The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-09
\ OsT people in the south are in-
 clined to look upon the irri- ; gation plans of the government

EV elined to look upon the irri- gation plans of the government in the west as to a certain extent vision- ary. If they realize the importance and praeticability of such undertakings they regard them with little interest and few who have never seen the wonderful re- suits obtained by irrigation have any idea. of it's power for good in the west. It can almost be said that to spill a drop of water in the desert means a flower There is little station in the heart of the Call ifornia desert called Indio, which gives a remarkable Illustration of what irri- gation will accomplish in these arid re- gions. On every side gleaming expanse of sand stretches away for many miles while the station itself is a veritable oasis in the waste. It could hardly be called a hamlet, much less a town, for there Is nothing but a hotel, a row of cozy cot tages, and a water tank, but the tank is the secret of the transformation of a bare spot in the desert into a flower gar den. Stately palm trees abound, the cot tages nestle under their cool shade. and shrubbery grows in profusion, given life by water lIOII1 lIe lduk. IilulO IS SEdfttlN larger than the lawn of many handsome residences, but nevertheless life is cool and pleasant there, although in a few strides one finds himself out on the desert where the sun beats down with glaring in- tensity and sand blows in stifling clouds. Indio is merely an example of what water will do in the desert. When irrigation is practiced on a large scale the results are of course much greater. Everything grows with remarkable vigor in the bar ren lands of the west when irrigated and while 1t would hardly be practicable to start a farm or fruit ranch in the center of a desert several hundred miles In ex- tent, 1t is possible to reclaim much land that is now fit for no other purpose than to grow sage brush and chaparral
 The monorail system has been offered London as a solution of the traffic prob lem. F. H. Behr, who originated the mon- orail idea, has suggested a scheme which will cost s10,0000O0 and will no doubt prove profitable investment if it is ever carried to completion. Mir. Behr has two ideas which he has been considering. The Hsl 10 lo coIStrucI tWelVe-mlle line overhead, at a cost of $500,00O mile from Royal Oak, to the Albert and Victoria docks, via Camden town, with branch lines to Willesden, Stephney, and Lime house. The second plan is for a line cost ing s125,00O a mile and extending from the house of parliament to Putney bridge along the Chelsea embankment It Is believed that either one of these schemes when carried into execution would greatly facilitate traffic in the most crowded city in the world While the monorail Is yet in the experimental stage. experiment demonstrated conclusively that an extraordinary high rate of speed is possible by 1t and the danger from ac- cidents Is even less than on railroads. It is true that monorail trains look exceed ingly awkward to our eyes these days, when we are accustomed to seeing rail- way trains so much, but, however strange divided train hanging suspended from single rail may appear. it is quite a useful contrivanee and Is perhaps des- tined to be partial solution of the traf- fic problem of the future.
 Pneumonia has made fearful ravages in New York and Chicago this winter. ac- cordng to the health bulletins. Strange to say, many victims were found among the wealthy classes who neglected to wear