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Show r THIS DRY FARMING. I By Fisher Harris. i, The subject of what is popularly called "Dry Farming" has been the tarket for many vapid arid inane jokes on the part of the ignorant public, J . of which dear reader you are probably one, ever I since this city was made headquarters for the or- ' ganization. known as the Trans-Missouri Dry Farming Congress. i The coming "session of the Congress, which begins here January 22nd, will doubtless serve , to teach our people many important facts con- L earning tho profoundly important purposes which , lie behind this great economic movement The I limitations of the reclamation of arid lands, by moans of irrigation, are well known, being definitely defi-nitely determined by the quantity of water available avail-able for purposes of cultivation; the limitations of reclamation by means of scientific systems of soil 'culture, (dry farming) are bounded only by the constantly changing horizons of the arid and semi-arid semi-arid west. It is an axiom of political economy that the prosperity and progress of every community depends de-pends upon the agricultural development of the country, and that all wealth finds its basis in the soil. This being true, and no sane man has yet questioned its correctness, it naturally follows that any movement, having for its object an increase in the cultivatable area of the country, is entitled to the support of all the people even the meretriciously mere-triciously funny people. Mr. Bryan, the modern John the Baptist of Democracy, once won great acclaim by declaring in a convention speech, that you might destroy the cities and the country would still live, but if you destroyed the farms, grass would grow in the streets of the desolated cities. Of course, Mr. Bryan was right in this, whatever we may think of his position on government ownership of railroads, rail-roads, which has nothing to do -with the case. As nations live it has been no great time since thoughtful statesmen declared that all the country coun-try lying west of the Mississippi river was a hopeless desert designed to hold the scenery together. to-gether. Then the Mormons came to Utah, and for the first time in the history of the Anglo-Saxon Anglo-Saxon race, turned water on land for the purpose pur-pose of crop production. Then in a little while the wilderness was wiped out and the productive domain of the nation was pushed westward to the Pacific ocean. The desert places bloomed in beauty; beau-ty; men saw with amazement an empire in the building, and where before there had been no p ind in the land, save the wild boast and the wi. i bird crying in the desolate night, there were heard the voices of men and women praising God and the happy laughter of children on their way to school. As a consequence of the intelligent application ap-plication of this new force In national progress, great cities grew up filled with schools, colleges, institutions of music, art, literature, science and the triumphs of architecture and Industry. Then men said, this western land is indeed a goodly land, but its further development must come from the mine and mill, and from industrial enterprises en-terprises related to them, for all the streams are diverted from their original courses and all the water is doing its full duty. But fortunately for the nation, there came other men after them; men like Luther Burbank and H. W. Campbell, who "looked into the future far as human eye could see;" men who called star eyed science to their aid and proved that the vast stretches of upland, mesa and valley, for which no water can ever be obtained, save such as falls from heaven in the shape of .rain or snow, could be made habitable, hab-itable, productive and useful to mankind. For the accomplishment of this regeneration, the Trans-Missouri Dry Farming Congress stands pledged. It is backed by the greatest scientists of the world, (many of whom will be here next week) and by the deepest thinkers of this and other countries, who see the urgent need of providing homes for the rapidly increasing population of the world. The Congress represents the union of the scientist and the practical farmer, working together to-gether for the same result, and long before they shall have spoken the final word, you will see your deserts blooming to the mountain tops. |