The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1904-10-14
How Irrigation Will Develop the One and Ger
tainIy Secure the Other.
R0OSEvELT'S INSPIRING AMERCANISM
While Creating a New Agricultural and Horti-
cultural World at Home,, He Would
Establish Commercial Pres
tige in the Orient.

eastern manufacturer got such a market
as is not to be found anywhere else out
side of the Mississippi Valley, and the
prosperity of the eastern manufactures
has in turn brought prosperity to the
eastern farmer. Uncle Sam has II great
deal of land and Il great deal of water
i'll the West. That land is arid, and
the water, which would make it pro-
%ductive, is running to waste. The prop
osition is TO i~rrisatc these great noun
tain valleys and plains and build more
homes and make more markets.
The eastern manufacturer will sell
in the West, but the western farmer will
not sell in the East, except fruits and
things like that which will not compete
with the eastern farmer. This great
work will take time. 1t will require
many years to wet all that dry land,
but we will begin now and so along
carefully each year until the task is
done. Not many dams or new neighbor-
hoods will be started before the business
men of the East will have their travel
ing men in the West to sell goods. Think
of this great home market; the whole
world wants to get into the United
States to sell things, but our home mar
ket is for ourselves first, to develop it
to the fullest extent.
Will Euuulize Population.
The reclamation of arid America will
to a great extent balance our one-sided
Development. The eastern half of the
United States to-day has a population
of over 1O,VOO,O0O, while the western
half contains somewhere in the neigh
borhood of 100000, or less than 10
per cent. of the whole. The new irriga-
ton law is working satisfactorily. The
country was fortunate in finding q bur-
eau of the government already equipped
to take up the question of surveys and
construction Immediately. This is one of
the greatest pieces of work which has
ever come before this government. The
dams, bitches and weirs to be construct
ed Will be the greatest in the world.
They will stand not for generations, but
for centuries and contribute to the we'll
being of hundreds of millions of people.
taTd America will contain by far the
greatest irrigated area of any country
iii the world.
Vast Oriental Commerce.
On the other hand no person at all con-
y%ersant with current affairs can doubt
the great future of the Orient. The
lands that border upon the Pacific Ocean
contain nearly one-half the total popu-
lation of the globe. Because of made
quate transportation facilities upon the
land, the people are more dependent than
western nations upon maritime com
MERGE. The Orient! What magic in the
name. The fabulous storehouse of mys-
/ tory V-au1tl n rt rol-;., XNyl,o, ....
lea was undiscovered, England the home
heard of in the dim, dark ages of mys-
ticism, before the dawn of history. lived
and tourished the wonderful Orient, the
far East, the islands beyond the sea.
China defes the world in age, popula-
ton and industry. If all the inhabitants
of the world were stood up in one line.
every fourth man would be a Chinaman.
The Pacific Ocean, which has for CEN
turtles been washing the shores of our
western boundaries, has said to us:
Here lies the East; tliis is the way to
.india.' But it has spoken into dumb
ears. We heard but we needed not.
Others have taken warning that the
great commercial development of the
] future lies pom the broad Pacific, and
have lnaugurated new lines of Transport
tatlon and enlarged the capacity of those
already formed. Last year Japan,
China, Korea, Hong Kong and the Rus
san possessions fronting the Pacific
ocean did a business with the outside
world amounting to $600.O 600. 600: fully
tWo-thlrds of this was imports. During
Tue year TINS country bought from them
st2'ooo,oW worth of goods. and only
sold to them 4 little over $40 600 600
Peaceful Conquest of China.
Ihe Empire OF China will o be
opened in all parts to the m of
the world, and it becomes a question of
the share this country may secure in
the face of existing competition. The
purpose of establishing Oriental trade is
primarily to secure a market for the
manufactured commodities of the east
Eern States and the agricultural products
OF the Mississippi Valley, but these alone
Will not make cargoes for the Pacific
steamers.
1t is essential, in order to sunnort
steamship lines, that a practically I'M
limited supply of bulky freight be avail
able for transportation. Cotton, wheat.
and flour in this instance must be relied
upon. The cotton will be furnished Inv
the southern States, and will bear the
1relgnt charges to ports of shipment,
but the less valuable breadstuffs must be-
grown On the slopes of the continental
divide and the Pacific in order to COM
pete IN price with other grain-growins
countries. The fertile mountain valleys
VIII produce grain in any desired uuan-
tlty If the ground is irrigated. A situa.
ton is thus presented which makes the
success OF an Oriental trade, Of any con-
siderable volume, dependent almost sole
ly upon the reclamation of the arid
lands.
Will Benefit Farmers Most.
The American farmer will be the