THE IRRIGATION AGE 



VOL. XIX 



CHICAGO, APRIL, 1904. 



No. 6. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE 



THE D. H. ANDERSON PUBLISHING CO., 



PUBLISHERS, 

 112 Dearborn Street. . - CHICAGO 



Entered at the Postoffice at Chicago, 111., as Second-Class Matter. 



D. H. ANDERSON ) fA . t 



W. J. ANDERSON \ C ' 



Western Office: Chamber of Commerce Building, Denver, Colo. 

 GEO. W. WAGNER, Mgr. W. C. JACKSON, Editor, Western Dept. 



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A monthly illustrated magazine recognized throughout the world as 

 the exponent of Irrigation and its kindred industries. It is the pioneer 

 journal of its kind in the world, and has no rival in half a continent. It 

 advocates the mineral development and the industrial growth of the West. 



Tn t^T-^fi n rr fr> A A \7(*r fi <=>r-e !t may interest advertisers to knowthat The Irrigation Age is the only publication 

 -LlllCICOlillg LU ^^.UVCl L1SC1JS. ^ the world having an actua i pai( j in a d vance circulation among individual 



irrigators and large irrigation corporations. It is read regularly by all interested in this subject and has readers in all parts of the world. 

 The Irrigation Age is 19 years old and is the pioneer publication of its class in the world. 



EDITORIAL 



Notice 

 to the 

 Public. 



Mr. W. J. E. Johnston is not connected 

 with THE IRRIGATION AGE or with the 

 D. H. Anderson Publishing Company in 

 any capacity. He is not authorized to 

 make contracts for advertising or to re- 

 ceive subscriptions, collect money or receipt for the 

 same. THE IRRIGATION AGE employs no canvassers or 

 solicitors who do not carry proper credentials from this 

 office signed by D. H. Anderson, president of the D. H. 

 Anderson Publishing Company. 



An esteemed subscriber writing from 

 A Little Nevada to continue his long connection 



in Advance, with THE IRRIGATION AGK for another 



year, says the practical courses outlined 

 by this paper regarding drainage in agricultural as well 

 as horticulture are on the right lines, but perhaps a 

 little in advance of some communities. It is always the 

 duty of a journal to lead thought in public improve- 

 ments of all kinds, and while we may be slightly in 

 advance of the drainage procession, it is coming along 

 with such a mighty rush that it is hard work to keep out 

 of the way. -People are becoming educated more rapidly 

 than ever before to the immense benefits of drainage 

 and irrigation and the paper that does not take advance 



ground today may find itself obscured by the dust of the 

 progressive thought of the people that sweeps by it to- 

 morrow. 



Senator Hansbrough charged openly in 

 Openly the Senate last week that the movement 



Charged. to secure the repeal of the present land 



laws, particularly the commutation clause 

 of the Homestead Act, was due to the efforts of a power- 

 ful lobby composed mainly of holders of lands bought 

 in large tracts from the railroad companies. If these 

 lobbyists could succeed in having the commutation 

 clause repealed, intending settlers would be forced to 

 buy their lands from these big corporations and the 

 value of these holdings would be largely increased. This 

 is precicesly what THE IRRIGATION AGE has tried to 

 make plain to the people for a long time. It is sur- 

 prising that any sensible man should be fooled by the 

 hypocritical plea put up by the Octopus that it is purely 

 unselfish in its motives and is working in the interests 

 of the settler of future generations. 



During the discussion over the proposed repeal of 

 the land laws in the Senate, one of the Senators stated 

 that a great syndicate that had recently bought from a 

 Western railroad a very large body of land at 70 cents 

 per acre had its lobbyists swarming through the corri- 

 dors of the capitol working for the repeal of the com- 

 mutation clause of the Homestead Act. He further 

 stated that the managers of that syndicate are now in 

 Washington conferring with Government officials. and 



