The anti-monopolist. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1874-1878, 1877-12-27


The House being ii Committee OF the :" iioie
on the state OF the Union C
Mr.. DONNELLY. Mr.. Chalrlnan'
the great lines OF the PACING rallloauo
are penetrating into region WIN
characteristics very dl1Iereh1 Aluin
those of the country bordering on ohe
two oceans. Emigration IS entering
that region; considerable communities
have arisen within it: States are
being born there.
The administration of this great
domain is part OF our pubic duty:
We must consider its capabilities ana
the means for their development.
This region possesses marked anu
singular characteristics. 1t is one OF
GREAT aridity. AS consequence 1t is
treelesS.
It was for a long time believed that
all this interior country would De
uninhabitable. 1t was set down on
the old maps as 1.-The Great American
Desert.
If the institutions of a cOuntry leave
the energy and industry OF man iree'
the obstacles of nature disappear from
his path if those great forces are
checked and hampered ne suffers III
the midst of abundance.
II has been found that the "GreaU
American Desert recedes as the
foot of the American advances INTO
tho wilderness. 1t is now believed
that almost every part of that wider
nooe will he rendered habltable by
man. 40
If is proposed to overcome the
ariditv of the atmosphere ana the
CONSIGNMENT drvneSS of the SOIL by 1rfl-
cation.
Already several bills are pending
before this body for grants OF lano 10
California. Nevada. and other states,
for the construction OF great WORKS
of irrigation. 1t is proposed III THESE
hills TO form large central annals lead
mo fromthe sides of the mountains or
from lakes or rivers land large enough
for navioatjon for small boats: and
from these main canals smaller canals
are to branch off and again from THESE
other canals still smaller, until at last
the water will be distributed over the
land in the burrows drawn by
though. 1t is proposed that Congress
shall give the company constructing
sncb works one-half of all the land:
thew irrigate. The lands so proposed
70 he given are at the present time
utterly without value, having been, II
some cases for many years IN tn'
the market without finding pur
chaser. One-half of the lands,rendere!
nv irriration fertile and habltable,W
he worth more to the Governmen
and the people than the whole OF I'll
lands in their present barren ana use
less condition.
Nor is the practicability OF such al
undertaking at all n matter OF douD'
Even in in our own country lrrlSatlo
has already been carried on upon
LARGE scale. The success OF the attemI
in the case of the Mormon colony l
Utah is we'll known to the worid;ana
California large part OF the agrlcu
ture of the State is dependent upo
irrigation for it's success.
Nor must it be forgotten that
those regions esteemed ''the cradle
the human race" the remains
ancient canals indicate that irrlgatlt
WAS one of the first instrumentalltl
employed by man to wiring subslsten'
from the earth. In Persia, In EgyI
in India, and in China, irrigation i
antedates recorded history. The de
olation which has fallen upon Pale
tine resulted from the destruction
the reservoirs, canals, and terraces
which in the day of her prosper
irrigation was secured.
The dependence of Egypt up
IRRIGATION is we'll understood. The
is not a single spring IN the who
land, and the rainfall is but t'
inches in the year: and yet this Ian
surrounded by the arid atmosphere
the desert, was the granary OF t
ancient world, and is rapidly risi
into Importance in the markets OF I
present day. More unpromislng tn
any portion Of our great plains. 1t :"
made by the skill of man to sustain
nopulation las dense as any that e'
existed in any part of the world.
In the south of Europe irrigation
extensively practiced. In Lompar'
upon each day in summer. an amot
Of water is distributed over the ea
equal to the entire volume or the II
Seine. In Sardinia and Savoy ab'
six hundred thousand acres are Gu
waited bv means of irrigation.
France two hundred and forty-se'
thousand acres are irrigated.
Lombardy, Sardinia, ana FRA
more than three thousand SOU
miles of land are watered by lrrl
tion,whle it is believed that the K
amount of land irrigated in the Nj
terranean basin is equal in area to
entire area of the Mediterranean
The great Suez ship-canal is lars
increasing the arabic land of Egg
10 the extent of hundreds of SOU
miles.
These various facts all demonstl
that irrigation is not an eNperim,
but that it has been accomplished
very large scale in other countr
and that millions of hnman bel
depend upon it for the means of
sistence.
| hope to see these bills all pas
They should be properly guarded
nreyent a monopoly of the water