THE GEEAT AA1ERICAN DESERT 159 



homes of their own, arid a larger production per acre of staple crops. While we 

 have not yet reached the acute stage in the struggle for existence which pre- 

 vails in many parts of the old world and the Orient, we are not far removed 

 from that critical period when over-population and under-production shall be- 

 come vital questions with us. The enormous increase in the cost of the neces- 

 saries of life during the past decade, and the consumption by our own people of 

 nearly all of our cereals and meat products, furnish abundant evidence of the 

 imperative need of better farming on the present cultivated acreage and the ad- 

 dition of new areas. 



Notwithstanding the relatively large increase in our cultivated areas, and 

 consequent augmentation of products, the growth of population has more than 

 kept pace. There has been a continuous and rapid rise in farm land values, 

 with a resulting decrease in the opportunities for men of moderate means to 

 acquire homes. Naturally the centralization of a large percentage of our popu- 

 lation in cities has continued. Unquestionably it is true that we are not short 

 of land, but of what avail is it if this land is beyond the reach of the great 

 masses of our people by reason of inflation in values, or because Nature has not 

 made it ready for the plow. 



The National Irrigation Congress has to its credit the initiation of one 

 constructive legislative measure, the Reclamation Act, which in time will be 

 regarded as the most valuable work of our national lawmakers since the 

 passage of the Homestead Law, which opened to settlement the Mississippi 

 Valley. It has under consideration now another measure of equally great im- 

 portance, the drainage of the vast areas of swamps. 



THE DESERT OF TODAY 



The desert of our old geographies no longer has a place on the map. Its 

 boundaries have shrunken until they are almost indeterminate, while its terrors 

 are only traditions. 



Today the homes of more than 300,000 happy families, surrounded by 13,- 

 500,000 acres of irrigated land, have been established, and the harvests con- 

 tribute annually $300,000,000 to the wealth of the farmers. 



The magic of irrigation has transformed valleys long vacant and voiceless 

 into prosperous and populous agricultural communities. It has created hun- 

 dreds of cities, towns and villages, many of which have become financially and 

 commercially great. It has brought to the remotest parts of the desert the 

 benefits of transportation by steam and electricity. 



National irrigation has already gone beyond the stage of prophecy. The 

 material and substantial results flowing from the law places the work of the 

 Government on a practical and solid foundation. Facts, not theories, furnish 

 the arguments for continuing the work, and for increased appropriations to en- 

 large and extend its scope. 



A brief summation of the activities of the bureau shows the magnitude of 

 the work accomplished. These data are assembled to October 31, 1911. Con- 

 struction is going on or has been completed on 29 projects, involving an expendi- 



