390 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



clamation of her arid domain. It is now 

 very generally conceded that a national 

 irrigation policy is the only means by 

 which such a result can be effected. The 

 growth of this movement throughout the 

 country has been a phenomenal one dur- 

 ing the past few years. 



The national movement is now of such 

 magnitude that it is gaining strength of 

 its own impetus. We failed to get our 

 appropriations from the recent Congress, 

 but that is not as much our fault as it is 

 due to insufficient time afforded by the 

 short session of Congress. Notwithstand- 

 ing, we have taken a long step forward 

 and I am confident that at the next ses- 

 sion there will be enacted a great part of 

 the legislation we require. 



The best evidence of this feeling is that 

 only two years ago Congress laughed at 

 the idea of a national irrigation law, but 

 during the last session it was con- 

 ceded to be a mere question of time. I 

 have talked with many Congressmen who 

 will not say they are in favor of the move- 

 ment, and with many who are openly op- 

 posed to it as it stangs now. and they have 

 told me flatly that if we would seek direct 

 legislation and appropriation instead of 

 pursuing the course of tacking our meas- 

 ures on the general appropriation bill in 

 the form of amendments, they would 

 stand with us. They one and all admit 

 that it is a question of a short time when 

 an irrigation act will be put through. The 

 bills favorable to us, which were returned 

 from committee this winter, came before 

 the House two (lays before adjournment 

 and consequently too late. 



My own conclusion and judgment is that 

 our absolute success is merely a matter of 

 organization. If well organized now I am 

 convinced that our policy will be fully in- 

 augurated at the next session. If we are 

 apathetic we may lose all we have gained. 

 Qur strongest opponents are eastern agri- 

 culturists, who believe erroneously that 

 western development will result in dis- 



astrous competition, and an even stronger 

 class that believes the Government domain 

 hould be ceded to the States and the 

 States forced to stand the expense of re- 

 clamation something few States, if any, 

 could afford to do. 



Untiring work and effort must be the 

 keynote of the work. 



Increased Interest It is surprising to note the 

 in irrigation. interest the metropolitan 

 papers take in irrigation in the West and 

 the conservation of the flood waters which 

 run unchecked to the sea. This should 

 lead to an education of the people in cor- 

 rect lines, and result in beneficiaf and 

 needed legislation. That it is more and 

 more the subject of editorial comment in 

 the city journals is a cause of congratula- 

 tion. The time should not be far distant 

 when every irrigation possibility will be 

 utilized to the utmost capacity. An anci- 

 ent civilization has recorded in our South- 

 west its belief in irrigation, and if any one 

 doubts its value let him read the lesson 

 taught by the ruins of great cities and 

 mighty peoples, once living where now a 

 desert reigns supreme. Until we equal 

 the record of the past, an education is 

 needed in irrigation matters. 



Chinese 

 Canals. 



In the great Empire of China, 

 notwithstanding the vast anti- 

 quity of her alphabet and records, the 

 distribution of water by canals dates back 

 into the fabulous period. Forty centuries 

 of recorded history do not describe the 

 methods first in use which even then were 

 old. Chinese irrigation of to-day, though 

 entailing enormous labor, yields three full 

 crops a year and the soil asks for no inter- 

 val of rest. 



A thousand years before the birth of 

 Christ, the Chinese record has it, the 

 Wou-Weng caused to be constructed hy- 

 draulic machines of simple design and 

 working, which were successfully used for 

 filling storage reservoirs, and as a conse- 

 quence, agriculture flourished. Some 800 



