NATION AS ARID LAND RE- 

 CLAIMER. 



At the National Irrigation Congress lately held in Chicago, two 

 hundred delegates were present, and their motto was: "Save the For- 

 ests, Store the Floods, Reclaim the Deserts, and Annex Arid America." 



President Mead in his opening address told of the inception of the 

 movement and recounted the questions now facing it, In speaking of 

 the need of national legislation he said: 



"While no question has yet arisen of greater importance than the 

 necessity of securing such changes as will unite land and water under 

 one control, other questions besides ceding the public lands to the 

 states have finally relegated this to a subordinate position. It is now 

 realized that watering these deserts is not solely a problem for the 

 states, that the nation has certain duties and responsibilities, and that 

 there are certain questions which require national legislation and 

 oversight. 



"The need of national laws grows out of the fact that in the West 

 it is water and not land which is of overshadowing importance. Many 

 western rivers are interstate streams. The laws of the states through 

 which they flow differ widely in character, while in some they are both 

 inadequate and dangerous. The appropriation of these interstate 

 rivers under these lax and conflicting state laws threatens to become 

 a fruitful source of litigation and social disturbance, unless in some 

 way the conflicting rights and warring policies can be reconciled and 

 adjusted/' 



National govermental control of the water supplies in the arid and 

 subarid lands of the West was strongly advocated. General Nelson 

 A. Miles, Governor Roosevelt, and former Senator Dubois of Idaho 

 emphasized this idea, the two former by letter, and the latter in an 

 informal speech. 



"The government of our country has an important mission to per- 

 form," said General Miles in his letter to the congress. "Now that it, 

 has taken hold of the work it is presumed that it will continue until a 

 time when the entire irrigation system will be under control, with one 

 simple law governing it alike in all the western states and territories. 

 Extravagance in expenditure should be avoided, and the government 

 should systematically improve only such lands which will repay the 

 expenditure, and divide the same in such manner that they can never 

 be monopolized by a few, but shall be cultivated by an industrious, 

 enterprising and intelligent people, who will build for themselves and 



