336 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the limit of area per entry upon the lands irrigable 

 shall be restricted to what would be reasonably required 

 for the support of a family. In order that the entry- 

 man may enjoy the benefit of the law, actual and con- 

 tinued residence on the land is required. 



"It is obviously the purpose of the great measuie, 

 and it is one of its most commendable features, to 

 insure homes to the greatest number of persons, and to 

 bring soil now sterile under a high state of cultiva- 

 tion and productiveness for their benefit and for the 

 benefit of the entire country. 



"I believe that irrigation is only in the prelimi- 

 nary stages of its development in the United States. 

 Much has been done, it is true. There is, however, a 

 vast deal more to be accomplished. There are many 

 millions of acres still lying within the arid and semi- 

 arid regions which are non-productive, and which may, 

 in due time, be irrigated. This area is of indefinite 

 extent. It is variously estimated at from fifty to one 

 hundred millions of acres. Of course, the acreage 

 which may be irrigated will depend in a large degree 

 upon the quantity of water which can be stored in the 

 great reservoir systems to be established. The best 

 opinion would seem to indicate that it is reasonably 

 certain that sufficient water may be obtained for irri- 

 gating at least fifty millions of acres. Twenty millions 

 of acres of this tremendous area is yet a part of the 

 public domain. When the whole is brought under cul- 

 tivation by means of irrigation the wealth of the nation 

 will be increased $5,000,000,000. 



"This work can not be accomplished in a day, and 

 it will probably not be done without some mistakes. 

 It will require time, experience, scientific skill and a 

 large expenditure of money to do it. The field is, 

 indeed, a vast one, and it invites our best endeavor. 



"While we are concerned particularly with the ex- 

 tension of the irrigation service into the arid and semi- 

 arid regions, I believe in time it will be largely in- 

 creased in many other portions of the country. The 

 waters in many of our rivers and streams, outside of the 

 arid and semi-arid areas, will be raised and spread over 

 many sections where the rainfall is uncertain and where 

 crops are occasionally destroyed or reduced in yield 

 in consequence. We can see the limit of our arable 

 areas, but we can not see the limit of the demand of 

 our increasing population, nor the extent of the de- 

 mand of millions in foreign countries for American 

 food supplies. 



"One of the great practical questions in the future 

 will be how to increase and conserve the productive 

 power of our agricultural regions. Scientific irrigation 

 on broad lines will be a factor of increasing future im- 

 portance in most of the states and territories of the 

 Union. 



"It is important not only to promote the interests 

 of irrigation, but there is a co-related subject which 

 is worthy of consideration, and that is How shall we 

 reinforce and maintain at its highest efficiency the 

 productive power of the soil? Farming is fast becom- 

 ing a science and the most successful farmer is the 

 one who understands the chemistry of the soil and the 

 products for which it is best suited. We are making 

 marvelous progress in every department of our domestic 

 economy and nowhere is our advancement more marked 

 than in the great field of agriculture." 



Chief Engineer Newell, of the Reclamation Ser- 

 vice, followed with an address on "The Progress of Na- 



tional Reclamation," as follows : Ladies and gentle- 

 men, it gives me very great pleasure to meet again for 

 the fourteenth time some of my old friends, and to 

 meet also a lot of new faces. Some of us have talked 

 irrigation in season and out of season, lo ! these many 

 years, and have borne the burden of being called cranks, 

 and having water on the brain; but I think that time 

 and persistence have finally conquered and we are now 

 ready to point with pride to our record. We point 

 to the work already done. That speaks for itself. The 

 work has now been under way four years. The law 

 under which we are working was signed by President 

 Roosevelt on the 17th of June, 1902, a day memorable 

 in American history. The first thing after the passage 

 of a law, or the putting into effect of any policy, is 

 to create an organization and no matter how good a 

 law is we must have men to do the work. That has 

 been the great operation the gathering together of 

 men of experience, men who are sound to the core, 

 honest, and reliable. We have not perhaps ideal men, 

 but we have the best men we could get for the money. 

 The government does not pay large salaries, but the in- 

 terest in the work and the enthusiasm holds men at 

 salaries far less than they could get from private par- 

 ties. We are losing men to private works and to cor- 

 porations, I might say, almost every day, but still we 

 are able to keep a pretty good body of men who are 

 loyal, to the work, and loyal to each other. We have, 

 as stated in the President's message this morning, about 

 four hundred expert engineers of various kinds men 

 skilled in financial and legal matters, men who are 

 working along to push forward as rapidly and as eco- 

 nomically as possible the construction of work in now 

 twenty-two or twenty-three different localities. It re- 

 quires a good organization to keep the work well in 

 hand, and prevent waste and diffusion of energy. Be- 

 sides this corps, we will say of four hundred men, that 

 form the backbone of the reclamation service, there 

 are employed many thousand men directly or indirectly 

 upon the work. In the President's message he puts 

 it at 10,000; it is possibly a good average. Ten thou- 

 sand men are at work today in all capacities, from 

 digging down in the ground, handling the plow and 

 scraper, up to the various grades of inspectors, masons, 

 and the principal men who are directing the affairs. 

 The work, as you know, is done almost entirely by 

 contract. The laws of the revised statutes of the 

 United States govern very definitely all our proceed- 

 ings. Not a dollar can be expended without publicity. 

 We must be sure that we have complied with all the 

 requirements which over a century of experience has 

 shown to be necessary in executing the public works 

 in the United States. These contracts have been let 

 in large and small amounts. There are contracts in- 

 volving a million dollars and contracts involving a few 

 hundred, but all of them must be executed in due form 

 with bonds to be put up and forfeited in case of failure. 

 Now, we are having a good deal of prosperity. 

 Wages have gone up and as wages go up efficiency of 

 labor has gone down. The price of material is away 

 up. Cement is 50 per cent higher than it was six 

 months ago. Iron and steel are advancing. All of 

 this adds to the cost of the work and to the cost to 

 the contractor. The eight-hour day is being rigidly 

 enforced. Men out on the desert are only allowed to 

 work eight hours. They rest there in the sun until 

 the next day. That makes some of them dissatisfied 



