THE IKRIGA1LON AGE. 



405 



Nile. He recites the history of many 

 lands to show how irrigation and small 

 farms have enabled men to attain the very 

 best conditions of life and the most con- 

 stant and equable happiness. 



Mr. Smythe's optimism extends to his 

 political views. He sees his country's 

 future with loving eye and rebukes An- 

 drew Carnegie's present pessimism by 

 quoting his eloquent prediction of a twen- 

 tieth century America with 500,000,OOC of 

 free and prosperous people, dominating 

 the world for the world's good. He sees 

 in the advance of American law and lib- 

 erty across the Pacific an 'impulse now 

 clearly apparent in the intellectual and in- 

 dustrial life of that part of the world 

 which will materially assist in the settle- 

 ment of the far West and indefinitely 

 widen the market for its products.' 



Mr. Smythe conclusions may some- 

 times outrun his facts, but his enthusiasm 

 is in refreshing contrast with the weakly 

 wailings of many writers when they deal 

 with the future of their country." 



The western half of the 

 Mining United States today supports 



Development, a population ranging some- 

 where around five million. 

 Much of this population has been attract- 

 ed by the cry of gold and the capital in 

 vested today in western mines is enor- 

 mous. Yet it is not a title of the amount 

 which the value of the mineral laden ore 

 of the West warrants; only these minerals 

 are locked largely in the grasp .of the arid 

 belt. Water is what is needed. Hills and 

 mountains of extreme richness lie unde- 

 veloped and desolate, surrounded by 

 barren deserts or sagebrush plains. Capi- 

 tal is slow to venture into such places, 

 even with great mineral wealth in sight. 

 Gold is not the only metal, tons of which 

 are locked in the rocky bosom of the 

 western sierras, but all the family of baser 

 metals are richly represented and the 

 question of transportation enters largely 

 into their mining. Railroads will not fol- 

 low mining camps alone. But reclaim the 

 arid lands of the West: give to them a 

 settled agricultural population, and rail- 

 roads will quickly pierce the desert. And 

 here too will be a source whence to feed 

 the men and the mules that work the 



mines; feed them at reasonable rates. 

 Many a torrent of great volume rushes 

 down the slopes during the period of melt- 

 ing snow and spreads away in a glistening 

 stream across the brown plain, but before 

 a crop can be raised, its volume has waned 

 and its bed become dry sand. Yet store 

 this warer in a mountain reservoir and it 

 would afford a perennial supply, capable 

 of irrigating land whose fertility has never 

 felt the washing, weakening power of rain. 

 Then, along with the agricultural develop- 

 ment would come mining development. 



There are many regions where irriga- 

 tion has transformed the agricultural 

 lands and railroads have been quickly 

 built, where adjacent mines the necessi- 

 ties for man and beast and transportation 

 at hand have been simultaneously de- 

 veloped, adding vast sums to our mineral 

 output which might have otherwise lain 

 always dormant. 



For a long time the Depart- 

 What It has ment of Agriculture and its 

 Farmer tb * free distribution of seeds to 



the farmer was the foundatio 

 for many a newspaper joke, even the far- 

 mer himself was disposed to regard it sus- 

 piciously, not being sure whether it was a 

 harmless fad of the government, or a deep 

 laid confidence game. The fanner has 

 slowly but surely come to realize what 

 benefit this department is to him and to 

 appreciate it as it deserves. Speaking 

 editorially on this subject the Chicago 

 Inter Ocean says: "The farmer has 

 learned that the department's 3,000 em- 

 ployes are working to fatten his pocket- 

 book, and he regards their work very ser- 

 iously. He once looked upon the 'scien- 

 tific ' farmers of the experiment stations 

 with hilarious contempt. Soon he found 

 that tne scientists were protecting him 

 against fraud in commercial fertilizers. 

 Then he discovered that they could save 

 him time and money in making experi- 

 ments. Now he is going to them for ad- 

 vice and depending upon their counsel. 

 To millions of American farmers today the 

 admonitions signed 'James Wilson, Sec- 

 retary of Agriculture,' have almost the 

 binding fo^ce of law." 



Continuing the article says that a bare 

 enumeration of what the Department of 

 Agriculture has done and is doing for the 



