Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1903-09-09
TO What the Mormons Owe Their Remarkable
Growth and Adhesiveness.
IRRIGATION IS THE WHOLE EXPLANATION
Will the American People Wake Up Will They Permit the
Spectator to Hold the Stragetc Points Along the
Pathway Of The Homemaker?

Az The coming national Irrigation cor
gress at Ogden, Utah, September 15-1
directs attention to the remarkable
system Of irrigation and communit,
building found today in Utah. Til,
bountifully yielding small irrigated
farms Of that state have furnished |
theme for many interesting articles
In fact. the Mormon people have sup
piled a perennial topic or discussion
since they first came into prominence
half century ago. Volumes have
been written about them, while man,
other volumes might be filed with the
magazine and newspaper articles
which have been published on the
same subject. And yet Of all that has
been said. the smallest possible pro
portion has touched the secret Of their
power.
It does not lie in their peculiar re-
ligious doctrine and practice, nor is II
explained by the perfection of their
organization or the dominance OF the
ocracy in secular affairs, except as
these have been incidental to the real
ization of another and more substan.
tial fact.
The Mormons owe their success,
their constant growth and enduring
hold upon their people--in single
%ord. their power-to the fact thai
they are deeply rooted in the soil
From the moment that the first small
party Of pioneers lighted the first
campfire by the banks Of City creek
July ~, 1S49. their policy has been to
get possession Of the land and to make
that land yield up to them, individually
and collectively, living and compe-
tence.
True HomebuiIders.
Brigham Young and his successors
down to the present hour have been
guided by the true instinct of empire
builders. They grasped at the begin
ming, and have held throughout their
history, the great truth that the earth
IS the source Of all wealth and that
neither man nor communities can be
poor or helpless so long as they have
firm foothold on the SOIL
But this was only a part of their
wisdom. The other part was the fact
that they divided the land among a
multitude Of small proprietors Ac-
cording to the census returns, the
average farm in Utah is twenty-seven
acres. AS many large ranches were
included in the average, it is obvious
that there must have been many which
were Of even smaller dimensions, and
this is the fact. 1t is not uncommon
to find people living comfortably on
two or three acres, while some OF the
most famous families, like the Wood
ruffs, have lived for nearly two gener-
ations on twenty-acre place.
Utah lies In high altitude and q
northern latitude. 1t has real winter
for several months In the year. Its
growing season is not much longer
than that OF New England. How, then,
can its people live and prosper on
very small farms?
The explanation 4, In a single word
irrigation. And irrigation Is an end.
less miracle. 1t confers Industrial in
dependence and social equality on
communities that know how to live In
accordance with its laws. 1t has made
the people Of Utah rich, powerful and
in an economic sense. It
will do as much for tens Of millions
more in the next twenty-five years II
~ mas cndnce.
Mormon Power lmpresnsbIe.
Those who have been alarmed at
the growth and persistence OF the
Mormon power and have sought to
curb It apparently have no apprecla-
ton Of the everlasting rock on which
Il is built.
The Mormon church has been from
the flrst a great scheme OF co-opera-
tive colonization. II has taken poor
men and made them prospersis con
verted tenants into proprietors, tramps
into taxpayers. hired men into en-
pIoyers and made the outcast a part.
ner in store. factory and bank.