The herald., 1894-03-13
PUBLIC WORKS SHOULD BIB
STARTED.

Now is the tims for practical states
manship. We are confronted with I
crisis which can be met and overcome i
the lawmakers and the best intellect o
the country will act together. The
industrial HtAgnstion which has beer
brought about by bad legislation ough'
to be remedied by good legislation. The
armies of unemployed men all over the
country can be set at work if congress
will at once pass laws to make extensive
public improvements. The extreme
western states nearly all require elab'
crate systems OF irrigation. Most ol
these systems must look for their sup
plies of water from the mountain ranges
which are yet public domain, and where
the heRdworks for canals must be laid
out and constructed. These hesdworks
could be at once located in many places,
and labor employed in constructing
them. Nearly all the available ranges
have been reserved, and it would be the
natural and legitimate work of the gov
eminent to furnish them with such sys-
TENS of catchment as engineering science
would approve so as to enable the farm
ers living below them to carry
out such system of bitches
as would make their lands pro-
ductive, and to a great extent inde-
pendent OF the rains. II congress would
act at once on the plans which Hydrsul-
ic Engineer Powell has perfected, and
make appropriations for the heAdworks
he has already formulated, labor could
be eadvantageouslye employed without de.
lay. In Arizona alone the government
could reclaim millions of acres from
state of barren aridity to fertile product
iveness, and recoup itself handsomely
on the sale of its fertile lands in that
territory. Millions of acres of desert
land in Nevada are open to reclamation,
and could be irrigated if the govern
ment would undertake the initial work.
This state opens an inviting field for the
Inauguration of this great work.
There are some of our largest rivers
that are sadly in want OF improvement t
which only the government can do.
The damage done by freshets in the Mis-
sissippi could be avoided by correct
eystem of strengthening out and levee-
ing of that river at points of danger.
Here lie a work of great public benefit
that could be undertaken at once and
give employment to armies Of idle men.
Harbor improvements all over the
country, including the work of prepsr-
ing them for the most efficient modes of
iorti6cation. should he -nnAsrt~l-sA in
a time like this.
1t is in the power of congress to re-
lieve the industrial stagnatiop OF the
country, and it should set about to do
so at once. The appropriations for
these great public purposes would meet
with the approval of the people every
where. 1t is certainly as much obliga-
tory on the government to aid the mil
lions of the unemployed to tide over the
era Of want as it is to come to the aid
of national banks when they are con-
fronted with a gold or currency famine.
The next legislature Of California
could do much also to help the people
to bridge over the crisis. There are
millions of acres of swamp and over
flowed lands in this state that have been
conditionally sold for the purpose Of
reclamation. Along our rivers in the
northern part of the state the great
bulk Of this property lies. 1t has never
been reclaimed because it is set off in
small reclamation districts. and it has
been found that it is impossible to ac-
complish the object of the laws selling
these lands unless a complete and COM
prehensive system of reclamation is in
augursted. Take the swamp and over
flowed lands bordering on the Sacra.
mento river, for instance. 1t would be
utterly impracticsble to reclaim the dis
tricts in the lower part of the river and
leave those above as they are. 1t is to
be hoped that we shall have
some broad-spirited men in the
next legislature who will be able
to formulate a comprehensive sys-
tenn by which all these rich lands will
be reclaimed to productive industry.
We have waited for thirty or forty years
for those who got inchoste title to these
lands under the agreement to reclaim
them, which they have utterly failed to
do. Now let the state take broad and
comprehensive view OF the matter, and
provide measures for carrying out the
original intention of the law, and make
those who have failed in their agree
ment stand aside. The state can carry
out this great work of reclamation, and
from the sale of the lands that have
been benefited rsimbu itself literally
for what money it may be called upon
to expend.
1t is shameful that in a country like
this, where there is so much work to be
done in sublugsting its idle lands to the
profitable use Of civilization, there
should be over million OF willing and
able men who are suffering because they
cannot get work to do. Let congress and
the state Legislatures take this great sub
ject in hand, and the clouds that now
hover over our land will soon pass away
Governments have no right to stand
aside and let large portion OF theil
people starve. Humanity, which en-
hracea tina hiohaat and rnnat naram ntor