58 THE IRRIGA Tl ON A GE. 



promote the welfare of the entire nation, by taking from the unem- 

 ployed classes and adding to the class of landowers. 



The following paragraph from the report of the committee, might 

 have been written today: 



"Before this republic should seek to acquire new territory, it 

 should wisely utilize the territory it now has, and it is most respect- 

 fully submitted that a national system of irrigation, directed by wise 

 and uniform laws, controlling the rights of water and its uses will be 

 of infinite advantage to the whole American people, and especially so 

 if carried out under the wise supervision of the national government 

 and engineered by its scientific and experienced men. When this is 

 accomplished there will be ample room in the unsettled portion of the 

 United States to find homes for the millions of people who are to come 

 after us." 



There is another feature to be considered in connection with this 

 question. This is the large opening for labor which the construction 

 of great irrigation works would make. The problem of the unem- 

 ployed in this country is constantly becoming a more serious one. It 

 is, just now temporarily obscured by the war, but will certainly come 

 to the front again as soon as the war is over. The constructions of 

 these irrigation works would be more than a temporary remedy for 

 the evil. It would, first, furnish employment to a large number of 

 men, and then create conditions which would enable them to get 

 homes on the land, and become permanently self-sustaining. Los 

 Angeles Times. 



