THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



laid in the marble sarcophagus at Frog- 

 more beside that of Prince Albert: 



"Victoria- Albert, 



Here ftt last I shall 



Rest with thee; 



With thee in Christ 



Shall rise again." 



The San The committee on Indian af- 

 CarlosDam. fairs of the senate considered 

 and favorably reported an amendment 

 providing $100.000 for the beginning of 

 work on the San Carlos reservoir in Ari- 

 zona. If this amendment is made part of 

 the Indian appropriation bill, it will afford 

 work for the starving Pima Indians, and 

 will be the commencement of one of the 

 best reservoir propositions in the arid 

 regions, one, too, which will perhaps best 

 demonstrate the practicability and ex- 

 cellence of the national irrigation policy. 



Irrigation The irrigation debate in the 

 Debate. house of representatives, in 



connection with the river and harbor bill, 

 brought forth the best showing which has 

 yet been made in that branch of congress 

 on this subject. 



The managers of the river and harbor 

 measure claimed that irrigation and the 

 reclamation of the arid West were not 

 subjects properly under the jurisdiction of 

 the River aud Harbor Committee, and 

 that appropriations for reservoir con- 

 struction should n^t be inserted in the 

 River and Harbor bill. The Western 

 members however took the ground that 

 the contrl of the floods and regulation of 

 the flow of the streams by reservoir con- 

 struction were properly within the scope 

 of the River and Harbor bill, and the rul- 

 ing of the Speaker that the amendment 

 offered was germane to the bill is signifi- 

 cant. 



The reclamation of the arid region is a 

 question which is strong enough to stand 

 entirely upon its own foundation and be 

 treated as a separate proposition. At the 

 same time the problem of river control and 

 of the utilization of the flood waters for 

 irrigation are so inter-related that it is 

 inevitable that appropriations will ulti- 

 mately be made along the same lines as they 

 are for river and harbor improvement. 



The sentiment in the House in favor of 

 irrigation recognition of some sort is be- 

 coming stronger and stronger and cannot 

 much longer be successfully overcome. In 

 the Senate the sentiment favorable to arid 

 land reclamation is yet stronger. Mean" 

 time the feeling throughout the country 

 generally is growing, growing East as well 

 as West, into a great national movement 

 which will sooner or later have its way. 

 The time is approaching. Ic , cannot be 

 far distant. 



Cause for The friends of Irrigation need 

 Encourage- not fear that because of the 

 ment - adverse treatment received by 



the great number of irrigation bills and 

 amendments introduced in congress, espe- 

 cially in the house of representatives, the 

 national irrigation cause has suffered. It 

 must be remembered that the irrigation 

 movement is a new thing in the East. 

 Prior to the present session of congress it 

 has hardly been considered seriously by 

 ten per cent, of the Eastern congressmen. 

 And it must be remembered that in what 

 may be considered the early stages of a 

 new movement, a great mass of literature 

 and discussion and effort must be put forth 

 which will serve simply as a means of di- 

 recting attention to the subject and indi- 

 cating the variety of interests and purpo- 

 ses favoring and behind it. When indi- 

 vidual efforts and attempts at legislation 

 in the shape of bills introduced and amend- 

 ments offered in congress become so nu- 

 merous and insistent as to assume the 

 nature of a public clamor, then the proper 

 committee, whether hostile or favorably 

 disposed to the project, must give the 

 matter consideration; must gather all the 

 kindred bills together and formulate from 

 them a comprehensive measure, and make 

 a report upon it. This is the situation in 

 the present short session of congress. Old 

 and expected legislation is pressing in 

 great volume for enactment, and congress- 

 men are not willing, in the limited time 

 at their disposal this winter, to take up- 

 exhaustively a new question, nor is it the 

 purpose of the friends of irrigation to at- 

 tempt to force the subject. Nevertheless 

 very congressman now knows that the 



