The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-04-26

0CCllOA VI 0AAoAAo, lily 0AAoSASA NJ
Mr.. j. A. Smith, president of the cham
Der of commerce at 81 Paso, Texas,
who pumps water for alfalfa on his
dairy farm near hat city.
my friend, Mr.. O'Uonnell, has
shown you that $40 acres OF alfalfa
is the equivalent in the production OF
stock food of 100000 acres Of dry
range And as a winter feeding propo-
sition it is more than this because
you will utilize not only the section
Of alfalfa, but dry range as well, and
in addition, the proportion OF profit
would be increased by the saving OF
losses from winter exposure of the
stock.
81 am convinced that the stockmen
of Montana lost more than enough
last winter to have constructed the
necessary pumping plants and canals
safely carried over every head OF stock
they lost during the winter. In view
of this, is it not Wasteful extrava-
gance to continue your present meth
cd of conducting this great industry
in your state? The Lord helps those
who help themselves should be our
motto. Don't wait for somebody else
to do something for you. Don't wait
for the government. Do what is to be
done at once, and do it yourselves.
Senator Carter has estimated that
there are 10, O00,0 900 acres OF land in
Montana that can be irrigated. | be-
lieve it will eventually exceed this
and be two or three times as much,
because as the years go by and the
land fills with water, a much larger
area will be irrigated that the total
water supply would irrigate today. But
all the lands which can be irrigated
by private enterprise in any way
would probably not exceed 1,OO0,OOO
acres. What remains must be irrigated
by immense government irrigation
works, like those of India, which can
be only built by our national govern
ment.
Absorb All Available Funds.
1.-THE two systems which are practi-
- cally on the verge of construction
by the government, the Milk river pro,
ject and the Fort Buford perfect, will
each irrigate, estimating it roughly
:, about $4,000 acres of land at a cost
Of something over $40 an acre. An6
these tow osystems will absorb al
the money which will be avilable I'm
. der the present national irrigation &C
for construction in Montana for man!
years to come. Now what are vol
going to do with the vast area, ag
gregating at least $1,000, 900 acres, a.
which will be a gradually increasing
area sfrom year to year, as the work.
are built, which can ony be irrigated
:, by the national government?
Do 1t Now.
;, DO not deceive yourselves, and d
not allow yourselves to be deceiye'
- by any who have mistaken ideas o.
this subject. Montana cannot be re
~ claimed for this generation under tn
., national irrigation act. Future ger
~ erations might see it reclaimed unde
that law. But l want to see it don
in this generation, and so do you.
= "Ten million acres at an averag
E cost of $40 an acre shows at a glanc
that it will take 5000, 900, 900 to reclair
Montana, and achieve its full measur
of future prosperity. There could b
no safer investment for the none
of the government. Every cent it il
vests will come back to it from
charge on the lands reclaimed.
How to Get the Money.
"But how are you going to get tn
money for original construction? TIL
works must first be built and thei
q cost paid for before farmers can TAX
the land and cultivate it and pay tn
i money back to the government.
will tell you how o a get thi
money, and there is no other way i
|, the world to get it. in your life tim
l.. or mine. The way to get it is to accer
, the policy declared for by such grea
- eastern organizations of bushes
< men as the National Association Q
Agricultural and Vehicle Manufactul
1. ers, which is this:
"That the irrigation works neces
sary to reclaim the arid lands of tn
4. wes all be built by the nationa