TEE IRRIGATION AGE. 



93 



from the West, and by tho same great 

 waterway, 150,000,000 bushels of grain; 

 Escanaba, Duluth, and Two Harbors ship 

 12,000,000 tons of iron ore; while Ashta- 

 bula, Cleveland, Conneaut, and Chicago 

 unload an equal amount from more than 

 7,000 vessels that annually enter their har- 

 bors. 



"The Detroit River floats four times as 

 much tonnage as passes through the Suez 

 Canal and one and a half times the aggre- 

 gate of all vessels engaged in foreign trade 

 that enter our ports on the Atlantic, the 

 gulf, and the Pacific seaboard, an amount 

 about equal to that of London. Liverpool, 

 and New York combined." 



This may be regarded as western* com- 

 merce, and for the purpose of his illustra- 

 tion that vast territory, "the west," in- 

 cluded "Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, Ok 

 lahoma, Indian Territory, and all west of 

 of these, and all north and west of Texas. 

 "These States produce," he said, "more 

 than 70 per fent. of the nation's cereals, 

 and 70 percent, of the nation's hay. They 

 contain 50 per cent, of the milk cows and 

 60 per cent, of all other cattle; 65 per 

 cent of the swine, 75 per cent of the 

 sheep, and where, except in the West, 

 would you look for 80 per cent, of the 

 wool?" 



From the above it will readily be seen 

 that our future commercial and industrial 

 advantages are centered in and depend 

 upon speedy reclamation and development 

 of arid America. 



The timely import and great comparative 

 value of Secretary Shaw's concise summary 

 of western productivity adds to the force 

 of official statement every practical reason 

 for united support of a national irrigation 

 system. 



His mathemaaical logic should disarm 

 conservative eastern prejudice and spur the 

 popular pride of commercial supremacy 

 which is impossible to the east alone. 



Referring to the crowded condition of 

 agricultural industry following the growth 

 of population as observed in Illinois, Wis- 

 consin and Iowa, where the maximum ca- 



pacity under present methods has been 

 nearly attained, Mr. Shaw continued: 



"If all the arable land of Iowa were put 

 in crop, and that portion not needed to 

 support the teams necessary for its culti- 

 vation placed on the market, the people of 

 the United States could not consume it, 

 though restricted to a cereal diet. The only 

 way the yield of this unequaled 56,000 

 square miles of land can be consumed by 

 80,000,000 people is to have large quanti- 

 ties of it first manufactured into beef and 

 pork and dairy butter. Our increasing 

 population renders it improbable, however, 

 that this remarkable showing can be long 

 continued, even by Iowa, though she may 

 increase to some extent her cereal produc- 

 tion. 



"The only hope of a material increase in 

 agricultural products is through irrigation 

 of arid lands. I see no objection to some 

 provision that will encourage private capi- 

 tal to enter what may be made a most in- 

 viting field, and it seems to me this can be 

 done in such a way as will place these lands 

 upon the market at government prices, plus 

 the cost of irrigation, and when paid for 

 permit the purchasers to become co-opera- 

 tive owners of the irrigation plants. 



"Let every industry be encouraged, let 

 every enterprise be fostered, let every in- 

 terest be conserved, then shall we grow 

 great and symmetrical, and, growing great, 

 shall preserve our industrial and commer- 

 cial independence, and thus become an 

 ever-increasing blessing to the world. 



"The West not only grows food products, 

 but her people have become no mean com- 

 petitors in their preparation. Minneapolis 

 alone manufactures 16,000,000 barrels of 

 flour per annum, a carload (60,000 pounds) 

 every ten minute,", day and night, 365 days 

 in the year. 



"A branch factory in a prairie town of 

 Iowa of less than 4,000 population pro- 

 duces 6,000,000 cans of condensed milk 

 per annum, while the parent plant in Wis- 

 consin makes more than double this 

 amount, a portion of which helps to feed 

 the standing armies of Europe and to sup- 

 ply the belligerents in South Africa. 



"The Elgin Butter companies consume 

 the cream from 70. 000,000 pounds of milk, 

 manufactures 3,000,000 pounds of butter 

 (1,500 tons), and exports its products to 

 China, Japan, Cuba, Mexico, South Amer- 

 ican countries, and to Alaska. 



"A single unincorporated firm in south- 



