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Show UTAH IS RICH IN LANDRESOURCES p Dr. John A Widtsoe, iu Address Before the Development League, Tells of the Wonderful Possibilities of the And Area of This State Ample Rainfall for Dry Farming W G Farrell Urges a Better State Spirit--No One Dies in Dixie, Says D. H Morris. i I The session of the Utah Development Develop-ment league held at the Weber club tbtH morning whs of great Interest and the speeches that were made and the brief discussions indulged in were nil for the nplift of the state There were onlv forty member present, one of the speakers remarking remark-ing thnt there should be 4WI The convention was callei at rather rath-er a late hour, visiting members taking tak-ing the liberty to go to the Stnte School for the Deaf and Blind before coming to the convention hall and they were entertained by Superintendent Superin-tendent Frank M Origgs at the sehool and were taken through all the build j Ings and class rooms Those who vilsited the school oxprepsed admlra tion for the institution. Dr Widtsoe's Addres6. Dr John A Widtsoe. president of I the State Agricultural college, wasl the first speaker, hlB subject beinc; "The Fra of Arid Development. ' The- doctor siokc of the world 01 pansion and the consequent Increase of population, calling attention to the fact that the conditions called lor a greater supplv of foodstuffs, clothing and other necessities. He said that one of the great questions le how will the increased population of the com ing years be fed and sheltered lu the past 100 years, he stated, the pop ulation of the world had more than doubled, and mortality had lessened Speaking of food supply, the speak cr said that it was not Increasing proportionately pro-portionately to the Increase of iop illation nud thai the acro-yleld of grain in many countries is not in i llMaum lilt- ruiuuuu iu uic yiw lem, he maintained, rested In the reclamation of the arid lands of the world, a great deal of which is found In the intcrmountain countr sia. he stated, Is the dryest country of the world, and South America the most humid The speaker claim' d that all the arid lands of the world can be made to produce foodstuffs, principal! cereals and potatoes, and that It would of necessity be acco;n pllshnl in the eoming years not far distant Not more than 40 per cent of the tilable lands of the world arc occupied b man. leaving over 60 per cent that are dormant ami non products pro-ducts e. What Can Be Done The speaker said that there are I,-500,1 I,-500,1 00,000 acres of arid lands in the Fulled States that are not producing and the great conquest from this time onward would be their reclamation Only in recent years was It known thai Micro was rlrtue In arid lanrU for agricultural purposes. Dr Hllgard of California being among the first to take up the matter and make a study of it. but today it is known by nearly every person versed In soils that such lands are the most fert'le. There Is more fertility in the arid 'amis, he claimed, and they last longer long-er under cultivation than oiher lands An interesting point made by the doctor was that ten inches of moisture mois-ture will raise crops on arid lauds In r.' It requires about 20 inches on humid lands Moisture comes to the i rid lands, first, through precipitation and second through artificial Irriga tion, the latter being prosecuted sue-essfully sue-essfully in the west.'rn country Utah Has Enough Moisture Tho rainfall in Utah, the speaker maintained, Is amply sufficient to pro luce crops of wheat on dry lands, if hey an properh cultivated The arlJ 'lomaln will be conquered by the people peo-ple of the world by either Irrigation r what is known as dry' farming Me stated that there are 54,000.000 acres of irrigable lands In the state of Utah and that only ten million acres are uuder cultivation. Plenty of Water There should be a greater popula tion In the state. Widtsoe said, to take care of the lands and it should be the purpose of the organisations of the state, such as the commer la1 clubs and Development league to sec to It that in the colonization of Ihe arid lands of Utah the people be dl reefed to tracts of land that can be farmed successfully He said there Is plenty of water In the state to Iit!-gate Iit!-gate every foot of the land if it can be conserved The waters of Bear river alone, after Cache valley has taken all the water It needs for its farms, If conserved below Colllnston, would water 22,000.000 acres of land Briefly speaking of the manner of irrigating lands the doctor claimed that it is not being properly done in Utah and thai if B little stud were made of the Irrlcailon question till waters already running through ca nals to the farms could mode to irri-ate irri-ate 10,000,000 acres rather than 10,-"iOO.OOO. 10,-"iOO.OOO. In conclusion, he said that the average av-erage man can hardly fathom the ex-'eut ex-'eut of arid lands and but a beginning has been made toward the posslbill ties of development of the resources n this direction Let Us Build a State. Dr WIdtBoe was followed by C. ''arrell of Salt Lake in a brief speech OD the subject. ' Let Us Build a State Here Before We Die" His speech wns well received and had the effect of encouraging those present to take upon themselves a new lease of life He began his remarks by ciuoiiiil; what he termed the eleventh commandment. com-mandment. "Take thyself not too lamned serious." Rut. the speaker said, after all the question of building a slate Is a Meri-ous Meri-ous question and requires the united efforts of individuals and organlza 'Ions of men to build properly He ! Called attention to the earlier charac (eristics of the Greek nation, illustrating illus-trating their unselfishness In the building of their particular cities, but Itlng the fact that through their later lat-er selfiehness and Jealousy and hatred they ultimately failed. The earlier i t'.recian spirit of unity and lndefatlg able labors for their country, he urg-, urg-, ed, should prevail with the rietf of 1 Utah. Ho called attention to the great rv I sources of the state that needed oiily j tho hand of man to develop and bring about a great commonwealth He said there are more than 50,000,000 i acres of land In the stAte to be Irrl- M . :.! found in Utah; great acres of coal and Iron ore are found in the itate, forests are extensive and the mlneti are rich In wealth, so that there Is every opportunity to build a great state. Mr Farrell stated that there Ib water enough In ihe state to gen crate 500,000 horsepower, but only 50,000 Is being used The statement waB made that there is enough ruo-ber ruo-ber gathered in Utah lo supply ia-world ia-world and that there is more beet here than can ever be used in the world, and still, he said, the peop:e of the state are Importing rubber ami many other things from the outside No One Dies In St George. Represcntai i e D H Morns of SI Oeorge addrepsed the convention on the needs of Si George, saying the! Dixie Land" has every' natural resource re-source known to the country awaiting the use of money and transportation. Southern Utah, he said, needs good wagon roads and railroads and plenty of monej with which to build factor ies and develop the arid lands and Its mines said he hardly kne what wns meant bj southern Utah." the Impression Im-pression usually prevailing that anyplace any-place south of Salt Iake is southern Utah An Ogden man be Bald, told him thai southern Fiuii is anywhen Bouth of tigden However, he con fined his remarks to Beaver. Iron Washington and Kane counties and flron and Washington counties In par- : ti ular Mr Morris called attention to the j great coal and iron deposits of the southern part of Utah He said the sun shines :iM days in Dixie and ralua fall at night to m.iture the crops tiin den stuffs are gathered in February and March fruits ripen In June and the farmers cut five crops of alfalfa He concluded by saying that southern south-ern Ftnh has more natural facilities than any other pari of the state and that It will become the richest part of the state when transportation ..ml factories are furnished. Speaking of the health of the people peo-ple there be said that a man under 80 COUld not die without a permit anil the government refused to accept mor tality statistics until an expert bad been sent there lo Investigate, the percentage was so low m s |