The Arizona sentinel., 1899-08-26
A UNITED DEMAND,

mottoes are peculiarly applicable to present conditions in the West. For
 many years the whole Western
 country has been trying to get ir-
 r1gation through one method and
 another. That the methods em-
 ployed have not been as entirely
 satisfactory as the benefits which
 arise from irrigation would suggest is shown not only by the fact that
 over 70,O00,000 acres of productive
 land subject to irrigation develop
 ment are yet arid, but by the evil
 dent reluctance of capital to enter
 this field. After much wrangling
 and cross-fre fighting during the
 past ten years, the leading men,
 newspapers, congresses, commercial
 and organized bodies in the West
 have gotten together" on an irriga-
 ton policy. Granting that the
 West is a unit in favor of irrigation,
 and a unit Tn favor of definite
 irrigation policy, there is yet the
 opposition of the entire East to
 overcome, so that the absolute neees-
 sity for unity of action and demand
 is evident. The Los Angeles Times,
 than which there is no more capable
 nor resolute advocate of Western development and irrigation, calls
 attention to this policy and the great
 necessity for entire harmony of
 purpose and action in working to secure advancement through irriga- tior.
 The policy referred to is that storage reservoirs should be built by the nationai Government under the River and Harbor appropria- tions, as recommended by the En- gineer Corps, and that the public ! grazing lands should be leased, but 1 without cession of the title to the States, and the rentals devoted to irrigation development. Heretofore the West has been unable to secure any Eastern recognition along these lines because 1t has been divided | and antagoEistic, one section want ing one thing and another some thing else. But now organization is telling and the West is practi- cally "together" on this subject. With the West united, the conver- sion of the East is not such a pro- blem. It requires, as the Times says, only that the vast possibilities of the wealth lying latent in the arid lands of the West, and requir- ing but irrigation to be made pro ductive, should be strongly brought to the attention of the industrial, commercial, and manufacturing classes and organizations of the East.
 The "nationaI' movement has already secured good headway in the West and is gaining ground ! constantly as people awaken to the of the policy, but the Times urges that it is a mistake to do anything at this time to weaken the movement, and it deprecates the idea of California convention to devise some means for State irriga- tion which will Tn any way conflict with the demand for national aid. It also opposes a plan whereby the title to forests in California would be granted to the State University i in trust. to be leased and the revenues devoted to specific purposes. In fact it stands firmly against all schemes for State Cession, saying for California what is true to a more or less extent in all the Western States and Territories.
 It will not do to assume that the foothill lands of the Sierra Nevadas will be forever devoted to grazing. The time will come-when water for their irrigation has been provided that these mountain slopes will be dotted with orchards and vine- yards and picturesque rural homes. such as coverthe hillsides of France" Tn other words, the public lands should be held by the Government IS a sacred heritage for those who may come to the West looking for homes, and which, under a wise irrigation policy, they will find ,esponsIye to their toll ndindustry.