The record-union., 1893-10-27
TEE IRRIGATION AGE.
important Address Issued by the Late
Congress.
Millions of Happy Homes Can Be Gre
ated on the Deserts of the
Arid States.

assem- bled at Los Angeles, Cal., IOr the
five days beginning October 10, 1893,
composed of delegates from this and
foreign countries, announced the follow
ing statement of its views as the delib-
crate conclusions of the representatives
of the Western States and Territories:
Writing to an American friend many
years ago Macauley said: Your fate l
believe to be certain, though it IS de-
ferred by a physical cause. As long as
you have a boundless extent Of fertile
and unoccupied land your laborlng
population will be far more at ease than
the laboring population of the Old World.
But the time will come when New
England will be as thickly populated as
the laboring population of the Old World.
Wages will be as low and will huctuate
as much with you as with US. ou VIII
have your Birminghams and Man
chesters, and in these Birminghams and
Manchesters hundreds OF thousands Of
artisans will assuredly be sometime out
of work. Then your institutions will be
fairly brought to the test"
When Garfield first read that letter he
said: ''It startled me like an alarm bell
at night"
We invite the earnest attention of our
countrymen to a situation of which this
prophesy furnishes startling suggestion.
The scenes recently enacted in the Chero-
kee Strip remind us that the pressure of
surplus population still seeks an outlet in
the West, and that we have practically
reached the limit of settlement in that
portion OF the public domain where the
rainfall is sufficient to support agri-
culture. Existing social and industrial
conditions in the great cities OF the East
and middle West also remind US Of the
alarming increase of the class of homeless
people within the borders of the United
States. To provide a further field for
colonization under conditions which
promise a good average prosperity to
individual citizens, by the utilization of
the great public estate still remaining in
the hands of the Government, is, in our
judgment, a work which must now ap-
peal with Irresistible force to American
craftsmanship.
THE ARID PUBLIC DOMAIN.
The public lands which still belong to
the people of the United States are for the
most part arid or semi-arid requiring the
artificial application of water to render
them productive. They lie between the
ninety-seventh meridian and the Pacific
Ocean, and are divided between the
seventeen States and Territories. This
domain is estimated by the General Land
Office to contain 542, 100000 acres. Enough
of land is arabic to provide homes and
farms for millions Of people. The por-
valuable for range purposes or for forest
reservations. Notwithstanding the pres
ent condition Of these arid lands, we con-
fidently predict that they will become the
seat of the highest civilization and OF the
greatest average prosperity yet developed
on this continent. The intensive scien-
tific cultivation rendered possible by irri-
CATION results in the largest conceivable
development of independence and pros
perity on the fewest possible number of
acres. The conditions of social lite which
naturally grew up in region of small
farms are among the strongest attractions
of the irrigated districts OF the West. 1t
is the experience of the world that the
acre value of land increases as the farm
unit diminishes. The reclamation of the
arid public domain means the improve
ment of the peoples estate and the con-
sequent addition of a vast sum to the
national wealth.
a NATIONAL QUESTION.
The progress thus far made in the re-
clamation OF the arid regions has been
along the line of local effort and indi-
vidual enterprise. Nevertheless, the
problem of conquering these deserts is
national in its essence. These lands are
the heritage of the American people. To
have home upon them is the birthright
of every American child. The condi-
tions under which they shall be re-
claimed and acquired by the settler must
be founded on the recognition of these
facts. There are also questions between
States which require national legislation
and oversight, and however Western
men might desire to settle the problems
which nature has placed about them, the
result cannot be attained except through
national legislation.
EXISTING CONDITIONS.
The law now governing waters and
lands in number of States and Terri
tories are inadequate and dangerous
Streams are appropriated under lax and
conflicting State laws, and the absorption
of interstate waters promises to become
the fruitful source of future litigation and
social disturbance. The desert land law,
under whose operation the public land is
passing away from the people, is largely
perverted from its original purpose. 1t
offers the settler land upon terms with
which be cannot ordinarily comply. The
law has become in its execution the in
strument of corporations, who acquire
land forS 81 25per acre, reclaim il at an aver
age cost of IS 10 per acre, and sell 1t back
again TO the people upon profitable terms
named only by themselves.
We declare IL to be the correct principle
that water in natural channels and beds
Is public property; and when, under the
law Of any State, vested rights have been
secured thereto, such rights, like all other
private property, may be supervised for
beneficial purposes and be condemned
for public uses, under the exercise OF the
power of eminent domain.
We declare that all streams rising in one
State and flowing by natural course
through one or more other States must be
conserved and equitably divided under
Federal authority.
NEEDED NATIONAL LEGISLATION.
To devise laws which will assist the
work of reclamation, and furnish proper
safeguards alike to public and private in
tereStS, while recognizing the rights of
the nation on one hand, and of the States
on the other, is a task that may not be
lightly undertaken. We shall suggest a
means by which it may be accomplished
within a reasonable period, but in the
meantime there are important things
which may be done by legislation. Moth
ing must be allowed to jeopardize inter-
state streams, and it is highly important
that the drainage areas of these streams
should be promptly known and defined
at once, in way sufficient for the pur-
pose here in view and not await the slow
results of a thorough technical inquiry,
which should follow in its train and for
It's needed purposes. The pastoral lands,
especially within these drainage areas,
should also, i'll our judgment, be reserved
for the present from sale or permanent
disposal. The net results for leasing the
same for range purposes should be used
for developing a possible water supply,
10 the end that stock farms and homes
may be created thereon, instead of cattle
ranges, as at present. The whole subject
OF national legislation should be investi-
gated by Federal authority. and as a
meaus TO this end, we suggest the ap-
polntment of a non-partisan national