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THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



No one who has known the irrigated 

 Why west in past years, prior to 1900, and 



Not who has not visited the western 



Investigate states since that year, can realize 

 Now? what strides have been made in de- 



velopment. This was brought to the 

 mind of the writer in a recent trip through Colorado, 

 Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. Utah and Idaho appear 

 to have ' made greater headway than their sister 

 states, and this is no doubt due to the fact that in 

 each of these states the work of reclamation has 

 been carried on by both Federal and private effort. 

 In these states the work done by private capital has 

 gone far ahead of any other state with the exception 

 of California. 



The Twin Falls section of Idaho, which has 

 been developed largely through the efforts of private 

 corporations, is perhaps the best illustration of the 

 benefits of irrigation in the United States, if not in 

 the world. 



It is safe to say that the annual acre profit- in 

 the Twin Falls South Side tract is greater than any 

 similar purely agricultural area in the world. This, 

 it should be understood, is on ordinary farm crops 

 and live stock, and should not be confounded with 

 the extremely productive and high-priced orchard 

 lands in California, Oregon, and in some sections of 

 Washington. 



It is stated by those who have made a study of 

 the situation, that farmers on this tract are earning 

 annually from two to three times the original cost 

 of the land. This cost, if the writer's memory serves 

 him properly, was $35 per acre. 



It will thus be seen that the man who settled on 



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the land at the time of its opening and who "stayed 

 with the game" is beyond the need of help from 

 money lenders. 



This peculiarly fine condition in Idaho is due 

 in part to the fact that the soil and climate condi- 

 tions of that state make it an ideal one for the propa- 

 gation of seed-bearing plants. Many of the large 

 seed houses are now buying their stock from farms 

 operated under their direct supervision and the re- 

 ports indicate profits of such magnificent proportions 

 that we hesitate to quote them a profit of $200 per 

 acre per annum for seed is not uncommon, and this 

 figure is frequently surpassed. 



This statement will apply equally well to other 

 sections of Idaho and should interest the land 

 hungry, no matter where they are located. 



We ask you to read our short editorial under the 

 heading "Land for the Landless," so that you may 

 learn that there are still opportunities, some perhaps 

 equally as good. The Department of the Interior, 

 Washington, D. C., will give additional information. 



The Twenty-third Irrigation Con- 

 Thoughts on gress, re-named the International 

 International Irrigation Congress, has come and 

 Irrigation gone and adjourned without settling 

 Congress on the place of the 1917 meeting. 



The Congress, as a whole, was a suc- 

 cess, and the various papers presented were more 

 interesting than have been listened to by the writer 

 in his many years of attendance as a delegate. This 

 was particularly true of the talk by the president, 

 Richard F. Burgess, at the opening session. 



The evening session of Monday, October 16, 

 was enlivened by a debate between Judge Will R. 

 King, chief counsel U. S. Reclamation Service, and 

 Judge Carrol B. Graves of Seattle, Wash., on the 

 resolution That Irrigation and Swamp Land 

 Reclamation Can be Undertaken more Advantag- 

 eously by Government Activity than by Private 

 Enterprise, the affirmative by Judge King and the 

 negative by Judge Graves. 



The AGE will publish Judge King's remarks in 

 its issue of November, and those of Judge Graves in 

 its December number. Both talks were masterly 

 and will prove interesting to all of our readers, no 

 matter on which side their sympathies lie. 



The absence of many of the "old guard" was 

 noticeable, and this brings to mind the fact that the 

 attendance was woefully small when the importance 

 of the subjects discussed is considered. 



El Paso is renowned for its hospitality and the 

 delegates and other visitors have no ground for com- 

 plaint in any particular. 



. The fact that no place was chosen for the 1917 

 Congress indicates the correctness of our often re- 

 peated statement that the Congress, as at present 

 conducted, has passed its days of usefulness, and a 

 definite change in its plan must be made before it 

 will reach a point where the delegates are the water 

 users and operators on the land, rather than those 

 who are in attendance from curiosity or with an ax 

 to grind. 



It is safe to say that there were not one hundred 

 water users in attendance as delegates, the balance 

 being those who took part in the program. This is 

 to be deplored, as the papers delivered would have 

 been of incalculable value had they been presented 

 to and absorbed by the right class of people those 

 who need the information the men on the land. 



The thought comes to us that the Government 

 could make no better investment than to send a full 

 copy of the proceedings of this Congress to each 

 one of the 90,000 water users under federal projects. 



Beyond this suggestion, however, is the old 

 argument of the AGE that the delegates to these 

 meetings should be water users rather than curiosity 

 seekers. A congress of water users is the coming 



