to humanity which call for social in- 

 tercourse and intellectual advancement, 

 this tendency' cannot be deprecated; the 

 irrigation movement is the outcome of an 

 irresistible demand for the means to meet 

 higher ideas, and its success will be in 

 proportion to its capacity for their satis- 

 faction. 



If it be borne in mind that legislation 

 under a popular form of government can 

 never be in advance of social requirements, 

 but must depend upon them for its incep- 

 tion, the necessity for a just comprehen- 

 sion of the broader side of the irrigation 

 movement will be readily conceded. That 

 much of our existing legislation is entirely 

 inadequate to our present social needs ad- 

 mits of no doubt, and it is here that the 



