The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-04

them here. Look at Riverside. And we are at the primer stage only. We are way behind the ancients in infor- nation on that subject. I learned at school, so did you, that some of the most glorious civilizations fiourished in spite of the desert which surround ed them. That was only half a truth 5They were great because of itl Why did the Incas choose the desert when their strength gave them the choice of the continent of South America? Why did the Aztecs settle in the desert when they might easily have pre- ,Smpted the watered regions? Then 8here are tho Carthaginians, the Tol- tacs, the Moors And one never for 5ggts Egypti"
 "For protection" Riclard gave the ysAlighted question an interested recog- smttion. "WRs that not what we were y1aught at school2 The forest held foes, animal and human. Those na- ,1ions grew to their strength and l0wer in the desert by virtue of it's E5solatfon.."
 Superstition" retorted the man ;swtth the tie. eve are babes at the breast measured by the wisdom of the 5nen who settled Damascus, or con- Pared with the Toltecs, or those an- .Eient tribes who settled in northern sHntia. They recognized the value of sREidity, They knew It's threefold gAnrth."
 ".An inherent value?" demanded the .eOnese4bred man, turning from the IRVtndoy..
 "An inherent value" declared the ;Axponent of aridtty.
 "Wili you tell me just what you gSnean7"
 ~Not In one sesslond Look wonder. J5That's Brawley. When came through hane ten years ago l could have had sEny pick of this land at 25 cents an f4cre. They were working at this tsOhenle then--on paper. was not R11ye tG the possibilities then; I had got yet lived in Utahl"
 The train was slowing up by brand new yellow-painted station. There were several dusty automobiles wait ing by the track, a few faded surreys 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 Rickard If he observed the gen eral average of intelligence in the faces of the crowd below. Rlckard 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 club in the valley, lately started, university club which admits fas members those who have had at least two years of college training iThe list numbers three hundred al ready. The first meeting was held last week in an empty new store in Impe. rial. If 1t had not been for the set. ting we might have been at Ann Arbor fpr PAlo Alto. The costumes were a little motley, but the talk sounded like Ehome.
 The dust blowing in through the car floors brought on another fit of stran. 4gling. Rickard turned again to the window, to the active scene which de pied the presence of desert beyond.
 "The doctors say 1t will have to be the desert always for me-" The stran FEer tapped his chest significantly ffSBut 1t is exile no longer-not In ar Irrigated country. For the reason ot rfrTigationl It is the progressive man the man with ideas, or the man who ii swilling to take them who comes into sfhis desert country. If he has not haC seducation it is forced upon him. I say 1t worked out in Utah. I was ther, fSeveral years. Irrigation means co .pperation. That Is, to me, the chic fTalue of aridity."
 The wind, though still blowln through the car and ruffling the trail Aust, was carrying less of grit an, bSand. To the nostrilS of Rickard ant his new acquaintance it brought tn Epleasing suggestion of grassy mead ipws, of willow-lined streams and fra tgrant fields.
 Ut Is the accepted idea that thi valley Is attracting a superior cIas spf men because of its temperanc stand. It is the other way round Tn valley stood for temperance becaus of the sort of men who had settle here, the men of the irrigation type.
 The engineers ear criticized "irrigs lion type" He began to suspect tha he had picked up a crank.
 "The desert offers a man special at Fantages, social, industrial and agricu fural. It is no accident that you fin D certain sort of man here."
 T suppose you mean that tn struggle necessary to develop such country, under such stern conditions develops of necessity strong meni evolved Rickard. "Oh, yes, beliey that, too."
 "Oh, more than that. It is not S much the struggle as the necessity fC cooperation. The mutual dependenc is one of the blessings of aridity."
 "One of the blessings of aridity echoed his listener. You are a philo ppher." He had not yet touched th others thought at the spring.
 You might as well call me socia fst because praise irrigation in tn: 7 1t stands for the small farm unit retorted the valley man. "That is or Of it's flats; the small unit It is u emall farm that pays. That fact bring many advantages. What is the char