THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL. X. 



CHICAGO, SEPTEMBER, 1896. 



NO. 3. 



PUBLIC OPINION AND THE IRRIGATION 



CONGRESS. 



NO one more fully appreciates the atti- 

 tude of THE IRRIGATION AGE toward 

 the great question of reclamation of the 

 arid lands of the West than I do. THE 

 AGE, ever since its birth, has advocated a 

 national policy broad enough to include 

 plans for the reclamation of our arid plains 

 as well as the uplifting of humanity at 

 large. The policy advocated has been too 

 broad, too generous, and therefore imprac- 

 ticable. This work, I believe, is too great 

 for our civilization; our institutions are 

 too corrupt. At present they will not 

 aid us to take up this work in the most 

 local manner. 



There seems to be an invisible but all- 

 powerful force at work whose sole purpose 

 is to defeat any and every measure which 

 has for its object the " greatest good for 

 the greatest number." " Private enter- 

 prise " must not be discouraged, even if it 

 is busy in the work of overthrowing our 

 republic. 



At times during the past five years our 

 unemployed have numbered millions. The 

 misery of the poor in our cities surpasses 

 that of Europe's most degraded. A Me- 

 dici could not have been more corrupt 

 than the heads of some of our own city 

 governments. We are taxed to build bat- 

 tle ships at a time when the whole world 

 never had better reasons for maintaining 

 peace, and the price paid for one such bat- 

 tle ship would, if expended in watering 

 lands of the West, provide homes for a 

 hundred thousand people. When Con- 

 gress, like the press, is the mouthpiece of 

 corporations and trusts; when the people 

 are taught that "paternalism," or the 

 public ownership or control of monopolies, 

 threatens the liberty of the nation, and 

 that private ownership of the planet itself 



is preferable; when we, with all our boasted 

 facilities for the expression of the will of 

 the people, are a quarter of a century be- 

 hind civilized Europe in modern reform, 

 we have but little reason to expect the 

 federal government to aid in any work 

 which might carry with it a blessing to 

 humanity. 



Let us turn from the impossible chances 

 of federal aid to opportunities of taking a 

 step forward through state influence. The 

 people of this state (Idaho) are preparing 

 for a contest to be settled in November. 

 For what purpose ? For the inauguration of 

 some prearranged state policy of develop- 

 ment? for the strengthening and building 

 up of state institutions? We have not had 

 a state policy outlined for years. This 

 contest is being entered into simply for 

 office. The old parties are now torn into 

 factions, and men, through their partisan 

 zeal, have lost sight of the state with its 

 future. This occurs periodically, and the 

 meetings of our legislatures are remem- 

 bered as marking the disgusting contests 

 for public office. The event of a session is 

 the election of a United States Senator; all 

 other acts are subordinated to this great 

 undertaking, for which preparation is be- 

 gun at the people's primaries, and work 

 prosecuted to the detriment of all needed 

 legislation through the " trades," " com- 

 promises" and "combinations" made by 

 members, until worn out or bought out, a 

 small faction gives in, and the greatest of 

 all the gifts of the people, next to the presi- 

 dency, is won by a man who had the abil- 

 ity to "get there," and the legislature 

 adjourns. We have reached a condition 

 where a good, clean, honest government 

 would be an innovation. 



Those who will think, believe we are now 



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