THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



21 



jjjl)g^ 



The Federal 

 i' Users 



A Department Devoted to the 

 Interests of the Farmers on the 

 Government Irrigation Projects 



EDITED BY GEORGE J. SCHARSCHUG 



^liMJSHSEJiIMfflSJSI^^ 



WHY THE U. S. SHOULD INVEST IN FARMERS 



By Elwood Mead Member of the Final Board on Cost Reviews of the Federal Irrigation Projects 



WHOEVER acquires land and creates thereon a 

 home renders a service to the state. Whoever 

 makes the attempt is entitled to all the aid and con- 

 sideration the state can safely extend. The general 

 welfare is so largely dependent on having the growth 

 of the country keep pace with the growth of the 

 city that more than a score of enlightened democ- 

 racies have made state aid and oversight of land 

 settlement a national policy. 



There are important reasons why America 

 should be added to the list. The progress of rural 

 development is 

 at present not 

 s a t i s f actory. 

 The balance be- 

 tween city and 

 country devel- 

 opment is not 

 being main- 

 tained. T h e 

 number of 

 farmers in 

 some of the 

 richest farming 

 sections of 

 America is de- 

 creasing. I n 

 the western 

 third of the 

 country. with 

 its vast 

 stretches of un- 

 peopled and 



unsettled land, cities and towns are growing from 

 two to five times as fast as the rural districts on 

 which their well-being so largely depends. 



Meritorious irrigation projects are unprofitable 

 because of limited market for the water they make 

 available. Many settlers under these projects, after 

 years of effort, have had to abandon their homes 

 and lose the capital brought with them. The condi- 

 tion of many settlers remaining is precarious and 

 calls for early and adequate relief. 



The nation has no land settlement policy ; there 

 is no one to whom a settler can go for official dis- 

 interested advice about land values ; there is no 

 one to direct beginners in the costly and difficult 

 work of preparing land for irrigation ; there is no 

 system of rural credits or long-time amortised pay- 

 ments, which are the salvation of settlers in other 



developing countries. There are, on the contrary, 

 inflated land prices ; irresponsible land sellers ; in- 

 terest rates ranging from 6 per cent to 12 per cent 

 (instead of 2*/2 to 5 per cent in countries where set- 

 tlement has state aid) ; short time loans with com- 

 missions for renewals and the ever impending 

 menace of mortgage foreclosure. If the settler 

 works long hours, lives on scanty fare, wears poor 

 clothes and denies himself and his family all except 

 the bare necessities of existence, it costs from $50 

 to $100 an acre to make arid public land habitable 



and productive. 

 If he lives de- 

 cently, it costs 

 more. 



Men with 

 ample capital 

 will not sub- 

 ject their fam- 

 ilies to the pri- 

 vation of this 

 pioneering ex- 

 perience. Many 

 who do make 

 the attempt 

 fail for the lack 

 of a s s i stance 

 which the state 

 could safely 

 give. As a re- 

 sult, the young, 

 and ambitious 

 who, under 



McKinley county, New Mexico. 



sensible conditions, would be creating homes on the 

 land, are either flocking to the cities or going to 

 other countries which do have a state land policy. 



There is no period in the life of a community 

 so important as when the land is being settled. The 

 influences exerted in these plastic years may de- 

 termine its prosperity and the character of its civic 

 ideals for all future time. Settlement should, there- 

 fore, be not left to chance, but should be under state 

 oversight. 



There should be in each state a rural depart- 

 ment bureau which should have a record of lands 

 available for settlement ; furnish information about 

 the fertility and productiveness of land ; exercise 

 oversight over the operations of land salesmen. The 

 state should create a system of rural credit which 

 will give settlers low interest rates and long time 



