1 12 THE IRRIGA TION A GE. 



caution. The government, with its multitudinous ways of investigat- 

 ing, its numerous agencies for arriving at the depths of matters, and 

 its ability to carry into effect anything that would benefit large num- 

 bers of its subjects, can do no better than to take decided action in 

 reference to the continued appeals which are made from the arid west. 

 It is clear, in this particular instance, that from no other quarter can 

 more deserving appeals be made or more profitable expenditures be 

 allowed. A number of different districts along the rivers of the west 

 are sparsely reclaimed and sparingly inhabited, while with the water 

 at hand, utilized judiciously, whole states could be made and towns 

 and cities brought into creation and districts builded up equal to any 

 of those now on the maps. Millions of acres of the richest soil may 

 be reclaimed with an expenditure of $6 or $7 per acre, while the de- 

 velopment incidental to the reclaiming of the land will bring into the 

 general commonwealth outside influences of a greater value than the 

 land itself. The utilization of water for power purposes, the building 

 of mills and factories, the discovery of coal and other fuel, the finding 

 of petroleum and other oils, the ever delving disposition of the miner 

 into new fields and the uncovering of rare metals, the economic uses 

 of range lands and the extending of railraad lines all go together to 

 enrich a state when the land has once been reclaimed. Without the 

 aid of the government the present undeveloped conditions will exist 

 until sheer exhaustion of human existence elsewhere compels private 

 enterprise to make room. This manner of reclaimiug the land wilJ be 

 fraught with hardships and privation. Crime will be encouraged and 

 education will be neglected. With the long strides made by our gov- 

 ernment in anything it undertakes, the region will be thrown at once 

 into the habitable, the pressure will be relieved in the older inhabited 

 districts and a new world ushered in immediately, from whose people 

 the general government will be able at once to levy taxes. The sale 

 of the raw land under a governmental gigantic system of irrigation 

 will put in the plant in ten years and restore the entire first outlay. 

 These statements are known throughout the west to be true and we 

 court investigation. There are a number of feasible propositions 

 throughout the west where the government can take hold. The small- 

 er of these require an expenditure of from $3,000,000 to $5,000,000, 

 while those of greater magnitude call for a much larger sum, the 

 greatest perhaps reaching the enormous figure of $50,000,000. With 

 this money expended under the jurisdiction of competent men the 

 west will have received an impetus of tremendous proportions, the 

 like of which has rarely been the privilege of this government to be- 

 stow. The east will be benefited far beyond the surface calculation. 

 The hydraulic pressure will everywhere be relieved and the throttled 

 districts released. Ten million people will shift their place of resi- 



