The Washington herald., 1909-07-04
Nation Slow to Appreciate
It's Importance.
CONGRESS MEETS IN SPOKANE
Col. Scott vigorously Appeals 20 the
Agricultural Element 40 Become
Interested in the SubJec1-DecInres
the Way Question Is Answered
Means Life of Republic.

so productive. and nowhere aIse have the
problems of poverty. isolation. and fall
ure been so effectually attacked"
Col Harvey ". Scott, editor of the
Portland Oregoniau. who has been active
" identified with practically every upiift
movement in the Northwest during the
last thirty-hve years. says this IN urging
cooperation and commenting upon the
importance 70 the nation Of the National
Irrigation Congress. which Will have It's
seventeenth session in Spokane August
9 TO "a. under the presidency of George Z.
Barstow, Of Barstow, Tex.
IF the people were interested in events
in proportion TO their Importance" con
tinues Col. Scott. "the irrigation congress
next August would plunge the whole
country into wild excitement. One imag-
ines, however. that our national equa-
nimity viii not be greatly perturbed by It.
Not Easy to Arouse Nation.
Although the subject 70 be discussed
relates vitality TO human happiness, al
though the way we finally answer the
questions which the eminent speakers at
the congress viii raise may decide wheth-
shall be a hourlshing empire OF desert
solitude. nevertheless II Will not be easy
70 arouse more than a perfunctory pub
lfc interest.
The great names Of the orators. the
pOmp Of civic festivity, the display OF
governmental science viii ali be needed
70 hold the languid ear OF the Indifferent
farmer, whom nothing short OF an earth
quake Will compel to think or study r.
rigation would rain gold into his tubs
If he would set them out. but he won't
until he is harried and bounded into do
Ing It.
But the farmer IS no worse than other
men. Few Of us take more than a feeble
and spasmOdic interest in the things that
concern us most deeply. Consider how
speedily an audience vanishes whenever
a speaker touches on education. a sub
jeCt whose import is even Weightier than
Irrigation.
1T IS only by fits and starts that we
can be Induced TO think Of the salvation
Of our immortal souls. Some sporadic
Billy Sunday can turn our attention 10
these precious entities once in a while.
but how long does IL stay fixed? Salome
dancing a frivolous hornpipe makes Us
forget time and eternity.
Farmer Naturally Slow.
IF man were a truly rational being the
minute he learned that irrigation would
double the produce Of his farm. even in
such favored region as the Willamette
Valley. he would rush to build dams and
dig bitches. but he doesn't. He waits
until somebody has pushed and prodded
him.
Think how long IL has taken some Of
the rural brethren to begin spraying their
apple trees. They know that a few doses
Of lead arsenate would save their fruit
from ruin and line their pockets with
dollars, but not a drop did they pray
until a paternal government stepped in
and gave them no choice. As a race We
are just as lazy and short-sighted as we
dare be, and most OF us would far pre-
fer 20 swins a heavy sledge hammer ten
hours rather than think for ten minutes
such congresses as the one which viii
meet IN Spokane next August are more
valuable for reiterating old truths than
for revealing new ones Iteration is all
that saves the world from a relapse INTO
barbaric squalor. Hearing the truth
about irrigation or anything else once
only does us not the slightest good We
must hear Il a thousand times and IN
every possible key.
BaIk on Insurance.
THE Massachusetts savings bank in
surance scheme was based on the suppo-
sition that when life insurance was made
cheap and easy every person who needed
Il would step up and buy t. No madder
dream was ever dreamed The project
has been open many months. but only
two banks are offering insurance. and
there IS nobody to buy. To persuade US
10 insure our lives and save our wives
and children from destitUtion we need q
brazen-tongaed agent 10 ring an alarm
fl our ears.
Mankind is ike the starving pauper
who was on his way 10 the graveyard TO
he buried alive for his Incidence. The
merciful judge offered TO suspend SEN
tence II anybody would feed the con-
demned. A kind farmer offered a meal
OF corn. Is Il shelledg inquired the
pauper. with languid interest. No. It was
not. Drive on, then said the pauper
We need such gatherings as the National
Irrigation Congress TO shell our corn
for Us.
Irrigation Starts Science.
Civilization originated in countries
where men were forced to irrigate the
land or perish. In Babylonla and Egypt
ence and all the arts The reason IS
plain enough Irrigation drives men TO
think and plan on the one hand and 10
cooperate with his neighbors on the
other. The habit Of thinking about one
subject leads him 20 exercise his brain
on others and presently he discovers the
great truth that ideas are upon the whole
beneficial 70 him rather than baneful.
Cooperation Is the only way out OF
most rural difficulties, and II IS easier IN
irrigated regions than elsewhere for
divers reasons. One is that irrigation
depends from the beginning on co-opera-
ton But also the farms are necessarily
small, people live near together. contig-
uity develops confidence. the plane Of
public intelicence rises, the communal
coascioUsness sets 20 work, and presently
the whole neighhorhood studies. buys
sells. and thrives as one man"
r. Insinger. chairman OF the local board
OF control OF the National Irrigation Con-
gress. says that while the four primary
objects are TO save the forests, store the
floods. reclaim the deserts. and make
homes On the land. other matters of i'm
portance to farmers. orchardists. and
fruit growers in general VIII be discussed
by the foremost men in the country an
nouncIng also that considerable time viii
be given 70 discussing problems in con-
nection with the reclamation Of swamp
lands. good roads. deep waterways and
better husbandry.
CnunfFn0 GfroI-aw