CanÌƒon City record. [volume] (CanÌƒon City, Colo.) 1883-192?, 1904-10-13
Low Irrigation Will Develop the One and Ger
tany Secure the Other.
2OOSEvELT'S INSPIRING AMERICANISM
While Creating New Agricultural and Horti-
cultural World at Home, He Would
Establish Commercial Pres
tige i'm the Orient

he heart OF the great West has been
ouoAed by the sincere, persistent, effec-
Ave friendship of President Roosevelt.
t had begun, but only partially, to feel
Is great need; when this strong, ideal
american stepped up to it and handed
the golden key which is to unlock its
iinthess, latent wealth-greater than the
omsined mineral deposits of all the
~orSd.
By one stroke of his pen he gave the
Jnjeed States new empire greater in
bossi bilities for good to the human race,
han all that other great section situat-
u between the Atlantic Ocean and the
Mississippi River The National Irri-
,atisa Act will transform 125,O00,OOO
lcres Of land from desert to garden. 1t
EiA create the greatest home market this
pountry has ever known. 1t will make
Aappy homes for millions of free Ameri-
ma 1t will establish forever the pres
fge Of eur commerce in the Orient. 1t
wiu cause President Roosevelt's name
nd his official acts to be gratefully re-
.anbered for all time to come.
All the People Intcrested.
Al American citizens are essentially
Interested in the operations of the Ma
ional Irrigation Act for the reason that
IL influence on domestic trade and for
Aen commerce is destined to be simply
fncaIculablc. The reclamation of arid
America along the lines of the National
Irrigation Act means "a home for every
nan who wants one" 1t means that
sAea 4 settler gets ready to obtain his
hare of the National heritage he will
setaia net only fertile soil, but the water
aeceasary to make it a self-sustaining
home and that the water right is guar
hnteed by the government of the United
States This is, beyond all comparison.
me sf the greatest things ever attempt
ed By the American people.
Pregnant with great possibilities is
his proposed irrigation of 125 200, 900
acrea of the peoples domain, an area
hat now supports but a meager popu-
lat3ea- Under irrigation farms are small
seea1se the yield of the land is very
nncA greater in proportion to cost and
operating expenses than it is where the
clouds are the first and sole reliance for
waEer supply. 1t follows that there
win be dense population on our, irri-
S,faa area and greatly increased mar
kef fer the manufactured products of the
rest Of the country. The railroads and
all ether Industries will profit by the
recse.sadOn of region. 30 vast in ex-
tent, and its settlement by a prosperous
population.
Wealth Beyond Compare.
According to the National census of
1900 the total improved farm area of the
DATED States was 414,SO0,OOO acres. 1t
% conservatvely estimated that the re-
|oaainabae land is not less than 125, ,OOO-
go acres. Its reclamation, therefore,
viii add much more than one-fourth to
the actual crop-producing area of the
cosatry and will exceed by a liberal mar
gin. the tillable land of all the States
a. the Atlantic Coast from Maine to
Faos1da-except a modest portion of New
York Allowing twenty acres as the
average size of irrigated farms, this area
viii make 6,250,0 farms or more than
the number in the United States in 1900
The tetal value of all farms in 1900. in
eluding all improvements except build
inEz. was $13, 100000. At $40. so per
acre, the average value of irrigated land,
the 125.000,0O0 acres to be reclaimed
win add to the value of the farm land
S5,312. 100000. If buildings are includ-
ed. the value will be increased by So
b5o o.0o0, 600; while the augmented wealth
through railroads, cities, mills and fac
tories is beyond estimation. The an
sual value of all the farm products in
1900 was $4,370, 100000. The average
per acre of products of irrigated land
was S14.31. At this rate, the area to
se reclaimed will add products worth
$1,81, 100000, an addition of nearly
haR Of the life sustaining power of the
country.
Will Not Compete with East.
National irrigation will amount to a
series OF loans by the government and
The supervision of the construction work
and water distribution. As to the ques-
tien whether the products of the irri-
gated west will compete with eastern
farm products, it is only necessary to
travel through the West and see what
II raises under irrigation to understand
that there will never be any such com
petition. Irrigated farms are small and
toe valuable to grow the staple products.
They are devoted to fruit culture or TO
alfalfa raising. In California, for in
stance, where irrigation is oldest and
where its highest types are found, the
farm unit, instead of being 100 or 200
acres as in the East, is 40. 20 and s
acres Fine fruits, wines and dairy pro-
ducts are raised and cattle are fattened.
1t 10 difficult to name n California farm
product which comes East and actually
osmpetes with Eastern products.
We get from California, oranges, lem
0us. prunes, raisins, fgs, olives, wines,
dried fruits, etc.--luxurie on the other
hand. the Eastern farmers derive a dis
tinet benefit from irrigation in Califor-
mia, for 1t makes California, and she fur
nishes a greedy market for every sort of
Eastern manufactured product. sending
her money back to New England and
throughout the Bast and thereby stimu-
lating manufacturing. Busy factories
and well paid, steadily employed factory
hands mean good Eastern markets for
Hastern farm products.
Precedent Cited.
Osr friends the farmers of the East
we've somewhat alarmed as to what the
result migth be when the tide was west