The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1919-05-31

An inherent Ndlut! hViho'N "
,ollege-bred man, turning from the
window.
IAN 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 | 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 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 il he observed the gen
eral average of intelligence in the
faces @. the crowd below. Richard ac-
kuowledged 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, a university club which admits
as members these who have had at
le:st 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 lmpe-
rial. II il had not been for the set
ting we might have been at Ann Arbor
or Palo Alto. The costumes were
little motley, but the talk sounded Ike
home.
The dust blowing I'm 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 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 hac
education it is forced upon him. i saw
1t worked out in Utah. l was there
several years. Irrigation means co
, operation. That is, to me, the chic
I value of aridity."
, The wind. though still BLOWN;
through the car and ruffiing the trail
: dust, was carrying less of grit ant
. sand. To the nOstrils of Richard ant
: his new acquaintance ii brought tn
: pleasing suggestion of grassy mead
: ows. of willow-lined streams and fra
:. grant fields.
a at is the accepted idea that thi
). valley is attracting a superior elias
: of men because of its temperate
J., stand. 1t is the other way round. tn
e valley stood for temperance becaus
n of the sort of men who had settle
r here. the men of the irrigation type
n The engineers ear criticized "irrigi
h ton type" He began to suspect thi
d he had picked up crank.
sThe desert offers man special az
h vantages, social, Industrial and agricu
10 tural. 1t is no accident that you I'm
% certain sort of man here"
IN 81 suppose you mean that Il
~ struggle necessary to develop such
l. country. under such stern condition
o. develops of necessity strong men
III evolved Richard. "Oh. yes, l belle
ne that, too"
"Oh, more than that. 1t is not
or much the struggle as the necessity f
or co-operation. The mutual dependen
Ri is one of the blessings of aridity."
no zone of the blessings of aridity
90 echoed his listener. you are phil'
. +" opher." He had not yet touched t
others thought at the spring.
at You might as well call me soci
Iu- list because | praise irrigation in II
is it stands for the small farm uni
re. retorted the valley man. THAT is
To- of its flats; the small unit. 1t is
Del small farm that pays. That fact brir
IN many advantages. What is the cha
he of Riverside? 1t comes to me alws
of like the unreal dream of the social
in come true. 1t is a city of farms,
small farms where q man may ms
ain his living off his ten acres of orani
ion or lemons; and with all the comic
i'm and cOnveniences of a city wit
reach. his neighbOrs not ten miles {
q A farmer in Riverside or in any |
gated community does not have
ice postpone living for himself or his (;
psf lily until he can sell the farm.
rv can go to church, can walk there;
een trolley car which passes his d
md takes him to public library or
We opera house. His children ride
for school. His wife does not need to
at drudge. The bread wagon and
the steam laundry wagon stop at
he'd door"
md. Richard observed that perhaps
nth did not know anything about irriga
yhv after all! He had not thought o
hen before in its sociological relation
p of merely as it touched his profession
ybv Not going into soil values, for
sert is a long story" began the older I
nre- Irrigation is the answer which
hon enee gives to the agriculturist VII
Toll impatient OF haphaZaru lne'nouS'
for CATION is not compromise, as so n