352 



1HE IRRIGA1ION AGE. 



eminent aid. If Government aid be ob- 

 jected to on the ground that the develop- 

 ment of these arid lands would bring them 

 into productive competition with, and tend 

 to decrease values of farming lands in the 

 Eastern States, the answer is, first, that 

 the development of any portion of our 

 country is incidentally a benefit to all; 

 but more specifically, if these desert lands 

 should be watered, vast quantities of ma- 

 chinery, implements, and other manufact- 

 ured goods will be required by the settlers 

 upon the lands, practically all of which 

 manufactured goods would have to come 

 from Eastern States. This alone, I think, 

 would more than compensate for any 

 otherwise possible depreciation of Eastern 

 farming lands, occasioned by increased 

 Western competition. If the West shall 

 have more water, the East will have more 

 trade. 



"But these Western lands would for the 

 most part be devoted to a different class 

 of products than those of the Eastern 

 States, increasing interstate commerce 

 and developing home markets in both 

 directions. 



"Again, who can say that these Western 

 lands will not be needed for homes for the 

 overflow of Eastern cities and towns. Un- 

 der the rapidly developing economic and 

 industrial conditions now astonishing the 

 world, and particularly by reason of the 

 introduction of the 'community of inter- 

 est' idea, having for its ostensible object 

 economy in both production and distribu- 

 tion, there is strong probability that many 

 who are now wage earners must in the 

 near future obtain their livelihood by cul- 

 tivation of the soil. The Government 

 owns these arid lands, and it is certainly 

 not unreasonable nor improvident that it 

 should expend some of its revenues in 

 making them irrigable. " 



The Nile and Egyptian agriculture has only 

 the Missouri. rea ched its high state of per- 

 fection through the aid of irrigation; AH 



of the land under cultivation over 6,000,- 

 000 acres is irrigated. That which i& 

 not irrigated is a desert. Egypt, 

 with its world-famous Nile, has many 

 pages in the history of the world, so that 

 irrigation may be said to be one of the 

 prime history-makers of the world. It has- 

 been stated that the irrigated land of 

 Egypt supports a population of over 

 5,000,000 people, and at the same time 

 pays a national debt one-half as large as- 

 that of the United States. 



With all its fame the Nile does not 

 water nearly as much territory as could, 

 one of our own rivers. The Missouri, in 

 time to come, may, too, have its place in 

 the history of the world. Agriculture 

 brings industry and industry begets peace. 

 The Missouri and its tributaries are sus- 

 ceptible of supplying water for many 

 times the area supported by the Nile. 



An Irrigated On the small island of Madeira, 

 isiaid. west coast O f Af r j cai) irrigation 



is practiced more extensively, in propor- 

 tion to the area of the island, which is 

 only 120 square miles, than in any coun- 

 try in the world; fully one-half of the 

 island being under water systems, Ma- 

 deira is in reality an irrigated patch in 

 the ocean, growing splendid crops. 

 Canals have been constructed with care 

 and skill, some of them sixty or more 

 miles in length. The thrifty farmers have 

 on their land reservoirs, into which they 

 collect their share of the water when it i 

 delivered to them, and from them distrib- 

 ute it to their crops as desired. 



The Reclama- The irrigation problem is one 

 !l!jc=r] ein ' * tne most important ques- 

 tions before the people of this country. 

 It is of vital interest to the West, for stat- 

 istics show that the population of many of 

 the country districts of the West is not as 

 great at the present time as it was tea. 

 years ago. The people have been attracted 

 to the cities and the cities have increased 

 in population. While Congresi at its last 



