THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



our own country. The experiments 

 made in growing the beet and in con- 

 verting it into sugar prove that it would 

 not be a difficult matter to produce the 

 entire supply upon the irrigated farms 

 of the west, and present developments 

 indicate that it is merely a question of 

 time before it will be accomplished. 

 The next few years are destined to wit- 

 ness a most remarkable growth in this 

 industry, which will be of the greatest 

 benefit to the public at large. No effort 

 should be spared to encourage the erec- 

 tion of sugar factories in the irrigated 

 districts. Taxes should be remitted and 

 local support should be unanimous and 

 liberal. Let there be a generous rivalry 

 for the establishment of several factories. 

 It will pay. 



The Flood Waters The recent floods on 

 of the Large the Missouri and Ohio 

 Rivers. and Mississippi rivers 



have possessed a great and distinct 

 educational value. They have brought 

 the people at large to a realizing 

 sense of the importance of storing 

 the headquarters of these rivers and 

 their tributaries. These tremendous 

 floods of water carrying in their wake 

 disaster, destruction and death, seem to 

 grow more severe with every annual re- 

 currence, but a remedy is at hand which 

 will at least greatly decrease the dam- 

 age they do, and possibly in time avert 

 practically all danger. Heretofore the 

 cry always has been for appropriations 

 of vast sums of money to build and 

 strengthen and enlarge the levees. This 

 has been merely a make-shift. It is an 

 attempt to build hundreds of miles of 

 embankments strong enough to resist 

 any flood, and naturally the flood con- 

 quers. It reminds one of our present 

 naval conditions. -A certain manufac- 

 turer invents and builds a gun, the pro- 

 jectile from which will pierce any known 

 armor plate, and the armor plate man 

 immediately goes to work to make a 

 plate that will resist the shot, and then 

 the gun man produces a gun of even 

 greater strength. And so the fight 

 wages back and forth. They forget 

 that the greatest resistance could be 

 offered by simply plugging the gun. 

 And so it is with the headwaters: If 

 they are caught and stored before they 

 gain headway and power on their jour- 



ney of destruction their capacity for 

 damage will be controlled and limited, 

 and the wild, raging flood will be the 

 most gentle of streams when turned into 

 the irrigating ditch. It is encouraging 

 to note that some of the great eastern 

 daily newspapers understand the subject, 

 as shown elsewhere in this issue by re- 

 prints, and now is the time for united 

 demand from the flood sufferers and the 

 drouth sufferers that the government 

 take active steps in the matter. 



Why Court To one who lived with- 

 Destruction. J n sight of the Mis- 

 sissippi for years and saw the havoc it 

 annually created it seems pertinent to 

 ask why it is necessary or advisable to 

 risk life and property by settling on the 

 low lands, where in all human proba- 

 bility a flood will rage and destroy. 

 Cheap lands you say ! There are other 

 lands just as cheap and just as good, 

 which are not exposed to this danger. 

 Surely in this great and wonderful 

 country of ours there is room enough 

 for you to live in peace and security, 

 without unnecessarily exposing yourself, 

 your family and your property to des- 

 trucion. THE IRRIGATION AGE invites 

 you to change your location. 

 Consideration for The consideration of 

 the Producer. local consumption 

 brings to mind the fact that there are 

 certain localities in the irrigated west 

 where the home market is already fully 

 provided and that increased settlement 

 and production have ceased, because 

 there is no available foreign market. In 

 some cases this is caused by a lack of di- 

 rect transportation facilities, in others 

 by excessive freight rates, and again be- 

 cause competition in the larger markets 

 is too strong and the weak suffer first. 

 This matter should be given earnest and 

 thoughtful consideration by the man- 

 agers of every land and water company, 

 as well as by the traffic managers of the 

 railroads. It is not enough to state in 

 a glowing prospectus that nearby mar- 

 kets are waiting, and that transportation 

 facilities are ample. This is one of the 

 most serious questions relating to the 

 development of the west, and upon its 

 correct solution depends the develop- 

 ment of thousands of acres already under 

 the irrigation ditch, but not occupied. 

 Why? 



