The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-06-01
RECLAIM ARID LANDS
George H. Maxwell of San
Francisco
SPEAKS ON IRRIGATION
He Argues for Federal Storage
Reservoirs.

George H. Maxwell of San Francisco
spoke last night on "The Craa7ion of N
Inland Empire" He said:
Look at the map Of the United States!
The western half Of it is an arid region.
With fringe Of humid country on the
shores Of the Pacific. and here and there
an oasis where irrigation has reclaimed
the desert. And yet this vast territory
would, If reclaimed, support a dense and
prosperous population greater in numbers
than the entire population of the whole
United States today. The enormous oppor-
tunltles for increased home markets for
our manufacturers and opportunities for
nome seekers which its reclamation would
create make It worth the while Of every
manufacturer who wants markets. every
Wage-earner who wants work. every mer-
chant VINO wants trade, every transporta-
ton company that wants traffic, and every
man in America who wants home on the
land, to grapple with this great problem,
and make the conquest Of arid America
the greatest victory of peace which this
generation will accomplish.
Let Us then see if there is wav in
which this great result can be accom-
plished and the army of workers enlisted
which will subjugate the deserts bv dig
g-ng canals instead Of trenches and build
ing great storage reservoirs instead of for
tifications.
; Can It be done by private enterprise;
T by individual effort; by companies or cor
porauons, or in any manner by the invest
ment Of private capital for a profit as a
business investment?
absolutely, emphatically and positively
no. That is impossible It IS as inDossi
bic as it was for the great canals of India
or the immense dam to be built across the
Nile, or the great Ievee system of the
mississippi, or the Eads jettles 10 be built
10y private enterprise. The works required
are too vast and the beneficial results too
widely scattered to make their construc-
ton possible by private capital or under
any plan which would load the cost of
the construction upon the land reclaimed
load 1t upon the back Of the Man with
the Hoe who must till the soil and to
whose prosperity all classes Of the COM
munity must look for prosperity.
Experience has proved that the cost
of these great irrigation works if added
TO the price Of the land reclaimed. brings
1t beyond the reach Of the industrious
wage-earner or the worker who wants
home and who is willing to 60 out into the
west and conquer If from nature with his
own strong arm. He has not the accumu-
aated capital to pay a high price for his
home, but he is willing to work for it and
TO createitwith his labor. In other words
81 we are to get multitude of new settlers
on the now arid lands OF the west we
must bring those lands within reach Of
the multitude. We must so plan a policy
Tor the reclamation that The same sturdy
class of settlers who came out and broke
the prairies of Illinois and Iowa and made
those states great and prosperous can now
work out still farther west and find oppor-
tunities where men with labor but with
out capital can become home builders and
state-builders.
Now, can this be done. and done under
policy which is thoroughly sound and
statesmanHke? Undoubtedly It can! IN
doubtedly and beyond all question it can,
II the whole American people will wake
mp TO the grandeur and vast possibilities
TO the nation of this problem. But those
who would be most Immediately benefited
the wage-earner who wants work and a
home market-must rouse themselves and
make it their cause and make the annexa-
ton of arid America the shibboleth and
Tallying cry which wifi stir the whole
American people to a realization of the
bounlless wealth that lies latent in the des-
erts Of America. It needs only the magic
touch Of water to shower riches upon the
whole people. for all must share in the
benefits which would come from moving
the western line Of our dense population
which now stops in the center of Kansas
md Nebraska, clear across until It joins
with the fertile coast valleys of the Pa
cific. Kansas as she Is in the center ter
ritorially. should be the center of popula-
ton Of the United States, and the trade
of such great western cities IS St. Louis,
Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis. Omaha,
Kansas City and Wichita (vhy Wichita
Is right IN the center of the whole thingD
would be quadrupled by putting as dense
a population extending clear across the
country 10 the shores OF the Pacific, as