The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1909-09-01

vided for thousands of self-supporting
citizens at no cost to the taxpayer.
Seven years have elapsed since the
passage of the Reclamation Act. I'm
der it's operation irrigation works have
been built in the thirteen Western
states and two territories by which
waters are conserved and distributed
and nearly 100000 acres already
brought under irrigation, with returns
to the fund amounting already to over
| million dollars. The success OBJ
tanned may be said to justify the
hopes of the most enthusiastic of the
early advocates of the Reclamation
Act.
The law signed by President Roose-
welt on June II, 1902, known as the
Reclamation Act, is perhaps the most
prominent of the statutes dealing di-
rectly with the conservation of natural
resources and with the utilization of
these in creating opportunities for
large body of citizens to own land in
small quantities sufficient for the sup
port of a family. To quote a we'll
worn phrase, its object is to put "the
landless man on the manless land"
and to enable his family to prosper
by the use of waters which otherwise
flow to waste or are destructive OF
human life and property.
| The land which otherwise is value
| less becomes highly productive
through the intelligent application of
to the satisfaction of those who handle
the box apples. The objection to the
box comes largely from those who
use the barrel There is no deception
| in our box. 1t contains more than the
Winchester bushel, which is and has
been the only standard United States
the water thus conserved and through
the labor of the man who otherwise
might not be able to employ his en-
ergies for the best good of his family
and of the commonwealth
The nation is concerned in this
work, not only because of the result
ing internal development, but also be-
cause of the improvement in citizen
ship and in stability of American in
situations. The nomadic herdsman, the
restless miner and the wandering Ia
borer add little to the strength or
safety of the community, but let one
of these men become attached to the
| soil, let him own a small farm which
| is sufficiently productive to furnish his
family with needed subsistence and
comforts, and he becomes a citizen
who can be depended upon, in season
and out of season, to preserve those
institutions which we most highly
prize.
This result of adding to the produc-
tive area of the country and the build
ing up of the highest type of citizen
ship is brought about by the expendi-
ture of a fund not created by direct
taxation nor taken from the pockets
of other farmers. The fund is de-
rived from the proceeds Of the dis
posal of public lands acquired a CEN
fury or less ago, and which have been
considered almost valuless. These
funds are expended in the construc-
ton of reservoirs and canals, the
water from which is not given away
but is sold at a rate sufficient to re-
pay the cost and to maintain the fund
undisturbed.
1t must not be supposed that the
use of this fund alone has brought
about transformation of many parts
of the arid region. While the govern
ment has utilized this fund in making
homes in localities where otherwise
this would not have been done, private
capital has also made great advances
and possibly at present five or ten
ten times as large an investment In
the aggregate is being made by cor
porations in building irrigation works
as is being done by the Governme
Much of this investment, however, has
been made possible, or, at least, has
been stimulated by the Government
work. The fact that the National Gov