156 THE IRRIGA TION A GE 



the saying of the keen satirist and wise. philosopher: That whoever- 

 could make two ears of corn or two blades of grass to grow upon a 

 spot of ground where only one grew before, would deserve better of 

 mankind and do more essential service to his country than the whole 

 race of politicians put. together. 



The utility of irrigation ceased to be questioned thousands of 

 years ago, and we have the records of successful methods which are 

 as old as the first pages of written history itself. We have evidence 

 that the aborigines of the southwest had perfected a system of irri- 

 gation, and the natives of New Mexico and Arizona, who brought 

 their methods from Mexico and Spain, handed down their skill to 

 posterity. 



I am not optimistic enough to believe the ingenuity of men 

 can encompass the redemption of the six hundred millions of acres 

 which comprise the nation's vacant public lands, but if, as had been 

 claimed there is water enough for the irrigation of one hundred 

 millions of acres (providing the supply is economically used), I can 

 easily imagine ten millions of good citizens finding homes on farms 

 which are self-supporting. In the state of Texas there are still many 

 millions of acres of unclaimed acres which would lend themselves 

 readily to irrigation methods and become valuable to settlers. The 

 area of this great state may be appreciated by remembering the fact 

 that if it were populated as densely as the state of Massachusetts 

 there would be over ninety millions of souls within its borders. But 

 it is the immense tracts that embrace a large part of Arizona, New 

 Mexico, Utah and Nevada, much of Wyoming, Colorado, California 

 and Oregon, and the basin of the Columbia in interior, Washington, 

 which comprise mainly the public domain. 



It appears that private or corporate enterprise cannot be trusted 

 to control the improvement and reclamation with justice and equality 

 for all concerned. The states themselves are as yet not financially 

 strong enough to undertake the task. It seems to me, therefore, 

 that the plan proposed is the most feasable and just. It is: Let the- 

 Government build the storage reservoirs and the main line canals, 

 and the settlors provide the smaller distributing system by banding 

 themselves together in co-operative organizations. 



I believe that Congress is awakening to a sense of the importance 

 and propriety of lending national aid to the movement. Already 

 considerable sums have been appropriated for the purpose of investi- 

 gating hydrographic conditions, measuring streams, making reser- 

 voir surveys, etc., and I believe that before long the policy of 

 national aid in the building of storage reservoirs will be established. 



The Government has spent over eleven millions of dollars in 

 improving the navigation of the Missouri river, as its middle course 



