Omaha daily bee., 1911-11-05

AAII waxing UP 10 the value OF MS
waterways The presidential
- platforms OF both parties dur
IES@tlSY ing the coming campaign will
49, have planks providing for
tneir conservation, and the questions OF
IRRIGATION drainage and a national canal
system VIII be canvassed from the At
lahtlc to the Pacific and from Canada to
mexico The matter is already before
congress. There has been introduced into
the senate bill providing that $500 OOO, 900
De spent within the next ten years upon
the control OF our water resources and
the scientists tell me that IL this is done
y VIII result in saving to us of 81, 900, Co.,
OooV" per annum. The proposed expendi-
ture is to be made at the rate of $4,000. 600
per year. 1t will cost us each year about
o. cents per capita, and the saving will
be at the rate of $12 per capita, or twenty
times the amount OF the expenditure.
This means 1000 per cent profit, which.
even In these times of multimillionaires
and billion-dollar trusts Is a fairly good
investment. The man at the head of the
movement in the senate is Francis q.
Newlands, who has for years ranked as
the leader of the irrigation and reclama-
ton projects, and who, as Dr. w. j. Nc
Gee the secretary of the Inland Water
ways commission, says, is a quarter of a
century in advance of the average states
man on such subjects.
Billions in Water.
| But before 1 take up this great nrotect
Tor the regulation OF our rivers | want
TO give you some idea of the water sup
ply of the United States, and the part IL
has in the welfare Of every man, woman
and child of us. The man who knows
more about this than any other in the
country is DR.. w. ]. MCGEE, and II is
from him that the greater part OF nv
information comes. During the last week
we have been talking about the rainfall
OF the United States and where It goes
we have discussed our mighty rivers and
the schemes for their improvement. and
Dr. MCGEE has laid before me the plans
Tor great series of ship canals which when
completed will result In saving of hun
dreds Of millions Of dollars in freight
transportation every year.
Our great irrigation sections Of the
west where an acre or so will support
family, give some idea OF the value
OF water in the production OF food DIR.
MCGEE tells me that every pound of plant
food we use has required on the average
LOCO pounds of water to make It. So that
II you eat four pounds of vegetables TODAY
It would just take two tons of water.
or all that four horses could haul 10
make that food. 1t takes even mora
water to make meat and eggs, for the
food OF the animals comes from the soil.
and In addition they drink many times
their own weight every year. Every
pound OF bread Is equivalent to two tons
OF water used by the growing grain. and
pound of beef is equal to from thirty
10 nfty tons of water, which the animal
has consumed directly or Indirectly
through its food. can't tell exactly how
much water each Of you consumes In this
way every year, but IL you should ca. 200
pounds OF bread and 900 pounds Of meat
you viii have consumed altogether more
than 1000 tons of water in one shape or
another, and this is without counting that
which you use for drinking or bathing.
Moreover, as We have moro or less food
We have more or less water. and so, after
ALL it is water which regulates the size
OF our bread basket. DR.. MCGEE says
that we have an annual water supply big
enough TO make food for 100000 900 peo-
/ bAS' anu nc SetIlaleS ludL at inc current
rate Of increase We win have that popula-
ton in something like 800 years. This sup
poses that all the water be properly cared
for, and that Is what congress is now
asked TO do
Uncle Sans Water supply.
Now let us look at the water supply Of
the United States!
DR.. Willis Moore OF the weather bureau
has estimated that our annual rainfall
averages about thirty inches the United
States over. The best way to measure
| this is by acre feet--that is, By covering a
certain number OF acres with water one
foot in depth. The yearly supply meas
ured that way would cover 5,OOOO 900
acres, which in area is equal TO 200 states
the size OF Ohio, Virginia or Kentucky
or in volume 10 ten Mississippi rivers run
ming day and night all the year through
All this comes from the rain or snow
which falls in one year.
The distribution OF this supply, how
ever, Is very common. Draw line north
and south across the United States, so
that Il VIII biseet Des Moines, Ia, and
more than half OF all the rain that falls
will be found east OF that line The aver
age precipitation over that tract Is forty
eight inches per annum. IL Is the humid
region OF our country. From that line
about 800 miles westward Is another ter
ritory which may be called semi-humid
where the rainfall is about thirty inches