The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1919-06-20

worth"
"An inherent value?" demanded the
college-bred man, turning from the
window.
San inherent value" declared the
exponent Of aridity.
"Will you tell me just what you
meanY
That's Brawley. When I came through
here ten years ago could have had
my pick of this land at % cents an
acre. They were working at this
scheme then-on paper. / was not
alive to the possibilities then; had
not yet lived In Utah!"
The train was slowing up by brand
new yellow-painted station. There
were several dusty automobiles wait
ing by the track, few faded Surveys
and the Inevitable country hotel bus.
The platform was swarming with
alert, vigorous faces, distinctly of the
American type.
The man in the seat beside him
asked Richard If he observed the gen.
eral average of intelligence in the
faces of the crowd below. Richard ac-
knowledged that he had been struck
by that, not only here but at Imperial
Junction, where he had waited for the
| train.
| There is a club in the valley, lately
started, university club which admits
as members those who have had at
least two years of college training
The list numbers three hundred al
| ready. The first meeting was held last
week In an empty, new store in Impe-
rial. If it had not been for the set
| ting we might have been at Ann Arbor
or Palo Alto. The costumes were a
little motley, but the talk sounded like
| home.
The dust blowing in through the car
doors brought on another fit of stran-
Cling. Richard turned again to the
window, to the active scene which de-
MED the presence of desert beyond.
'The doctors say it will have to be
the desert always for me-" The stran-
ger tapped his chest significantly.
"But it is exile no longer-not in an
irrigated country. For the reason Of
irrigation! 1t is the progressive man,
the man with ideas, or the man who is
willing to take them, who comes into
this desert country. If he has not had
education 1t is forced upon him. l saw
1t worked out in Utah. / was there
several years. Irrigation means CO.
operation. That is, to me, the chief
value Of aridity."
The wind, though still blowing
through the car and ruff1ing the train
dust, was carrying less Of grit and
sand. To the nostrils of Richard and
his new acquaintance it brought the
pleasing suggestion of grassy mead
ows, of willow-lined streams and fra
grant fields.
'Tt is the accepted idea that this
valley Is attracting superior class
Of men because of its temperance
stand. It Is the other way round. The
valley stood for temperance because
Of the sort Of men who had settled
here, the men of the irrigation type"
The engineers ear criticized "irriga-
ton type" He began to suspect that
he had picked up crank.
"The desert offers a man special adj
vantages, social, Industrial and agricul-
tural. 1t is no accident that you find
certain sort of man here"
81 suppose you mean that the
struggle necessary to develop such a
country, under such stern conditions,
develops of necessity strong men?"
evolved Richard. "Oh, yes, I believe
that, too"
ooh, more than that. 1t is not so
much the struggle as the necessity for
cooperation. The mutual dependence
is one of the blessings OF aridity."
"One <of the blessings of aridity ~
echoed his listener. "You are a philos-
opher." He had not yet touched the
others thought at the spring.
"You might as well call me a social
list because / praise irrigation in that
it stands for the small farm unit
retorted the valley man. 'That is one
of its flats; the small unit. 1t is the
small farm that pays. That fact brings
many advantages. What is the charm
of Riverside? 1t comes to me always
like the unreal dream of the socialist
come true. 1t is a city of farms, of
small farms, where man may make
his living off his ten acres of oranges
or lemons; and with all the comforts
and conveniences of a city within
reach, his neighbors not ten miles off |!
A farmer in Riverside or in any irri-
gated community does not have to
postpone living for himself or his fam
lily until he can sell the farml He
can go to church, can walk there; the
trolley car which passes his door
takes him to public library or the
opera house. His children ride to
school. His wife does not need to be
a drudge. The bread wagon and the
steam laundry wagon stop at her
door,"
| Richard observed that perhaps he
did not know anything about irrigation
after all He had not thought of it
before in its sociological relation but
merely as it touched his profession.
"Not going into soil values, for that
is long story" began the older man.
irrigation is the answer which sci
ence gives to the agriculturist who is
impatient of haphazard methods. Irri-
CATION is not compromise, as so many
believe who know nothing about it. 1t
is distinct advantage over the old
fashioned methods.
Il am one of those who always