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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



world and is quoted in foreign publications as the 

 final authority in irrigation affairs. 



Since its birth thirty years ago, THE AGE has 

 witnessed tremendous strides in irrigation. The 

 Great American desert of our school day geogra- 

 phies was still a realty when THE AGE began telling 

 the story to the world of how water only was needed 

 to make these arid lands the richest in America. 

 Today the Great American Desert is the food bas- 

 ket of the United States. The message of irriga- 

 tion, carried to foreign lands by THE AGE, has 

 brought fortune and happiness to many other peo- 

 ples. Within the lifetime of THE AGE gigantic irri- 

 gation projects have been constructed in South 

 America, Asia, Africa, Europe and Australasia, ad- 

 ding millions upon millions of wealth to nations, 

 and creating homes for untold thousands. 



It is worth while to have had a part in this 

 great creative work. 



The past year has been one of accomplishment 

 for THE AGE. In the battle in behalf of the settlers 

 on the Federal projects, we have helped accomplish 

 much. The extension of payments for water rights 

 on these projects to cover a period of twenty years 

 instead of ten has been obtained. Secretary of the 

 Interior Lane has been brought to see the dangers 

 of the bureaucracy, which so long ruled the Recla- 

 mation Service, and has taken steps to at least neu- 

 tralize it if not wipe it out. Before he gets through, 

 we believe the Secretary will cleanse the Service 

 thoroughly of the bureaucrats. 



We hope to see justice meted out to the set- 

 tlers, who have struggled to build homes on these 

 projects. Many of them were led to settle there 

 through reading stories of these projects in THE 

 AGE, and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with 

 these men and women and continue to fight for their 

 rights as long as we have one ounce of strength. 



THE AGE has been of great educational value 

 to irrigators throughout the world more, perhaps, 

 during the past year than ever before. It will strive 

 to give to its subscribers during the next year even 

 more articles of educational value. It is the real 

 irrigation farmers and those who want to become 

 irrigators whom we want to help. 



Despite the great war which is devastating half 

 the world, THE AGE starts on its thirtieth year fac- 

 ing what promises to develop into the most pros- 

 perous era in irrigation affairs, particularly in the' 

 United States. The war means tremendous oppor- 

 tunities for the irrigation farmers markets for 

 every ounce of produce they can raise. The war 

 makes necessary the development of every acre of 



land susceptible to cultivation. This means that 

 many projects, either embryo or partially finished, 

 must be rushed to completion. From some investi- 

 gations which we have made, we are confident there 

 will soon be plenty of money to carry on these pro- 

 posed improvements. 



The development of pumps for irrigation to a 

 high state of perfection has also made irrigation 

 feasible and possible in many districts, previously 

 abandoned to the prairie dogs and rattlesnakes or 

 on which farmers struggled to make livings by con- 

 serving meager rainfalls. 



Irrigation development during the next year 

 and hereafter will be on sane lines in the United 

 States. A commission of prominent men from the 

 Western states will meet at Helena, Mont., this 

 month, to pave the way for the complete elimination 

 of "blue sky" from irrigation affairs ; to codify so 

 far as possible the various state irrigation laws and 

 to frame measures to be placed upon the Federal 

 statute books, which will provide for Federal and 

 state co-operation in irrigation construction, untan- 

 gle Carey Act snarls, clear up other difficulties and 

 aid in further development of the West. We also 

 hope to see Congress appropriate $100,000,000, as 

 advocated by Secretary Lane, to construct addi- 

 tional irrigation projects. 



The next year will also witness a rapid spread 

 of the "irrigation habit" to the central, southern and 

 eastern states. Drouths during recent years have 

 awakened the farmers in these sections to the possi- 

 bilities of irrigation, and there are today irrigation 

 plants in nearly every state in the union. We ex- 

 pect to live to see the United States veritably an 

 irrigated nation. 



THE IRRIGATION AGE looks forward with much 

 pleasure to the work ahead. It will continue always 

 to try to be of real value to its readers and its ad- 

 vertisers. To our friends, old and new, we say, 

 "Thanks for the support in the past," and ask 

 them to continue it. We shall try to merit this 

 support. 



If you are a Federal Water User, read every 

 line of Fulton H. Sears' article on "The Price of Ex- 

 tension of Payments." Mr. Sears' reasoning is re- 

 markable. He seems to have hit the nail squarely 

 on the head. If he has also succeeded in penetrat- 

 ing to the inner secrets of the Secretary of the In- 

 terior and the Reclamation Service virtually read' 

 ing their minds he has uncovered conditions which 

 must arouse every Federal Water User to immedi- 

 ate action. 



