AGAINST IRRIGATION. 



EASTERN OPPOSITION IS NOT AS VIVID AS 



IMAGINED. 



Opposition to the irrigation problem among eastern men seems to 

 be the spectre which is frightening so many people of the west, and 

 paralyzing them into such inaction against what seems to be such an 

 insurmountable obstacle, that it seems not out of place to quote a few 

 words of Mr. Frederick H. Newell, the hydrographer of the Geologic- 

 al Survey along the lines of what the east really thinks of irrigation 

 and showing that it is becoming more and more educated on this sub- 

 ject and more reconciled to a policy of government expenditure which 

 will eventually reclaim the arid lands of the west. Mr. Newell, as is 

 well known, is an expert on irrigation. He has studied the subject for 

 many years and looking into the future of this question he commenced 

 years ago a plan of systematic education of the country on this sub- 

 ject. He has delivered hundreds of lectures on irrigation for the 

 great west, throughout the length and breadth of the land. They 

 have always been given deep attention by his fellow scientists and a 

 few people who have gained a good understanding of the subject, but 

 the question, he says, stands in a very different light today with the 

 populace of all sections from what it did some years ago. 



"In years back" he said, "when I delivered a lecture on irriga- 

 tion, it was considered a nevv thing, a fad in this country. The news- 

 papers knew nothing about it, and nine out of ten newspaper men, 

 having to write something about it, wrote something purporting to be 

 funny or ridiculous. It was not that they were hostile for they knew 

 nothing of the subject, but that plan seemed to be the easiest way to 

 produce something readable for their papers. My lectures were a 

 subject for the newspaper paragraphers and what publicity I secured 

 did not help the cause of American irrigation. But there is nothing 

 of that kind now. The newspaper man has learned something about 

 irrigation in this country, of its possibilities and future, and he treats 

 the subject as one of the great national questions. I am doing consid- 

 erable lecturing this year all the time I can spare for it and the 

 newspapers are alert to know what is being done and what has been 

 done. Their readers take an interest in the question and anything 

 concerning it. is news. 



"Irrigation is an art almost as old as the world. It is new to this 

 country because the influx of population came by the Atlantic sea- 

 board instead of by the Pacific and so great acres of humid country 

 was appropriated and settled before the arid lands were reached. 



