THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



409 



the irrigation of certain districts in this territory, and 

 the possibilities of development in the future. 



After announcing that the constitution as newly adopt- 

 ed by the congress provided for the employment of a 

 permanent secretary to further the interests of irrigation, 

 the president introduced George Otis Smith, director of 

 the U. S. Geological Survey who indicated that much de- 

 pended upon proper classification of public lands in order 

 to provide for proper conservation of the public resources. 

 He explained briefly the work of the survey in making these 

 classifications. 



In his address on "Irrigation in South Dakota," Sam- 

 uel H. Lea, State Engineer, told of the progress of the 

 work and its results, asserting that present plans, involv- 

 ing no storage reservoirs, must soon give place to more 

 improved methods. In his address on the "Message of the 

 West to the East." F. H. Griswold said: 



Suggestions have been made, from time to time, that we 

 ought to find a way to stimulate the movement of foreign- 

 ers into the irrigated areas, but the larger cities of this 

 country offer splendid fields for such propaganda work, and 

 there is no reason why we should cross the Atlantic. In 

 a city like, Chicago, for instance, hundreds of thousands of 

 prospective land-buyers can be reached. 



The cream of American lands, namely those in the rich 

 Irrigated areas of the west, should be in the possession of 

 our own people. Given the right sort of inhabitants and 

 every fertile valley that is blessed with water will be de- 

 veloped to the utmost. The future of the irrigated areas 

 depends on the class of inhabitants who settle there. The 

 cities are filled with people who would be far better off, 

 both financially and physically, if they were in the country, 

 and they can be awakened easily to that fact. Today these 

 people are following the customary traditions of city life. 

 The chances are that they live in a rented flat and work 

 in a stuffy office, and the man who, under such conditions, 

 can earn more than he spends is rare. In both places air and 

 sunshine are at a premium. These people could not be per- 

 suaded to take up life on a regulation old-time farm, but 

 they could be induced to go into the irrigated sections where 

 the benefits of modern improvements are open to them. 



The message of the west to the east is that freedom, 

 health, long life and homes where the necessities of later 

 years can be provided for are to be found in the new coun- 

 try. But, gentlemen, it will be necessary for you to carry 

 your message to Chicago if you want to take advantage of 

 the opportunities that await you there. If you wish to reach 

 the people no way can be more effective than to show them 

 what you have to offer and the opportunity to do this will 

 present itself when the doors of the Chicago Coliseum are 

 opened November 20 for the United States Land and Irriga- 

 tion Exposition. This will be the only exposition of its kind 

 that has ever taken place. The displays are to be educa- 

 tional, and it is believed that fully half a million people 

 will view them. In conclusion, I can only urge upon you 

 once more that Chicago is both ready and anxious to heat 

 what you have to say. The movement toward the west is 

 only fairly begun, and it will continue, if vou give your 

 assistance, until all of your fields are filled. 



Following Mr. Griswold's address the congress gave 

 unanimous endorsement to the United States Land & 

 Irrigation congress to be held at Chicago, Nov. 20 to Dec. 

 4, in the Coliseum. William L. Finley, field agent of the 

 National Association of Audobon societies then gave an 

 address on "The Value of Wild Birds to Forest and Field.'' 



WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. 



After announcing that Secretary Ballinger has been de- 

 tained but would be present to give his address later in the 

 afternoon, the president called upon D. C. Henny, Con- 

 sulting Engineer for the Reclamation service, who gave 

 a brief review of the irrigation work prosecuted under di- 

 rection of the government. He stated that government 

 operations had resulted in greater activity on the part 

 of private interests in the reclamation of arid lands. In 

 discussing new projects, advanced for consideration of 

 government experts, he said that because of the lack of 

 funds, it will be necessary for the government to pro- 

 ceed with the work now in progress in order to secure 

 return of moneys invested and thereby prepare for new 

 projects. 



Secretary Ballinger, who had entered the hall during 

 Mr. Henry's address and who was now introduced to the 

 convention, prefaced his address as follows: 



Ladies and gentlemen and delegates of this convention, 

 I have just heard read with pleasure the expressions of my 

 chief, the President of the United States. Before leaving 

 the city of Washington, he said to me, "Mr. Secretary, I 

 have sent Secretary Dickinson to Panama to learn the con- 

 ditions under which the Government is constructing that 

 great international waterway, the great connection of the 

 two oceans, so that he might be the better equipped to admin- 

 ister that feature of his department. I will also ask you to 



go into the west and become intimately acquainted with the 

 conditions of the Reclamation Service in the reclaiming of the 

 public lands with the moneys in the reclamation fund, and 

 to otherwise learn what is necessary in the proper administra- 

 tion under the law of the functions of your department." 



This Is my excuse for being in the west. It is not, 

 however, my only excuse, because it was over six months 

 since 1 have seen my family, which I had to leave under 

 circumstances which were somewhat distasteful to me, to 

 hold an office which I was not seeking. 



Continuing with his prepared address, he said: 



1 believe nothing has done so much to stimulate and 

 bring about the development of the west and its settlements 

 as tne policy of the government in connection with free 

 homesteads for landless settlers and the encouragement of 

 exploration in the mineral regions. It is true the great land 

 grants were productive of railroad construction, linking the 

 Atlantic with the Pacific and the construction of these rail- 

 roads was an almost indispensable element in the progress 

 of settlement west of the Mississippi river. Since the adop- 

 tion of the homestead and mineral laws the public lands 

 have been considered less of a direct national asset than as 

 a means for the advancement of our people and the encour- 

 agement of agricultural, industrial and commercial growth. 



Up to the last decade it was not fully apparent that the 

 vast resources of the government in the public domain were 

 rapidly disappearing, and that for settlement nothing but 

 arid and semi-arid lands would be left; that the forests and 

 streams and coal deposits were beginning to be the prey 

 of speculators, and the government's title therein divested 

 by fraud and criminal devices. The necessity for the con- 

 servation of public utilities had not ripened into a convic- 

 tion that the government owed any responsibility either to 

 the present or to future generations. 



In reference to the forests particularly, tremendous loss 

 existed, not only from fires, but from the wasteful methods 

 of logging and of manufacturing. Under pioneer conditions 

 wastefulness on account (3f the necessity for existence may 

 have its excuses. The pioneer could not eat the timber, and 

 what may now appear to have been reckless prodigality may 

 have been at the time abject' necessity: nevertheless, waste 

 is always to be deplored, and true conservation of all our 

 natural resources means the elimination of wants so far as 

 possible, and the production of the greatest utility for the 

 greatest number. The protection of the great watersheds 

 of the mountain ranges from being denuded of their forests 

 so that the streams may flow through their courses and 

 carry water to the arid lands of the plains is of vital neces- 

 sity in the reclamation of these lands. 



The nation is therefore to be congratulated that even if 

 not seasonably undertaken, we have now entered upon a 

 period of rational protection and of saving of its resources 

 in the public domain. You may be assured that all the 

 energies of the government will be put forward to make ef- 

 fective the means necessary to accomplish this result. 



Appreciating the necessity of further development in 

 encouraging the settlement of the west upon lands which 

 without irrigation were uninhabitable and fit only for graz- 

 ing (and that to a very limited extent) congress in 1902 

 adopted the method of appropriating the receipts from the 

 sale and disposal of public lands in certain states and ter- 

 ritories to the construction of irrigation works for the re- 

 clamation of arid and semi-arid lands. The wisdom of this 

 measure could hardly have been fully recognized by those 

 who were responsible for its enactment. It not only com- 

 mitted the government to the great work of irrigating the 

 arid lands, but it furnished an example and stimulant to 

 private capital and enterprise to enter upon this develop- 

 ment wherever capital could be secured. 



While the government has invested over fifty million 

 dollars in irrigation works, many times that amount has 

 been invested since the passage of the reclamation act by 

 private enterprise, and it is safe to say that a large portion 

 of these private investments have resulted from govern- 

 mental example and encouragement; and let me say here 

 that it has not been and is not the policy of the national 

 government in the administration of this act to hinder or 

 interfere with the investment of private capital in the con- 

 struction of irrigation works, but rather to lend it encour- 

 agement. This is particularly true in reference to irrigation 

 under the Carey act in the various states. 



I am not a believer in the government entering into 

 competition with legitimate private enterprise. Its func- 

 tions under the reclamation act are not of this character, 

 and I am sure that when private enterprise has done what 

 It can there will still be thousands upon thousands of acres 

 of public lands reclaimable only by government aid. The 

 western states should therefore be very jealous of the per- 

 petuity of the reclamation fund and of its constant increase. 



The purpose of the reclamation act is to undertake the 

 irrigation of arid and semi-arid lands where a considerable 

 portion thereof belongs to the public domain, and by the 

 Installation of the storage and diversion of available waters 

 to irrigate the largest possible area within a given terri- 

 tory at the least cost to the entrymen and land owners for 

 construction, maintenance and operation, always keeping in 

 view the matter of the settlement of these lands, and render- 

 ing them capable of supporting the greatest number of 

 families. While It is a reclamation act, it is also a settle- 

 ment act, and the public lands which are proposed to be 

 irrigated by means of the contemplated works have been 

 rendered subject to entry only under the homestead laws in 

 small tracts capable of supporting a family. It is declared 

 by the act that only the cost of construction and mainte- 

 nance shall be repaid to the government. No consideration 

 of profit or direct advantage to the government is intended, 

 and in this the statute does not trench upon the rights of 



