THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



255 



eluded to put forth every energy to secur- 

 ing some specific action by the Genera] 

 Goverment, does anybody believe that this 

 action could yave been denied? The West 

 has not put forth its energies in any gen- 

 eral way to secure the inauguration of a 

 policy of national irrigation which shall 

 eventually reclaim 75,000,000 acres of 

 desert. 



There has been a partial wave of West- 

 ern enthusiasm this winter on the quess- 

 tion of national irrigation. a realization 

 that the West was not even abreast of the 

 tide created by Eastern manufacturing 

 interests, and even this has made the sub- 

 ject the most prominent new legislation 

 before Congress. 



Now what if the West actually organizes 

 itself this summer and fall organizes as 

 though this were to be a fight upon which 

 its life depended? 



Why the next Congress would simply 

 buckle down to the work and consider the 

 question and pass upon it and act. 



And after all the newspapers can ac- 

 complish a good half of this work. 



Palestine was at one time in a high 

 state of cultivation. By the Mosiac Insti- 

 tute, after the exodus from Egypt, the 

 lands were divided among the adult males, 

 each receiving from 16 to 25 acres. The 

 fields were wtered from canals and con- 

 duits communicating with the brooks and 

 streams. When, through the vicissitudes 

 of war and rapine, these irrigation works 

 were destroyed and life rendered insecure, 

 agriculture declined. What was at one 

 time a fruitful land of plenty under irri- 

 gation, today is practically a barren waste. 



Here is what an Arizonian says of Salt 

 river, which was once known to the coun- 

 try in general only as a mythical stream 

 for the navigation of disappointed political 

 candidates. He remarks: "The most in- 

 teresting proposition in Arizona to-day is 

 the effort to dam Salt river for irrigating 

 purposes. Within sixty miles of our city 

 the river flows through a deep canyon. 

 By damming the river this would make a 

 natural resei-voir. There are fully 1,500,000 

 acres of land that could be irrigated." 



Keep 

 Fighting. 



"If at first you don't succeed 

 try, try again," is a good mot- 

 to, but "Never Quit" is a better one. It 

 tells in two words the unyielding tenacity 

 of purpose that will bring success to the 

 national irrigation movement. 



In the session of congress just closed the 

 senate fully recognized the national im- 

 portance of the irrigation movement. 



In the Indian appropriation bill the sen- 

 ate amendment appropriated $100,000 to 

 complete the surveys and preliminary 

 tests of the foundations for the San Carlos 

 dam in Arizona. 



The chairman of the house committee 

 on Indian affairs, Mr. Sherman, of New 

 York, defeated it in the house and in con- 

 ference. 



The senate increased the appropriation 

 for irrigation surveys by the geological 

 survey from $100,000 to $200,000. 



The chairman of the house committee 

 on appropriations, Mr. Cannon, with Mr. 

 Moody, defeated this increase in (Confe- 

 rence. 



They declared themselves on the floor of 

 congress in favor of state cession, though 

 it involved a repudiation of the platform 

 of the republican [party in the last cam- 

 paign. That platform declared: 



"In further pursuance of the constant 

 policy of the republican party to provide 

 free homes on the public domain, we re- 

 commend adequate national legislation to 

 reclaim the arid lands of the United States, 

 reserving control of the distribution of 

 water for irrigation to the respective states 

 and territories. 



These declarations are utterly irrecon- 

 cilable with btate cession. 



The senate amendment to the river and 

 harbor bill appropriated about $300,000 for 

 reservoirs in Wyoming and South Dakota. 



The bill, as it was prepared by the hous 

 committee, carried appropriations aggre- 

 gating $60,000,000. The senate cut this 

 amount down to $50,000,000. 



Twice the bill was sent to conference 

 and twice Mr. Burton, chairman of the 

 house committee, and the house conferees, 

 refused to concur in the reservoir amend- 

 ments. They were ready to pour money 

 out of the treasury with reckless waste- 

 fulno ss for work on insignificant c 



