404 



THE IEEIGA TION A GE. 



Record! 



1 ncrease of 140 per cent over the corres- 

 ponding months of 1899. 



The figures of the total commerce with 

 Cuba, Porto Rico, Hawaii and the Phil- 

 lippines show in each case a marked 

 growth, especially in exports. To 

 Cuba the total exports of the year are 

 $26,513,613 against $18,616,377 in the fiscal 

 year 1899, and $9,5*31,656 in 1898. To 

 Porto Rico the exports in 1900 are 

 $4,640,435 against $2,685,848 in 1899, and 

 $1,505,946 in 1898. To the Hawaiian Is- 

 lands the exports for the year 1900 are 

 $13,509,148, against $9,305,470 in 1899 and 

 $5,907,155 in 1898. To the Philippines the 

 exports of 1900 are $2,640,449, against 

 $404,193 in 1899 and 8127,804 in 1898. To 

 the Samoan Islands the exports of 1900 are 

 $146,267, against $56,522 in 1899 and 

 $39,982 in 1898. To Guam the exports of 

 1900 are $13,247, against 6,883 in 1899, and 

 $4,070 in 1898. 



Chicago acknowledges that 

 Chicago's she is noisy and dirty, that 



ner men are & l wa y s i Q a hur ' 

 ry and her women all have big 



feet, but she is now prepared to refute the 

 charge of being a divorce center. This 

 might have been some years ago but is not 

 at present since recent statistics prove 

 Cleveland, O. to have the same ratio of 

 divorce applications to marriage licences 

 as Chicago. During the year ending June 

 30, 1900, Cleveland had 646 applications 

 for divorce and 3225 marriage licences a 

 ratio of 1 divorce application to five mar- 

 riages. In Chicago for the past six months 

 there were 1912 divorce petitions and 

 9340 marriage licences issued, which gives 

 the same ratio as for Cleveland one to five. 

 In Massachusetts the ratio is about one to 

 fourteen. 



Commenting on these statistics, the 

 Springfield Republican says: "Now, it is 

 true that there has been considerable 

 progress toward uniformity in divorce 

 legislation among the states, and sufficient 

 cause for divorce in Illinois and Ohio is, 

 generally speaking, sufficient cause in 

 Massachusetts. It would, moreover, be 

 difficult to maintain the proposition that 

 marriage is more generally happy, or its 

 requirements more generally observed, in 

 Massachusetts than in the Central West; 

 and while it may possibly be true that the 



more sturdy and sober New England char- 

 acter will endure an unhappy union from 

 religious or other motives longer than our 

 descendants in the West, no probable dif- 

 ference on this score will explain to any 

 appreciable degree the great difference in 

 the figures. It seems to be the case that 

 while the divorce laws of the West are 

 nearly or quite as strong as our own, their 

 administration is much weaker." 



Under the title ' 'Water Cure 



Irrigation for National Ills. ' ' the Chicago 

 Next to Divine T ,. , ., -i-,.-. 



Providence. Inter Ocean of the loth inst. 



has the following to say of our 

 friend, Mr. William E. Smythe: "William 

 E. Smythe is apparently neither a hydro- 

 pathist nor a prohibitionist, but he has 

 lately published a book surpassing all 

 other literary productions in its enthusi- 

 asm for water. He believes that if clean- 

 liness is next to godliness irrigation is 

 next to divine providence in the regenera- 

 tion of mankind. His theme is, 'The Con- 

 quest of Arid America,' and he draws a 

 most enticing picture of our Western 

 plains as they will be when water shall be 

 made to do its perfect work. 



Irrigation, says Mr. Smythe, will reduce 

 farms to minimum size, for it will make 

 the soil so fertile that one family need till 

 but a few acres. Thus the arid region will 

 become a series of vast villages embow- 

 ered in orchards. Its people will be alike 

 free from the unsocial gloom of large 

 farms and the unwholesome influences of 

 great cities. They will be the happiest 

 people on earth. 



In his enthusiasm Mr. Smythe is almost 

 ready to contend that it is better for a na- 

 tion to be compelled to irrigate arid lands 

 than to possess large areas naturally fer- 

 tile. He calls Professor Hilgard of the 

 University of California to witness that ir- 

 rigated desert lands are more fertile than 

 those where regular rainfalls and luxur- 

 iant vegetation have prevailed for ages. 

 He argues that the leaching of the soil by 

 rain more than offsets its enrichment by 

 vegetable deposits, while arid lands have 

 retained the chemical elements required 

 for the most intense fertility. 



Irrigation, says Mr. Smythe, sets the 

 chemical forces to work, combines the 

 dormant elements, and makes an alkali 

 plain richer than the famed delta of the 



