The Reclamation of the West 



'7 



No. 3. Map showing Arid Regions of the World- 

 shown in Black 



-the Humid Regions 



raphy, and geology. In the course of 

 those researches he became greatly 

 impressed with the great opportunities 

 for development of this western arid 

 land. He talked this matter in season 

 and out of season, and man)' of his 

 friends have said, " Now, Major, if you 

 will only stop this irrigation talk we 

 will do anything you want, but we can 

 not have that." We are glad that he 

 lived to see this law passed, and though 

 it was not exactly on the lines he 

 sketched in his original thesis, yet it 

 follows his ideals. His report, written 

 in 1S76, is still one of the classics to 

 which all refer. 



BROAD PROVISIONS OF RECLAMATION 

 LAW 



The reclamation law is familiar to 

 some of you, and there are here some 

 men who have worked vigorously for 

 it and who led the debate in Congress. 

 It is sufficient to go briefly over some of 

 the general provisions of this law. It 

 commits to executive discretion nearly 

 all of the details which make a law a 

 success or a failure. It sets up a few 



large and important safeguards, and 

 says in effect to the Secretary of the 

 Interior, " Here is this money ; take it 

 and spend it for this purpose ; get it 

 back in the treasury and do the best 

 you can with it." That is unquestion- 

 ably the ideal condition, and the men 

 who are working under it must make it 

 a success. They have no excuse for a 

 failure. Congress has been liberal, 

 has given the Secretary w 7 ide discretion, 

 and we have no apparent excuse for 

 not obtaining the best possible results 

 which the conditions will permit. 



I have spoken of two or three of the 

 large safeguards imposed, namely, the 

 putting of the land into the hands of 

 small owners who will live on it and 

 cultivate it, and the refunding of the 

 money to the treasury, the money to be 

 used over and over again in a revolv- 

 ing fund. When the law was passed 

 the matter did not seem very important. 

 The amount of money involved did not 

 seem large and the opponents of the 

 bill had little appreciation of the situ- 

 ation. It covered into the treasury 

 funds for the year 1901 and succeeding 



