The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-11-07

Our Mighty water Supply-Nna the
Rainfall Means-Tne Run-of, he
Rains Go-Our Underground Re-
servOir-Ship Canals for Every
where-What Railway Freights
Cost the Consumer-One Hundred
and Fifty Dollars Per Year Per
FamiIy-Some River and Harbor
Plans Now Under Way.
Copyright 1911, by Frank &. Car
W pesfffs2 D. G.
Uncle Sam is waking up to the value
of his waterways. The presidential
platforms of 10Th parties during the
coming campaign will have planks
providing for their conservation, and
the questions Of irrigation, drainage
and a national canal system will be
. canVaSsed from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and from mad to Mexico.
The matter is already before Con-
gress. There has been Introduced into
the Senate a bill providing that five
hundred million dollars be spent with
in the next ten years upon the con-
troll of our water resources. and the
scientists tell me that if this is done
it will result in a saving to us of one
thousand million dollars per annum
The proposed expenditure is to be
made at the rate Of fifty million dol
lars per year. 1t will cost us each
year about siXty-twO cents per cap
TIA, ana the saving Will Do DIT the IdLe
OF twelve dollars per capita or TWEEN
ty times the amount Of the expendi-
ture. This means 1000 per cent
profit. which, even in these times of
fnultimilliOnaires and billion dollar
trusts, is a fairly good investment.
The man at the head Of the move
ment in the Senate is Francis G. New
lands, who has for years ranked as
the leader of our irrigation and recla-
nation projects, and who. as DR.. w.
j. MCGEE, the secretary Of the inland
waterways commission, says, is a
quarter of a century in advance of
the average statesman on such sub
jects.
Billions in Water.
But before I take up this great
project for the regulation of our riv-
ers l want to give you some idea of
the water supply Of the United States
and the part it 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 it is from him that
the greater part of my Information
comes. During the past week we
have been talking about the rainfail
Of the United States and where it
goes. We have discussed our mighty
rivers and the schemes for their inn
provement, and DR.. MCGEE has laid
before me the plans for great series
Of ship canals which when completed
will result in a saving Of hundreds OF
millions of dollars in freight trans
pOrtation every year
Our great irrigation sections Of the
west, where an acre or SO will sup
port a family. give some idea of the
value of water in the production of
food. DR.. McGee tells Inc that every
pound Of plant food we use has re-
CURED on the average one thousand
pounds OF water to make it. So tina
If Won not fn11nr nnrfn6c nf uoOota h1o
today it would just take two tons Of
water, or all that Jour horses could
haul. to max that food. It takes
even more water to make meat and
eggs. for the food OF the animals
comes from h soil, and in addition
they drink many times their own
weight every year. Every pound Of
bread is equivalent to two tons of wa
ter used by the growing grain, and a
pound OF beef is equal to from thirty
to fifty tons of water, which the ami
NAL has consumed directly or indi
rectly through it's food. I cant tell
exactly how much water Zach Of you
in this way every year, but
II you should eat two ndr pounds
OF meat you will have alto
gether more than -four thousand tons
of water in one shape or other. and
this is without counting that which
you use for drinking or bathing.
Moreover, as we nave more or less
1000. We nave 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 an
nual water supply big enough to
make food for a billion people, and
he estimates that at the current rate
Of increase we will have that popula-
ton in something like 500 years. hi
that all the water be pro-
perry cared for. and that is what Con-
gress is now asked to do.
Uncle Sans Water Supply.
Now let us look at the water sup
ply of the United States.
DIR. Willis Moore of the weather
bureau has estimated that our annual
rainfall averages about thirty inches