Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-07-26

GEORGE II. MAXWELIS INTER
ESTING LECTURE ON IRRI-
CATION LAST NIGHT.
M0NTANA'S AREA AND
ITS SUPPLY OF WATER
Solution Of the Labor Problem
Homes and Employment for Mil
liops-Legislation Needed.

George III. Maxwell, president Of the |
National Irrigation association. lectured !,
at the Auditorium last evening on the
subject of irrigation. His audience was
not what might be termed large, but that
which it lacked in numbers was made up
in appreciation of Mr.. .Maxwell's dis
course,
It is sail that every man on earth Is
here for a purpose and that he has a
mission to perform. Taking it for grant
ed that such is the case, Mr.. Maxwell has
been detailed to handle a matter in which
everybody ought to be interested. 1t Is a
Well-known fact that in this western
country there is much arid land that
could be reclaimed and used to advantage
If properly approached with water, and
it is Mr.. Maxwells intention to interest
the public to the extent of an effort to
secure national Legislation and appro-
reservoirs as a source of fabrication for
his land, thus making use of a portion
of the water that now finds its way un-
mOlested from the northern boundaries
of the inland to the CULTS and oceans.
The meeting was held under the aus
pices of the Trades and Labor assembly
and was called to order by Daniel Nc
Donald, the president, who introduced
the speaker of the evening. In making
the introduction Mr.. Mcdonald said Mon
tana had 145, 800 square miles of and and
7,710 miles of water surface, being com.
modious enough to swallow up five of the
e England states. Great Britain and
Ireland, he said, could be snugly tucked
away within the borders and hardly be
noticed.
Mr.. Maxwell expressed the belief that
the reclamation of the arid land of the
west would solve the problem Of labor,
| as it would insure millions of men en-
ployment. Labor organizations, he main
! tanned, dignified labor by increasing the
COMPENSATION of the wage worker and
/ ch0rtnv,i~n tho 1oi1xy ynnvicN nf fni1 hl1f
there was one thing they could moi do
and that was to create work where there
| was nothing to do. So long as there
were nine men for ten jobs the labor
ing men were all right, but the reverse
order of things made it bad for all.
With the amazing increase in the opu
lation of the country he could see a bad
sta of affairs ahead and something
should be done to provide for the future.
L~abor-saving machinery was throwing
men out of work, but these men could
support themselves if the vast area OF
arid and could be reclaimed through the
adoption of the reservoir and n prop
~osition. AS an Illustration OF what ouic
be done. J. W.. Sullivan had inc the
| Bound Brook farm and many printers
i that had been thrown out of work by
, i the advent of he type-setting machine
were living off the product of this land
The government owned more than loo,
600. 600 acres of lane that required water
alone TO make 1t pTOuuCllVe. NllhllOHo VI
dollars were being spent every year IN
building levees along the Mississippi to
prevent the water from seeking a course
where 1t was not needed. and If this
money could be USE. in constructing res
ervoirs at the source of the stream and
vim them "a canal outlet overland thai
required only moisture to make 1T bios:
som as the rose the government Woulc
profit thereby. All western senators ia.
yored the scheme of reclamation. buf
members of the house of representative:
had to be converted. a organiza'
tions should interest their eastern breth,
rem, as these organizations were a poWe1
great enough to accomplish almost an.
enterprise with which congress had tt
deal. Ten years G the population o
A the United States was 81. 1922. 900, and O
this number only 4.404,000 belonged II
the western part. The population was IN
creasing at the rate of about 30 per cen
every ten years, which would make
about 10000 900 at the present time. Tn
construction of the proposed storage res
eryoirs and canals was too great an un
dertaking for private enterprise an
therefore the government should han
die 1t.