Arizona republican., 1912-01-22
Other Vast Amounts Will Also be Used on Pro- jects Which Are Now
 Under Way.
WORK BRINGS
 GOOD RETURNS.
Report Shows That Some of the Most Prosperous Communities Are in
 the West.
[Sbccidl CorrcsbOudcHccl

| Special Correspondence
 | WASHINGTON. Jan. 21-Approxi- mately sixty-seven million dollars have i been spent by the government in irri- sation work. and this vast sum is less ! than half of the amount that will have been expended when Uncle Sam's en- sineers have completed the present | program of reclamation. In nearly every western state the flood waters of tEe streams are being impounded and already thousands of families are ben citing by this stored water. The ac- tivities of the federal government in reclamation work have resulted in awakening widespread interest in ir- rigation. which is no longer a local question cOnfIed To our rstinless coun- try. Experience has shown that more general application of it's prin- ciples throughout the whole country would result in material benefit, es- pVcially in intensive agriculture such as truck farming and small fruit grow ing
 The farmer in the east and middle
 
 the whim of an uncertain rainfall. What would il have been worth to him
 during twenty yeas farming experi enCe if he could have turned on the rain whenever his crops needed mois- ture? His half CT ps would have been full ones, his occasional total failures would have been successes. and the money actually saved would amount tO a sum which might well make him thoughtful. The western man TealiZ- es these things. A man who has prac- ticed farming by irrigation. or who has carefully studied it's advantages rarely reverts to either the theory or practice of rainfall farming. The farm- CT in humid regions realizes clearly the handicaps under which he works. but hesitdteS to change because he has not had the object lessons or experience of the weste-ner. or has not given con. sideration to the matter of applying irrigation to his own fields.
 Many eastern farmers have the idea that the irrigation farmer is in chron- ic state of water shortage or has to fight excess of alkali in the soil, or is s0 far from market that profits are eaten up by transportation charges. These things are sometimes true. but it k d grave mistake tO believe that they are unavoidable defects or that they apply to all irrigated districts. In building it's irrigation projects the government selects only fertile soil: then it gauges the size of the area tO fit the available water supply. The reservoirs and canals are built as sub stantially as engineering skill can de- wise and when the farms have been laid out and water is running in the canals. then and not till then, settlers are invited to use their homestead rights on the land. The money actu- ally spent in building the irrigation works iS prorated against each acre of land and is repaid by the settlers in ten equal. annual payments, without in- terest. Call it paternalism if you like it is making homes by the thousand every year.
 The settlement agent of the recla- nation service whose office is in the federal building in Chicago, states that success can not be attained without work-pither in the west or anywhere else. and the man who expects to farm an irrigated homestead without hard work will be grievoUSiy disappointed. Neither will he get rich over night. The government holds out no promises of fabulous profits per acre or of land values increasing like d snow ball rol- ling down hill. The simple facts are these: Tracts of firStclaSs farming land varying from i0 to i60 acres are now open to entry; in their raw con dition they produce nothing and are worth very little. When properly ir- rigated they produce large crops ot alfalfa. grain. vegetables. and fruit; in fact. all the crops common to the re- zion in which they are located. but in greater abundance and more surely than in states where farmers must de- pend on the rainfall. Cultivated land with an assured water supply is worth from S100 an acre upward and in some of the older and more highly developed fruit districts prices of s2.000 or sS.000 per acre have been frequently record ed These high figures are due to perfect state of cultivation. a thor ough knowledge of packing the fruit for market, and well organized selling associations.