THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



under consideration and will probably be 

 presented at this session. 



A State Engineer The establishment of 

 for Utah. the office of State En- 



gineer is advocated in the message of 

 Governor Heber M. Wells, of Utah. 

 The necessity of the State supervising 

 the building of dams is self-evident and 

 there can be no question that such an 

 official should be vested with power to 

 inspect, approve or condemn all engineer- 

 ing w r orks, whether they relate exclu- 

 sively to irrigation or to other industries. 

 From an irrigation standpoint the office 

 of State Engineer is of the utmost im- 

 portance and within reasonable limits. 

 the power conferred upon him, should be 

 extended until it covers the appropria- 

 tion of water as well as the erection of 

 dams. Utah is to be congratulated upon 

 the stand taken by Governor Wells and 

 the legislature cannot do better than 

 provide for the appointment as early as 

 possible. 



F. D. Coburn At its regular an- 

 for Secretary of nua l meeting in To- 

 Agriculture. pe ka, Jan. 15, the 

 State Board of Agriculture of Kansas 

 unanimously passed a .resolution endors- 

 ing Secretary F. D. Coburn for Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture in the McKinley 

 Cabinet. This is one of the most sensi- 

 ble suggestions yet made. The Secre- 

 tary of the Kansas Board of Agriculture 

 is thoroughly familiarw r iththenecessities 

 of the practical (as different from the 

 political ) farmer. Under his able admin- 

 istration the work of the Board of Agri- 

 culture has been modified and extended 

 until it has become of the most practical 

 usefulness to the every-day farmer. The 

 bulletins and reports issued have been 

 confined exclusively to practical and in- 

 teresting topics and have not been de- 

 voted to mere theorizing, and Secretary 

 Coburn is a man of wide exparience and 

 liberal views, and he would render valu- 

 able service if chosen to preside over the 

 Agricultural Department at Washing- 

 ton. It requires a man of Mr. Coburn's 

 ability to make the Department what it 

 was orginally intended for, and not as 

 it is at present, a laughing stock of the 

 country. 



Some States 

 Omitted from the 



National 

 Committee. 



the last congress 



A careful examina- 

 tion of the list of 

 the executive com- 

 mittee appointed at 

 fails to reveal any 



members from the states of Wyoming. 

 Oregon or So. Dakota. All of these 

 states are identified with irrigation, and 

 two of them, Wyoming and So. Dakota 

 particularly so. It can truthfully be 

 said of Wyoming that it has in force the 

 most efficient and satisfactory laws re- 

 lating to irrigation of any arid state. Not 

 being as old in irrigation experience as 

 Utah, or California, or Colorado, it was 

 enabled to benefit by the knowledge 

 they gained through years of trial. It 

 stands to day as one of the leading states 

 in its wise regulation of the appropri- 

 ation and use of water and in its efforts 

 to promote real irrigation development. 

 South Dakota has becom prominent of 

 late by developing the artesian water 

 supply for irrigation purposes and by 

 the interest manifested in the subject in 

 general. Certainly states so vitally in- 

 terested in this important matter cannot 

 be left off the national executive com- 

 mittee without being detrimental to the 

 welfare of the movement, and it is hoped 

 and expected that something will be 

 done immediately to fill the vacancies 

 mentioned. 



Opportunities The development of the 

 in the West, resources of the mighty 

 west proceeds along every avenue of 

 human industry. Agriculture, manufact- 

 ure, commerce are the leaders. It is 

 along these lines that progress must 

 first be made. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE wants to assist 

 each and all of them to an even greater 

 extent than it has been doing. It wants 

 to place before the homeseeker, the 

 manufacturer, the capitalist and the mer- 

 chant all the facts as to the opportun- 

 ities for the profitable employment of 

 their labor or money in the Great West. 

 With this purpose in view it asks for 

 information brief, reliable and specific 

 regarding such opportunities. This 

 information will be placed on file in THE 

 AGE office for the benefit of inquirers 

 and much of it will appear from time 

 to time in the columns of the magazine. 

 THE IRRIGATION AGE is the advocate of 



