THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



181 



haustive study of this territory and has presented 

 a comprehensive review of the whole situation. 



Behind that seductive American 

 Conservation camouflage known as "conservation" 

 Camouflage there hides many a subtle Sophist 

 Again whose barrage of specious argument 



Triumphs defeats the popular will and frights 



a just and honest legislation. Once 

 more has the slogan deceived our national congress. 

 At its recent adjournment, water power legislation 

 remained in the pigeon hole of political inex- 

 pediency. Conservation camouflage has triumphed ; 

 industrial efficiency was its victim? 



How much longer may our representatives 

 temporize over this problem. Is there to be no end 

 of the wastage of water power. Is there no Moses 

 to lead our congress from this Utopia of con- 

 servation ? 



America pulls upon her mighty stores of energy 

 with lavish hand. Slowly, but with ever increasing 

 volume, she draws her coal and oil from its bed of 

 centuries. Proud in the possession of her marvelous 

 fuels she throws away her substance and wastes 

 her patrimony. Today she is prodigal with the 

 heritage of another generation. 



In its attitude toward the natural water-powers 

 within our boundaries, our government reminds one 

 of the fabled dog in the manger. Yet, after the dog 

 had the argument with the cow, the hay was sup- 

 posed to remain intact. Not so with our conserva- 

 tion policy. Our government neither uses the water- 



power nor can it retain the energy that goes to 

 waste while it holds the argument. The dog had the 

 least destructive form of churlishness. 



It is high time that the American people un- 

 deceive themselves over that hideous nightmare 

 wherein the rapacious power-octopus threw its giant 

 talons around the waterways and waterfalls of this 

 country and hurled defiance at all laws of equality, 

 progress and human welfare. It was a dream now 

 let's rid ourselves of the after-scare. 



Wasted water power is gone beyond recall. 

 Hundreds of millions of horsepower are passing 

 into oblivion because it is not harnessed. It is a 

 gift from providence. We, the neglectful and im- 

 provident humans, quarrel over its possession. And 

 while we argue and dispute over "conservation," 

 those millions of energy-units slip from our grasp. 



Search through all the avenues of commerce and 

 industry, and each will yield its argument for 

 utilization of our natural resources. Man lives only 

 by curbing the wastefulness of nature and directing 

 her activities into those channels that sustain his 

 life. In our waterfalls nature challenges the in- 

 genuity of man. In every second that passes she 

 parades those energies that may be diverted to the 

 use of man. And we continue to wrangle over the 

 rights of the conquest. 



In another column is presented an array of facts 

 that cannot be contradicted even by the most pro- 

 nounced exponent of conservation. They merit the 

 careful study of every reader who cares aught for his 

 own or the national welfare. 



WATER POWER: THE NATION'S NEED 



Man lives by curbing the Wastefulness of Nature and directing her energies into 

 those channels that sustain life. 



Development of our latent water powers is 

 intimately associated with the solution of many of 

 our greatest economic problems. Its effects may 

 readily be traced through logical paths into the home 

 life of every American citizen. It is a problem that 

 confronts the nation as a whole and concerns the 

 entire fabric of our industrial and social life. 



The casual thinker invariably jumps to the con- 

 clusion that our water power, if developed by pri- 

 vate enterprise, would aid only in the enrichment of 

 of the few individuals or corporations that might 

 undertake the work. They fail to note that there 

 are almost innumerable by-products from this de- 

 velopment that, in themselves, would produce 

 economies in production, transportation and even 

 in the cost of living. 



Through the agitations of ultra-conservationists 

 there is a popular belief that any steps toward utili- 

 zation of our water power by private enterprise must 

 inevitably result in private and perpetual control. 

 This, again, is a fallacy. It is generally recognized 

 by those who have striven earnestly to find a solu- 

 tion of the problem that power sites should not be 

 delivered from government jurisdiction. All plans 



aim to the regulation of power production by a 

 properly constituted federal tribune. 



Bills that have been introduced in congress, but 

 thus far have failed of passage, are directed toward 

 some method by which the power might be utilized 

 without loss of governmental control. There seems 

 to be little difference in opinion among those who 

 have studied the question and the only obstacle to 

 legislation has been the lack of unanimity as to the 

 provisions under which control may be exercised. 



In addition to conserving vast quantities of coal 

 and the labor to mine and handle it, the hydro- 

 electric energy now wasting in our running waters 

 should be utilized in manufacture of explosives, 

 fertilizers, wood pulp and paper, electro-chemicals, 

 copper, aluminum, etc. ; operation of railroads by 

 electricity ; operation of irrigation pumping plants ; 

 operation of farm machinery ; mining, and number- 

 less other industrial applications. 



Wood Pulp and Paper 



Nature has grouped her natural resources in the 

 far western states. Forests necessary to the manu- 

 facture of wood pulp and paper line the banks of 



