40 



IRRIGATION AGE. 



been improved, though more in some 

 parts of the country than in others. This 

 improvement is everywhere expanding. 

 There are many great chicken farms in 

 the immediate vicinity of Chicago, where 

 chicken-raisers confine themselves to 

 special breeds, and this is true of other 

 localities. The great egg season of the 

 year is not winter, but spring. Com- 

 mercial eggs may vary in price as much 

 as five cents a dozen; handsome, large 

 selected, high-grade eggs may be worth 

 five cents a dozen more than ordinary 

 eggs. These superior eggs may be the 

 production of special breeds of stock, but 

 the eggs of comparatively ordinary hens 

 packed with care may bring a ce,nt or two 

 more a dozen than the same eggs packed 

 as they run. 



The Commercial Club, of Chi- 



Experts cago, had several experts on 



e Banueted. Irrigationi at a banquent Oct. 



27, who discussed irrigation for the recla- 

 mation for the arid lands of the West. 



The addresses were made by Professor 

 Elwood Mead, irrigation expert of the 

 Department of Agriculture; F. H. Newell, 

 hydrographer of the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey; George H. Maxwell, exe- 

 cutive chairman of the National Irrigation 

 Association, add A. C. Bartlett of the 

 Commercial club. 



Mr Maxwell emphasized, the relation of 

 the subject to Chicago by his statements 

 that modest estimates of what could be 

 accomplished by the irrigation of lands 

 now arid placed the population such 

 regions could support at 50,000,000 persons, 

 while with greater improvements than 

 those considered these lands could be 

 made capable of sustaining 200,00".000 

 persons. 



"With such a country in the West 

 Chicago would become the greatest city 

 in the world," the speaker declared. 



The interest of the club members in the 

 proposed plans for reclamation of these 

 arid lauds was asked. The direct ques- 

 tion for discussion was whether the 

 federal government should make appro- 

 priations for the construction of water 

 storage reservoirs and for the reclamation 



of land. It was answered in the affirma- 

 tive by Mr. Maxwell when he said that 

 Congress at its next session should make 

 appropriations for the construction of 

 such water storage basins. 



Mr. Newell illustrated his address with 

 stereoptican pictures of the arid land 

 under consideration. He showed the con- 

 trast between the desert and the culti- 

 vated lands and explained the reasons 

 why irrigation is necessary throughout 

 one-third of the United States and is 

 beneficial to at least two-thirds of the 

 country. He illustrated the work the 

 government now is carrying on to locate 

 reservoir sites. 



The necessity for public improvement 

 rather than private improvement was 

 indicated by the statements that nearly all 

 the capital which had become interested 

 in the reclamation of arid lands had 

 suffered a loss. It was asserted that the 

 work of reclamation by irrigation should 

 be done by municipalities and States, and 

 in cases in which the.work overlapped into 

 several States by the federal government. 



In the event of construction of storage 

 basins by the government it was held that 

 the benefit should be received by the land- 

 holder, who went into the desert to build 

 a home. 



Professor Mead spoke of the condition s- 

 existing in the West and explained the 

 character of the laws regulating water 

 rights. These, he said, illustrated the 

 necessity of federal supervision to bring 

 them into unity. 



Colorado business men recog- 

 Business nize the benefit that attaches 

 Men - to their state through the 



Government along the lines of irrigation 

 investigations and surveys for reservoir 

 sites. -The Denver Chamber of Com- 

 merce and Board of Trade last month 

 adopted rigorous resolutions calling atten- 

 tion to the great development possible in 

 Colorado, through irrigation, and to the 

 generally accepted opinion that only by 

 the storage of flood waters can the future 

 problem affecting successful farming in 

 the arid region be solved, and pledging 

 support to the United States Geological 



