THE IREIGATION AGE. 



gation Congress is on its face a recital of seemingly 

 irremediable wrongs. Briefly Inyo County alleges : 



First: They and their ancestors settled the valley 

 and braved many hardships, including frequent fights 

 with Indians, while most of California was still un- 

 occupied by white men. As a natural consequence the 

 present generation in Inyo County has a sentimental 

 attachment for its birthplace, a sentiment not existing 

 in the more newly settled communities of the State. 



Second: By their own limited means they suc- 

 ceeded years ago in irrigating and tilling on an aver- 

 age throughout the valley 25 per cent of their holdings. 



Third : Qn their petitioning the government for a 

 survey to establish their fitness to receive the benefits 

 of national irrigation, a report favorable to the con- 

 struction of an irrigation project was made in 1903. 

 The inhabitants of the valley, in accordance with the 

 usual requirements of the Eeclamation Service, testified 

 to their desire for national irrigation by obligating 

 themselves not to dispose of their lands for a period 

 of ten years this to prevent speculation. 



Fourth: Following the assurance from the Eec- 

 lamation Service representatives that the irrigation 

 project would shortly be a fact, they awakened sud- 

 denly to the discovery that the project had been side- 

 tracked and their watershed procured by Los Angeles. 

 Before they had recovered from their first surprise the 

 government withdrew 200,000 acres of their lands for 

 a forest reserve in spite of the fact that not a tree 

 grew on all the big "forest" reserve and that its with- 

 drawal worked a great hardship on owners of abutting 

 property. 



Fifth : The $25,000,000 Los Angeles Viaduct pro- 

 cured from the government a right of way across this 

 forest reserve. 



Sixth: After repeated requests from Inyo County 

 for information concerning what the future held for 

 Owens Eiver valley farmers, the Eeclamation Service 

 finally announced that the settlers would be allowed to 

 have sufficient water to irrigate the lands now under 

 cultivation about 25 per cent of their total holdings. 



Virtually this means ruin for the farmer. He 

 bought and paid for one hundred and sixty acres. By 

 the decree of the Eeclamation Service he can never till 

 more than forty acres. The other one hundred and 

 twenty acres must remain forever barren. And this 

 remains the fact in spite of the plenteous flow of 

 Owens Eiver, which is great enough to give Los An- 

 geles all it needs and still leave a remainder sufficient 

 to water all the valley under national irrigation meth- 

 ods. 



But Los Angeles answers this statement by declar- 

 ing that present day conditions are not to be considered. 

 It is the future Los Angeles is providing against. And 

 that future sees Los Angeles a city of one million in- 



habitants a metropolis which will need all the water 

 of the Owens Eiver watershed. 



So it happens that when new industries, seeking 

 to locate in Inyo County, make application to the 

 Eeclamation Service for the right to build their plants 

 on the Owens Eiver and use its current for power pur- 

 poses, the applications are sent promptly from Wash- 

 ington to Los Angeles, where judgment on their merits 

 is pronounced by the city authorities. And it is hardly 

 necessary to add the municipality thus far has con- 

 demned every application brought to its attention. 



Unquestionably municipal needs outweigh the de- 

 sires of undeveloped farming communities. But just 

 as surely do the rights of the long-established, pro- 

 ducing settlement stand superior to the ambitious 

 schemes of a consciousless municipality, stopping at no 

 barrier to become the metropolis of the Pacific Coast. 



And after all, and behind it all* and permeating 

 it all, the fundamental principle of fair play is in- 

 volved. What is to be the outcome ? Is the immigrant, 

 newly landed in New York, to learn that national irri- 

 gation is the boon it has been described only after the 

 project has been constructed and the water" flowing 

 [and land values advanced beyond the reach of his 

 purse] ? Is the middle Westerner to decide that his de- 

 pendence is better put in God and rain than in the gov- 

 ernment and 25 per cent irrigation? 



In a word, is a precedent to be established in this 

 Owens Eiver valley wrong, which will result in keep- 

 ing every farmer who reads east of the Eockies, where 

 he at least knows just what to expect ? 



We are inclined to think the government will adopt 

 no such attitude. And not the least reason for this 

 opinion is the fact that the railroads here interested 

 themselves in the matter. The railroads are sided with 

 Inyo County. And the railroads are not moved by any 

 philanthropic motive. 



They know the correct answer to the query, and by 

 their alliance with the well-nigh discouraged Owens 

 Eiver valley farmers, they, have shown their opinion as 

 to whose interest is the greater. 



John Smith had lived thirty years on 

 A Parable. his sixty-acre farm in Indiana. He had 



raised good vegetables and good children, 

 and because of one and in spite of the other had ac- 

 cumulated a little fortune. Each year he marketed his 

 turnips and potatoes and corn and hay, and with the 

 proceeds in successive years bought his spouse the auto- 

 matic piano player, the power clothes washer, the seal- 

 skin coat, and the sundry other luxuries her comfort- 

 loving soul desired. John Smith was contented on his 

 Indiana farm. 



Of course, there had been lean years when the 

 rain failed to come. And equally, of course, there 



