Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1916-11-17
Irrigation as Means Of Prepared
ness for Defense
John NJ Hess in October Agricultural Age

with her consent) making her pres
ent of the water now going to waste
calling on Mexico to aid. making her
a present of the rarest gem of agri-
culture" in all her domain; that would
be a punitive expedition that would
resound down the ages of time. inau-
gurating a new epoch among nations
The remainder of the force to be dis
tributed at the pleasure of the chief
With this force the construction of
roads joining all these points would
the basis well laid to reclaim. within
the years of 1916 and 1917, land worth
in actual cash value the combined ma
yies of the civilized world. The men
would be drilled weekly, Injured to the
country, and would be aiding in en-
| gineering schemes unequaled in the
! have returned to the government many
times its cost and the number of men
could have been doubled and put on
a decent wage. The bonds on the
land would have paid the bill; as it
is, our men have dug useless trenches
in the sand, made hikes" from point
to point like boys and feeling like
fools. and shamefully begging to be
allowed to come home. Can you blame
them? These men are Americans who
feel and think as Americasns, who
love to do something worth while"
On these projects thus inaugurated, |
Goethals could use 25OO 900 men to the
end of 1917 and by that time they
would be well drilled, disciplined, and |
as hardy as any troops in the German
trenches, capable of meeting the world |
in arms, and would have done a work
Of incalculable value to their coun
try and to the world. AS it is, the
money is wasted, and the men half
prepared and anxious to quit in dis
gust. One hundred thirty-five mill
lions thrown away. our nation made
ridiculous and patriotism shamed.
Yes, but what about defense?
have provided you an army of quar-
ter of a million and made it pay big.
It has cost you nothing under my
plan. AS it is, you have wasted $685.
100000.
Our most vulnerable point is up the
Colorado River. 1t is open and unde-
Tended. I want one-tenth of that bill
lion 100000, ,OO0) that you are going
to waste on army and navy placed on
the Colorado, together with $4,000
troops Of the United States army. I'm
der the direction of Goethals and his
mighty Panama engineers, with the
Ludys, Yarwoods, the Marriables, the
Sanguinettas, the Hodges, and the
countless able men along the river
that know it, there will be placed a
hydro electric power plant every II
miles throughout the length of the
2 200 miles of this mighty river and
it's branches. These men with this
money will conserve every drop of its
1872. 900 cubic second feet of maximum
flow; they will reservoir its flood
wave in the 10000 box canyons along
it's mountain sides, and run cool and
Iifegiving to the hungry waiting des-
ert that has longed for centuries to
give its blessings to its children yet
to be: they will fill the 1000 desert
Try lakes" adjacent to its mesas, and
keep them forever replenished, until
Ill the mountain desert shall drink !.
rom the cloud mists formed here in
is valley bosom, and the cattle feed 4,
ng on a thousand hills shall glad the 4,
yes of man where today are the
,are rocks only; at each dam they
will place their silt pit, for the en- +
iching of the mesas, and their boat
nd ship locks that shall bear ma :.
ions commerce to a waiting world,
nd the waters at the dams they will
arness to the turbine and the dyn- .,
mo, creating electric power for trans
OTldllOu, SSluAuS l1SAt tAOAiCS ~-AS a
3r freight and passengers through ev- -
ry square mile of the country. and :,
over for manufacturing all their raw :.
roducts into finished articles of COM =,
lerce, for lighting the homes and for
eveloping the mines within 200 miles
each hydro-electric dam center. ev-
y u miles throughout the territory -
70 miles wide by the full length of :.
Ie river, in ten short years from the ",
me Goethals is done, your reclaimed =,
nd will be worth s50,00o. 900.
fly billions in cash. The desert re- :.
aimed IS the ideal home of man
Continued on Page 81 wv