The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-06-01

legitimate investments heretofore made
in irrigation enterprises Those under
the water-right system with unsoId lands
could be gradually adapted to the CO.
operative system, and the restoration of
confidence in general conditions in the
arid region would make colonization of
those lands possible where it is now utterly
impossible.
" The only ones who could object to
the proposed policy would be promoters
and SPECTATORS who still hope 10 make
fortunes out Of the labor of future gen.
erations OF farmers. by inducing capital
10 invest in schemes for arid land recla-
nation under the water-right system.
This system has been delusion and a
snare to both investors and irrigators,
and it would be a great public benefit
if the fact could be everywhere known
and recognized that the investment Of
capital in irrigation enterprises can be
made absolutely safe under the co-opera-
tive system, and that it is an utter i'm
possibility TO make it safe under water
right system, or under any plan for the
investment Of private capital for the stor-
age and sale of water
''Of course there are difficulties 10 be
overcome. Nothing worth having is easy
to get. But the most serious difficulty
comes from the lack of unity among the
people of the west, growing out Of the
Offering conditions in each state. If we
want success, We must unite and get q
platform broad enough for US all TO stand
upon, recognizing and providing for the
needs of each, but excluding none.
''To illustrate: Take Colorado and Kan
sas. Some in Colorado have favored the
cession of the public lands to the states
absolutely; and the advocates of this pol
icy say to congress-: Give us the lands
and we viii build our own reservoirs
Now this is a narrow policy, unneces-
sary for Colorado and destructive to Kan
sas. The Arkansas river in Kansas has
been practically dried up for irrigation
purposes by diversions higher up in Col
orado. Give the lands to Colorado and
will she build any reservoirs for Kansas?
Most assuredly not. Do not cede the lands
to the states. Let the federal government
hold the title to the land and build the
reservoirs and let each state have its
share Of the stored water. Let Colorado
lease her grazing lands and build the
out Of the river in Colorado and let Kan
sas do the same in Kansas. Then the
mantle of green which will unroll before
the onward current of the irrigating wat
ers as they flow; will not stop at the Kan
sas line, but will continue until it meets
the green feds of eastern Kansas and the
desolatiOn of the desert will be no more.
The great plains of Western Kansas viii
, TEEN with a multitude OF new settlers,
who will have come out of the crowded
hives of industry in the east to people tie
great plains, and we will have in Colorado
and Wyoming and in Western Kansas and
Nebraska, too, not only corrals full Of fat
steers but school yards full of merry,
romping children, and churches and good
roads and happy rural homes which, in
the words of Secretary of Agriculture
Wilson, will be- everyone Of them, "sure
safeguards of the republic" out of which
will pour, whenever their country needs
them, a multitude of such soldiers as these
who are fighting under Otis and Funston
in the Philippines and who wiped from tie
American continent forever the infamous
crue.ties CT Spain.
rs not this cause.-The conquest and an
nexation of arid America-ene'to rouse tie
patriotism of the American people to a
point where they will grapple with the
problem and reclaim and people the des-
erts? This great result can be brought
about by adopting the. policy, advocated
by the Irrigation Congress for building
federal storage reservoirs by national ap-
preparations, and state irrigation works
with revenues to be derived by the states
from leasing the public grazing lands.
Make it the policy of this Trans-Mississip-
pi Commercial Congressi It is the crea-
ton of commerce. Make 1t the policy Of
every commercial and business and manu-
facturer's association in the United States!
It means the inauguration Of a new era
Of development and prosperity within cur
own borders greater than we have ever
before seen. And above all make It the
cause and bring to it the advocacy and
support Of every labor organization in the
whole country, because Of the marvellous
increase in opportunities for work for the
workers and homes for the home-ouilders.
It is the solution Of the labor problem and
the problem of the unemployed for many
a long year.
sixty Miles an Hour.