The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-11-24


fore the supply from the pump direct will
| only irrieate about two acres. This shows
| that In connection with the windmill ana
pump it is absolutely necessary to have
| reservoir.
COLONEL h. W. LEWIS.
| Colonel H. w. Lewis of this city, who
| has irrigation interests near Phoenix,
| Arizona, had for his subject "The Duty
| of the General Government Towards irri-
CATION" He started off by declaring that
! the cities of the country were likely to be-
| come menace to the nation on account
! of the character Of their populations and
| that anything that tended to multiply the
non urb ban population should be pro-
| NOTED. Anything, he said, that brings TO
| higher state of cultivation and thus en-
ables us to subdivide our broad acres into
smaller farms and multiply homes, it is
our duty as patriots to foster. He de-
clared that the waters must be conserved
and utilized. To do this requires large
| aud consolidated effort entirely within the
functions aud ability OF the federal gov
| eminent, but too colossal in many in
stances, for private persons aud corpora
tons to undertake. II it has bean wise
for the government, which do not deny,
TO spend millions OF dollars in the mat
ter of transportation and commerce, is it
not time now to consider the interests of
agricultural? Let US with voice aud vote
call upon congress and the administration
to do their duty in this matter.
THOMAS KNIGHT TALKS.
'The relationship of the railroads to the
irrigation movement" was treated by Mr..
Thomas knight, geological engineer of
| the Rock Island Railroad company. r.
nj, 4 1<.l
ence of small farms. and the utilization of
the whole Of the land through and about
which the water passes. Therefore, If you
can't have the one it is useless 10 look to
the other. You can't have the small farm
| without the small farmer. and you can't
get the small farmer upon the land unless
the railroad brings him there; brings him
his supplies and markets his produca for
him; unless it also provides him with the
means OF communication with his fellows,
and permits him to come in contact with
| the outside world.
H. r. HILTON OF TOPEKA.
| One very interesting paper was that of
n. r. Hilton on How Different Soils Alb
sorb and Retain Moisture He pointed
out that recent Investigations tended to
the conclusion that the mechanical ar
| rangement Of the soil determines it's fer
tility more thanthe chemical properties it
may possess. The more soils are vded
up, he said, and made fine like dust the
more air space and. ior the same reason,
the more surface in a given bulk. A cubic
foot of granite has only six square feet Of
| surface exposed to air or water. III ground
! to the tineness of good wheat soil then "a
cubic foot Will have over two acres OF sur
face Tie amount of surface OF ali the
soil is important, AS the water ia the soil
adheres 10 these surfaces and the roots oc-
cupy the spaces between In search of food
| It IS the amount OF water that n soil re-
tains or holds after the surplus is drained
out that determines its value. The tenn
perature of the soil is important The
cooler the soil is down to the freezing
| point the more moisture IL will contain
and the more it will absorb from the air.
A compacted soil exposed to the sun is
heated far beyond soil kept loosened by
cultivation.
VIM. f. sMYTHE.
William e. Smythe, chairman OF the
| national executive committee and editor
OF the Irrigation Age, began his remarks
by rendering to the people of Kansas the
greeting of the organized irrigation move
ment OF the United States which, he said,
sis cause perfectly in accord with the
spirit and traditions of your liberty-lovlng
and history-making commonwealth" He
paid au earnest tribute TO Kansas men
who have attained prominence in the irri-
cation work, among them Judge Emery.
J. W. Gregory. Robert Hay, Ii. Y. Hinck-
ley and E. r. Moses. He then said: eve
have passed the point where this move
ment ceased to be merely matter of
bitches and of acres. We have reached
the point where it becomes problem of
institutions and a civilization. 1t now
involves the destinies of states. the future
of national expansion, the outworking Of
the best possibilities of humanity itself"
He said it was under this large concep-
ton of the Significance OF irrigation that
the friends of the cause were carrying on
the movement in the west today, and it
was on these grounds that they would
later appe ii to the people of the east.
Mr.. Smythe th-n rapidly sketched the
broad outlines of the irrigation idea from
the industrial and social standpoints He
then took up the proposition that the
small, diversified, irrigated farm contains
the germ OF purer freedom for the aver
age man than the world has ever known
He referred to the statement that there
are 900 600 men ont Of employment in
the United States today. owing to the de-
preston In various industries. He COM
pared their situation with that of the
Mormon farmers who live on twenty
acre farms among the valleys OF
Utah Going there forty years ago, with
no capital or experience. they have become
perfectly independent in financial ami
industrial sense. They produce upon
their farms everything their families con-
sumo, and beyond that they have realized
| millions Of dollars to carry on their costly
enterprises of the church. The small ir-
rigated farm rests upon a profound philo
sophie idea. There can be no over produc-
tion, no hard times, no starvation, where
the community produces from the soil
everything it consumes. That Is true in
Dependence
Mr.. Smythe then aualyzed the Los An
geles platform, laying especial emphasis
upon tpe declarations which say that
wate- is public property, that bitches are
common carriers, that the right of con-
demnation of private works exists, and
that the remaining public lands must be
treated as the heritage OF the people, not
rs the spoil of spectators.
Coming to the irrigat on problem of the
semi arid region, which this convention
had been called to consider, the speaker
insisted that nothing but patient in
vestigation and persistent agitation would
relieve the 81 Luatiou Of the thousands of
families in the semi-arid belt. The semi
starvation belt is more appropriate
term" he said. He earnestly advocated
the creation of state engineers Office in
Kansas, aud then presented two import
ant resolutions bearing upon the ssmi-arid
region, that were passed at Los Angeles.
Que OF them demands that the government
shall expend money for Investigations, and
the other strongly asserts that all inter-
state streams must be divided equitablJ
among the several states by federal anthor-
lily. In closing he described the work of
the state commissions which were created
by the Los Angeles congress, and urged