THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



VOL. XV. 



CHCAGO, JANUARY, 1900. 



NO. 4. 



THE PROGRESS OF WESTERN HMERICfl. 



Dav 



Xew Year's Day is invariably 

 associated in our minds with 

 the formation of good resolu- 

 tions. the starting of the diary, the open- 

 ing of the account book which shall re- 

 iterate in black and white that "A penny 

 saved is a penny earned/' and that if we 

 "Take care of the pence the pounds will 

 take care of themselves." These things 

 are associated with the opening of the 

 Xew Year as inseparably as is holly with 

 Christmas tide. To all of our readers 

 those who have "resolved"' and those who 

 have not, the AGE offers mort hearty 

 greetings and wishes that for all of you 

 1900 may be a year of good things a year 

 of happiness and prosperity. 



The 



Year 



1899. 



The year just passed has been 

 one of the most prosperous, 

 financially, that has been ex- 

 perienced for many long years, and com- 

 ing, as it did. so close after the period of 

 "hard times " made it doubly welcome. 

 Crops were good, therefore the farmer has 

 rejoiced: manufacturing industries have 

 been unusual!}- active, therefore work for 

 the toiler has been plentiful and idle men 

 are scarce. Probably no month witnessed 

 such a volume of trade as did November, 

 and if 1900 is as prosperous as 1899 has 

 been, most of us will have no cause for 

 complaint. The past year, in addition to 

 being a successful business year, was also 

 one big with events. It was one of those 

 periods in which everything seemed to 

 "happen.'' As one writer puts it, we are 

 going forward with sjuch mighty force; the 



world is striving so eagerly for something 

 better and nobler that, taken in connec- 

 tion with the "wars and rumors of wars," 

 the millineum begins to assume shape. 

 But despite the fact that many reforms 

 are being brought about and many evils 

 corrected, there are still so many abuses 

 crying for correction that it will be some 

 months yet ere the lion will be a suitable 

 bed-fellow for the lamb. Wars are still in 

 progress: the strong oppress the weak: 

 capital and labor are antagonistic; yet the 

 world is more tolerant, more charitable, 

 wiser we recognize more- clearly than 

 ever before the great ruling force that is 

 back of it all, bringing mankind up year 

 by year to a higher plane. In the words 

 of the old hymn "God works in a mysteri- 

 ous way His wonders to perform.'' 



Irrigation 

 Exhibition 

 at Paris. 



The Denver ^publican says' 

 'Prof. El wood Mead, the well 

 known irrigation expert, will 

 doubtless make a most interesting feature 

 of America's irrigation exhibit at the 

 Paris exposition, and beneficial results 

 will follow the introduction of the western 

 farmers' best ideas in Europe. 



The term "arid America"' is rapidly 

 becoming less applicable than of yore, the 

 rapid strides of irrigation bringing the 

 so-called arid states into a condition of pro- 

 ductiveness. This fact is little known in 

 Europe, and for this reason an exhibit 

 that will give foreigners some idea of the 

 scope of irrigation in America will prove 

 of incalcuable benefit in encouraging 

 immigration of the best sort. European 



