108 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



farmers who are tenants of the well to do 

 class cannot be induced to come to Amer- 

 ica, believing that all the farming lands 

 have been taken up, and that the immi- 

 grant does not have the same opportun- 

 ities of getting wealth at this day as he 

 did before the wagons of the pioneers had 

 crossed the Rocky Mountains. He is of 

 the opinion that with the taking up of the 

 fertile lands of the middle west the farmer 

 immigrant's chances for gaining wealth 

 vanished. 



An irrigation exhibit that propealy 

 shows the wonderful change that has been 

 worked in Ynany of the arid states will 

 convince the thinking foreigner of his 

 error. The best class of European farmers 

 will thus be induced to settle in the far 

 western states, when they realize that, 

 with water properly applied from strpams, 

 they can raise larger crops with greater 

 ease and surety than the immigrant who 

 settled farther east and who is not always 

 blessed with bountiful rains. 



Aside from its value in thus encouraging 

 desirable immigration, the proposed irri- 

 gation exhibit will prove an object lesson 

 to the shortsighted Americans who 

 imagine that everything west of the Mis- 

 sissippi river is a desert of sage brush and 

 cactus. Thousands of persons who do not 

 know the resources of the United States 

 will flock to the Paris exposition, and the 

 irrigation exhibit will achieve one of its 

 best results in opening the eyes of these 

 people to one of the greatest wonders of 

 their own country." 



The following paragraphs ap- 



Forest * 



Preserva- peared some time ago in the 

 tion. New York Commercial and 



should be pondered by everyone interested 

 in the welfare of the agricultural districts: 

 When a man announces himself as a 

 candidate for Congress it is customary for 

 the people to inquire how he stands on 

 certain public questions. Does he be- 

 lieve in bimetallism or is he friendly to a 

 single gold standard? Is his record that 

 of a protectionist or has he advocated the 

 open door policy for this Government? 

 What would he be likely to do if confronted 

 with a proposition to subsidize American 

 shipping; to extend the sphere of Ameri- 



can influence in foreign parts; to create a 

 stancher navy or to increase the numerical 

 strength of our army? These are vital 

 questions, to be sure, and no man is fitted 

 to represent a constituency who has not 

 decided views upon them all. But there is 

 one subject which national candidates be- 

 fore the people are apparently supposed to 

 know nothing about, and yet it is perhaps 

 as important as any other one thing in 

 which we as Americans have an interest. 

 We refer to the subject of forestry and 

 forest preservation. Just now English 

 economist are greatly exercised over the 

 probable exhaustion of that country's coal 

 supply. The life of the nation is at stake, 

 they say, and naturally every effort is being 

 made to prevent waste. Does anyone be- 

 lieve that if the English could recreate 

 their coal deposits by a system as simple 

 as that which would insure to us the pres- 

 ervation of our forests, it would not be 



done? 



* * * 



The Agricultural Department will ren- 

 de-- every aid to individuals who take an 

 interest in tree planting. But the Agri- 

 cultural Department cannot legislate. 

 Congress can, In a recent circular Secre- 

 tary Wilson declares that few farmers 

 realize the value of forests to those en- 

 gaged in agriculture. In the humid por- 

 tions of America, where nearly every farm 

 has its wood lot, the total area of woodland 

 is more than 200,000,000 acres. These 

 natural windbrakes temper the weather 

 and modify local climatic conditions to a 

 marked degree. Woods of commerce are 

 being rapidly destroyed in America by the 

 inexcusable and wanton wastefulness of 

 those who can see no danger until it be- 

 comes a matter of present and pressing 

 emergency. 



Unions. 



About the only trade or occu- 

 pation which has neither 

 li union" nor "trust" is that of farming. 

 Associations of various kinds have been 

 formed by the farmers for the purpose of 

 mutual improvement and benefit, more es- 

 pecially of an educational nature, but so 

 far unionism has b^en known to them 

 as is the "trust"' by the indirect effect it 

 has had upon them Capital and labor is 

 so at variance that it seems as if a crisis 



