THE CONQUEST OF ARID AMERICA 



from the eastern half. Its relation to agriculture is im- 

 portant and interesting, but its relation to a future civil- 

 ization in a broader sense will be momentous. It is, 

 indeed, a fateful crop, trembling with the hopes of hu- 

 manity, that is beginning to sprout from the arid soil of 

 the far-western deserts. 



The blessing of aridity is again conspicuously illus- 

 trated in its remarkable effect upon the soil. The land 

 which the casual traveller, speaking out of the splendid 

 depths of his ignorance and prejudice, condemns as 

 "worthless" and fit only "to hold the earth together," 

 is in reality rich and durable beyond the most favored 

 districts in the humid regions. It is the marvel of every 

 eastern farmer who comes in contact with it. Professor 

 Hilgard sees in this phenomenal fertility the most rea- 

 sonable explanation of the choice of arid lands by the 

 people foremost in ancient civilization. 



It has puzzled the historian to account for the fact 

 that the glories of antiquity sprang from the heart of 

 the desert. The fact itself is, of course, beyond dispute. 

 Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria, with Palestine, "the land 

 of milk and honey"; Persia, Arabia, and the classic lands 

 of northern India, as well as the countries of the Car- 

 thaginians and the Moors, were arid regions. So also 

 were the chosen homes of the Incas in South America, 

 and of the Aztecs and Toltecs in Mexico and our own 

 Southwest, the fame of whose vanished civilizations is 

 reflected in the pages of Prescott and Baldwin. For 

 aught we know to the contrary, these departed nations 

 may have been perfect types of the co-operative com- 

 monwealth, and the knack of governing them for the 

 equal benefit of all may be the most precious of the lost 



