CULT < >!' C< >NSER\ \ TK >\ 



471 



li>nii;i conquest ratified at Cuadalupe 

 I lidalgo, the ( ladsdeu I 'urcha.se. and the 

 I'exas adhesion, tlu- estate increased 

 tcnlold; and rarli accession brought it> 

 greatest enrichment in strengthened 

 nati< mal character. as elsewhere t'lld. 1 ( >i" 



tlu- -'. i,OOO acres "more or less'' 



of the mainland "1m or parcel," some 

 three-fifths is semi-arid, and arable only 

 in spots; so a mere billion acres i> suita- 

 ble for >ettlement of which the most 

 fertile 75,000,000 (a richer heritage 

 than that of the Revolution) is swamp 

 Or overllow land, serviceable only after 

 drainage. Today "L'ncle Sam's farm" 

 is virtually gone; no more arable acres 

 remain to be given away. Whenever a 

 vacated parcel is opened to settlement, 

 it is seized in a day by soul-searing 

 gamble or disgraceful rush or paralyz- 

 ing wait-in-line Kxeept as Science 

 bids the desert blossom, or commands 

 the field to yield two ears of grain where 

 a blade of grass grew before, the limit 

 of the land has been reached. 



\Yhen the American Constitution 

 was framed on the foundation of inter- 

 state waterways, the rain fell on the 

 just and the unjust alike, little recked 

 by either; now the interstate rain is the 

 basis of prosperity, and a coming foun- 

 dation for even closer union among the 

 1'cople than that written down in the 

 Constitution. Some 200,000,000,000,000 

 cubic feet of rain descends from the 

 heavens each year on the 2,000,000,000- 

 acre farm of mainland L'nited States; 

 and with a half or even a third of tin- 

 acres to receive the boon, were it 

 equably distributed the population and 

 productivity, the manufacturing and 

 merchandizing, might be great as they 

 are -with an advantage in reduced cost 

 of transportation. Xominally. lauds 

 sell by the acre or foot; actually the 

 price within ten per cenl is fixed by the 

 associated water. In veritv the _'oo,- 

 i K MM >< K i.i MX >.()< ii i cubic feet. ' >r ten Mis 

 -issjppjs. of annual rainfall is the s, ,] r 

 effective capital of the country; without 

 it the land \\ould be de-ert. devoid of 

 tree or shrub <>r other living thing. 



MOIT than half i >a\ ti\<- ighths i of 

 all is evaporated to temper climate. 

 I'Till dews, and re-de-cend elsewhere: 



a fifth goes do\\n to the sea in riv' 

 sa\ an eighth is stored for a time as 

 ground-water; the remaining twentieth, 

 or hah a Mississippi, is -toivd or n-rd 

 in the untosphere in the living struc- 

 tures and functions of animals and 

 plants. The time of storage is short; 

 an animal may survive a week, a humid- 

 land annual plant sj\ weeks or a tree 

 six months, without renewed -upply : 

 springs fail and brooks run dry under 

 a three-months' drought. \Yeiv a rain- 

 les.s year to come, half the lesser river- 

 of America would dry up; within seven 

 such years in succession, the Missis- 

 sippi and Colorado would cease to tlow, 

 and within ten the lake-fed St. Law- 

 rence and Columbia would be no more. 

 \\hile the witchery of water still ap- 

 peals and all the more by reason of 

 better knowledge the days of witch- 

 craft and mystery of waters are num- 

 bered; for Science has risen to show 

 the sources of spring and well and 

 brook and river, of flowing >ap and pul- 

 sing life-blood and all run back to tin- 

 life-giving benediction of the clouds. 

 Yet because the grandsires of the 

 l ; athers were from riverle islands of 

 ample rains and virtually waterlo 

 statutes. the\ and their si ms were >1< >w t< > 

 see natural wealth in water; and it Is 

 the irony of American history that the 

 interstate waters which yielded a Con- 

 stitution were half- forgotten for a cen- 

 tury before a realization of their value 

 arose, begotten of bitter experience in 

 arid region-.. I -"or the deepest impulses 

 of Humanity have been inspired b\ 

 water in dearth rather than abundance : 

 the altruism of which Civilization i- tin- 

 fruit bloomed first in the world' 

 erts and necessarily so- -as told else- 

 where.-' The rivers of \merica form 

 ways of commerce, virtually abandoned 

 through legislative ineptitude and an 

 administrative apathy now happily 

 ended ; and in their natural head lie- 



1 "N;itii>n;il (imuih and National Character." \ \i '>!,i! Geo graph . '. X. 



p. iS/i. iS.j.j 



MH |:.-:inniiii: i Agriculture," liy \\ J Mc<ir,-. The American .lnth> </. Vol. 



VIII. p. 350, 18 



