Arizona silver belt., 1901-01-17

The national government is the owner of these millions of acres of fer tile, but arid land, and as the owner, has duties as well as privileges. But the question may be asked, 'Why should the east be taxed to assist in de veloping the west?" he answer lies in the fact that the prosperity of one part of the country is closely linked with that of another.
 But the farmers of Illinois and In- diana ay:-"We do not want more agricultural land and more products brought into the market, as will re- suit from the creation of more small farms in the west" This is mistake founded upon ignorance. The prod ucts of the arid and semi-arid region can not compete with those of the humid. Different crops seeking a diff ferent market are produced. The products which come east are almost wholly sem.tropcal or the more eX- pensive dried fruits. fhe ordinary farm crops of Illinois are protected by the heavy railroad tariff from the competition of the tar west.
 Now, what is the reclaimable coun- try like, and what is to be done?
 Briefly stated, there are, in round numbers, 950,0O0 square miles, or 60O,- 000,0 ,000 acres of vacant public lands. Of these 3T4, ,000, ,000 acres are suitable for grazing, 96,000,O00 acres are GOV cred with woodland, in which there IS also grazing, and from which fuel, fence posts, &c., can be had; there are | 70,0O0,000 acres of forests of commer- cial value, and about an equal area of absolutely desert land having no pres- ent value.
 There is water sufficient for the irri- gation of from 15, ,000, 900 to 100, GOO, 900 acres, depending upon the methods of conservation employed. The average size of an irrigated farm is aoout forty acres 10 family of five persons, not including in this the grazing or range land.
 Probably 10000, 900 people could find homes on farms and be seif-suppOrt- ing if the water supply were properly regulated.
 This would mean an enormous de- velopment of the mineral and other resources, which, with the prevailing Scanty population, will thus be vastly augmented by the mining and other industrial occupations, as well as by the merchants and related trades. The experience of the Old World has shown that there is almost no limit to the density of population within the ard region, where, with ample water and continuous sunshine, the soil pro. duces the most wonderful succession of crops.
 At present the vacant public land can be considered under two heads:- That which is truly arid and that which is semi-arid or hunid. In the case of the first, it is impossible to make home without providing water supply. In the case of the second, however, there are years when i large crops can be produced. Settlers !. have rushed in during these times of unusual moisture, have tempted to | make homes, and when, year after | year, the crops have been lost through | the prevailing drought, the farmers have become impoverished and have | finally abandoned thelr homes, as has been the case in western Kansas and | western Nebraska.
 The soil of these drought stricken regions is notably fertile when watered, and the luxurant vegetation which follows an occasional rain lures on the pioneer to his ruin. Farming there is gambling operation, in which the occasional high stakes cause thou. sands to lose their judgment and risk their efforts in hopeless undertak- ing.
 The semi-arid regions include the
 
 great belt of country extending from western North Dakota through the western portions of South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahom, Texas and the eastern part of Colorado Here may be found thousands of ruins, indicating the attempts made to se- cure foothold without first provid- ing water supply. It is truly the land of famine, for, like all the great famine regions of the world, it's soil is rich and everything is conducive to prosperity except the one factor of rainfall.
 While the government has not taken up seriously this matter of the reclama. tion of the arid and semi-arid lands, congress has authorized various inyes- tigations by the department of the in- | terior, in whose charge are the pubic lands, and by the department of agri- culture. In 1888 the geological survey was authorized to investigate the ex- tent to which the arid lands could be redeemed by irrigation, and since that f