386 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



"THE ARID WEST, CRADLE OF THE BEST AMER- 

 ICAN." 



In one of the editorial expressions of the May issue 

 of this journal, several statements were made, based upon 

 intimate acquaintance and knowledge extending over a 

 period of many years, relative to the physiological effects 

 of residence in the arid west as seen through the eyes 

 of a layman. 



Some of these statements may, to one whose experi- 

 ence of life has been confined to the regions east of the 

 Mississippi, appeared overdrawn, or as the vaporings of 

 the heated imagination, to which the ultra-conservative ele- 

 ment, appears to attribute any and all encomiums of the 

 West, or to be explicit, that part of the United States west 

 of the 100th meridian. 



It is, and has been in the past, unfortunately true, 

 that practically all the information available upon the 

 subject of climatic environment and its influence upon 

 human and brute development, has been confined, on the 

 one hand, to the researches of Antiquarians and Anthro- 

 pologists and on the other hand, to statements made by 

 the ordinary layman too often applying purely personal 

 observations to the race at large and to those emanating 

 from interested sources. 



The medical profession heretofore has seen fit to 

 treat this tremendously important subject almost wholly 

 from the standpoint of a technical discussion of the influ- 

 ence of climate upon the individual in disease. 



It is a relief to be able to turn to a discussion of the 

 most abstruse and scientific phases of the matter, as 

 applying to the individual in normal good health and 

 as affecting the future of the race, written in a view 

 at once dignified and capable of popular comprehension, 

 and it is a source of gratification to see the arguments 

 advanced by the IRRIGATION AGE, buttressed by the high- 

 est scientific authority. 



We refer to the series of two remarkable articles 

 appearing under the caption of this article in the May 

 and June issues of the Pacific Monthly of Portland, 

 Oregon, by Edward L. Munson, A. M., M. D. The articles 

 are suggestive of a profound study of the subject and are 

 profusely enlightened with charts from statistical tables 

 of the census and weather bureaus. The opening pas- 

 sage, together with a reproduction of a few of its most 

 salient pronouncements, will serve to indicate the charac- 

 ter of the treatise which we earnestly exhort our readers 

 of the East to study carefully. 



"With the rapid development of our national terri- 

 tory and the peopling of its former waste places, the time 

 is at hand when one may fairly undertake to determine 

 the region within its geographical limits, in which there 

 is reason to believe that the hghest type of American may 

 be evolved. This best type of pur national life will, of 

 course, be developed along the lines of heredity as modi- 

 fied by environment. We have, therefore, to consider the 

 character of the original stock as subsequently influenced 

 by climate, topography and social conditions in the evo- 

 lution of this better class of American citizens. It will 

 be assumed, at the outset, that the above several essen- 

 tials will be found in our country, in best combination, 

 in the mountainous plateau, lying between the Mexican 

 border on the south and the Canadian frontier on the 

 north and ranging from a north and south line marking 

 the western thirds of Kansas and Nebraska on the east, 

 to the Pacific Coast on the west." 



Under the sub-head "The Original Human Stock," 

 the author says: 



"Clearly those who would venture into such hazard- 

 ous surroundings were not only animated by ambition and 

 strong in self-reliance, but were, also, physically able to 

 endure the. hardships which accompanied the perils. It 

 has been well said of the California Argonauts. 'The 

 cowards never started and the weak died on the road.' " 

 It points out the process whereby the weak were 

 eliminated by the stern law of the survival of the fittest. 

 "Always it was the better and more vigorous element 

 which, impatient of existing conditions and methods, 

 went forward to carry from eastern communities the fron- 

 tier of civilization towards the setting sun." 



After a discussion of the effect of this drain of its 

 best manhood and the influx of immigration upon the 

 east, it states, "All this is merely to illustrate the point 



that the East can no longer be regarded as the present 

 home of the pure, vigorous, Anglo-Saxon type, but that 

 this has moved to the West, there to continue its power 

 under far more favorable conditions, as the highest, best 

 and controlling element of our national body politic." 

 Speaking of the operation of the law of selection, "As 

 like produces like, so the offspring of such sturdy parents 

 grew into a vigorous second generation." 



"As a result of such selected immigration, together 

 with the influence of other powerful factors yet to be 

 considered, the West contains today a physically far su- 

 perior and more vigorous class of citizens than is found 

 elsewhere of the truth of which assertion a glance at a 

 typical crowd anywhere in the arid West, as compared 

 with a similar assemblage in the older East, will promptly 

 convince the doubting." 



Under the caption "The climate of arid America in its 

 influence on the human family," a most complete and 

 satisfactory analysis of the favoring influences of climate 

 supported by authorities of undoubted authenticity is sup- 

 plied. It is a matter of regret that the limits of space 

 forbid the reproduction of the entire article which de- 

 serves to rank among the classics of technical literature, 

 but a few excerpts from this sub-head must suffice, viz,.: 

 "As to the direct influence of the dry, sunny climate of 

 the arid West upon the disposition of human beings resi- 

 dent therein there can be no question. In this favored 

 region man is not constantly upon the defensive against 

 nature and her moods, but genial climate renders life at 

 once easy and pleasant. This climate is stimulating to a 

 very high degree genial and almost daily sunshine out- 

 side finds reflection in a bright cheery disposition and an 

 optimistic frame of mind. It undoubtedly explains, to 

 a very large degree, the proverbial western optimism 

 which sees chiefly the best and most hopeful side of 

 things, and is responsible for the routine, nonchalent un- 

 dertaking and accomplishment of great affairs to which 

 a more pessimistic East would regard as scarcely possi- 

 ble. Surely it is a tremendous asset to a community to 

 possess a climate through the influence of which almost 

 any achievement seems quite practicable." 



(Continued from page 364.) 



purposes; it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the In- 

 terior, upon application by the proper officer of any state 

 or territory to which said section applies, to withdraw 

 temporarily from settlement, or entry, areas embracing 

 lands for which the state or territory proposes to make 

 application under said section, pending the investigation 

 and survey preliminary to the filing of maps and plats 

 and application for segregation by the state or territory: 

 Provided, That if the state or territory shall not pre- 

 sent its application for segregation and maps and plats 

 within one year after such temporary withdrawal the 

 lands so withdrawn shall be restored to entry as though 

 such withdrawal had not been made.' " 



Other amendments extend the provisions of the act 

 to the territories of New Mexico and Arizona and to por- 

 tions of the Ute and Southern Ute Indian Reservations in 

 southwestern Colorado, and provide for further grants (ex- 

 ceeding one million acres each) to the states of Idaho 

 and Wyoming. 



Amendments and Corrections to Former Articles. 

 IDAHO.- State Board of Land Commissioners 

 (January issue), M. I. Church no longer register, having 

 resigned. Successor not yet appointed. Acting register, 

 ad interim, Heber Q. Hale. (May issue.) Inquiries of 

 a general nature regarding Carey Act projects at large 

 should be addressed to Joseph P. Fallen, commissioner 

 of Immigration, or to Heber Q. Hale, acting land reg- 

 ister, both of Boise, Idaho. "Pratt Irrigation Company" 

 segregation not open to entry, and opening indefinitely 

 postponed. 





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