IRRIGATION IN CONGRESS. 



If the leading minds of the country were asked to seriously dis- 

 cuss the topic: "What is the greatest question in the United States 

 awaiting solution?" it is probable that a very few men living east of 

 the Mississippi would think of "national irrigation" in this connection. 

 To most of such the subject is new and unstudied. It will bear study; 

 it will bear the most searching scrutiny, and the more studied the 

 more it is seen to be a question of exceptional breadth and of truly 

 great possibilities and far-reaching importance to the nation. 



The query that many eastern people are now making is: "What is 

 this irrigation problem before Congress? Is it a legitimate one for 

 the Government 1o consider? Is it one whose support will be a bene- 

 fit to the country? Along whai, lines is it drawn? In short, is it a 

 question of really national import? 



Its western advocates, regardless of political affiliations, claim 

 that it is the most important national question to-day. Eastern legis- 

 lators, regardless of party, are inclined to smile broadly at this 

 assertion. 



If the internal history of the American Republic is studied care- 

 fully, however, the conclusion will be reached that national irrigation, 

 properly wrought out, is likely to shortly come to the front as one of 

 the most important national questions of the day. It embodies, in its 

 truest sense, the question of home-building, and the American people 

 have been, up to the present time, essentially a nation of home-build- 

 ers. In no country in the world is the desire for home-building so 

 strong. The wish to own and have and live in homes has led thous- 

 ands of Americans to endure trials and hardships, and brave dangers 

 almost beyond conception. This controlling wish of the American 

 people has conquered a continent. The hardy pioneer with his family 

 and his earthly belongings stowed in his wagon, looking for a home, 

 has accomplished this. The locomotive has only followed the prairie 

 ' schooner. 



Now, what has this to do particularly with irrigation? Simply 

 that the opportunity for home-building under the old order has disap- 

 peared. New, cheap homes, within the means of the hardy settler, 

 are, under favorable conditions, no longer available. The opening 

 here and there of a strip of good land to settlement, such as Oklahoma, 

 and the following rush of immigration, attests to this and also to the 

 fact that the country is still full of home seekers. Where, then, will 

 they now turn? 



