120 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



states where are the great tracts of land, withdrawn from 

 settlement for no other reason than to satisfy the the- 

 oretical conservation of forests. No more will the arro- 

 gance and arbitrary rulings of the forestry bureau prove 

 an impediment to the development of agriculture. 

 Under the direction of a competent Chief of Forestry 

 it may be anticipated that proper surveys will be made 

 and those tracts that are today available for farming 

 purposes, and are not valuable as timber reserves, will 

 be released from Government control and will help to 

 provide happy homes for a growing population. 



Divide 

 Over 

 Bond 

 Issue. 



Grinding of the legislative mill at Wash- 

 ington seems to bring forth no food for 

 the gratification of the settlers on govern- 

 mental irrigation projects. The $10,000,- 

 000 bond issue through which they hoped 

 for respite from their long years of yearn- 

 ing for water, seems no nearer than the day when Presi- 

 dent Taft presented his views of the situation and the 

 necessity for action by congress. 



Western senators and congressmen seem somewhat 

 divided in opinion as to the proper method by which to 

 afford this financial relief. Some are unequivocally 

 in favor of the national bond issue. Others believe that 

 funds might be advanced through a different class of 

 security. It is generally supposed that the problem is 

 being discussed outside the legislative halls in an effort 

 to reach a conclusion satisfactory to all. 



With a divided west, part of which is fighting his 

 administration by supporting Forester Pinchot, and a 

 part of which is praying for his influence in assisting 

 the bond issue, it is not to be wondered that President 

 Taft is giving first attention to the proper vindication 

 of his policies. 



As indicated in the IRRIGATION AGE two months 

 ago, there is decided sentiment among eastern congress- 

 men that the issuance of securities for completion of 

 irrigation projects establishes a dangerous precedent and 

 is therefore inadvisable. 



There is no more trusty criterion of the 

 Eastern growing interest in the reclamation of 



Readers desert lands and the building of homes 



Seeking in the western irrigated districts, than can 



Information, be found in the increasing demand for the 



IRRIGATION AGE, the journal that for 

 twenty-five 3'ears has sung the praises of the west and 

 pictured the valley and the plain where man and his 

 method has changed the face of nature from a frown 

 to a smile. 



Let facts proclaim the story a total of 113 new 

 subscribers to the AGE were added in one day last month. 

 Of this total, 105 were received by mail and 87 writers 

 accompanied the order with check or money order. 

 Within a period of forty-five days nearly 3,000 names 

 have been added to our mailing list. 



These facts are not submitted for the purpose of 

 enlarging advertising patronage, but are intended merely 

 to cheer the hearts of those irrigation promoters who 

 are today engaged in a struggle against nature in an 

 effort to win success, and incidentally to provide peace- 

 ful homes for the eastern overflow. 



Nor does the publisher take unto himself the credit 

 or glory for achievement when the subscription list goes 

 bounding upward. It is the virtue of the field in which 

 his publication has worked. The public is awakened 

 to the fact that there is a great and glorious west where 

 nature has combined in earth her dearest treasures. 

 What matters it if a designing Providence has withheld 

 the rains, but, by providing natural reservoirs and rush- 

 ing streams, has set for humans the task of surmounting 

 obstacle to reach success. 



Come thou skeptic who hath opened but one eye 

 since the lion hunter left the American shores. Open 

 both eyes and view the future in the light of the present. 

 If 1910 does not mark an epoch in the irrigation age 

 then the IRRIGATION AGE cannot judge by appearance 

 or forecast events by the indications that grow daily and 

 lead always to the same conclusion. 



Pending the receipt and publication of the 

 Rumors of report of the senate committee on Irriga- 

 Senate tion and Reclamation of Arid Lands, 



Committee there continue to arise vague but persis- 

 Report. tent rumors that its members, while not 



united upon specific recommendations, 

 will intimate that the government should take steps to 

 confine its operations to those irrigation projects for 

 \vhich funds are available for prompt completion. 



Should this report contain specific recommenda- 

 tions to this effect, or should its intimations in this 

 respect be reasonably plain, it cannot be regarded as 

 other than a direct slap at the past administration 

 wherein young and inexperienced engineers were allowed 

 full power to outline and commence operations on irriga- 

 tion projects for which there were inadequate funds. 



Readers of this journal as well as the thousands of 

 settlers under government projects are already familiar 

 with the results. Long delays, carrying gradually in- 

 creased charges for water rights, have succeeded in dis- 

 couraging many settlers and forcing them to leave before 

 the arrival of the government water, even though they 

 had invested their all in improvements. Ill success in 

 colonizing the government irrigation tracts have so 

 depleted the available funds that there is prospect of 

 slow returns of the money invested. Unless conditions 

 change the much heralded "revolving" fund will fail 

 to revolve. 



Probably no man appreciates the necessity for con- 

 servative policy in government work better than Secre- 

 tary Ballinger. It can be predicted that under his 

 direction a more business like management will be pur- 



