THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



275 



the settler in the matter of acquiring public lands. 

 Why wouldn't it !>' an equally good thing if these 

 authorities would also take supervisory charge of 

 all irrigation projects? The writer is free to say 

 :hat he has no well-matured, comprehensive plan to 

 offer, but such supervision as may be put in effect 

 should include the following points : 



Abundant capital under control of the pro- 

 moters to ensure completion of the project as ap- 

 proved by the authorities. Area of country to be 

 irrigated to be restricted closely to that which may 

 be properly watered from the supply at hand. In 

 other words, the promoters to be compelled by the 

 authorities to deliver the goods they sell. 



No honest man will object to this. It may be 

 claimed that regulation of this nature would tend 

 to confine irrigation projects to capitalists. So it 

 would, but this is what is needed. It is unjust, 

 even cruel to the general public, to allow promoters 

 with a capital of only $1,000,000 to undertake a 

 work which every expert knows can not be carried 

 out for less than $3,000,000, and may cost $5,000,000, 

 it usually means partial or complete abandonment of 

 the work before it is completed. Who are the sufferers ? 

 The people who, relying on the promises of the pro- 

 moters, have bought so-called water rights. It is 

 equally unjust and cruel to allow men who know 

 their water supply is only sufficient to moisten 

 50,000 acres to induce people to settle on 100,000 

 acres, and buy rights for that amount of territory. 



These things need regulation, real, not farci- 

 cal, regulation, and the sooner it comes the better 

 it will be for the settler, the irrigation-plant pro- 

 moter, and the country in general. It will mean 

 the opening up to civilization and cultivation of an 

 immense area of land, making it highly productive, 

 and bringing wealth, not only to the individual but 

 to the community, building up sections which would 

 otherwise remain barren. It should be borne in 

 mind that the wealth of a country is in its soil. The 

 richer and more productive the soil, the better off 

 the country is in every way. The United States is 

 peculiarly situated in this respect. Nearly all the 

 tillable, non-arid land is occupied. There is a 

 marked scarcity of farm products and prices are 

 continually advancing. Unless there is a radical 

 change in the conditions now governing the pro- 

 duction of our food supplies we are in danger of 

 being at a comparatively early day brought rudely 

 face to face with the Malthusian proposition in its 

 worst form. Social economists endeavor to assure 

 us that there can be no such thing as over-popula- 

 tion ; that the more people a country contains the 

 happier its lot. This sounds well, but what if the 

 country is unable to produce food supplies in suf- 

 ficient quantities at a reasonable price to keep those 

 people alive? 



There is a limit to the earning capacity of the 

 average individual. There is bound to be a corre- 

 sponding limit to the price which he can afford to 

 pay for sustenance. One of two things must hap- 

 pen : The people must starve, of they must revolt. 

 Either contingency is horrible to contemplate. His- 

 tory tells us what happened in the days of the 

 French revolution. Conditions were then strikingly 

 similar in that country to what they are now in this. 



We may rail at the extravagance of the working 

 class, and with good reason. But this does not con- 

 trovert the fact that food supplies are daily becom- 

 ing scarcer and consequently dearer and more diffi- 

 cult to get. 



But there is a remedy at hand. There are 

 millions of acres of land in this country which may 

 be made highly productive if water can be brought 

 to it. This is the work of the irrigationists, the 

 men who plan and build irrigation plants. But of 

 what use is this work unless people can be found 

 to till the soil after the water is brought to it? 

 And for how long are we going to be able to find 

 people willing to invest their time and money in 

 this effort unless they are assured of government 

 protection? The goose that lays the golden egg 

 should be cared for by the community, even though 

 it makes its owner rich, for the wealthier the in- 

 dividuals in a community the better off is the com- 

 munity itself. There will, of course, always be 

 men like those who have brought to completion 

 the successful work at Twin Falls but, un- 

 fortunately, these are all too scarce for the pressing 

 needs of the country. 



It is not enough to say that people settling on 

 irrigated lands should be careful with whom they 

 deal. This is true to a great extent, and is an ample 

 explanation of why men who have made a great 

 success of one irrigation project have no trouble 

 in finding settlers for another. Their reputation 

 warrants it. Unfortunately there is a limitation 

 to the work which can be undertaken by men of 

 this kind and if the wants of the country are to 

 be met, we must depend to a large extent upon 

 what others not so well and favorably known will 

 do. This makes the requirement for official regu- 

 lation and supervision a pressing one. It is not 

 alone the individuals who are disappointed in their 

 locations who must be considered. We must have 

 ever in view the effect such disappointments are 

 going to have upon others. And this is a serious 

 consideration at a time when it is essential that 

 every available acre should be brought under cul- 

 tivation. 



The ultimate success of this country lies in irri- 

 gation. It is the one thing which will banish starva- 

 tion and penury; make us happy and prosperous. 

 Let us safeguard it in an effective way. 



Twenty years ago there was no great, insis- 

 tent demand in this country for irrigation, the con- 

 ditions then existing did not require it. Today it 

 is a necessity. Twenty years from today it will 

 be even more of a necessity. We must practice 

 it on a more extended scale, or perish. Why not 

 so shape our affairs now that we will be in position 

 to reap the full benefits of this vitally necessary 

 system of agriculture when the time comes that it 

 must be generally practiced if we are to avoid a 

 terrible calamity? Irrigation has come to stay. It 

 will thrive, no matter how badly it may be handi- 

 capped, but we can get much better results by 

 treating everybody fairly and this is what must be 

 done if we are to secure the best it is capable of 

 giving us. Half-way measures will not answer. 

 They merely mean temporizing, experimenting, 

 with the life-blood of the nation. 



