New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-03-14

India. They recognized the value OF
aridity. They knew its threefold
worth"
IAN inherent value?" demanded the
~college-bred man, turning from the
window.
"An inherent value" declared the
exponent Of aridity.
"Will you tell me just what you
mean?"
Not in one session! Look yonder.
That's Brawley. When l came through
here ten years ago l could have had
my pick of this land at % cents an
acre. They were working at this
scheme then-On paper. l was not
alive to the possibilities then; l had
not yet lived in Utah"
The train was slowing up by a brand
new yellOw-painted station. There
were several dusty automobiles wait
Ing by the track. a 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 &C.
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, a university club which admits
as members those who have had ut
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.
uOStOiS Suy IL VIII LuNc W Dc
the desert always for me-" The stran-
ger tapped his chest significantly.
"But 1t 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 it is forced upon him. l saw
1t worked out in Utah. l 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 rufiing the train
dust, was carrying less of grit and
sand. To the nostrils of Richard and
his new acquaintance 1t brought the
pleasing suggestion of grassy mead
ows, of willOw-lined streams and fra
grant fields.
at Is the accepted idea that this
valley Is attracting a superior class
of men because of it's temperance
stand. 1t 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-
tion type" He began to suspect that
he had picked up a crank.
"The desert offers a man special ad-
vantages, social, industrial and agricul-
tural. 1t is no accident that you find
a certain sort of man here"
Il 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, l believe
that, too"
"Oh, more than that. it is not so
much the struggle a. 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 we'll call me q social
list because 1 praise irrigation in that
IL StduuS lOI lLc SIIlult IuIlu uull, |
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 a 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 farm! He
can go to church. a walk there; the
car which passes his door
takes him to a public library or the
opera house. His children ride to
His wife does not need to be
a drudge. The bread wagon and the
steam laundry wagon stop at her
Richard observed that perhaps he
did not know anything about irrigation
after all! He had not thought Of 1t
In its sociological relation but
as it touched his profession.
"Not going into soil values, for that
Is a long story" began the older nan
is the answer which SCI
ence gives to the agriculturist who is
inpatient of haphazard methods. Irri-
cation is not a compromise, as so many
who know nothing about 1t. It
Is a distinct advantage over the old