THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



405 



meaning should be heralded to every home and corner of our 

 nation with no uncertain sound. This congress may have a 

 just pride in its past achievements. This fact should inspire 

 us all to a more noble and patriotic purpose in all our future 

 activity. We have so strongly impressed the mind and con- 

 science of the people throughout our country, as to have 

 caused the enactment of important legislation by the states 

 as well as by the National government, the fruits of which 

 are in evidence throughout the great west and southwest 

 parts of our nation. And now the far east and south la 

 rapidly coming to understand the potential principles for 

 , which we stand. 



Jlay east, west, north and south join in one grand com- 

 mon purpose and effort to bring every noble influence to 

 bear, so that opportunity may be given to the tens of thou- 

 sands in our great cities, and that are yearly coming to our 

 shores, to become home-builders upon the land.s of our na- 

 tion, through and by which we shall be laying strong and 

 deep foundations for the perpetuity of our American people. 

 The price of our success is found In patriotism, sacrifice and 

 sound judgment. Families of wealth fall and others rise In 

 their places. Just so with nations. Let these United States 

 hold and increase their moral force and we shall ride safely 

 through whatever storms may assail us from without or 

 within. 



At the call for responses from governors of states 

 and territories, ex-Governor Gooding, of Idaho, charac- 

 terized the congress as a convention of home builders 

 as well as irrigators. He insisted that the work must 

 be continued until the congestion of the cities has been 

 relieved and every acre of arable land had been made 

 to produce something to_ feed the pople. 



Long applause greeted the reading of the following 

 message from President Taft: "I greatly regret that I am 

 not able to be present to hear the discussions and get 

 the benefit of your deliberations. I have the deepest sym- 

 pathy with the general objects of the National Irrigation 

 Congress, and you can count on my earnest endeavor to 

 further the cause of reclamation by irrigation in every 

 part of the country within the jurisdiction of the Federal 

 government." 



Upon the call for responses from the representatives 

 of foreign countries, Dr. Baeta Neves, of Brazil, spoke of 

 the close relationship between his country and the United 

 States, and elicited applause when he presented a Brazilian 

 flag to the convention. Lieutenant Governor Bulyea, of 

 Alberta, explained tnat in his province attention is gradu- 

 ally turning to irrigation, and that there is promise of 

 great development during the next few years. 



The report of the executive committee recommended 

 the adoption of a plan whereby, under the direction of the 

 congress, there shall be continuous and effective effort on 

 behalf of irrigation and the irrigated country. It fur- 

 ther recommended the increase of the number of vice- 

 presidents of the organization from three to five in order 

 to take proper charge of the work, and also a provision in 

 the constitution to insure greater continuity and per- 

 manence in the work. The report involving these changes 

 in the constitution was adopted. 



Following the adoption of a motion to send a mes- 

 sage of regret to Fred. ]. Keisel, of Utah, who nau been 

 unable to attend the congress because of illness, an in- 

 vitation was extended to the United States senatorial 

 committee on irrigation, then touring the west, to meet 

 with the congress and assist in its deliberations. 



MONDAY AFTERNOON. 



At the opening of the afternoon session telegrams 

 of regret at their inability to attend were received from 

 Senator W. E. Borah, of Idaho; Isham Randolph, of 

 Chicago; John Farnsworth, secretary Chicago Associa- 

 tion of Commerce. President Barstow then introduced 

 F. H. Newell, director of the reclamation service, who 

 spoke as follows: 



The present situation in national irrigation is that homes 

 are being provided for thousands of self-supporting citizens 

 at no cost to the taxpayer. Seven years have elapsed since 

 the passage of the reclamation act. Under its operation 

 irrigation works have been built in the thirteen western 

 states and two territories by which waters are conserved and 

 distributed and nearly 700,000 acres already brought under 

 Irrigation, with returns to the fund amounting already to over 

 a million dollars. The success obtained may be said to justify 

 the hopes of the most enthusiastic of the early advocates of 

 the reclamation act. 



The law signed by President Roosevelt on June 17, 1902, 

 known as the reclamation act, is perhaps the most prominent 

 of the statutes dealing directly with the conservation of 

 natural resources and with the utilization of these in creating 

 opportunities for a large body of citizen* to own land In 

 small quantities sufficient for the support of a family. To 

 quote a well-worn phrase, its object Is to put "the landless 



man on the manless land" and to enable his family to prosper 

 Dy the use of waters which otherwise flow to waste or are 

 destructive to human life and property. The land which 

 Otherwise is valueless becomes highly productive through the 

 Intelligent application of the water thus conserved and 

 through the labor of the man who otherwise might be unable 

 to employ his energies for the best good of his family and 

 or the commonwealth. 



The Nation is concerned in this work, not only because 

 or the resulting internal development, but also because of 

 the improvement in citizenship and in stability of American 

 institutions. The nomadic herdsman, the restless miner and 

 the wandering laborer add little to the strength or safety of 

 the community, but let one of these men become attached to 

 the soil, let him own a small farm which Is sufficiently 

 productive to furnish his family with needed subsistence and 

 comfort, and he becomes a citizen who can be depended upon, 

 In season and out of season, to preserve those institutions 

 which we most highly prize. 



This result of adding to the productive area of the 

 country and the building up of the highest type of citizen- 

 ship is brought about by the expenditure of a fund not 

 created by direct taxation nor taken from the pockets of 

 other farmers. The fund is derived from the proceeds of 

 the disposal of public lands acquired a century or less ago 

 and which have been considered almost valueless. These 

 funds are expended in the construction of reservoirs and 

 canals, the water from which is not given away, but is sold 

 at a rate sufficient to repay the cost and to maintain the fund 

 undiminished. 



It must not be supposed that the use of this fund alone 

 has brought about a transformation of many parts of the 

 arid region. While the Government has utilized this fund 

 In making homes In localities where otherwise this would not 

 have been done, private capital has also made great advances 

 and possibly at present five or ten times as large an invest- 

 ment in the aggregate is being made by corporations in build- 

 ing irrigation works as is being invested by the Government. 

 Much of this investment, however, has been made possible, 

 or, at least, has been stimulated by the Government work. 

 The fact that the National Government has deemed it wise 

 to take up the matter has been one of the strongest argu- 

 ments appealing to capitalists to do likewise. 



There is no competition as between national and private 

 funds, but rather an attempt at all times on the part of the 

 Government to stimulate legitimate enterprise through obtain- 

 ing facts upon which investments might be safely made and 

 to avoid taking up such work as could be handled success- 

 fully by others. Looking back, it now seems probable that, 

 If the Government had not begun work in each of the west- 

 ern states, many of the enterprises now successful under 

 private auspices would not have been taken up, but on the 

 other hand some of the enterprises on which the Government 

 is now engaged might, if left dormant for several years, 

 have been entered upon by private capital. 



The reclamation fund has been larger than was expected, 

 upwards of fifty-two millions of dollars being available to 

 December, 1909. this being twice as much as was foreseen. 

 There have been laid out systems which involve the ultimate 

 reclamation of several million acres. Large works, whose 

 magnitude is such that they have been passed over by private 

 and corporate enterprise, have been built. In all. it may be 

 stated that in round numbers there were ready for Irrigation 

 at the beginning of the Irrigation season of the present year 

 over 5,000 farms, with an aggregate acreage of 700,000 acres. 

 Storage of flood waters had been created and in actual use to 

 the extent of a million acre-feet. Canals and ditches were 

 ready for use of an aggregate length of more than 3.000 miles, 

 a distance equal to that across the United States. Fifty-eight 

 tunnels had been built of a length of 85,000 feet. Many 

 thousands of smaller structures, such as headgates, flumes, 

 bridges, turnouts, etc., were completed; a thousand miles of 

 telephone in operation, and yardages of earth moved compara- 

 ble to that handled in the same time at Panama. 



More than all this showing of material progress are the 

 excellent results accomplished In carrying out the purpose of 

 the act. namely the making of opportunities for homes. The 

 wise provision of the law restricting acreage has been 

 enforced and there is a well-marked beneficial result in the 

 subdivision of large areas of irrigable land and the placing 

 of this in the hands of men competent to successfully culti- 

 vate the soil and make permanent homes. The speculative 

 element has been largely absent. 



The works now in hand will reauire all of the reclama- 

 tion fund for several years. Each large work is completed 

 to a point where It has made possible hundreds of homes and 

 where returns are coming to the fund, but it has numerous 

 ramifications, or divisions, each of which requires consider- 

 able more mone^ for completion. There Is no lack of work 

 when these are finished. The opportunities for further con- 

 servation of the waste waters are almost unlimited, especially 

 in localities where attempts have been made on a small scale 

 and complications of such nature have arisen, especially those 

 of vested rights, that successful action can be taken only 

 by following up the matter with infinite tact and patience, 

 coupled with the resources of the reclamation fund. 



Of course there Is always another side to every large 

 problem. It is not conceivable that the reclamation act could 

 be wholly perfect or that Its administration could be with- 

 out flaw. The very benefits brought about by the act have 

 been a source of criticism. 



Every great movement and every Improvement brings 

 with it an attendant train of evils. The railroad, so neces- 

 sary to the development of the country, cuts the farmer's 

 land in two. sftmetlmes kills his cow. Tear after year there 

 la a heavy toll of injury and death on Its employees and, to 

 a less extent, on the traveling public. The mine or the 

 factory, addlnsr to the wealth and comfort of some, has Its 

 evils which are a continual sublect of study. No advance 

 of mankind Is made without pain and sorrow to some one. 



