THE IR RIGA TION A GE. 75 



"Get to work and see if we cannot get one great 'object lesson' reser- 

 voir built by the government," he said. 



Thomas Knight, of Kansas City, contended that the reclaimation 

 of the arid lands of the West could not be detrimental to the interest 

 of the farmers of the East. 



Herbert Myrick, editor of the American Agriculturist, declared 

 that the reclamation of arid lands would create a large field for the 

 development of the sugar beet industry, saying: "The arid regions 

 are free from droughts or unusual rainfall, which are alike injurious 

 to beets." 



Hugh M. Wiley, chemist of the Department of Agriculture, also 

 declared the sugar beet was well adapted for growth on irrigated soil. 



Henry James, editor of the Forester, declared the preservation of 

 the forests would prevent an exhaustion of the water supply. 



By a unanimous vote Thomas F. Walsh, the mine owner and for- 

 mer United States Commissioner to the Paris exposition, was elected 

 president. Mr. Walsh resides in Washington. J. Bradford Prince, of 

 New Mexico, was elected first vice-president, and P. B. Thurber, of 

 New York, was selected for second vice president. H. B. Maxson was 

 re-elected secretary. 



Mr. Walsh said that upon the proper development of irrigation 

 depended the future prosperity of the West and to a large extent the 

 welfare of the whole nation. 



"Above all is to be emphasized the fact," he said, "that in the 

 West are opportunities for making thousands of homes, where men 

 can earn their living from the soil and be practically independent of 

 hard times. The safety of our institutions rests, to a large extent, 

 upon the ownership of small farms by the men who live upon them 

 and derive their support from the products of the soil. In all the 

 great centers of population, like New York and Chicago, are thous- 

 ands of unemployed men, constant sources of Danger. There is no 

 higher duty for the citizens of the country at large than to make it 

 possible for these unemployed men, who are willing to work, to make 

 for themselves homes upon the national domain." 



John W. Ela, of Chicago, spoke on "A Forecast of the Future.' 

 He said in part: "The more small farmers we have in this country the 

 more prosperous the country will become. We are particularly fortu- 

 nate in that we have a large area of land which will some day become 

 the homes of the small farmers. There is such, an expanse of territory 

 that it will prevent syndicates from owning and controlling it, and 

 when reduced to cultivation with the assistance of irrigation it will 

 become the homes of the small farmer." 



A. C. Bartlett read a paper written by Dwight B. Heard, of Ari 

 zona, on "Government Irrigating Works in India and Egypt," and 



