Show oW lR TION FIGHT Z I If f we rightly construe the meaning of h 1 from Washington and eIs elsewhere else where there le be to be e hardly a chance that Congress at this I s io 1 will appropriate money or 01 enact any legislation legis legis- I l hi lation to inaugurate the general work of ir irrigating h lands of the West Vest which is so greatly and noN notoriously l' l n needed edd for the welfare of the sl section aut l t tl e lC good of the whole country J We e lp may inay mayas r as asell ell well op open n our er eyes s to the fact that 1 proposition to enlist the aid of the Govern- Govern Went in the enterprise is bitter bitterly antagonized by br byI I an and prairie State agricultural interests interest This teelin feeling was shown in the House Honse of 1 on Monday last when Mr 11 Ray HaJ of New NewYork cw cwt t tOL York Yok declared that it would be unconstitutional for H c al General Government to appropriate money to i e the public domain for the purpose of sell sell- 11 t- t Of course such an argument is the bald baldest st I subterfuge There are plenty of statesmen quite wise as Mr Mv Ray Hay who w-ho hold that Con Congress ress dances Constitution when it appropriates millions million f iJ n l millions to lc keep p the Mississippi within arti- arti r imd nd unscientific banks for the benefit of the adjacent yet r t the mone money is voted all the anie If the na Ray line of argument were all that i H Ava in the way of irrigation ion there would rould b. b easy enough h but the tile truth is that already there Vl 1 coalition of all agricultural elements e Eastern side of the continent to defeat any am- tW W which if carried to success would resu result t tt t enormous increase ase of the country's a I tU and cultural arbor L ii productions rJ V lIm plan piau of Representative rac Lacy la a vh h is to have ha-e Congress make an ap- ap of f one million dollars for the purposes rh tt t nt im in irrigating some given gi area of I 1 1 somewhere or 01 other is not particularly nuro tl g to It is in the nature of i P Ep the Cerberus of far Western estern public opinion wn itle me afraid is ii not intended to promote the theat t AtA at large Such an experiment would be su- su since SinCO anything and everything e that could i be through h or determined by it could be liC beA A ii and settled by a three days days' to isit the rf f t 1 irrigated ed districts of or California I sS V h As hWe we have han remarked hitherto there is a 1 de- de lot of i ignorance nolance and misinformation in the he East subject of irrigation For example thep the thc p Tj rf c fair minded fair li ded New ew Y York r Tribune says i tie need of irrigation for millions of al' al acres of ofT T iY Western reS si rn land lana is too obvious to call for ar argument l U Ii would be a r reproach to our ci civilization to leave lea those vast expanses forever in an ari arid unproductive unproductive e and uninhabitable state wh when n it is possible and rind easy agy by Utilizing existing water a er sUp supplies I to tomake make them the pleasant and profitable ab a teeming population r Then the New ew York Tribune flies th the track and adds that if we were Socialists lookin looking to tor r the State for everything e t w we might ask the Government Government Govern Govern- ment to redeem the arid lan lands s. s As it is our est esteemed esteemed es es- es- es t teemed contemporary feels sure that the whole matl matter matter mat mat- l' l ter should hould be left to private atc enterprise or to the several States within whose boundaries the arid and l lands laid arc firc situated This is a a. fair illustration OL cf f what the most intelligent Eastern authorities do o t. t 4 no iO know It is evident evide t that Mr 1 Whitelaw Reids Reid's journal does not understand that neither private capital nor a n State could coul su successfully C undertake the work of irrigation in regions where the headwaters headwaters head head- waters of streams necessary to the purpose lOa may boas beas bo be f fas as as they often are located within another sovereign n jurisdiction This after all is the crux of the problem m which h in the end can an only nl be e cd by hr bythe bythe the intervention of the General Government To quote luOte from the phrase used by y the New York Tribune it would be a rC reproach to c tion to lea leave leae e those vast expanses sf d forever rever in iu an arid ari unproductive and uninhabitable state when we ve weha ha have haa a Government of ot the people certainly able and which ought to be willing illing to assist in their r re rc |