132 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the cities of the Atlantic coast. California 

 alone will have someday thirty millions of 

 people, and that day will dawn in the new 

 century if the government will but act the 

 part of of a shrewd landlord on the Pacific 

 coa&t. Chicago Chronicle. 



There is no doubt that vast areas of 

 land can be reclaimed by irrigation. What 

 congress has to guard against is schemes 

 to benefit mere private enterprise at public 

 expense. The government should control 

 the distribution and settlement of the land 

 reclaimed, to permit its people every- 

 where to share in the advantages to be 

 provided. A project so guarded will be 

 beneficent, and the people of every section 

 of the country can consistently approve of 

 it. Springfield (III.) Register. 



Any great improvement that will bene- 

 fit not only the territory adjacent but the 

 whole country should be made. The 

 Isthmian canal would do this, and there- 

 fore should be constructed. Of scarcely 

 less importance is the proposed plan to re- 

 claim the vast extent of the arid lands of 

 the West. The fact that vice president 

 elect Roosevelt, Gen. Miles and other 

 prominent officials of the government are 

 in favor of the great improvement, must 

 be encouraging. Cleveland (0.) World. 



The government experts have surveyed 

 the arid lands, measured the water supply 

 and made estimates as to the cost of in- 

 creasing or regulating the latter. All that 

 congress is asked to do now is to make a 

 beginning. It is believed that such suc- 

 cess will follow the building of one storage 

 reservoir that the advisability of others 

 will never be questioned, and that they 

 will thereafter be built whenever oppor- 

 tunity presents and the financial resources 

 of the national government allow. New 

 York Commercial Advertiser. 



When in his letter to the irrigation con- 

 gress Gen. Miles ?aid that private or cor- 

 porate enterprise could not be trusted 

 with the water monopoly in the arid re- 



gions of the West, he expressed a senti" 

 ment that will meet with a chorous of ap- 

 proval in every state and territory where 

 irrigation is employed. There is work of 

 great magnitude to be done which would 

 be impossible to any other agency than the 

 federal government. Chicago Times- 

 Herald. 



It is probably true that the millions of 

 acres of arid lands still existing, which 

 might be made to blossom as the rose if 

 water could be turned through them, must 

 remain arid unless the national govern- 

 ment takes some action. Enormous pos- 

 sibilities of material development are 

 wrapped up in this question. There are 

 sections of the country where one piece of 

 land is worth $500 an acre, while land ad- 

 joining is not worth more than fifty cents; 

 the difference being that one is irrigated 

 and the other is not. Boston Journal. 



Tens of thousands of farmers settled 

 upon small but highly productive farms 

 would add greatly by their labors to the 

 agricultural products of the United States, 

 and would be new, good customers of its 

 manufacturers and merchants. There is 

 one reason why so many prominent Chi- 

 cago business men are interested in this 

 irrigation question. There is no doubt 

 that any extensive plan for the reclama- 

 tion of the arid lands can be carried on to 

 much better advantage by the general 

 government than by the states. Chicago 

 Tribune. 



The problem of the arid land is one of 

 the prettiest and most promising problems 

 before the country. The government alone 

 can secure the preservation of the forests 

 of the West which are vital to the con- 

 tinuance of the water supply. It can con- 

 trol the water supply itself and this no 

 private corporation can do. Irrigation is 

 a matter demanding public supervision 

 and control, and the national government 

 alone is in a position of carrying on the 

 work of promoting it. What concerns th,e 



