THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL. X. 



CHICAGO, OCTOBER, 1896. 



NO. 4. 



THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN AMERICA. 



Stagnation More and more, as the 

 Immigration. stagnant condition of irri- 

 gation enterprises in gen- 

 eral is recognized, does it become evident 

 that upon colonization depends their salva- 

 tion. Very few of the men who organized 

 irrigation companies and concocted plans 

 for reclaiming the desert, gave to this 

 most important feature the consideration 

 it merited, or, in fact, gave it the consid- 

 eration it must have in order to insure the 

 success of their enterprises. The building 

 of dams and ditches and the furnishing of 

 water does not constitute a completed irri- 

 gation enterprise. By far the hardest work 

 yet remains to be done. Colonies will not 

 organize and locate themselves, and the 

 systematic study and active operation of 

 the best means to promote immigration is 

 the only door through which will come 

 back the vast sums of money that have al- 

 ready been expended. It is not the writ- 

 er's purpose to review the failures that 

 have been made, nor to enter into details of 

 those other absolutely essential factors of an 

 irrigation system water supply and able 

 engineering. But it seems particularly 

 appropriate, at the close of the present 

 season, when so many of the companies 

 have closed their eastern offices, to briefly 

 discuss a few of the more prominent fac- 

 tors that have lead to these results. Be- 

 hind all of these effects stand fundamental 

 causes, and the inflexible laws that govern 

 human affairs must be studied carefully 

 and thoroughly and with a mind fitted to 

 grasp and understand their true meaning, 

 before success can be hoped for. The 

 movement of population from town to 

 country and from country to town is gov- 

 erned by laws as fixed and rigid as those 

 that govern the science of money. Coun- 



try people do not seek the cities from 

 mere impulse, and sentiment is not the 

 greatest factor in inducing city people to 

 lead the life of a farmer with its drawbacks 

 and its advantages. Beneath this there is 

 a motive. It is the hope of improved con- 

 dition, either in mind, body or estate in 

 health or in prosperity. 



Colonial 



Idea 

 Developing. 



Upon a correct interpreta- 

 tion of this hope rests the 

 future not alone the fu- 

 ture of irrigation, but the future of the 

 country, because irrigation is the safety 

 valve of America. It is needless to show 

 that we are rapidly approaching a Euro- 

 pean standard of concentration of people 

 within a circumscribed area, in order to 

 show the nearness to the danger line, be- 

 cause we have already begun to feel some 

 of the effects of this concentration, and a 

 man who has been stung by a bee does not 

 need to be told that a nest of them is more 

 dangerous than one. The question is, 

 " How can the congested population of the 

 cities be taught to seek the country?" 

 The answer must lie in a visible demonstra- 

 tion of the hope for better conditions. 

 Irrigation furnishes the basis for this real- 

 ization. It presents a method of prevent- 

 ing that which the antagonists of anarchy 

 dread, and it presents an opportunity of 

 accomplishing that which philosophers, 

 philanthropists and statesmen so much 

 desire the bettering of humanity. And 

 this question must be solved, not alone by 

 those who would directly profit thereby, 

 but by the people themselves. The colon- 

 ial idea, which has been placed before the 

 public by one of the foremost of America's 

 writers on the subject of irrigation, is get- 

 ting nearer to the heart of the people, and 



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