332 



THE IEEIGATION AGE. 



forget that there are dangers and difficulties still ahead, 

 and that only unbroken vigilance, efficiency, integrity 

 and good sense will suffice to prevent disaster. There 

 is now no question as to where the work shall be done, 

 how it shall be done, or the precise way in which the 

 expenditures shall be made. All that is settled. There 

 remains, however, the critical question of how best to 

 utilize the reclaimed lands by putting them into the 

 hands of actual cultivators and home-makers, who will 

 return the original outlay in annual installments paid 

 back into the reclamation fund; the question of seeing 

 that the lands are used for homes, and not for purposes 

 of speculation or for the building up of large fortunes. 



as he can, whether he can handle it profitably or not, 

 and whether or not it is for the interest of the com- 

 munity that he should have it. The prosperity of the 

 present irrigated areas came from the subdivision of the 

 land and the consequent intensive cultivation. With an 

 adequate supply of water, a farm of five acres in some 

 parts of the arid West, or of forty acres elsewhere, is as 

 large as may be successfully tilled by one family. When, 

 therefore, a man attempts to hold 160 acres of land com- 

 pletely irrigated by Government work, he is preventing 

 others from acquiring a home, and is actually keeping 

 down the population of the state. , 



Speculation in lands reclaimed by the Government 



The Idan-ha Hotel, Boise, Idaho, Social and General Headquarters Fourteenth N 



gation Congress 



This question is by no means simple. It is easy to 

 make plans and spend money. During the time when 

 the Government is making a great investment like this, 

 the men in charge are praised and the rapid progress 

 is commended. But when the time comes for the 

 Government to demand the refund of the investment 

 under the terms of the law, then the law itself will be 

 put to the test, and the quality of its administration 

 will appear. 



The pressing danger just now springs from the 

 desire of nearly every man to get and hold as much land 



must be checked at whatever cost. The object of the 

 Eeclamation Act is not to make money, but to make 

 homes. Therefore, the requirement of the Reclama- 

 tion Act that the size of the farm unit shall be limited 

 in each region to the area which will comfortably 

 support one family must be enforced in letter and in 

 spirit. This does not mean that the farm unit shall 

 be sufficient for the present family with its future grown 

 children and grandchildren, but rather that during the 

 ten years of payment the area assigned for each family 

 shall be sufficient to support it. When once the farms 



