THE IRRIGATION AGE. 281 



these states in building canals and reservoirs for reclaiming the 

 irrigable land. / see no reason why this could not be done and why it 

 would not be an immeasurable improvement over the lack of manage- 

 ment or control which now prevails. 



"It is not a question of securing title to the land which is important but 

 the inauguration of a. system which will preserve the native grasses from 

 injury, if not destruction, through overstocking the range, and secure the 

 conservation and best use of the waters of our rivers which noio run to 

 waste.'" 



Why is not this last clause, quoted from one of the ablest advo- 

 cates the policy of state cession has ever had, the ground upon which 

 the whole West can unite, and bury the hatchet among themselves, 

 and go before the people of the East with a proposed policy which 

 obviates every evil of state cession, accomplishes every good result 

 that could come from it, and to which no reasonable man can suggest 

 any reasonable objection which cannot be removed by a wise adjust- 

 ment of the methods to be adopted for carrying the policy into effect. 

 Just so long as those who have advocated the cession of the lands 

 to the states, and the surrender by the federal government 

 of all control over them, transferring them absolutely to the State 

 Legislatures, continue to insist on this policy and demand the absolute 

 cession of the title by the federal government, just so long will the 

 ' 'irrepressible conflict'' continue, and the development of the West be 

 retarded, for absolute state cession will never prevail There are too 

 many, both east and west, who will heed the warning voice of such 

 journals as the San Francisco. Chronicle and the Los Angeles Times 

 whose opposition to state cession is the result of a knowledge of past 

 experiences with state land-grants and springs from a deeply rooted 

 belief that such a policy would be detrimental to the best interests of 

 the West. 



