The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-02
PLENTY OF ELBOW ROOM.

The United States needs no outlet for
surplus population. There isn't any
immediate danger of an overflow If
there were such danger threatened. it
would be the part of wisdom to buy,
even at extravagant figures, contigu-
Gus territory. But there is plenty of
room at home for healthy growth The
population OF this country isn't one
fiftieth as crowded as it is in some of
the islands eXpansionists are anxious
to retain. 1t ought to be possible for
this country to worry along for great
many years without leaving the west
ern hemisphere.
If half the money that is expended
to satisfy the whims of imperialists
We're laid out in the west, billions of
acres of fertile land within the legiti-
mate limits Of the United States could
be reclaimed, and a more important
problem solved in the interest Of hu-
manity here at home than, with our
form of government, we can ever hope
OF solving in Asiatic waters. 1t would
bring about results far more gratifying
TO the living and a hundred fold more
beneficial TO generations to come.
In the United States, exclusive of
Alaska, there are SIS, S6S, pa acres of I'M
appropriated and unreserved public
lands. This is a territory equal in ex-
tent to France, Germany, Italy, Eng
land, Scotland, Wales ireland. Austria,
Hungary and Greece combined. OF this
area 5z6, 549. 654 acres. or more than 81
per cent, are in the states and terri
tories of Arizona, California, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mex
leo, North Dakota, Oregon, South Da-
kota, Utah. Washington and Wyoming.
Officially the government looks upon
1872, 176. 600 acres as desert. Two-thirds
OF this can be reclaimed, and the result
OF the overflow on the Colorado desert a
few years ago indicates that a great
deal OF this desert land is highly pro-
ductive under irrigation. This desert
area, as shown by the last report Of
The secretary of the interior, is more
than twice the size of France, and
about four and one half times the size
of the United Kingdom. These So
called desert lands are not like the
Great American desert or the Mojave
desert, hut in this classification is
placed lands that do not produce native
grass in sufficient quantity to make an
ordinary crop of hay in usual seasons,
and lands which, without irrigation, do
not contain sufficient moisture to pro-
duce a natural growth of trees or make
an agricultural crop of any kind in
amount to make the cultivation there
of reasonably remunerative.
To show how these lands are CLASH
fed, we quote from the report: I'm
doubtedly a very large percentage of
these lands do at some portion of the
year produce grasses and herbs of some
value for grazing. but with inconsider-
able exceptions they are valueless for
other purposes without irrigation.
All that is needed to make these lands
valuable farm lands is irrigation. There
is d water supply available for that
purpose which viii be sufficient to ir-
rigate Zl,500,000 acres, and with these
acres irrigated the rest OF the land will
be suitable for grazing. So it is not
such a bad desert after all.
Real deserts are not included in the
figures given. The government treats
them as barren, irreclaimable wastes.
The area of real desert amounts to
es, 600, coo acres, or about 100000 square
miles, an area about half the size OF
France, and lacking only about 10000
square miles Of being the size Of the
United Kingdom. Nevada heads the
list with bare and irreclaimabIe
lands, having 2e.OO0.0OO acres: Califor-
MIA comes next, with 100000 acres,
and Arizona is third with 100000
acres. Utah has 100000 acres of
waste. and wyoming 100000 acres.
This $4,000, oOO-acre desert win prob