Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-01-01
PROBLEMS OF IRRIGATION.

A very readable article on the Prob
lens of Irrigation legislation from the
pen Of Professor Elwood Mead appears
in the January Ftssum. A perusal OF
Il shows that he has studied the subject
carefully. He shows that to make irri.
cation effective in a general way, con
gress will need to step in and aid in the
work. He thinks tina aid from tina,
body schould be extended to the states
as conditions vary in the different local.
ties. He says in part:
It is more than probable that irriga-
ton will occupy an important place in
the discussions of the present congress
and that legislation will be enacted
which will inaugurate a new era In in
dustrial development in the west. The
worldwide movement toward the Pa
cific which has followed our recent
achievements in war and commerce has
awakened an interest in the vast, unde-
yeloped region which separates the hui
mid east from that ocean, and has slim
ulated O desire for It's settlement. Elk
~pansion abroad promises to be followed
by an equally m%ornentous expansion at
home.
There are other reasons why this sub
ject is likely to receive attention from
congress. Hereafter. those who seek
homes on the public domain must o
for them in the arid part of the United
States, where cultivated crops an not
be grown by the aid OF rainfall alone.
The homestead OF the future must be
irrigated. Before the settler can plant
his fields with any hope of reaping a
harvest, he must provide the water sup
ply which the clouds do not furnish; and
ability to do this will be the measure of
settlement. The immigrant working
alone can not accomplish this. Former
ly he could do so, but not now. The land
which could be watered by small, cheap
bitches has all been filed upon.
The further extension of the watered
area requires either the diversion OF
large rivers or the storage of water
which now flows down from the mount
aims when 1t can not be used. In order
to do either of these things, costly dams
must be built to Withstand the FOODS
which beat against them; great canals
extending for miles to h remote table
lands, will have to be e~xcavated: and
expert engineering talent must be en-
pioyed to design these structures and to
prepare not less important plans for the
management of the commerce In water
which their construction will create.
The day Of individual effort has passed.
Success in the future requires the organ
ization OF the Irrigation industry and the
expenditure of public or corporate funds
or a scale not heretofore possible. Be-
fore rivers like the Missouri, the Big
Horn, the Green or the Columbia can be
put to- use irrigation works must be
built riyaling in magnitude and cost
those along the Ganges and the Nile.
This will not be done until there has
been legislation by congress. The arid
states can not do 1t, because they have
not the means. Private capital will not,
because experience has shown that cost
lys private works to reclaim public n
are not profitable. Only congress, as the
custodian Of the public domain, can pro-
vide the conditions Indispensable to sat
isfactory progress. Because of these
facts agricultural settlement in the west
has been for many years slow; n un-
less more favorable conditions are se-
cured the reclalming of public land VIII
soon be practically al an end. The con-
quest OF the desert is q great undertake
ing; and eve with all the aid congress
can be Induced to extend, progress here.
after viii not be rapid.
The desire of the west. however. Is not
SO much for rapid development as for