Arizona republican., 1913-11-03


 cities, towns, communities and farms lying along the banks of these water ways would be forever safe and se- cure from flood and the awful loss of life and property it entails. The danger of sickness that always fol- lows would be eliminated. Some times malaria and typhoid exact heavier total of human lives than the flood waters. It would mean that Pittsburg, which has so often been nearly wiped off the map, could never again be subjected to such calamity The Pittsburg Flood com mission by detailed surveys, show that that city could be fully safe guarded by an expenditure of $20,- 100000. Her loss in one flood has been more than that; also that Day ton, Louisville, Cairo, Memphis and all the cities on the way to the gulf could never again experience the suf- fering and terror from flood that they have known.
 'It would mean that the waters thus conserved during rainy seasons could be beneficially used during dry seasons and drouth. Properly manip- ulated, they would be loosened to in crease the low water flow. thus main
 
 standard in aid of commerce which would be vastly increased. It would
 mean that these waters. through ir- rigating systems. would be spread over thousands of acres now lying dry and dusty and non productive. High line canals could be built to water the dry bench lands such as are found along the upper Missouri and the Colorado rivers; and in other places water could be poured on the ground. where it would be absorbed and replenish the underground cur rents and stratas and used for irri- gation by means of pumping plants We all know what irrigation has done and is doing every day in the Salt River valley. The most striking ob- iect lesson is to drive out a few miles into the untouched desert and then return to this fertile section, beauti- ful with orange groves and green fields, palms and roses and every sort of luxuriant vebetation. The same transformation can be wrought in many other places. As another phase swamp lands, the richest soil in the world, would be drained. The opera tion of this bill would reclaim and make productive millions of acres, now useless. which would, of course, tend to decrease the high cost of liv- ing. These reclaimed acres would support a vast population, and popu- lation creates trade.
 "This bill is opposed not only by certain politicians. but by the rail- roads. It is against their interests to have the streams improved and made navigabIe at all seasons. for that means increased traffic by wa ter. Traffic means competition and competition means lower rates. Then there are the land grabbers and the power site grabbers. They oppose it because federal control would put them out of business. Each and every faction that opposes this bill does so for purely selfish reasons.
 Tn all the decades this awful de- structiOn and wanton waste of our natural resources has been going on, the people have been saying that something must be done. Congress would make new appropriations to feed the starving and homeless people and build more levees. But it re- mained for this western senator to be the Moses to lead the people into the land of peace and plenty and safety this country might become if his plan is carried to a successful com pletion. This bill is so broad unselfish, so enormous in it's scope the human mind pauses in wonder at the immense possibilities it opens up It seems to me any thinking person not actuated by selfish motives would consider this bill an inspiration and feel it his or her sacred duty to use all possible influence to secure it's passage. The benefits to be derived are impossible to realize at it's in- ception, but will unfold and evolve as the work goes on. Its operation would conserve the most of our nat ural resources. It would transform disaster into blessing. deserts into green fields, SwampS into gardens, suffering and death into peaceful prosperity and raging torrents into quiet waterways, carrying a vast part of the commerce of a great nation.