276 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the thousands of men who desire homes, 

 but have no means with which to purchase 

 them, a chance to convert their labor into 

 land. As an advocate of this theory ex- 

 presses it, "Offer these desirable men 

 good wages, payable one-third cash and 

 Iwo-thirds credited on their perpetuity 

 water-right account, and there will be 

 more good men to accept than can be em- 

 ployed, and the canal enterprise will be on 

 a sound paying basis from the hour of its 

 completion." He further suggests that 

 "the work be given to settlers on the lands 

 who contract with the canal company for 

 water-rights and to none others." This 

 seems a very practical plan. It secures 

 settlers and therefore guarantees success 

 to the canal enterprise, and at the same 

 time furnishes an opportunity for men to 

 obtain farm land in exchange for their 

 labor their only asset. 



Serious The July issue of the 



Charees. Rural Californian in an 



article regarding the recently passed irri- 

 gation bill, has some very pointed remarks 

 to make concerning Geo. H. Maxwell and 

 others. It says in part: '*..,. and 

 the Rural Californian hopes that the 

 secretary of the interior will carefully 

 watch, abcrve all, that the land-grabbers 

 and political wolves who have been howl- 

 ing for a piece of meat from the sale of 

 public lands, shall be stopped at the com- 

 mencement of this great enterprise. 

 Above all, keep this fellow, Geo. H. Max- 

 well and his crowd away from the treas- 

 ury; they do not practice irrigation except 

 in front of the bar. Give honest men a 

 chance who are interested in the welfare 

 of home-seekers and farmers, and not the 

 bullying, so-called attorney who has bled 

 the poor fruit-growers to death, in making 

 them believe that he would relieve them 

 of the burdens under the Wright act, and 

 never gave to those poor distressed farm- 

 ers anything but a receipt for their hard- 

 earned money he received. The Lord 

 save us from such cattle. " 



A journal making such insinuations as 

 the above should be prepared to verify 

 them. 



Stricken 

 Australia 



A news letter from Sidney, 

 Australia, states that "the 

 great question of water conservation and 

 irrigation on a comprehensive scale has at 

 last taken firm hold of the public mind in 

 at least three of the Australian states. 

 Several causes have contributed to this 

 the protracted character of the drouth, 

 which has lasted since 1895 and cost $150,- 

 000,000 in cattle and sheep in New South 

 Wales alone; the tour of Mr. Crick, min- 

 ister for lands through the arid districts of 

 the western division, and the appointment 

 of an interstate commission to inquire into 

 the whole question." 



The scene of desolation which met the 

 eye, during the recent ministerial tour r 

 was pitiful. Sheep, dying in hundreds, 

 parched earth, with no sign of vegetation, 

 and dry lakes and creeks. At one place a- 

 triumphal arch to welcome the commis- 

 sion was reared from the bones of the ani- 

 mals which had perished during the 

 drouth. This desolate region is enclosed 

 by a network of rivers from which suffi- 

 cient water could be obtained to irrigate 

 and render fertile the land that is now 

 barren and it is to be hoped the commis- 

 sioners, who are convinced by their recent 

 tour, that the future success of western 

 Australia depends on a proper scheme of 

 conservation, will succeed in rousing the 

 government to definite action. 



Prof. Newell 

 Speaks. 



The following pertinent re- 

 marks were made by F. H. 

 Newell, chief hydrographer of the United 1 

 States government, in an address deliverad 

 before the Commercial Club and the Real 

 Estate Exchange of Denver, Colo.: "Look- 

 ing into the future, one realizes that there 

 must come a time when water must be ap- 

 portioned with justice to all, and a cen- 

 tury or more hence we will have it dis- 



