77 4 CONSERVATION 



The astounding conclusion under In a few brief years the battleship 



consideration has resulted, evidently, will go on the scrap-heap or to the 



from the failure to distinguish between bottom of the sea; the dam, however, 



expenditure which subtracts from and we may rest assured, will continue to 



that which adds to the wealth of the produce wealth for generations and 



Nation. centuries. 



To be sure, the making of such dis- Now, the whole conservation policy, 



tinctions is economic kindergarten rightly handled, is typified by the 



work ; yet not all, unfortunately, who Roosevelt dam. It will multiply wealth 



fill space in economic discussions have for ages to come ; its entire cost may 



mastered the requirements of the eco- be paid out of a fraction of its product, 



nomic kindergarten. To meet the and its sole end is to bless the race, 



needs of such, the subject must be pre- And yet we are gravely warned that 



sented in an elementary way. "unless the utmost care is taken an- 



One may point out, for example, that other series of fixed charges," anala- 



the battleship which costs millions of g OUS to those from "increased arma- 



dollars and, in a few years, rusts out ments," "will be provided through con- 



or goes out of date, is, during the en- servation and waterway legislation !" 

 tire period of its existence, producing 



not a penny's worth of wealth. The J Jg M 

 best that can be said for it is that, in 

 extreme cases, it may protect the Na- 

 tion from invaders who would them- j N A Washington paper a sensational 

 selves destroy wealth and hinder pro- 1 article has j ust a pp ea red. It sets 

 duction. forth, in substance, that the Senate 

 Over against the battleship, however, Committee on Irrigation may be ex- 

 let us place, for example, the great pected to favor a rev ersal of the policy 

 Roosevelt dam across the Salt River o f ft\e Reclamation Service. 

 Canyon in Arizona. The plan supposed to be f av ored re- 

 Here we have a gigantic Government- ires that the Government shall do 

 built structure which will make one of onl the difficult and U nremunerative 

 the largest artificial lakes in the world WQrk and leaye tQ individuals and cor . 



-a body of water twenty-five miles tions the si ler and more fit . 



long, 1,200,000 acre- feet in capacity, ablg pro : ects 



and capable of irrigating 200,000 acres -r- ,- ,. 



, , ., From time to time in recent months 



'* * el broad hints have been dropped that in- 



Now, in two respects the battleship a i i t u- A 



, ,,' -p, ,, F fiuences looking to this end were at 



and the Roosevelt dam are exactly , 



alike ; each costs a mint of money, and ' 



each is paid for, in the first instance, e Reclamation Service is proving 



bv the whole American people. that irrigation _ pays. Whatever pays, 



' But here the similarity stops. For P n T vate enterprise is anxious to enter, 

 their expenditure on the dam the li oes without saying that private 

 American people will be repaid by those enterprise has a great field m connec- 

 who use the irrigated land; for their tlG " Wlt . h tne irrigation of our western 

 expenditure on the battleship the peo- and and semi-arid lands ; the important 

 pie will be repaid by nobody. question, however, is whether Govern- 

 So long as it floats, the ship will con- mental activities are to be curtailed, and 

 tinue to cost the money of the whole restricted to unprofitable operations, 

 people ; when once turned over to the whlle the ? lums are to be throw " to 

 water users' association, the dam will private irrigation concerns, 

 cost the whole people nothing what- Inquiry seems to indicate that, what- 

 ever, ever private individuals may desire, 

 The function of the battleship is to ther e is little danger that the Senate 

 destroy wealth; the function of the committee will make such a recom- 

 dam is to create wealth. mendation. 



